Defending the Round Tops, No. 1

Due to the fog of war, ego, ineptitude, and just plain bad timing, Little Round top was left largely undefended. At the every edge of the U.S. Army’s left, it held commanding view of the entire Union line. If the Rebel forces could take the boulder-strewn hill they could “...blow the whole Union Army apart” in the claim of Confederate Colonel William C. Oates. Union Colonel Strong Vincent, was tasked to get his 3rd Brigade to the hill at the double-quick. Barely in position, they were met hard by Maj. Gen. John B. Hood’s division. Texans and Alabamians hammered up the slope and onto the men of Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, and Maine. The 16th Michigan was staggered under the heavy assault and Vincent called upon Colonel Patrick O’Rorke’s 140th New York Zouaves to fill the breech. Both Vincent and O’Rorke gave their lives during the action.