Stay and Fight it Out: The Second Day at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, Culp’s Hill and the North End of the Battlefield

By Kristopher D. White and Chris Mackowski

July 1, 1863, was a disaster for the Union army’s XI Corps. Shattered in battle north of the Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg, the battered and embarrassed unit ended the day hunkered at the crest of a cemetery-topped hill south of the village. Reinforcements fortified the position, which extended eastward to include another key piece of high ground: Culp’s Hill. The Federal line also extended southward down Cemetery Ridge, forming what eventually came to resemble a long fishhook.

July 2 saw a massive Confederate attack against the southernmost part of the line. As the Southern juggernaut rolled inexorably northward, Federal troops shifted away from Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Hill to meet the threat. Just then, part of the Army of Northern Virginia’s vaunted Second Corps launched itself at the weakened Federal right. The very men who had broken the Union army the day before resolved to break it once again.

The ensuing struggle—every bit as desperate and with stakes every bit as high as the more famous fight at Little Round Top on the far end of the line—imperiled the entire Union position. “Stay and fight it out,” one Union general counseled his peers. The Confederates were all too willing to oblige.

Authors Kristopher D. White and Chris Mackowski started their Gettysburg account in Fight Like the Devil: The First Day at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863, and continued it in Don’t Give an Inch: The Second Day at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863—From Little Round Top to Cemetery Ridge. Picking up on the heels of its companion volume, Stay and Fight It Out: The Second Day at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863—Culp’s Hill and the Northern End of the Battlefield recounts the often-overlooked fight that secured the Union position and set the stage for the battle’s fateful final day.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Savas Beatie
• Release date: Oct 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9781611213324

Kristopher D. White

Kristopher D. White is the deputy director of education at the American Battlefield Trust and the co-founder of Emerging Civil War and the Emerging Civil War Series. White is a graduate of Norwich University with an M.A. in Military History and a graduate of California University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in History. For nearly five years, he served as a ranger-historian at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.

Book preview

Stay and Fight It Out

THE SECOND DAY AT GETTYSBURG JULY 2, 1863—CULP’S HILL AND THE NORTH END OF THE BATTLEFIELD

by Kristopher D. White and Chris Mackowski

Chris Mackowski, series editor

Cecily Nelson Zander, chief historian

The Emerging Civil War Series

offers compelling, easy-to-read overviews of some of the Civil War’s most important battles and issues.

Recipient of the Army Historical Foundation’s Lieutenant General Richard G. Trefry Award for contributions to the literature on the history of the U.S. Army

Other titles in the Emerging Civil War Series include:

Don’t Give an Inch: The Second Day at Gettysburg—From Little Round Top to Cemetery Ridge, July 2, 1863

by Chris Mackowski, Kristopher D. White, and Daniel T. Davis

Fight Like the Devil: The First Day at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863

by Chris Mackowski, Kristopher D. White, and Daniel T. Davis

Grant’s Last Battle: The Story Behind the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant

by Chris Mackowski

The Great Battle Never Fought: The Mine Run Campaign, November 26-December 2, 1863

by Chris Mackowski

Hell Itself: The Battle of the Wilderness, May 5-7, 1864

by Chris Mackowski

The Last Days of Stonewall Jackson: The Mortal Wounding of the Confederacy’s Greatest Icon

by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White

The Last Road North: A Guide to the Gettysburg Campaign, 1863

by Robert Orrison and Dan Welch

Lincoln Comes to Gettysburg: The Creation of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery

and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address by Bradley M. and Linda I. Gottfried

Out Flew the Sabres: The Battle of Brandy Station, June 9, 1863

by Eric J. Wittenberg and Daniel T. Davis

A Season of Slaughter: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, May 8-21, 1864

by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White

Simply Murder: The Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862

by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White

Strike Them a Blow: Battle Along the North Anna River, May 21-26, 1864

by Chris Mackowski

That Furious Struggle: Chancellorsville and the High Tide of the Confederacy, May 1-5, 1863

by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White

For a complete list of titles in the Emerging Civil War Series, visit www.emergingcivilwar.com

Stay and Fight It Out

THE SECOND DAY AT GETTYSBURG JULY 2, 1863—CULP’S HILL AND THE NORTH END OF THE BATTLEFIELD

by Kristopher D. White and Chris Mackowski

© 2023 Kristopher D. White and Chris Mackowski

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.

First edition, first printing

ISBN-13 (paperback): 978-1-61121-331-7

ISBN-13 (ebook): 978-1-61121-332-4

ISBN-13 (Mobi): 978-1-61121-332-4

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: White, Kristopher D., author. | Mackowski, Chris, author.

Title: Stay and fight it out : the second day at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, Culp’s Hill and the north end of the battlefield / by Kristopher D. White, and Chris Mackowski.

Other titles: Second day at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, Culp’s Hill and the north end of the battlefield

Description: El Dorado Hills, CA : Savas Beatie, [2023] | Series: [Emerging Civil War series] | Summary: Recounts the often-overlooked fight that secured the Union position and set the stage for the Gettysburg battle’s fateful final day-- Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2023014694 | ISBN 9781611213317 (paperback) | ISBN 9781611213324 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Gettysburg, Battle of, Gettysburg, Pa., 1863.

Classification: LCC E475.53 .W57 2023 | DDC 973.7/349--dc23/eng/20230404

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023014694

Published by

Savas Beatie LLC

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El Dorado Hills, California 95762

916-941-6896

[e-mail]

www.savasbeatie.com

Savas Beatie titles are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more details, you may e-mail us at [e-mail] or visit our website at www.savasbeatie.com for additional information.

Dedications

K

RIS

:

Patrick L. Larkin 1954-2017

Friend, mentor, husband, father, grandfather,

car aficionado, history lover, comrade in arms.

"The muffled drum’s sad roll has beat

The soldier’s last tattoo;

No more on life’s parade shall meet

That brave and fallen few.

On Fame’s eternal camping-ground

Their silent tents are spread,

And Glory guards, with solemn round,

The bivouac of the dead."

C

HRIS

:

To my beloved A.B.,

whom I adore

We jointly dedicate this book

to our friend and colleague

Daniel T. Davis

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword by David N. Duncan

Prologue

Chapter One: Ewell Takes the Field

Chapter Two: The Fight in the Town

Chapter Three: Benner’s Hill

Chapter Four: Crisis on the Federal Flanks

Chapter Five: Ewell Goes In

Chapter Six: The Assault on Culp’s Hill

Chapter Seven: The Fight for the Flank

Chapter Eight: The Assault on East Cemetery Hill

Chapter Nine: Tigers and Tar Heels

Chapter Ten: The Federals Rally

Conclusion: Stay and Fight It Out

Appendix A: Downtown Walking Tour

Appendix B: Culp’s Hill Driving Tour

Appendix C: Preserving Culp’s Hill by Wayne E. Motts

Appendix D: Early Art and Photography of Culp’s Hill and East Cemetery Hill by Garry Adelman

Order of Battle

Suggested Reading

About the Authors

List of Maps

Maps by Hal Jespersen

Evening Positions

Battle of Gettysburg, Lee’s Plan for July 2, 1863

Artillery Positions, Culp’s, Benner’s, and East Cemetery Hills

Brinkerhoff Ridge

12th Corps Positions, Pre-Assault

Culps’ Hill, Evening Assaults

Culp’s Hill, Night

Assault on East Cemetery Hill

Walking Tour

Driving Tour

Acknowledgments

This book was a long time in the works—far too long. Between new jobs, interstate moves, the birth of a son, the birth of a grandchild, promotions, the deaths of friends and loved ones—all, happily and sadly, slowed the progress of this work. To our readers and publisher, we apologize for these seen and unforeseen delays.

While the work may have taken more time than anticipated, the delay benefited the book. We’ve made new friends and contacts who pointed us in new directions, provided their vast expertise about Gettysburg, and opened their collections of photography to us.

For their contributions to this work, our thanks to David Duncan and Garry Adelman of the American Battlefield Trust. David’s introduction and Garry’s photo appendix are welcome additions. So was the appendix by Wayne Motts, president & CEO of the Gettysburg Foundation. The Foundation assisted the National Park Service with a landscape restoration of Culp’s Hill, and the work was game changing. Thanks to cartographer Hal Jespersen for another great set of maps.

(cm)

In Gettysburg, you can’t write a book without visiting the library and archives of Gettysburg National Military Park. The esteemed John Hoptak helped us to mine through their excellent collection. Thanks to Andrew Dalton, Tim Smith (of the East), and Maria Lynn of the Adams County Historical Society for access to their awesome (and overlooked) photography collection. To Doug Douds, Mary Koik, Eric Wittenberg, and Pete Miele: we are indebted to you for your wisdom and friendship. Thanks, too, to the Rev. Dr. Frederick Young, who opened the Trinity United Church of Christ (formerly Trinity German Lutheran Reformed Church) for a special look around.

At Savas Beatie, we thank, as always, publisher Theodore Savas. Our thanks to Sarah Keeney, Veronica Kane, and the entire staff for their assistance over the years.

Finally, to our friend, colleague, and early member of Emerging Civil War, Dan Davis: we thank you for your support of this project and for helping to pull the maps together. We dedicate this volume to you.

K

RIS

: As always, thanks to my family for their continued support of my projects. I am especially thankful to my wife, Sarah, and assistant, Mosby, for their patience and understanding. To Garry Adelman, the only person other than Chris Mackowski who’s listened to more of my droning about this project than anyone else—thank you. Thanks to the crew in Gettysburg: Garry, Tim Smith, Doug Douds, Jim Hessler, Carol Reardon, Charlie Fennell, Wayne Motts, Chris Gwinn, Matt Atkinson, Barb Sanders, John Hoptak, David Malgee, Andrew Dalton, Pete Miele, Codie Eash, all of whom have welcomed me into their fold with open arms. To those who are gone, but not forgotten: Gerald L. Kohl, Michael Pioneer Foley, Patrick L. Larkin, and my research assistant, Dobby. And a huge thanks to my co-author and best friend Chris Mackowski for his patience throughout the project. Chris performed yeoman’s work by whittling down a manuscript that far exceeded the word limit for this book. Without his hard work and dedication, the ECW Series would not exist today.

(cm)

C

HRIS

: Foremost, I thank Kris for his stubborn refusal to give up on a book that the Fates themselves seemed intent on stymying. Gettysburg has always been his Boo of battlefields, and I am glad to have helped him see this passion project to fruition. To the list of Gettysburg all-stars Kris previously mentioned (and they are wonderful folks, all), I’ll add a special thanks to Sue Boardman. Sue spent a day on the field with me in 2021, and her love for Culp’s Hill in particular shone through. I’ll also tip my hat to Dan Welch. My thanks to my dean, Aaron Chimbel, for his ongoing support of my writing. I also thank the Jandoli School of Communication at St. Bonaventure University as well as my colleagues in the university’s Office of Marketing and Communications. Finally, my thanks to my wife, Jenny Ann, and my children, Steph and her husband, Thomas (and my granddaughter, Sophie—the Pip!); Jackson; and Maxwell James. Family is everything.

P

HOTO

C

REDITS

: Adams County Historical Society (achs); Garry Adelman (ga); Gettysburg National Military Park (gnmp); Chris Mackowski (cm); Emerging Civil War Collection (ecw); Library of Congress (loc); National Archives and Records Administration (nara); National Park Service (nps); New York Public Library (nypl); Trinity United Church of Christ (tucc); Welty House (wh); Kris White Collection (kwc); Wikipedia Commons (wc)

For the Emerging Civil War Series

Theodore P. Savas, publisher

Chris Mackowski, series editor

Cecily Nelson Zander, chief historian

Sarah Keeney, editorial consultant

Kristopher D. White, co-founding editor

Maps by Hal Jespersen

Design and layout by Chris Mackowski

The first battlefield preservation at Gettysburg took place on Cemetery Hill. Today, a commemorative landscape on the hilltop offers a space to learn and to be inspired. (cm)

Foreword

BY

D

AVID

N. D

UNCAN

P

RESIDENT

, A

MERICAN

B

ATTLEFIELD

T

RUST

There are some places where the past seems less distant than others, where it almost feels possible to reach back across the decades and centuries. For me—and quite possibly for you, reading this volume—Gettysburg is one of those places.

I don’t say this because the town has been frozen in time, its streets populated with costumed interpreters at all times (although living history encampments are certainly easy to find, especially in the summer months). Rather, it’s because generations of passionate historians, amateur and professional, have devoted so much effort into cultivating what my friend, Trust Chief Historian Garry Adelman, calls windows to the past. They come in many different shapes and varieties, but all are mechanisms to make the past feel alive, vibrant and transformative.

These windows open when you see a historic photograph lined up perfectly against the modern scenery and when a guide reads words penned by participants. Or when you visit a battlefield at the right time of year— perhaps even on the actual anniversary—and are struck by how the crops must have looked the same to soldiers on the march. Touching the rough bark of a witness tree. Seeing the sunlight glinting through the wavy glass windows of a period structure. All these small moments, and many more, can shift our understanding of how we relate to the past. Knowing firsthand, in that moment, that physical, tangible traces remain bridges the gap anew.

During the rehabilitation work on Little Round Top in the early 2020s, crews uncovered unexploded ordnance from the battle during their work. There can be few reminders more powerful (literally!) that this place is the same, that it has been the fixture around which the years have swirled. It forces us to question what other undeniable links remain hidden on the field. Certainly, there are more shells and balls, breastplates, and buckles still undiscovered, all-too likely the remains of forgotten and unknown solders as well.

As divergent as these time-traveling experiences may be in their specific triggers, they are all grounded in the same thing: the Battlefield. Such experiences are virtually impossible to replicate when the strip malls and subdivisions have overrun the historic landscape. True, lost battlefields have their own power as cautionary tales, but they are not the kind of places that spark the imagination or launch middle schoolers into a lifelong love of history.

But Gettysburg—as well-documented, well-preserved and well-interpreted as it is—does that each and every day. With new and innovative ways that the host of history-minded organizations across the community— the American Battlefield Trust included—are constantly launching to help tell the battle’s story, the results grow only more powerful.

Given that the work of preserving this battlefield began within months of the fighting, I am keenly aware that the Trust is part of a great legacy, and we stand on the shoulders of those generations that came before us. If local residents like David McConaughy hadn’t begun setting aside portions of this field—first for a cemetery and then for the benefit of those who steadily began visiting to absorb its story—I am virtually certain that 160 years later, things would be very different.

The first acres of preserved battlefield at Gettysburg were atop East Cemetery Hill. In the months and years that followed, local preservationists saved parcels at Stevens Knoll and Culp’s Hill. There is, probably, no place on the Gettysburg battlefield which presents such strong attractions at Culp’s Hill … seminal Gettysburg historian John Bachelder wrote. [H]ere there is no mistaking the fact that some great and unusual event has occurred.

The American Battlefield Trust has continued the legacy started by local residents and the veterans themselves. Working with allied organizations, as of the spring of 2023, the Trust has set aside more than 1,200 acres associated with the battle of Gettysburg across all three days of fighting. Some are small parcels purchased outright and restored to their wartime appearance; others are large-scale conservation easements protecting still-active farmland. Together, these properties carry a total transaction value of more than $25 million and represent an investment from our generous donors in excess of $10 million.

By 1878, Gettysburg historian John Bachelder worried about the fate of the breastworks on Culp’s Hill, which had already begun to deteriorate. It is to be regretted, however, that greater efforts have not been made to preserve them, he wrote, and even now … would make the most appropriate mementoes and lasting monuments for the study of future generations. (loc)

In some instances, a single acquisition of ours has had a massive impact. The most obvious is, of course, our unprecedented campaign to purchase and restore the Mary Thompson House to its wartime appearance. Once the then-closed hotel, parking lot, and swimming pool were demolished, the area began to resemble what Robert E. Lee would have recognized as his headquarters. But we went further: ripping out post-war walls to reveal an original fireplace and installing a period-accurate cedar shingle roof and uncovering two long-two hidden basement windows. Guided by Alexander Gardner’s famous 1863 images of the house, we replicated the long-missing porch and, as a whimsical touch, a doghouse. On the grounds, we installed period fencing around a garden featuring medicinal herbs that would have been grown in the period and planted a 24-tree apple orchard. Now, we have a new window into the past, letting visitors all but step into those famous photographs.

Other instances of how our preservation work has impacted the visitor experience may be less dramatic, but no less meaningful. Our purchase of land along the Emmitsburg Road, once part of the Philip Snyder Farm, allowed for the removal of a modern house and has now yielded unobstructed views of Little Round Top. Land we acquired on Powers Hill in 2011, and subsequently transferred to the park, has been transformed by ongoing landscape restoration work undertaken by the National Park Service, allowing for the removal of trees and the opening of viewed in the area once described as artillery hell for the Confederates.

Former American Battlefield Trust President Jim Lighthizer’s goal was to purchase and restore Lee’s Headquarters to its 1863 appearance so that If Lee himself rode up on Traveller, he would think it was still 1863. The members and supporters of the Trust made this goal a reality, and the preservation and restoration of Lee’s Headquarters stands as one of the Trust’s greatest achievements. (cm)

The Culp’s Hill sector offers one of those windows to the past. In 2021, the Trust preserved a literal witness to the battle when we saved the historic James McKnight House along the Baltimore Pike, just behind the Federal lines, linking Stevens Knoll with East Cemetery Hill. In the coming years, land restoration at the McKnight property and Mulligan MacDuffers Adventure Golf complex, along with the removal of other non-historic structures along the