Little Round Top Little Round Top is the smaller of two rocky hills south of Gettysburg , Pennsylvania — the companion to the adjacent , taller hill named Big Round Top . It was the site of an unsuccessful assault by Confederate troops against the Union left flank on July 2 , 1863 , the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg . Considered by some historians to be the key point in the Union Army ' s defensive line that day , Little Round Top was defended successfully by the brigade of Col . Strong Vincent . The 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment , commanded by Col . Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain , fought the most famous engagement there , culminating in a dramatic downhill bayonet charge that is one of the most well - known actions at Gettysburg and in the American Civil War . Geography . Little Round Top is a large diabase spur of Big Round Top with an oval crest ( despite its name ) that forms a short ridgeline with a summit of prominence above the saddle point to Big Round Top to the south . Located in Cumberland Township , approximately two miles ( 3 km ) south of Gettysburg , with a rugged , steep slope rising 150 feet ( 46 m ) above nearby Plum Run to the west ( the peak is 650 feet ( 198 m ) above sea level ) , strewn with large boulders . The western slope was generally free from vegetation , while the summit and eastern and southern slopes were lightly wooded . Directly to the south was its companion hill , [ Big ] Round Top , 130 feet ( 40 m ) higher and densely wooded . There is no evidence that the name " Little Round Top " was used by soldiers or civilians during the battle . 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 . History . The igneous landform was created 200 million years ago when the " outcrop of the Gettysburg sill " intruded through the Triassic " Gettysburg plain " . Subsequent periglacial frost wedging during the Pleistocene formed the hill ' s extensive boulders . Battle of Gettysburg . At around 4 p . m . on July 2 , 1863 , Confederate Lt . Gen . James Longstreet ' s First Corps began an attack ordered by General Robert E . Lee that was intended to drive northeast up the Emmitsburg Road in the direction of Cemetery Hill , rolling up the Union left flank . Maj . Gen . John Bell Hood ' s division was assigned to attack up the eastern side of the road , Maj . Gen . Lafayette McLaws ' s division the western side . Hood ' s division stepped off first , but instead of guiding on the road , elements began to swing directly to the east in the direction of the Round Tops . Instead of driving the entire division up the spine of Houck ' s Ridge ( the boulder - strewn area known to the soldiers as the Devil ' s Den ) , parts of Hood ' s division detoured over Round Top and approached the southern slope of Little Round Top . There were four probable reasons for the deviation in the division ' s direction : first , regiments from the Union III Corps were unexpectedly in the Devil ' s Den area and they would threaten Hood ' s right flank if they were not dealt with ; second , fire from the 2nd U . S . Sharpshooters at Slyder ' s farm drew the attention of lead elements of Brig . Gen . Evander M . Law ' s brigade , moving in pursuit and drawing his brigade to the right ; third , the terrain was rough and units naturally lost their parade - ground alignments ; finally , Hood ' s senior subordinate , General Law , was unaware that he was now in command of the division , so he could not exercise control . In the meantime , Little Round Top was undefended by Union troops . Maj . Gen . George G . Meade , commander of the Army of the Potomac , had ordered Maj . Gen . Daniel Sickles ' s III Corps to defend the southern end of Cemetery Ridge , which would have just included Little Round Top . But Sickles , defying Meade ' s orders , moved his corps a few hundred yards west to the Emmitsburg Road and the Peach Orchard , causing a large salient in the line , which was also too long to defend properly . His left flank was anchored in Devil ' s Den . When Meade discovered this situation , he dispatched his chief engineer , Brig . Gen . Gouverneur K . Warren , to attempt to deal with the situation south of Sickles ' s position . Climbing Little Round Top , Warren found only a small Signal Corps station there . He saw the glint of bayonets in the sun to the southwest and realized that a Confederate assault into the Union flank was imminent . He hurriedly sent staff officers , including Washington Roebling , to find help from any available units in the vicinity . The response to this request for help came from Maj . Gen . George Sykes , commander of the Union V Corps . Sykes quickly dispatched a messenger to order his 1st Division , commanded by Brig . Gen . James Barnes , to Little Round Top . Before the messenger could reach Barnes , he encountered Col . Strong Vincent , commander of the third brigade , who seized the initiative and directed his four regiments to Little Round Top without waiting for permission from Barnes . He and Oliver W . Norton , the brigade bugler , galloped ahead to reconnoiter and guide his four regiments into position . Upon arrival on Little Round Top , Vincent and Norton received fire from Confederate batteries almost immediately . On the western slope he placed the 16th Michigan , and then proceeding counterclockwise were the 44th New York , the 83rd Pennsylvania , and finally , at the end of the line on the southern slope , the 20th Maine . Arriving only ten minutes before the Confederates , Vincent ordered his brigade to take cover and wait , and he ordered Col . Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain , commander of the 20th Maine , to hold his position , the extreme left of the Army of the Potomac , at all costs . Chamberlain and his 385 men waited for what was to come . Battle of Little Round Top . The approaching Confederates were the Alabama Brigade of Hood ' s Division , commanded by Brig . Gen . Evander Law . ( As the battle progressed and Law realized he was in command of the division , Col . James L . Sheffield was eventually notified to assume brigade command . ) Dispatching the 4th , 15th , and 47th Alabama , and the 4th and 5th Texas to Little Round Top , Law ordered his men to take the hill . The men were exhausted , having marched more than 20 miles ( 32 km ) that day to reach this point . The day was hot and their canteens were empty ; Law ' s order to move out reached them before they could refill their water . Approaching the Union line on the crest of the hill , Law ' s men were thrown back by the first Union volley and withdrew briefly to regroup . The 15th Alabama , commanded by Col . William C . Oates , repositioned further right and attempted to find the Union left flank . The left flank consisted of the 358 men of the 20th Maine regiment and the 83rd Pennsylvania . Seeing the Confederates shifting around his flank , Chamberlain first stretched his line to the point where his men were in a single - file line , then ordered the southernmost half of his line to swing back during a lull following another Confederate charge . It was there that they " refused the line " — formed an angle to the main line in an attempt to prevent the Confederate flanking maneuver . Despite heavy losses , the 20th Maine held through two subsequent charges by the 15th Alabama and other Confederate regiments for a total of ninety minutes . On the final charge , knowing that his men were out of ammunition , that his numbers were being depleted , and further knowing that another charge could not be repulsed , Chamberlain ordered a maneuver that was considered unusual for the day : He ordered his left flank , which had been pulled back , to advance with bayonets in a " right - wheel forward " maneuver . As soon as they were in line with the rest of the regiment , the remainder of the regiment charged , akin to a door swinging shut . This simultaneous frontal assault and flanking maneuver halted and captured a good portion of the 15th Alabama . Recently published research has presented claims that Lt . Holman S . Melcher initiated the charge , although Chamberlain has been credited by most historians for ordering the advance . Chamberlain ' s version of the story is that he decided to order the charge before Lt . Melcher requested permission to advance the center of the line toward a boulder ledge where some of the men were wounded and unable to move . Admiring the lieutenant ' s bravery and compassion , Chamberlain agreed and sent him back to his company , telling him that he was about to order the entire regiment forward . As Melcher returned to his men , the shouts of " Bayonet ! " were already working their way down the line . During their retreat , the Confederates were subjected to a volley of rifle fire from Company B of the 20th Maine , commanded by Captain Walter G . Morrill , and a few of the 2nd U . S . Sharpshooters , who had been placed by Chamberlain behind a stone wall 150 yards to the east , hoping to guard against an envelopment . This group , who had been hidden from sight , caused considerable confusion in the Confederate ranks . Thirty years later , Chamberlain received a Medal of Honor for his conduct in the defense of Little Round Top . The citation read that it was awarded for " daring heroism and great tenacity in holding his position on the Little Round Top against repeated assaults , and carrying the advance position on the Great Round Top . " Despite this victory , the rest of the Union regiments on the hill were in dire straits . While the Alabamans had pressed their attacks on the Union left , the 4th and 5th Texas were attacking Vincent ' s 16th Michigan , on the Union right . Rallying the crumbling regiment ( the smallest in his brigade , with only 263 men ) several times , Vincent was mortally wounded during one Texas charge and was succeeded by Colonel James C . Rice . Vincent died on July 7 , but not before receiving a deathbed promotion to brigadier general . Before the Michiganders could be demoralized , reinforcements summoned by Warren — who had continued on to find more troops to defend the hill — had arrived in the form of the 140th New York and a battery of four guns — Battery D , 5th U . S . Artillery , commanded by Lt . Charles E . Hazlett . ( Simply maneuvering these guns by hand up the steep and rocky slope of the hill was an amazing achievement . However , this effort had little effect on the action of July 2 . The artillerymen were exposed to constant sniper fire and could not work effectively . More significantly , however , they could not depress their barrels sufficiently to defend against incoming infantry attacks . ) The 140th charged into the fray of the battle , driving the Texans back and securing victory for the Union forces on the hill . Col . Patrick " Paddy " O ' Rorke , who personally led his regiment in the charge , was killed . Reinforced further by Stephen Weed ' s brigade of the V Corps , Union forces held the hill throughout the rest of the battle , enduring persistent fire from Confederate sharpshooters stationed around Devil ' s Den . General Weed was among the victims , and as his old friend Charles Hazlett leaned over to comfort Weed , the artilleryman was also shot dead . Evening and July 3 . Later that day , Little Round Top was the site of constant skirmishing . It was fortified by Weed ' s brigade , five regiments of the Pennsylvania Reserves , and an Ohio battery of six guns . Most of the stone breastworks that are currently visible on the hill were constructed by these troops after the fighting stopped . Troops of the II , V , VI , and XII Corps passed through the area and also occupied Round Top . Little Round Top was the starting point for a Union counterattack at dusk on July 2 , conducted by the 3rd Division of the V Corps ( the Pennsylvania Reserves ) under Brig . Gen . Samuel W . Crawford , launched to the west in the direction of the Wheatfield . On July 3 , Hazlett ' s battery ( six 10 - pound Parrott rifle s , now under the command of Lt . Benjamin F . Rittenhouse ) fired into the flank of the Confederate assault known as Pickett ' s Charge . Near the end of that engagement , General Meade observed from Little Round Top and contemplated his options for a possible counterattack against Lee . Impact of the battle . The battle on July 2 was not as bloody as some Civil War battles . Of the 2 , 996 Union troops engaged , there were 565 casualties ( 134 killed , 402 wounded , 29 missing ) ; Confederate losses of 4 , 864 engaged were 1 , 185 ( 279 killed , 868 wounded , 219 missing ) . While agreeing that the fighting on Little Round Top was extremely fierce and soldiers on both sides fought valiantly , historians disagree as to the impact of this particular engagement on the overall outcome of the Battle of Gettysburg . The traditional view — one that emerged in the 1880s — is that the left flank of the Union army was a crucial position . An example of this view is from 1900 : " If the Confederates had seized [ Little Round Top ] and dragged some of their artillery up there , as they easily could have done , they would have enfiladed Meade ' s entire line and made it too unhealthy for him to remain there . " An alternative claim is that the hill ' s terrain offered a poor platform for artillery , and that had Longstreet secured the hill , the Union army would have been forced back to a better defensive position , making the attack on the hill a distraction from the Confederates ' true objective . This latter theory is supported by General Lee ' s writings , in which he appears to have considered Little Round Top irrelevant . In Lee ' s report after the Gettysburg Campaign , he stated in part , " General Longstreet was delayed by a force occupying the high , rocky hills on the enemy ' s extreme left , from which his troops could be attacked in reverse as they advanced " , suggesting Longstreet was ordered on a course intended to bypass Little Round Top — had the hill been a key objective of the assault , Lee would not have used the phrase " delayed by " in describing the effects of the engagement . Garry Adelman has countered the argument that the Confederate capture of Little Round Top would have resulted in significant negative consequences for the Union . Examining the number of troops available in the vicinity in the late afternoon , he determined that at most 2 , 650 Confederates could have been available to defend the hill after capturing it , and that these men would have been exhausted from combat and short on ammunition . In contrast , 11 , 600 fresh Union reinforcements were available within a mile , primarily from Maj . Gen . John Sedgwick ' s VI Corps . In addition , the value of Little Round Top as an artillery position has been overstated — the shape of the crest of the hill forces guns to be placed one behind the other , limiting their effectiveness when engaging targets directly to the north , such as the Union line on Cemetery Ridge . While Chamberlain and the 20th Maine have gained popularity in the American national consciousness , other historical figures such as Strong Vincent , Patrick O ' Rourke , and Charles Hazlett arguably played equal roles in the Union success at Little Round Top . Their deaths at the scene , however , did not allow their personal stories to be told . Postbellum history . During visits by 13 generals in 1865 , points were identified on Little Round Top at which markers were subsequently erected , and a observatory had been built by 1886 before the stone monument with observation deck was dedicated to the 44th New York in 1892 . In the late 1880s , the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment monument on Little Round Top was dedicated with a speech by Joshua Chamberlain . In 1935 , two " hairpin curves " of the avenue on Little Round Top were removed by the Continental Contracting Company to create a " by - pass , a stretch of . 399 mile , " from the Round Top Museum southward to north of the guard station on the south slope at Sykes Avenue and Chamberlain Avenue was subsequently closed . The summit parking lot was also created at this time . In popular media . The 1974 novel " The Killer Angels " and its 1993 film adaptation , " Gettysburg " , depicted a portion of the Battle of Little Round Top .