What was cemetery ridge

Artillery barrage. The infantry charge was preceded by what General Lee hoped would be a powerful and well-concentrated cannonade of the Union center, destroying the Union artillery batteries that could defeat the assault and demoralizing the Union infantry. But a combination of inept artillery leadership and defective equipment doomed the cannonade from the beginning.

Longstreet's corps artillery chief, Colonel Edward Porter Alexander, was in effective command of the field; Lee's artillery chief, Maj. William N. Pendleton, played little role other than to obstruct the effective placement of artillery from the other two corps. Despite Alexander's efforts, then, there was insufficient concentration of Confederate fire on the objective. The July 3 bombardment was likely the largest of the war, with hundreds of cannons from both sides firing along the lines for almost two hours, starting around 1 p.

Confederate guns numbered between and and fired from a line over two miles 3 km long, starting in the south at the Peach Orchard and running roughly parallel to the Emmitsburg Road. Confederate Brig. Evander M. Law wrote, "The cannonade in the center Looking up the valley towards Gettysburg, the hills on either side were capped with crowns of flame and smoke, as guns, about equally divided between the two ridges, vomited their iron hail upon each other. Despite its ferocity, the fire was mostly ineffectual.

Confederate shells often overshot the infantry front lines, and the smoke covering the battlefield concealed that fact from them. Union artillery chief Brig. Henry J. Hunt had only about 80 guns available to conduct counter-battery fire; the geographic features of the Union line had limited areas for effective gun emplacement.

He also ordered that firing cease to conserve ammunition, and Alexander interpreted this to mean that many of the batteries had been destroyed. Hunt had to resist the strong arguments of General Hancock, who demanded Union fire to lift the spirits of the infantrymen pinned down under Alexander's bombardment.

Even Meade was affected by the artillery—the Leister house was a victim of frequent overshots, and he had to evacuate with his staff to Powers Hill. But they suffered from the Union counter-battery fire as well. When Union cannoneers overshot their targets, they often hit the massed infantry waiting in the woods of Seminary Ridge or in the shallow depressions just behind Alexander's guns, causing significant casualties before the charge began.

From the beginning, Longstreet opposed the charge, preferring his own plan for a strategic movement around the Union left flank. He told Lee that he did not think there were "15, men on earth capable of taking that [the Union] position.

Alexander, but he eventually did pass the order himself non-verbally; when Alexander notified Pickett that he was running dangerously short of ammunition, Longstreet nodded reluctantly to Pickett's request to step off. For Pickett, there was virtually no Confederate artillery with ammunition available to support his assault directly. Infantry assault. The entire force that charged against the Union positions consisted of about 12, men, marching deliberately in line with Pettigrew and Trimble on the left, and Pickett to the right.

The nine brigades of men stretched over a mile-long 1, m front. The Confederates encountered heavy artillery fire while advancing across open fields nearly a mile to reach the Union line. The ground between Seminary Ridge and Cemetery Ridge is slightly undulating, and the advancing troops periodically disappeared from the view of the Union cannoneers.

As the three Confederate divisions advanced, awaiting Union soldiers began shouting "Fredericksburg! Murderous fire from Lt. Shell and solid shot in the beginning turned to canister and musket fire as the Confederates came within yards of the Union line. The mile-long front shrank to less than half a mile m as the men filled in gaps that appeared throughout the line and they followed their natural tendency to move away from the flanking fire.

On the left flank of the attack, Brockenbrough's brigade virtually evaporated, decimated by artillery fire from Cemetery Hill. Davis's brigade, on the left flank of the charge, was subjected to the direct attention of the artillery and to a surprise musket fusillade from the 8th Ohio Infantry regiment, which had moved out from its position on the Emmitsburg Road to envelop Davis's left. Pickett's Virginians had been subjected to the least fire in the beginning of the charge and wheeled to their left toward a minor salient in the Union center.

This position of the lines was marked by a low stone wall taking a short right-angle turn known afterwards as "The Angle.

Kemper on the right and Richard B. Garnett on the left; Lewis A. Armistead's brigade followed closely behind.

As the division wheeled to the left, its right flank was exposed to the front of Doubleday's Union division on Cemetery Ridge. Stannard's Vermont Brigade marched forward, faced north, and delivered withering fire into the rear of Kemper's brigade. The Confederates partially breached the Union's first line of defense but were forced back soon after as Union troops gathered on their right flank and stabilized the center of the line.

The charge lasted less than an hour. The supporting attack by Wilcox and Lang on Pickett's right was never a factor; they did not approach the Union line until after Pickett was defeated, and their advance was quickly broken up by McGilvery's guns and by the Vermont Brigade. Pickett's Charge. The attack began with over Confederate guns opening fire along the Union lines.

The Confederate shells tended to land over the Union lines and land amidst the rear. In fact, Meade was forced to relocate his headquarters to Power's Hill. Alexander, commander of the Confederate I Corps, noticed that the Union batteries were momentarily withdrawing from their positions. Alexander gave his opinion that the charge should proceed. The attack started from Seminary Ridge with Pickett's and Trimble's Divisions and slowly marched eastward.

Union batteries from Cemetery Hill to Little Round Top immediately opened fire on the advancing line, opening temporary gaps in the units. The Confederates kept coming and after 15 minutes, reformed their lines after crossing Emmitsburg Road. When the Confederates were within yards, the Union artillery began firing canister and were also within Union rifle distance.

The 2 wings of the Confederate advance converged as Pettigrew moved to the right and Pickett to the left. James L. Kemper's Brigade formed Pickett's lead right-front brigade. George Gordon Meade — Cemetery Ridge and the adjacent Cemetery Hill were Union strongholds against Confederate attacks commanded Military ». Subjects: Social sciences — Warfare and Defence.

View all related items in Oxford Reference ». Search for: 'Cemetery Ridge' in Oxford Reference ». All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single entry from a reference work in OR for personal use for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice. Oxford Reference. Nothing like it had ever been experienced before in America, or would be again. The Union guns replied at a more measured pace, saving ammunition for what was to come, but still added their measure to the unendurable din.

Then, as the thunder died away, it appeared that a god of battles was stage-managing the scene: a breeze sprang up to part the thick curtains of smoke and reveal ordered lines of Confederate troops in their thousands striding out of the woods across the open fields toward Cemetery Ridge.

Here comes the infantry! Frank Haskell. On the first day Lee had won the initial round of fighting; on the second day his attacks on both Union flanks only narrowly failed; now, after an unprecedented bombardment intended to pulverize the defenses, he thrust 13, infantrymen against the Union center.

Union Gen. George G. Meade, only days in command of the Army of the Potomac, had prepared well to meet the charge, especially with his own massed artillery. Meade and his artillery chief, Henry J. Hunt, ordered their guns to cease fire to lull the Confederates into thinking that the way was clear for their infantry.

Arms, heads, blankets, guns and knapsacks were thrown and tossed into the clear air.