Gettysburg Part II: The Fight North of the Pike© Michael J. Swogger
Mar 5, 2001
It was 11:30 when reinforcements on both sides were approaching the field, but Major General Oliver Otis Howard, commander of the Union XI Corps, arrived on the scene. Taking command of all Federal forces in the area, he immediately set up headquarters on East Cemetery Hill near the Evergreen Cemetery. Howard scribbled an order to Doubleday to continue the fight and hold the heights west of town. He then ordered Carl Schurz, new commander of the XI Corps, to position his units north of town and to the right of Doubleday, leaving two brigades of Adolph von Steinwehr under Charles Coster and Orland Smith on Cemetery Hill to hold it as a rallying point for the eventual retreat.
To the west of town, the Federals were positioning troops to reinforce the already established line south of the Chambersburg Pike as well as extend it to the Mummasburg Road. Thomas Rowley's Third Division of the I Corps, moving in from Emmitsburg, positioned Col. Chapman Biddle's First Brigade of 1,300 men on the left flank of the Union line next to Meredith's Iron Brigade. Col. Roy Stone's 1,300 Buck-tails were positioned to the right of Meredith between McPherson's Woods and the railroad cut in place of Cutler. Cutler was then repositioned to the east on Seminary Ridge north of the Pike. These Federal troops were positioned to face the renewed Confederate assault that was sure to come from the approaching troops in A.P. Hill's Corps, Heth's division. Heth's First Brigade under Brigadier General James J. Pettigrew, numbering 2,500 strong, and his Second Brigade commanded by Col. John Brockenbrough (a meager 971 troops) were approaching the southern end of the Union line. But near the railroad cut Stone would have to content first with Confederate units approaching from the north. These men were of General Robert Rodes' strong division of nearly 8,000. The division was emerging from Oak Hill and from the fields to its east. Rodes deployed his brigades in the following order from his left to right: George Doles' 1,300 east of Oak Hill in the fields north of town; A.S. O'Neal's 1,600 on the eastern slope and crest of Oak Hill; Alfred Iverson's 1,400 on Oak Hill itself; Junius Daniel's 2,100 in the fields along McPherson's Ridge facing the railroad cut and Stone's brigade. Stephen Ramseur's brigade of just over 1,000 men was held in reserve. Opposing Rodes were the recently deployed troops of General John C. Robinson's division. The first brigade to arrive was that of Brigadier General Henry Baxter, whose unit comprised about 1,200 troops. He was positioned along the Mummasburg Road, with the right side of his line refused parallel to the road facing north and the left side angled west to meet the threat of Iverson. The brigade of Brig. General Gabriel Paul, 1,500, would arrive once the fighting had begun.
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