maj. gen. john bell hood led the charge on little round top.
maj. gen. john bell hood led the charge on little round top.
who led the charge on little round top?
maj. gen. john bell hood
at the battle of gettysburg, sykes' corps fought in support of the beleaguered iii corps on the union left flank. in his 1st division (brig. gen. james barnes), the fabled defense of little round top was led by brigade commander col. strong vincent and the 20th maine infantry under col. joshua lawrence chamberlain. his 3rd division, the pennsylvania reserves, led by brig. gen. samuel w. crawford, attacked from little round top, drove the confederates across the "valley of death" and ended the deadly fighting in the wheatfield. but there is little in the historical record that highlights any personal contribution made by sykes.
george sykes
there is no evidence that the name "little round top" was used by soldiers or civilians during the battle, although col. franklin a. haskell, writing to his brother on july 16, 1863, calls it so (see, e.g., paragraph beginning, “without a topological map,” about 15% into his letter, first reprinted in “a history of the class of 1854 in dartmouth college” (boston: alfred mudge & son, 1898). although the larger hill was known before the battle as round top, round top mountain, and sometimes round hill, accounts written in 1863 referred to the smaller hill with a variety of names: rock hill, high knob, sugar loaf hill, broad top summit, and granite spur of round top. historian john b. bachelder, who had an enormous influence on the preservation of the gettysburg battlefield, personally favored the name "weed's hill," in honor of brig. gen. stephen h. weed, who was mortally wounded on little round top. bachelder abandoned that name by 1873. one of the first public uses of "little round top" was by edward everett in his oration at the dedication of the soldiers' national cemetery on november 19, 1863.
little round top