against Round Top. Farnsworth
then turned and leaping another fence in a storm of shot and shell,
made a gallant attempt to capture Backman's battery, but was unable
to do so, as it was promptly supported by the 9th Georgia regiment
of Anderson's brigade. Farnsworth was killed in this charge, and
the 1st Vermont found itself enclosed in a field, with high fences
on all sides, behind which masses of infantry were constantly rising
up and firing. The regiment was all broken up and forced to retire
in detachments. Kilpatrick after fighting some time longer without
making much progress, fell back on account of the constant
reinforcements that were augmenting the force opposed to him.
Although he had not succeeded in capturing the ammunition train,
he had made a valuable diversion on the left, which doubtless
prevented the enemy from assailing Round Top with vigor, or detaching
a force to aid Pickett.

The Confederate General Benning states that the prompt action of
General Law in posting the artillery in the road and the 7th and
9th Georgia regiments on each side, was all that saved the train
from capture. "There was nothing else to save it." He also says
that two-thirds of Pickett's command were killed, wounded, or
captured. Every brigade commander and every field officer except
one fell. Lee and Longstreet had seen from the edge of the woods,
with great exultation, the blue flag of Virginia waving over the
crest occupied by the Union troops. It seemed the harbinger of
great success to Lee. He thought the Union army was conquered at
last. The long struggle was over, and peace would soon come,
accompanied by the acknowledgment of the independence of the Southern
Confederacy. It was but a passing dream; the flag receded, and
soon the plain was covered with fugitives making their way to the
rear. Then, anticipating an immediate pursuit, he used every effort
to rally men and officers, and made strenuous efforts to get his
artillery in position to be effective.

The Confederate General A. R. Wright criticises this attack and
very justly says, "The difficulty was not so much in reaching
Cemetery Ridge or taking it. My brigade did so on the afternoon
of the 2d, but the trouble was to hold it, for the whole Federal
army was massed in a sort of horse shoe, and could rapidly reinforce
the point to any extent; while the long enveloping Confederate line
could not support promptly enough." This agrees with what I have