"General Reynolds, one of the best Yankee generals, was reported killed. Whilst we were talking, a message arrived from General Ewell, requesting Hill to press the enemy in front, whilst he performed the same operation on his right. The pressure was accordingly applied in a mild degree, but the enemy were too strongly posted, and it was too late in the evening for a regular attack."[48]
Gettysburg battlefield.
General Hill and General Lee had been observant of the "determination unusual to the Yankees." The "pressure" brought upon Howard in the cemetery, at nightfall, was resisted by men who had suffered defeat, who had left a third of their comrades dead or wounded on the field, or as prisoners in the hands of the enemy. But the Rebel rank-and-file, remembering only the victories they had already won, did not for a moment doubt their ability to win another. They were flushed with the enthusiasm of repeated successes.
On the other hand, the soldiers of the Union believed, with Howard, Hancock, Sickles, and other officers, that they could hold the position against the assaults of Lee. It was not a calculation of advantages,—of the value of hills, ravines, fields, and meadows,—or of numbers, but a determination to win the day or to die on the spot.
Such were the feelings of the opposing parties on that sunny afternoon, as they appeared in line of battle.
The Rebel forces moving to the attack south of Wentz's were wholly under Longstreet's command. Anderson's division of Hill's corps was joined to McLaw's and Hood's, to form the attacking column. The Washington Artillery of New Orleans was in the woods southwest of Wentz's house. Barksdale's Mississippians were behind artillery. A few rods west of the same house, on a narrow road leading towards Hagerstown, is the residence of Mr. Warfield. A third of a mile north of Wentz's, on the Emmettsburg road, is the house of Philip Snyder. Between Warfield's and Snyder's, Longstreet planted fifty or sixty guns to bear on the peach-orchard and the batteries which Sickles had stationed along the road leading past Trostle's, and upon the woods east of the house of Mr. Rose.
Longstreet's plan was to attack with all the vigor possible,—to bear down all opposition in the outset. Commanders frequently begin an engagement by feeling of the enemy's position,—advancing a few skirmishers, a regiment, or a brigade; but in this instance Longstreet advanced all but his reserve.
It was half past three. Riding rapidly to the right to see if there were signs of activity in that direction, dismounting in rear of the line, and tying my horse to a tree, I took a look northward. A mile to the north Rebel officers were in view, galloping furiously over the fields, disappearing in groves, dashing down the road to the town, and again returning. There was a battery in position beyond the railroad, and as I looked narrowly at an opening between two groves, I saw the glistening of bayonets, and a line as if a column of men were marching east toward the thick forest on Rock Creek. It was surmised that they were to attack our right upon Culp's Hill by advancing directly down Rock Creek through the woods. Prisoners captured said that Ewell had sworn a terrible oath to turn our flank, if it took his last man. To guard against such a movement, Slocum was throwing up breastworks from the crest of the hill down to Rock Creek. Two batteries were placed in position on hillocks south of the turnpike, to throw shells up the creek, should such an attempt be made. The Union Cavalry in long lines was east of the creek, and the Reserve Artillery, in parks, with horses harnessed, was in the open field south of Slocum's head-quarters.