Four Confederate lines of battle breached the Federal line along Emmitsburg Road and continued eastward to press their attacks.
On the Confederate right, Brig. Gen. William Barksdale’s Brigade broke into two parts. Pushing aside all resistance, the 21st Mississippi advanced southeast along the Trostle farm lane toward Capt. John Bigelow’s battery. Bigelow was making a desperate stand to buy time for Col. Freeman McGilvery to establish a new artillery line in the Plum Run Valley. To the north, the remainder of Barksdale’s Brigade pushed toward Cemetery Ridge deployed from left to right as follows: 18th Mississippi – 13th Mississippi – 17th Mississippi. On Barksdale’s left (north) was Brig. Gen. Cadmus Wilcox’s Brigade deployed from left to right as follows: 9th Alabama – 14th Alabama – 11th Alabama – 10th Alabama. Colonel David Lang’s Brigade extended the line north, aligned from left to right as follows: 2nd Florida – 8th Florida – 5th Florida. The small band of Floridians had nearly destroyed Brig. Gen. Joseph Carr’s brigade (Humphreys Division, III Corps) and now approached southern Cemetery Ridge.
II Corps commander Maj. Gen. Winfield Hancock cast about for units to assist the beleaguered III Corps and plug the hole yawning wide on his left. He had already sent Brig. Gen. John Caldwell’s entire division to the Wheatfield, and now he rounded up several isolated regiments and set them to work. He positioned the 19th Maine 800 yards east of Emmitsburg Road in support of Captain Weir’s battery. Although they had been in the army about one year, these soldiers had yet to engage the enemy.1
The Maine soldiers watched with some anxiety as Humphreys’ men retreated. One member recalled that Carr’s soldiers “swept over us, they stepped over us, they stepped on or between the men and even tumbled over us, having no regard to dignity or military order, or to pick out reasonable paths to walk in, as their only object seemed to be to get to the rear, out of reach of their relentless pursuers.”2
In a search for more reinforcements, Hancock rode north along Cemetery Ridge until he found Col. George Willard’s Third Brigade of Brig. Gen. Alexander Hays’ Third Division in reserve north of the Copse of Trees. Hancock led the four New York regiments south. Captured at Harpers Ferry the year before and subsequently paroled, these troops had recently returned to the army with a stained reputation and a strong desire for redemption.
Colonel Norman Hall sent two small regiments, the 19th Massachusetts and 42nd New York, south to help Humphreys stem the advance. These veterans knew an impossible task when they saw it. Deploying behind a small knoll about 1,000 yards east of the Rogers house, the 360 men tried to halt Wilcox’s 1,500. The Federals went prone, waited, rose, fired two volleys into the Alabamians—and promptly retreated. If this action slowed Wilcox’s advance, it was only for a few moments.3
The men of the 19th Maine now stood alone. To their front were Lang’s approaching Floridians. They waited until the Floridians were about thirty-five yards distant before opening fire. Although the lead storm staggered the enemy, Lang’s men continued advancing. A mistake in communication caused the 19th Maine to withdraw about twenty yards, but it quickly turned back to face Lang’s men.4
The 21st Mississippi, meanwhile, approached Bigelow’s battery. The guns were deployed in a semi-circular line near the Trostle house. One gun was disabled and sent to the rear while the others continued firing at the advancing Mississippians. “[H]e smites and shatters, but cannot break the advancing line,” a newspaper writer extolled about Bigelow. “[H]e falls back on spherical case, and…he holds his position. They are within six paces of the guns—he fires again … and he blows devoted soldiers from his very muzzles… . They spring upon his carriages and shoot down his forces.” Bigelow recalled how his canister blew the enemy away where it ripped through their lines, but yelling like “demons,” they threw themselves against the battery and ultimately captured it.5