After bitter fighting through most of the late afternoon and early evening, Confederate troops finally achieved uncontested control of the Wheatfield. Looming in front of them was what many considered the grand prize and anchor of the Federal left—Little Round Top.
The sun was setting when the Southern infantry advanced in two groups. To the south, remnants of Brig. Gens. Joseph Kershaw’s, Paul Semmes’, and George “Tige” Anderson’s brigades pressed toward the rocky heights. Some historians describe this group as a little more than a mob. The units had lost their cohesion and many field officers had been killed or wounded. To the north was Brig Gen. William Wofford’s Brigade, likely deployed from left to right as follows: Cobb’s Legion – Phillips’ Legion – 24th Georgia – 18th Georgia – 16th Georgia. Flushed with victory after driving the last Federals from the Wheatfield, they advanced east on Lt. Aaron Walcott’s six-gun battery unlimbered on a rise on the north side of Wheatfield Road. Walcott’s gunners threw rounds of canister into the Georgia ranks, but its position was too advanced and its infantry support non-existent. When he failed to slow Wofford, Walcott ordered his men to retreat—but not before spiking his guns.1
Federal troops arrived to bolster the sector’s defense. Two brigades from Maj. Gen. Samuel Crawford’s Third Division (Maj. Gen. George Sykes’ V Corps) took up a position on Little Round Top’s northwest slope. Colonel Joseph Fisher’s Third Brigade of the Pennsylvania Reserve division faced the enemy north of the hill, while Col. William McCandless’ First Brigade formed behind Fisher. Elements of Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick’s VI Corps also streamed into the area. Brigadier General Frank Wheaton’s brigade, under Col. David Nevin (Maj. Gen. John Newton’s division), took position behind McCandless. Brigadier General Joseph Bartlett’s Second Brigade (Brig. Gen. Horatio Wright’s Division), deployed on Nevin’s right.2
Captain Frank Gibbs’ Battery L unlimbered on the northern slope of Little Round Top. As McCandless’ men climbed the hill, an officer from the battery, worried that his unit would suffer the same fate as Walcott’s, ran up to them and shouted, “Dunder and blixen, don't let dem repels took my batteries!” Colonel Samuel Jackson of the 40th Pennsylvania told him to “double-shot his guns, hold his position, and we would see to their safety.” Hearing this, Jackson’s men yelled out, “Stand by your guns, Dutchy, and we will stand by you.”3
General Crawford received orders to send help to Strong Vincent’s embattled brigade on the southern portion of Little Round Top. He dispatched Fisher, leaving McCandless to face the enemy pressing from the west. McCandless quickly deployed his men in two lines. The first line was, from left (south) to right (north) as follows: 1st Pennsylvania Reserves – 11th Pennsylvania Reserves (from Fisher’s Brigade) – 6th Pennsylvania Reserves. The second line was composed of the 13th Pennsylvania Reserves on the left and the 2nd Pennsylvania Reserves on the right. Colonel Nevin deployed his brigade behind McCandless and to the left of Bartlett as it arrived, from left to right as follows: 139th Pennsylvania – 93rd Pennsylvania – 62nd New York. Once formed, Nevin moved northwest toward Weikert’s Woods. The 98th Pennsylvania separated from the rest of the brigade and deployed south of McCandless’ second line.4
Captain Frank Gibbs waited impatiently until Burbank’s and Day’s brigades, retreating from the Wheatfield, cleared his front “[A]n irregular, yelling line of the enemy put in his appearance,” recalled Gibbs, “and we received him with double charges of canister… . So rapidly were the guns worked that they became too hot to lay the hand on.”5
General Wheaton was also watching as Wofford’s Georgians advanced. Seeing that Bartlett’s men were not yet in position, Wheaton ordered Nevin to move to the right and quickly form in front of his sister brigade. Nevin immediately complied. An angry Bartlett later wrote that Nevin’s troops “moved rapidly to the front and right, completely masking my troops, and rendering an advance unnecessary.”6