Regardless of his misgivings of Lee's countering his decisions, Longstreet was handed the task to attack on Meade's fishhook line on the left flank. Although Lee aimed to start the battle early in the morning or at least before noon, Longstreet and his men were not into their positions until 4:00 P.M. His men were also faced with a time consuming march after they saw a Union signal station on the 650 foot high Little Round Top.
In the following few hours, the battle's most fierce fighting is brought to the boiling point at Devil's Den, The Wheatfield and the Peach Orchard. General Meade ordered General Sickles to defend the hills of Little Round Top and Round Top which were on the extreme Union's left flank. However, Sickles pushed his men beyond his assigned orders and took positions on an exposed salient at Peach Orchard. No sooner had he done this, that Confederate General Longstreet drove them back in total confusion and disarray. Consequently, Sickles had lost almost half of his men and he was struck by a cannonball in the leg. The Union line almost…show more content… The first of the battle begins here when Confederate Anderson's brigade of Hood' division came through Rose's Woods and into the Wheatfield not knowing that the Union lines had changed. Consequently, the brigade ran head first into the Unions III Corp's 17th Maine regiment which was spread out over Stony Hill and Houck's Ridge. The Union's 17th regiment were behind a low stone wall and made a strong stand on the advancing Confederates. Furthermore, by late afternoon Stony Hill was reinforced by two more brigades from the Union, Brigadier General James Barnes, Col. William Tilton and Col. Sweitzer. Their troops were fighting against Confederate Brigadier General Joseph Kershaw and his South Carolina brigade under Major General
