On Pettigrew’s far right, Lt. Colonel S. G. Shepard, in Archer’s 7th Tennessee, wrote, “The enemy held their fire until we were in fine range, and opened upon us a terrible and well-directed fire. Within 180 or 200 yards of his works, we came to a lane enclosed by two stout post and plank fences. This was a very great obstruction to us, but the men rushed over as rapidly as they could…” Shepard observed the enemy’s “first line of which was composed of rough stones,” an apparent reference to the stones that ran north of the Copse of Trees. The Federals seemingly abandoned this line, “but just in rear was massed a heavy force.” By the time they reached “this work”, Shepard’s own lines “had become very much weakened; indeed, the line both right and left, as far as I could observe, seemed to melt away until there was but little of it left.” 5

Colonel Birkett Fry, commanding Archer’s Brigade, suffered a thigh wound as he approached the wall. Fry was so confident of victory that he still urged his men forward. “Go on; it will not last five minutes longer!” His men disappeared into the dense smoke that now enveloped the field. Over the roar of gunfire, Fry heard Pettigrew calling to “rally them on the left… At length the firing ceased, and cheer after cheer from the enemy announced the failure of our attack.” 6

If Pettigrew’s men made it this far in relatively large numbers and in something still resembling formations, the same was probably not true for Trimble’s two battered brigades. Trimble later admitted:

We marched 3/4 mile under a terrible fire passed the first line & reached a point some 200 yards from the breast works – here the men broke down from exhaustion & the fatal fire & went no further but walked sullenly back to their entrenchments. It was a mistake to charge batteries & lines over so great a distance every yard exposed to a hot fire. 7

Trimble later elaborated that upon reaching the Emmitsburg Road “men in squads were falling back on the west side of the Emmitsburg Road. By this I inferred that Pickett’s Division had been repulsed, and if so that it would be a useless sacrifice of life to continue the contest. I, therefore, did not attempt to rally the men who began to give back from the fence.” 8

Pettigrew staffer Louis Young bluntly recalled: “The supports under Maj. General Trimble did not reach as far as we had.” 9 Major McLeod Turner, in the 7th North Carolina, admitted that his men struggled to bypass the Emmitsburg Road fences. Turner and some men passed through the fence on the right of his line, but after he was shot down about ten yards beyond the road, his men “returned to and laid down in the Pike, as did the entire regiment.” 10

Some participants maintained that portions of Trimble’s command successfully advanced beyond the Emmitsburg Road. Lieutenant Colonel Jos. Saunders of the 33rd North Carolina was among those who insisted “we overtook the first line (Pettigrew’s) and the two lines then became one and the advance was continued.” Lieutenant Thomas Molloy of the 7th North Carolina added that his regiment reached the road as “an organized body. About half of the men and most of the officers crossed this fence, and some of them I think reached the works.” 11

General Lane, who by this point had moved his men forward in a futile attempt to protect Pettigrew’s left, reported that they “advanced to within a few yards of the stone wall, exposed all the while to a heavy raking artillery fire from the right. My left was here very much exposed, and a column of the enemy’s infantry was thrown forward in that direction, which enfiladed my whole line. This forced me to withdraw my brigade, the troops on my right having already done so.” Under Trimble’s direction they reformed behind the Confederate artillery. 12

Feisty old General Trimble, who had spent much of the campaign looking for his opportunity to fight the hated Yankees, suffered a leg wound which necessitated amputation. Fearing the effects that travel might have on him, he was left behind when Lee’s army retreated from Gettysburg. Trimble was medically treated at several locations, including the Lutheran Seminary field hospital, before becoming a prisoner of war. 13