Culp ' s Hill Culp ' s Hill is a landform south of Gettysburg , Pennsylvania , which played a prominent role in the Battle of Gettysburg . It consists of two rounded peaks , separated by a narrow saddle . Its heavily wooded higher peak is above sea level . The lower peak is about 100 feet ( 30 m ) shorter than its companion . The eastern slope descends to Rock Creek , about 160 feet ( 50 m ) lower in elevation , and the western slope is to a saddle with Stevens Knoll ( formerly McKnight ' s Hill ) with a summit lower than the main Culp ' s Hill summit . The hill was owned in 1863 by farmer Henry Culp and was publicized as " Culp ' s Hill " by October 31 , 1865 . During the Battle of Gettysburg , July 1 – 3 , 1863 , Culp ' s Hill was a critical part of the Union Army defensive line , the principal feature of the right flank , or " barbed " portion of what is described as the " fish - hook " line . Holding the hill was by itself unimportant because its heavily wooded sides made it unsuitable for artillery placement , but its loss would have been catastrophic to the Union army . It dominated Cemetery Hill and the Baltimore Pike , the latter being critical for keeping the Union army supplied and for blocking any Confederate advance on Baltimore or Washington , D . C . History . Battle of Gettysburg , First Day . Culp ' s Hill was occupied initially on the evening of July 1 , 1863 , by troops of the Union I Corps and XI Corps , along with neighboring Cemetery Hill , as a rallying point from the retreat following the Confederate victory that day north and west of town . Lt . Gen . Richard S . Ewell had discretionary orders to seize the heights south of town , and he believed that Culp ' s Hill was unoccupied and therefore a good target , one that would make the Union position on Cemetery Hill untenable . His third division , under Maj . Gen . Edward " Allegheny " Johnson , had just arrived on the battlefield , and Johnson was ordered to take the hill if he had not already done so . Johnson did not take Culp ' s Hill . He sent a small party to reconnoiter , and they encountered the 7th Indiana Infantry of the I Corps , part of Brig . Gen . James S . Wadsworth ' s division , which had been in the rear guarding the corps trains and was now linked up with the Iron Brigade , digging in following their fierce battle on Seminary Ridge . Johnson ' s party was taken by surprise and almost taken prisoner before fleeing . Ewell ' s failure to take Culp ' s Hill or Cemetery Hill that evening is considered one of the great missed opportunities of the battle . Another reason for his reluctance to proceed was intelligence that Union troops were approaching from the east on the Hanover Road . This was the vanguard of the XII Corps under Maj . Gen . Henry W . Slocum . If those troops had arrived at the wrong time , Ewell ' s flank would have been turned . Second day . By mid - morning of July 2 , the XII Corps arrived and fortified the hill . Brig . Gen . George S . Greene , who at 62 was the oldest Union general on the field , was a brigade commander in the division of Maj . Gen . John W . Geary . As a civil engineer before the war , he had a natural understanding of the value of defensive works . His division and corps commanders did not believe they would be stationed at Culp ' s Hill very long and did not share his enthusiasm for constructing breastworks , but they did not oppose his efforts . He set his troops to the task of felling trees and collecting rocks and earth to create very effective defensive positions . The Union defensive positions on July 2 began in the north with artillery batteries on Stevens ' s Knoll , followed by Wadsworth ' s division of the I Corps , Greene ' s New York brigade in positions running north to south on the upper slope , and the brigade of Brig . Gen . Thomas L . Kane connecting to Greene ' s line behind breastworks on the lower slope . Behind these front lines were , from left to right , the brigades of Col . Charles Candy , Col . Archibald L . McDougall , Col . Silas Colgrove , and Brig . Gen . Henry H . Lockwood , extending past Spangler ' s Spring and through McAllister ' s Woods . ( The latter three brigades were from the XII Corps division of Brig . Gen . Thomas H . Ruger , who was filling in for Brig . Gen . Alpheus S . Williams , temporarily in corps command . ) That morning , Confederate General Robert E . Lee ordered attacks on both ends of the Union line . Lt . Gen . James Longstreet attacked with his First Corps on the Union left ( Little Round Top , Devil ' s Den , the Wheatfield ) . Ewell and the Second Corps were assigned the mission of launching a simultaneous demonstration against the Union right , a minor attack that was intended to distract and pin down the Union defenders against Longstreet . Ewell was to exploit any success his demonstration might achieve by following up with a full - scale attack at his discretion . Ewell began his demonstration at 4 p . m . upon hearing the sound of Longstreet ' s guns to the south . For three hours , he chose to limit his demonstration to an artillery barrage from Benner ' s Hill , about a mile ( 1 , 600 m ) to the northeast . But despite this demonstration , Ewell did not hold the attention of Army of the Potomac commander , Maj . Gen . George G . Meade . Meade was occupied with the fierce fighting on his left flank and was scrambling to send as many reinforcements as possible . He ordered Slocum to send the XII Corps in support . It is unclear whether he ordered the entire corps or instructed Slocum to leave one brigade behind , but the latter is what Slocum did , and Greene ' s brigade was left with the sole responsibility for defending Culp ' s Hill . Greene extended his line to the right to cover part of the lower slope , but his 1 , 400 men would be dangerously overextended if a Confederate attack came . They were only able to form a single battle line , without reserves . Only three of the five brigades of Union troops that were dispatched from the hill saw combat . The remainder of Geary ' s division marched down the Baltimore Pike and missed a key right hand turn . By the time they realized where they were , the crisis on the Union left flank and center had subsided . Around 7 p . m . , as dusk began to fall , and the Confederate assaults on the Union left and center were slowing , Ewell chose to begin his main infantry assault . He sent three brigades ( 4 , 700 men ) from the division of Maj . Gen . Edward " Allegheny " Johnson across Rock Creek and up the eastern slope of Culp ' s Hill . The brigades were , from left to right , those of Brig . Gen . George H . Steuart , Col . Jesse M . Williams ( Nicholl ' s Brigade ) , and Brig . Gen . John M . Jones . The Stonewall Brigade , under Brig . Gen . James A . Walker , was occupied with Union cavalry on Brinkerhoff ' s Ridge to the rear . As the fighting started , Greene sent for reinforcements from the I Corps and XI Corps to his left . Wadsworth was able to send three regiments , and Maj . Gen . Oliver O . Howard on Cemetery Hill was able to send four — altogether 750 men , who served as Greene ' s reserve and help to restore dwindling supplies of ammunition . On the Confederate right flank , Jones ' s brigade of Virginians had the most difficult terrain to cross , the steepest part of Culp ' s Hill . As they scrambled through the woods and up the rocky slope , they were shocked at the strength of the Union breastworks on the crest . Their charges were beaten off with relative ease by the 60th New York , which suffered very few casualties . Confederate casualties were high , including General Jones , who was wounded and left the field . One of the New York officers wrote " without breastworks our line would have been swept away in an instant by the hailstorm of bullets and the flood of men . " In the center , Nicholls ' s Louisiana brigade had a similar experience to Jones ' s . The attackers were essentially invisible in the dark except for brief instances when they fired , but the defensive works were impressive , and the 78th and 102nd New York regiments suffered few casualties in a fight that lasted four hours . Steuart ' s regiments on the left occupied the empty breastworks on the lower hill and felt their way in the darkness toward Greene ' s right flank . The Union defenders waited nervously , watching as the flashes of the Confederate rifles drew near . But as they approached , Greene ' s men delivered a withering fire . The 3rd North Carolina " reeled and staggered like a drunken man . " Two regiments on Steuart ' s left , the 23rd and 10th Virginia , outflanked the works of the 137th New York . Like the fabled 20th Maine of Col . Joshua L . Chamberlain on Little Round Top earlier that afternoon , Col . David Ireland of the 137th New York found himself on the extreme end of the Union army , fending off a strong flanking attack . Under heavy pressure , the New Yorkers were forced back to occupy a traversing trench that Greene had engineered facing south . They essentially held their ground and protected the flank , but they lost almost a third of their men in doing so . Because of the darkness and Greene ' s brigade ' s heroic defense , Steuart ' s men did not realize that they had almost unlimited access to the main line of communication for the Union army , the Baltimore Pike , only 600 yards to their front . Ireland and his men prevented a huge disaster from befalling Meade ' s army , although they never received the publicity that their colleagues from Maine enjoyed . In the confusion of fighting in the dark , the 1st North Carolina , brought up from the reserves , fired on the Confederate 1st Maryland Battalion by mistake . ( In Gettysburg National Military Park , the monument to this battalion refers to the " 2nd Maryland " so that it would not be confused with the two Union regiments named 1st Maryland in Lockwood ' s brigade . ) During the heat of the fighting , the sound of battle reached II Corps commander Maj . Gen . Winfield Scott Hancock on Cemetery Ridge , who immediately sent additional reserve forces . The 71st Pennsylvania filed in to assist the 137th New York on Greene ' s right . By the time the rest of the XII Corps returned late that night , Confederate troops had occupied some of the Union defensive line on the southeastern slope of the hill , near Spangler ' s Spring . This caused considerable confusion as the Union troops stumbled in the dark to find enemy soldiers in the positions they had vacated . Gen . Williams did not want to continue this confused fight , so he ordered his men to occupy the open field in front of the woods and wait for daylight . And while Steuart ' s brigade maintained a fragile hold on the lower heights , Johnson ' s other two brigades were pulled off the hill , also to wait for daylight . Geary ' s men returned to reinforce Greene . Both sides prepared to attack at dawn . Third day . On July 3 , General Lee ' s plan was to renew his attacks by coordinating the action on Culp ' s Hill with another attack by Longstreet and A . P . Hill against Cemetery Ridge . Longstreet was not ready for an early attack , and the Union forces on Culp ' s Hill did not accommodate Lee by waiting . At dawn , five Union batteries opened fire on Steuart ' s brigade in the positions they had captured and kept them pinned down for 30 minutes before a planned attack by two of Geary ' s brigades . However , the Confederates beat them to the punch . An attempt by Lee to hold off the start of the fighting was fruitless . Ewell sent back a terse reply by messenger : " Too late to recall . " Fighting continued until late in the morning and consisted of three attacks by Johnson ' s men , each a failure . The attacks were essentially a replay of those the previous evening , although in daylight . Since the fighting had stopped the previous night , the XI Corps units had been reinforced by additional troops from the I Corps and VI Corps . Ewell had reinforced Johnson with additional brigades from the division of Maj . Gen . Robert E . Rodes , under Brig . Gens . Junius Daniel and William " Extra Billy " Smith and Col . Edward A . O ' Neal . These additional forces were insufficient to deal with the strong Union defensive positions . Greene repeated a tactic he had used the previous evening : he rotated regiments in and out of the breastworks while they reloaded , enabling them to keep up a high rate of fire . In the final of the three Confederate attacks , around 10 a . m . , Walker ' s Stonewall Brigade and Daniel ' s North Carolina brigade assaulted Greene from the east , while Steuart ' s brigade advanced over the open field toward the main hill against the brigades of Candy and Kane , which did not have the advantage of strong breastworks to fight behind . Nevertheless , both attacks were beaten back with heavy losses . The attacks against the heights were again fruitless , and superior use of artillery on the open fields to the south made the difference there . The 1st Maryland Potomac Home Brigade ( despite its name , a regiment of inexperienced recruits ) was badly shot up struggling for a stone wall crossing the open field parallel to the line of works . Geary replaced them with the 147th Pennsylvania of Candy ' s brigade , which charged successfully , giving the field the name " Pardee Field " after the Pennsylvanians ' Lt . Col . Ario Pardee , Jr . The end of the fighting came near noon , with a futile attack by two Union regiments near Spangler ' s Spring . General Slocum , observing from the distant Powers Hill , believing that the Confederates were faltering , ordered Ruger to retake the works they had captured . Ruger passed the order to Silas Colgrove ' s brigade , and it was misinterpreted to mean a direct frontal assault on the Confederate position . The two regiments selected for the assault , the 2nd Massachusetts and the 27th Indiana , consisted of a total of 650 men against the 1 , 000 Confederates behind the works with 100 yards of open field in front . When Lt . Col . Charles Mudge of the 2nd Massachusetts heard the order he insisted that the officer repeat it . He was then quoted as saying " Well , it is murder , but it ' s the order . " The two regiments attacked in sequence with the Massachusetts men in front , and they were both repelled with terrific losses : 43 % of the Massachusetts soldiers , 32 % of the Indianans . General Ruger spoke of the misconstrued order as " one of those unfortunate occurrences that will happen in the excitement of battle . " Despite receiving reinforcements and attempting his assaults again , Johnson was repulsed with terrible losses from one end of his line to the other . Colonel O ' Neal wrote that his brigade " charged time and again up to their works but were every time compelled to retire . Many gallant men were lost . " The losses at Culp ' s Hill included approximately 2 , 000 men in Johnson ' s division , nearly a third . An additional 800 fell from the reinforcing brigades on July 3 . The XII corps lost about 1 , 000 men over both days , including 300 men in Greene ' s brigade , or one fifth . Alpheus Williams summed up the futility of this fighting : " The wonder is that the rebels persisted so long in an attempt that the first half hour must have told them was useless . " One of the sad stories of the war involved the Culp family , owners of the hill . Two of Henry Culp ' s nephews were brothers : John Wesley Culp and William Culp . Wesley joined the Confederate States Army ( the 2nd Virginia Infantry ) and William the Union Army ( the 87th Pennsylvania Infantry ) . Wesley ' s regiment fought at Culp ' s Hill , and he was killed in the fighting on his family property on July 3 . Ironically , he allegedly was carrying a message from another soldier , a boyhood friend and Gettysburg native John Skelly , just deceased , to " Ginnie " Wade , the only civilian killed during the battle . ( His brother William was not present at Gettysburg and survived the war , however , William Culp seemed to have regarded his brother as a traitor , and never spoke of him again . ) Aftermath . Culp ' s Hill became a prime tourist attraction after the battle . It was close to the town and , unlike most battles in open fields , it was heavily wooded and the extreme firepower took a very visible toll on the trees , some of which were completely sheared off . Geary ' s division alone on July 3 reported that they expended 227 , 000 rounds . It took over twenty years before the scars of battle faded and nature reclaimed the breastworks . Today , Culp ' s Hill is unoccupied except for numerous monuments and an observation tower , all maintained by the U . S . National Park Service as part of the Gettysburg National Military Park .