Day 2 at Gettysburg: The Union Line Holds at Little Round Top
Jesse Greenspan
For three days in July 1863, Union and Confederate forces clash at Gettysburg in one of the most pivotal battles of the Civil War.
Even as it piled up victories in the West, the Union army struggled mightily in the East in 1862 and early 1863, losing the Seven Days’ Battles, Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville and drawing at Antietam. History appeared to be repeating itself when the Battle of Gettysburg broke out on July 1, 1863, as Union forces were driven through the town of Gettysburg into some hills just to the south. That evening Robert E. Lee’s second-in-command, General James Longstreet, advised against further engagement, preferring instead to maneuver between the Union army and Washington, D.C. “The enemy is there, and I am going to attack him there,†Lee purportedly responded. Although experts disagree about his objectives, Lee may have hoped for a knockout blow to end the war.
https://www.history.com/news/day-2-at-gettysburg-the-union-line-holds-at-little-round-top
