Lieutenant General James Longstreet, the soldier Gen. Robert E. Lee called on the field of Sharpsburg (Antietam) his “Old War Horse,” was in command of the July 3 offensive. The attack column included three fresh brigades from Maj. Gen. George Pickett’s Division. Others from Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill’s Third Corps were selected to go in with Pickett. Why these brigades were selected is unclear. Most had been roughly handled on July 1 and 2, and so were poor choices to participate in such an assault.
Pickett’s Division formed as the right side of the attacking column before Spangler’s Woods. On the left was Brig. Gen. Richard Garnett’s Brigade aligned left to right: 56th Virginia – 28th Virginia – 19th Virginia – 18th Virginia – 8th Virginia. On Garnett’s right was Brig. Gen. James Kemper’s Brigade aligned left to right: 3rd Virginia – 7th Virginia – 1st Virginia – 11th Virginia – 24th Virginia. Behind Garnett was Brig. Gen. Lewis Armistead’s Brigade aligned from left to right: 38th Virginia – 57th Virginia – 53rd Virginia – 9th Virginia – 14th Virginia.1
Four Third Corps brigades from Maj. Gen. Harry Heth’s Division (under Brig. Gen. James Pettigrew) held the left front of the line deployed left to right as follows: Col. John Brockenbrough: 55th Virginia – 47th Virginia – 22nd Virginia Battalion – 40th Virginia; Brig. Gen. Joseph Davis: 11th Mississippi – 42nd Mississippi – 2nd Mississippi – 55th North Carolina; Pettigrew (under Col. James Marshall): 11th North Carolina – 52nd North Carolina – 26th North Carolina – 47th North Carolina; and Brig. Gen. James Archer (under Col. Birkett Fry): 5th Alabama Battalion – 7th Tennessee – 14th Tennessee – 13th Alabama – 1st Tennessee.2
Two brigades from Dorsey Pender’s Division (under Maj. Gen. Isaac Trimble) deployed left to right behind Pettigrew’s right as follows: Brig. Gen. Alfred Scales (under Col. William Lowrance): 38th North Carolina – 13th North Carolina – 34th North Carolina – 22nd North Carolina – 16th North Carolina; Brig. Gen. James Lane’s Brigade (Marshall): 33rd North Carolina – 18th North Carolina – 28th North Carolina – 37th North Carolina – 7th North Carolina. Two more brigades from Richard Anderson’s Division (Wilcox and Lang on the right) would play a later role in the attack.3
Facing this array of enemy infantry were parts of the Federal I and II Corps. On the south (left) front were two of Brig. Gen. George Stannard’s Vermont regiments, deployed in the fields in front of the main line. The 14th Vermont advanced seventy-five yards to take advantage of the trees and bushes in the Plum Run Valley. The 16th Vermont split in two: half of its companies forming a picket reserve while the others rested behind the 14th Vermont. The 13th Vermont remained on the main line. On its right were the 80th New York and 151st Pennsylvania of Col. Chapman Biddle’s brigade.4
Brigadier General John Gibbon’s division extended the front northward. Brigadier General William Harrow’s battered brigade occupied Gibbon’s left, aligned from left to right: 15th Massachusetts – 1st Minnesota – 19th Maine – 82nd New York. Colonel Norman Hall’s brigade was next, with the 7th Michigan and 59th New York in the front line and 19th and 20th Massachusetts and 42nd New York in support. The men of the 69th Pennsylvania, Brig. Gen. Alexander Webb’s brigade, were on Hall’s right. Webb’s remaining regiments formed the reserve on the reverse slope of Cemetery Ridge.5
The division under Brig. Gen. Alexander Hays formed on Gibbon’s right. The first line held Col. Thomas Smyth’s brigade, deployed from left to right: 1st Delaware – 12th New Jersey – 108th New York (north of the Bryan house). The 14th Connecticut formed a second line behind the 1st Delaware. Except for the 126th New York, which formed to the right of the 108th New York, most of Col. George Willard’s brigade (Col. Eliakim Sherrill), was in the second line, aligned left to right: 39th New York – 125th New York – 111th New York. George Woodruff’s guns unlimbered in front of the 108th New York. The 8th Ohio of Col. Samuel Carroll’s brigade and about 100 men of the 126th New York formed the skirmish line.6