The departure of the 121st Pennsylvania exposed the 80th New York’s left flank to the enemy, causing the same dilemma the Pennsylvanians experienced a few minutes before. Seeing the Confederates gaining his rear, Col. Theodore Gates had no choice but to take hold of his regiment’s flag and order his men to retreat toward Seminary Ridge—but not before signaling them to fire a final volley at the approaching foe.22
With the 80th New York heading to the rear, all that remained of Biddle’s line was the 142nd Pennsylvania on the far right. The regiment was in a terrible position, with the 52nd North Carolina advancing against its flank and the 47th North Carolina moving against its front. Seeing the hopelessness of their situation, the men began inching backward, but “the enemy giving us a heavy volley at pretty close range we broke,” noted one of the men.23
Colonel Biddle rode forward and grabbed the 142nd Pennsylvania’s fluttering colors, yelling, “Rally round the flag!” Gathering a number of men, he led a counterattack against the 47th North Carolina. It was a foolhardy effort that wasted more men, including Col. Robert Cummins, the 142nd’s commander. As he lay mortally wounded, Cummins managed to urge, “For God’s sake men, rally, we can whip them yet.”
A Confederate soldier from the 47th North Carolina recalled how “the scattered Federals swarmed around him [Cummins] as bees cover their queen.” Another Southern soldier wrote that the counterattack was “an act of personal gallantry … but unwise, rash, leading to misfortune which might not otherwise have occurred.” The Pennsylvanians saw that to remain was folly, so they broke and ran, making for the relative safety of Seminary Ridge. Some tried to make a stand at a broken fence before reaching the ridge, but they too were swept away. Edwin Gearhart of the 142nd Pennsylvania admitted that the men “were running in retreat without order.” The regiment lost its colors during the confusion.24
Seeing that his 151st Pennsylvania was about to be surrounded near Herbst Woods, Colonel McFarland ordered the regiment to fall back toward Seminary Ridge. Few of his men made it that far. Trapped in a deadly crossfire delivered by the 11th and 26th North Carolina, the regiment lost almost three-quarters of its men during its brief ill-advised sojourn on McPherson Ridge. The rest of the brigade also suffered heavy casualties, with each regiment reporting the loss of more than 60 percent of its men.
The toll was also high on the Confederate side. The cost of successfully forcing two Federal brigades from McPherson Ridge cut away more than 1,000 men from Pettigrew’s large brigade in just thirty minutes. The victorious 26th North Carolina paid the heaviest price—549 men out of 840 or 65 percent of its opening strength. In the middle of the attacking line, the 11th North Carolina left more than half of its men on the field.25
The Federals did not run far. Even as the last of Biddle’s men and the Iron Brigade fell or fled, their survivors were busy coalescing to form a strong defensive position on Seminary Ridge. They had been bested in the first round, but they had not been defeated. Fresh batteries arrived and unlimbered to support their new effort.
For the Confederates, however, no order arrived to continue the pursuit. General Heth had fallen earlier in the attack when a rifled ball struck him in the head. The blow knocked him unconscious; the paper wadding stuffed into the brim of his oversized hat probably saved his life. The inexperienced Johnston Pettigrew assumed command of the division.
Heth’s men took heart, however, for behind them were thousands of fresh veteran reinforcements in the form of Maj. Gen. Dorsey Pender’s approaching division.