The fire delivered by the 157th New York created a shock wave that rippled through the 44th Georgia. The surprise at the sudden attack, however, lasted for only a few moments as the veterans took stock of the new situation and responded to the threat accordingly.
Major William H. Peebles wrote the battle report for the 44th Georgia after its colonel, Samuel P. Lumpkin, fell with what proved to be a mortal wound. According to Peebles, “as soon as it was discovered that we were flanked, we made a wheel to the right, faced the new foe, and began to fire upon him. Thus checked in his movement, he faced us, and opened a severe fire upon us.”
Next in line was the 4th Georgia, which also wheeled to face the New Yorkers. Doles sent the 12th Georgia, which had been on the far left of his line of battle, by the right flank around the rear of the 4th and 44th Georgia regiments to aid the 21st Georgia. The 12th Georgia formed on the right of the 21st regiment.
The New Yorkers watched these ominous movements to their front and flanks with what must have been growing dismay, but they did not see what was developing along their left flank, where the 21st Georgia occupied the Blocher’s farm lane. These Georgians now rose from their prone position and fired a withering volley into the 157th New York’s vulnerable left front and flank. The 44th Georgia, reported Peebles, “charged over two fences, across the turnpike, under a raking fire from some batteries near the edge of the town, firing grape at us as we crossed the road.” The 12th Georgia extended the line around the left flank of the New Yorkers and also opened fire.6
Hit in front, on both flanks, and in parts of their rear, the men of the 157th New York fell in droves. Colonel Brown recalled that “the men were falling rapidly and the enemy’s line was taking the form of a giant semi-circle … concentrating the fire of their whole brigade upon my rapidly diminishing numbers.” Without orders to withdraw, Brown refused to allow his men to retreat. He learned later that one of Brig. Gen. Alexander Schimmelfennig’s aides had “hallooed” him from a distance to retreat, but no one in the regiment saw or heard the man. While the lead was flying into the 157th New York from several points of the compass, a Southern battery on Oak Hill opened fire on the regiment’s exposed rear with “fearful execution.”7
According to Major Peebles, “we captured, killed, or wounded nearly every man that came upon our right flank.” Peebles was not exaggerating: the 157th New York lost seventyfive percent of its men: 27 killed, 166 wounded, 114 captured or missing. The New Yorkers suffered the highest regimental losses in the XI Corps, and the sixth highest of any Federal regiment at Gettysburg. Among the captured was Jonathon Boynton, who was firing near a fence when members of the 44th Georgia overran him. “I dropped my gun at once and stood facing the gray boys at attention,” he later wrote. The remnants of the regiment finally withdrew when Brown realized his outfit faced the very real possibility of elimination to a man.
Some Confederates felt sorry for the regiment’s plight. “One time I felt sad, one Yankee regiment charge [sic] us,” Cpl. Sidney Richardson of the 21st Georgia wrote home soon after the battle. “[W]e fired a volley into them and then charged them as quick as we could, they turned to run and we continued the charge untill [sic] they got away.”8
With the defeat of the 157th New York, George Doles wheeled his brigade back toward Gettysburg in a magnificent display of tactical control and unit cohesion. The brigades from the XI Corps that had advanced north of town were now in full retreat. With no infantry left to support, or to support them, Dilger’s and Wheeler’s batteries limbered and rolled south toward town. Everywhere one looked, all that could be seen of the XI Corps was its soldiers fleeing toward the town and the safety of Cemetery Hill beckoning beyond it.