Vincent on Little Round Top - Gettysburg

The location where Union brigade commander Colonel Strong Vincent fell with a mortal wound on the second day at Gettysburg is marked on the south slope of Little Round Top, though the exact site where he was hit is disputed. Vincent's brigade, including the 20th Maine, was responsible for securing Little Round Top. Placing the Maine men on the left of the Union line, he told the 20th's Colonel Joshua Chamberlain: "You understand! Hold this ground at all costs!" But Vincent's concerns were not limited to just one regiment of his brigade -he fell attempting to rally troops on the opposite end of his command from the 20th Maine, likely many yards from where this monument stands. (Click image for larger view).

Boom with a view - Gettysburg

Smith's 4th New York Battery monument stands on Houck's Ridge atop Devil's Den at Gettysburg, in front of Little Round Top and the 44th and 12th New York monument. The view today is radically altered - in two ways. The vandalized Smith battery monument awaits repair after a vicious 2006 attack, and the park's landscape restoration project has cleared most trees, (including the one at center) from this end of Houck's Ridge, bringing it more closely to its 1863 appearance. (Click image for larger view).

The 20th Maine - Gettysburg

Tucked among the rocks of Little Round Top, the squat monument to the 20th Maine Infantry rests where its men fought off repeated attacks on the second day at Gettysburg. Because the fight on the end of the Union line was popularized first in The Killer Angels then the movie Gettysburg, the Maine men receive more attention for their efforts that day than perhaps are deserved in comparison to other worthy units. The fight, however, did result in a heroic stand for the Union men against a determined enemy fighting uphill. Col. Joshua Chamberlain reported as the armies met: "From that moment began a struggle fierce and bloody beyond any that I have witnessed, and which lasted in all its fury, a full hour. The two lines met, and broke and mingled in the shock. At times I saw around me more of the enemy than of my own men. The edge of conflict swayed to and fro - now one and now the other party holding the contested ground. Three times our line was forced back, but only to rally and repulse the enemy."(Click image for larger view).

'Savior of Little Round Top' - Gettysburg

Union Brigadier General Gouverneur Warren is memorialized in a bronze statue on the summit of Little Round Top, perhaps the most photographed monument on the most photographed part of the battlefield at Gettysburg. Warren earned his prominent marker for becoming the "Savior of Little Round Top" when he recognized the need for troops to secure the strategic hill and rushed to see that they arrived. (Click image for larger view).

In Memory - Gettysburg

A simple sentiment in polished granite echoes many on monuments throughout the battlefield of Gettysburg. This one stands on the north slope of Little Round Top. (Click image for larger view).

A fallen comrade on Little Round Top - Gettysburg

The monument to the 9th Pa. Reserves stands on the rocky ground of Little Round Top where it secured the line between the Round Tops as fighting settled down on the second day of battle at Gettysburg. The marker depicts a soldier standing over the fresh grave of a comrade, hat in hand, head down. (Click image for larger view).

Sunrise - Little Round Top

The sun breaks over the summit of Little Round Top and the 12th and 44th New York Infantry monument at Gettysburg. The marker is the largest regimental monument on the field, memorializing the nearly 600 men the combined regiments brought to the battle. (Click image for larger view).

Artillery on Little Round Top - Gettysburg

Cannons of Battery L, First Ohio Artillery, point toward Confederate positions from the rocky north end of Little Round Top at Gettysburg. Artillery hastily brought by hand to the rough ground here helped solidify the crumbling Union line on the second day of fighting. "So rapidly were the guns worked that they became too hot to lay the hand on," reported Capt. Frank C. Gibbs. He continued: "But for the position of the battery, and the gallantry with which it was handled by the men, I have no doubt the enemy would have accomplished his purpose of breaking our lines at this point, and possibly changed the fortunes of the day." (Click image for larger view).

83rd PA. Monument on Little Round Top, Gettysburg

Spring blossoms surround the 83rd Pennsylvania monument on Little Round Top, site of fighting on the second day at Gettysburg. Col. Strong Vincent, formerly leader of the 83rd and, at Gettysburg, in charge of the brigade that contained the Erie, Pa. area unit, is memorialized on top of the monument. Vincent was killed early in the Confederate attacks against the men he brought to Little Round Top in a rush to defend the otherwise virtually empty hill.

44th and 12th New York, Little Round Top - Gettysburg

The towering monument to the 44th and 12th New York stands out on Little Round Top, seen above a screen of trees. The castle-like monument is one of several for Union units that defended the hill on the second day of fighting at Gettysburg. The virtually unguarded hill - "the key of the whole position" - nearly fell into rebel hands save for troops rushed to its summit before Confederate attackers. (Click image for larger view).

Along Hancock Avenue - Gettysburg

Monuments line Hancock Ave. on Cemetery Ridge, stretching south to Little and Big Round Tops in the distance. This ground is best known for its role in Pickett's Charge on the final day of battle, but fighting stretched up the line to this point on the second day, July 2, 1863. Here Confederate gains crested during relentless attacks pushed by Lt. General James Longstreet, but the rebel success of the day could not be further exploited. (Click image for larger view).