Strong Vincent Strong Vincent ( June 17 , 1837 – July 7 , 1863 ) was a lawyer who became famous as a U . S . Army officer during the American Civil War . He was mortally wounded while leading his brigade during the fighting at Little Round Top on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg , and died less than a week later . Early life . Vincent was born in Waterford , Pennsylvania , son of iron foundryman B . B . Vincent and Sarah Ann Strong Vincent . He attended Trinity College and Harvard University , graduating in 1859 . He practiced law in Erie , Pennsylvania . Civil War . At the start of the Civil War , Vincent joined the Pennsylvania Militia as an adjutant and first lieutenant of the Erie Regiment . On September 14 , 1861 , he was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry and was promoted to colonel the following June . After the death of his regimental commander in the Seven Days Battles ( at the Battle of Gaines ' s Mill ) , Vincent assumed command of the regiment . He developed malaria on the Virginia Peninsula and was on medical leave until the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862 . On May 20 , 1863 , he assumed command of the 3rd Brigade , 1st Division , V Corps , Army of the Potomac , replacing his brigade commander , who was killed at the Battle of Chancellorsville . At the Battle of Gettysburg , 26 - year - old Vincent and his brigade arrived on July 2 , 1863 . He had started the Gettysburg Campaign knowing that his young wife , Elizabeth H . Carter , whom he had married on the day he enlisted in the army , was pregnant with their first child . He had written her , " If I fall , remember you have given your husband to the most righteous cause that ever widowed a woman . " Maj . Gen . Daniel E . Sickles of the III Corps had deviated from his orders , moving his corps to a position that left undefended a significant terrain feature : Little Round Top . The chief engineer of the Army of the Potomac , Brig . Gen . Gouverneur K . Warren , recognized the tactical importance of the hill and urgently sought Union troops to occupy it before the Confederates could . A staff officer sent by Warren encountered Vincent ' s brigade nearby . Vincent , without consulting his superior officers , decided that his brigade was in the ideal position to defend Little Round Top , saying " I will take the responsibility to take my brigade there . " Pvt . Oliver Willcox Norton , Vincent ' s brigade standard bearer and bugle r , later wrote that he and Vincent made a reconnaissance of the Confederate forces as the brigade was moving into position , " While our line was forming on the hill at Gettysburg I came out with him in full view of the rebel lines . They opened two batteries on us instantly , firing at the colors . Colonel Vincent looked to see what was drawing the fire and yelled at me , " Down with the flag , Norton ! Damn it , go behind the rocks with it . " . One of Vincent ' s regiments , the 20th Maine , led by Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain , has received most of the fame for the defense of Little Round Top , but there is little doubt that the efforts and bravery of Vincent were instrumental in the eventual Union victory . Vincent impressed upon Chamberlain the importance of his position on the brigade ' s left flank and then he left to attend to the brigade ' s right flank . There , the 16th Michigan Infantry was starting to yield to enemy pressure . Mounting a large boulder , Vincent brandished a riding crop given to him by his wife and shouted to his men " Don ' t give an inch ! " A bullet struck him through the thigh and the groin and he fell . Due to the determination of the 20th Maine , the 44th New York , the 83rd Pennsylvania and the 16th Michigan Infantry Regiments , the Union line held against the Confederate onslaught . Vincent was carried from the hill to a nearby farm , where he lay dying for the next five days , unable to be transported home due to the severity of his injury . The commander of the Army of the Potomac , Maj . Gen . George G . Meade , recommended Vincent for promotion to brigadier general on the evening of July 2 . The promotion was dated July 3 , 1863 , but it is doubtful that Vincent knew about the honor before he died ( although Pvt . Oliver Willcox Norton in Army Letters 1861 - 1865 writes " His commission as Brigadier General was read to him on his deathbed " Vincent ' s wife gave birth to a baby girl two months later , who died before reaching the age of one and is buried next to her father . His corps commander , Maj . Gen . George Sykes , described Vincent ' s actions in his official report from the battle : In memoriam . Strong Vincent is buried in Erie Cemetery in Erie . He is memorialized by a statue on the 83rd Pennsylvania monument on Little Round Top , by a statue erected in 1997 at Blasco Memorial Library , Erie , and by Strong Vincent High School in Erie . The portion of Little Round Top to the southeast of Sykes Avenue on the Gettysburg Battlefield is known as " Vincent ' s Spur " . He was portrayed in the film " Gettysburg " by Maxwell Caulfield .