Historian Howard Coffin claimed that the state's most important contribution to the war was at the Battle of the Wilderness where the Vermont Brigade held the crucial intersection of two roads, the loss of which would have split the Union forces in half. 1,200 Vermonters died. They also played a crucial role at the Battle of Gettysburg, where, under General George J. Stannard, the 2nd Vermont Brigade broke Pickett's charge by stepping out of a protected area and firing at the flank of the attackers.