Nearly two miles away, two long-range Whitworths (from Hill’s reserve) were also moved by General Hill’s orders to Oak Hill, “a commanding point north of the railroad cut, to enable them to enfilade the enemy’s position. They fired, it is believed, with effect from this point.” 6 Their positions are readily visible today near the modern Eternal Light Peace Memorial. However, there were no other suitable positions north and east of Gettysburg from which Ewell’s artillery could be effectively brought to bear.

Roughly one mile south of Oak Hill, near the railroad cut and Chambersburg Pike, Lt. Colonel Thomas Carter, commanding the artillery battalion attached to Robert Rodes’s Second Corps division, moved 10 pieces into action. Carter wrote:

On Friday, July 3, ten rifled guns were posted on the high ridge on the right and left of the railroad cut, and their fires directed on the batteries planted on the Cemetery Hill. This was done to divert the fire of the enemy’s guns from Hill’s and Pickett’s troops in their charge across the valley, and also to divert their fire from three batteries of the First Virginia Artillery, under Captain Dance, and temporarily in my command. These three batteries had been ordered to fire, in conjunction with a large number of guns on their right, on a salient part of the enemy’s line prior to the charge of infantry. 7