Reports of Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, U.S. Army, commanding Second Army Corps
Having been directed by General Meade to send a division to the assistance of the Third Corps, with orders to report to General Sykes, commanding Fifth Corps, the First Division, under Brigadier-General Caldwell, was dispatched to the scene of conflict. The division was assigned to its position by one of Major-General Sykes' staff officers. As soon as it could form line of battle, the division advanced, the left along the foot of Round Top Mountain, and drove the enemy steadily before it until, from the want of any connection on its right, the right flank of the division was turned by a column of the enemy, which had passed unobserved at a considerable distance to its right and almost to its rear, where it formed line of battle and soon forced the division to retire, with a loss of nearly half its numbers.
Three out of four of the brigade commanders were disabled, Brigadier-General Zook, a gallant officer, being killed early in the action; Col. E. E. Cross, Fifth New Hampshire Volunteers, commanding First Brigade, whose intrepid bearing had been so often exhibited on the battle-field, was mortally, and Col. J. R. Brooke, Fifty-third Pennsylvania, commanding Fourth Brigade, slightly, wounded.
The orders of General Meade were that this division should return to its original position after being relieved by the Fifth Corps. It was reformed some distance in rear of the line of battle, but did not return until after dark, when I ordered it to the position it held in the morning.
The Third Corps having advanced far beyond the original line of battle, and Caldwell's division having been detached, a large interval remained on the left of the Second Division without troops. To remedy this in part, General Gibbon extended his line to the left by adding to it his reserve brigade. The right of the Third Corps rested near the brick house, near the Emmitsburg road, a considerable distance in front of Gibbon's division, the general direction of the line being parallel to that road. To strengthen the point between the right of the Third Corps and his left, General Gibbon sent two regiments of General Harrow's brigade (the Fifteenth Massachusetts, Col. G. H. Ward, and the Eighty-second New York Volunteers, Colonel Huston) to occupy a crest on the right of the brick house, which position was considerably strengthened by a slight breastwork of such materials as the adjoining fences afforded. Brown's battery (B, First Rhode Island) occupied a position in rear and somewhat to the left of these two regiments.
Owing to the advanced position of the Third Corps, a very considerable gap was made between its left and the right of the Fifth Corps, through which the column of the enemy which turned the right flank of Caldwell's division appears to have passed.
About this time, General Meade informed me that General Sickles had been wounded, and directed me to assume command of the Third Corps in addition to that of my own. By this arrangement, the immediate command of the Second Corps devolved again upon General Gibbon, and that of the Third upon General Birney.
I had just before received an order from General Meade to send a brigade to the assistance of General Birney (whose division had occupied the extreme left of Sickles' corps), and to send two regiments to General Humphreys, who commanded the right of that corps. I immediately led the brigade (Third Brigade, Third Division, under Colonel Willard) intended for General Birney toward the left of the original line of battle of the Third Corps, and was about proceeding with it to the front, when I encountered General Birney, who informed me that his troops had all been driven to the rear, and had left the position to which I was moving.
General Birney proceeded to the rear to collect his command. General Humphreys small command yet remained in position. The force which had turned General Caldwell's right and driven the left of the Third Corps now approached the line of battle as originally established. Humphreys' command was forced back, contesting the ground stubbornly.
The two regiments sent from the Second Division to General Humphreys' assistance (Nineteenth Massachusetts, Colonel Devereux, and Forty-second New York, Colonel Mallon, both under command of Colonel Mallon) had not arrived on the ground, though under musketry fire, when, observing that General Humphreys' command was rapidly retiring, they formed line of battle, delivered a few volleys at the advancing enemy, and themselves retired in good order to their position in line in the Second Corps, having suffered a heavy loss. The enemy pushed them so closely that a number of prisoners were captured by these regiments.
The two regiments and battery referred to above as having been advanced by General Gibbon to the vicinity of the brick house did excellent service in protecting the flank of General Humphreys' command and in preventing it from being cut off from the line of battle. The enemy's attack being on their flank, the two regiments were, however, forced to retire, having met with heavy losses, Colonels Ward and Huston both being killed. One gun of the battery they had supported, and which was served to the last by the cannoneers, fell into the hands of the enemy temporarily.
I directed General Humphreys to form his command on the ground from which General Caldwell had moved to the support of the Third Corps, which was promptly done. The number of his troops collected was, however, very small, scarcely equal to an ordinary battalion, but with many colors, this small command being composed of the fragments of many shattered regiments. Three guns of one of its batteries had been left on the field, owing to the losses of horses' and men. I established Colonel Willard's brigade at the point through which General Birney's division had retired, and fronting the approach of the enemy, who were pressing vigorously on. There were no other troops on its right or left, and the brigade soon became engaged, losing its commander, Colonel Willard, and many officers and men.
At this juncture, re-enforcements, for which I had previously sent to General Meade by a staff officer, consisting of a part of General Newton's corps (Doubleday's division and the remnant of Robinson's), arrived, established themselves on the line, meeting the enemy at once, and doing good execution.
Proceeding along the line, I met a regiment of the enemy, the head of whose column was about passing through an unprotected interval in our line. A fringe of undergrowth in front of the line offered facilities for it to approach very close to our lines without being observed. It was advancing firing, and had already twice wounded my aide, Captain Miller. The First Minnesota Regiment coming up at this moment, charged the rebel regiment in handsome style, capturing its colors, and driving it back in disorder.
I cannot speak too highly of this regiment and its commander in its attack, as well as in its subsequent advance against the enemy, in which it lost three-fourths of the officers and men engaged. One of the regiments of the Vermont Brigade afterward advanced upon its right, and retook the guns of one of the reserve batteries, from which the cannoneers and supports had been driven.
The enemy was now attacking our whole front at different points. On the right advancing from the direction of the brick house on the Emmitsburg road toward Gibbon's division, where he was promptly checked and driven from that portion of Brown's battery temporarily captured. In this last operation the Nineteenth Maine, Col. F. E. Heath commanding, bore a conspicuous part.
On the left of the Second Corps, the line being still incomplete, and intervals existing through which the enemy approached our line of battle, General Meade brought up in person a part of the Twelfth Corps, consisting of two regiments of Lockwood's brigade, under Brig. Gen. H. H. Lockwood, which formed line, and advanced against the enemy, then closely engaged with us, and he was soon driven from the field. By the advance of these regiments, the artillery which had been left on the field in the Third Corps line was recaptured from the enemy. Humphreys' division participated in this advance and in the recapture of its guns.
Brigadier-General Barksdale, of the rebel service, was left on the field, mortally wounded.
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