Military
10
On the morning of July 2, Maj. Gen. Daniel E. Sickles was assigned a position three-quarters of a mile to the left near Little Round Top, but that afternoon, without orders, he advanced his ten thousand-man Union Third Corps, placing part of it on the high ground around John Sherfy's peach orchard because he believed it was stronger ground. There his mile-long line formed a sharp angle, or salient. About 5:30 p.m., after a hot artillery duel, Confederate infantry led by Brig. Gen. J.B. Kershaw attacked the Peach Orchard by way of the Rose Farm, but rapid Union canister tore into them. About 6:00 p.m., Confederate infantry from Barksdale's and Wofford's Brigades struck from the west and drove the Union defenders back toward Cemetery Ridge, crushing Sickles' salient. Maj. Gen. George C. Meade later judged that Sickles's movement had practically destroyed his own corps and only driven the army back to the position he had originally been ordered to hold.
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