The Artillery Duel.

Until 1 o’clock there was comparative quiet. It was ended on the stroke of the hour by two guns of Miller’s battery belonging to the Washington artillery of New Orleans, posted near the Peach Orchard, and fired in rapid succession as a signal to the Confederate artillery.

The Confederate Colonel Alexander says:

“At exactly 1 o’clock by my watch the two signal guns were heard in quick succession. In another minute every gun was at work. The enemy was not slow in coming back at us, and the grand roar of nearly the whole of both armies burst in on the silence.

“The enemy’s position seemed to have broken out with guns everywhere, and from Round Top to Cemetery Hill was blazing like a volcano.”

The artillery duel was but a preface, intended to clear the ground for the infantry action to follow. The order had already been given by Longstreet to Alexander:

“Colonel: The intention is to advance the infantry if the artillery has the desired effect of driving the enemy off, or having other effect such as to warrant us in making the attack. When the moment arrives advise General Pickett, and of course advance such artillery as you can use in making the attack.”

General Wright, who was present when this order was received, expressed doubt as to whether the attack could be successfully made. He said:

“It is not so hard to go there as it looks; I was nearly there with my brigade yesterday. The trouble is to stay there. The whole Yankee army is there in a bunch.”

For one and a half hours the air was filled with screaming, whistling shot and shell. An occasional Whitworth missile, from Oak Hill on the north, made, on account of its peculiar form, a noise that could be heard above the din of all others. The headquarters of General Meade at the Leister House formed a concentric point continually swept with a storm of shot and shell. Headquarters were therefore moved to Slocum’s headquarters at Powers’ Hill, along the Baltimore Pike.

Locations, Buildings and Avenues as referred to in “The Battle of Gettysburg”
[High-resolution Map]

Batteries on the Union line, especially at the Angle, were badly damaged, and General Hunt had others brought forward with additional supplies of ammunition. On the whole the losses inflicted upon the Union infantry were comparatively light. The stone wall and the undulations of the ground afforded protection, as most of the men were lying down.

After the artillery had operated for about an hour and a half, Meade and Hunt deemed it prudent to stop the fire, in order to cool the guns, save ammunition, and allow the atmosphere between the lines to clear of the dense cloud of smoke before the expected attack was made. This pause in the fire led the Confederates to believe that the Union line was demoralized, and that the opportune time had arrived for the onset of the infantry. Accordingly, they moved forward and Pickett’s Charge was on.

At the signal station on Little Round Top, General Warren and others saw gray infantry moving out across the plain in front of the Spangler Woods. Warren at once wig-wagged to General Hunt:

“They are moving out to attack.”

This message was passed from man to man along the entire Union line.

Devil’s Den.—Hid among the rocks of Devil’s Den, Confederate sharpshooters picked off officers and men occupying Little Round Top