Gettysburg Live 150 – 4:30am – Culp’s Hill Fighting Resumes

Federal artillery on Powers Hill and along the Baltimore Pike, opened fire on the Confederates occupying the lower portion of Culp’s Hill, 150 years ago right now.

During the night, both sides had reinforced their lines, though the Union boys were in a much better position. For the next 6 hours, fighting would rage all along the wooded hillside. It was too loud to effectively convey orders to the men. Thick black powder smoke added to the pre-dawn darkness to create a throughly confusing situation – especially for the attacking Confederates.

The southerners made a few more attempts to take the hill, and were repulsed each time. There was even some Maryland on Maryland fighting (complete with a few cousins fighting each other) – the only instance of a State having men on both sides of a fight at Gettysburg.

In the end, the Rebels couldn’t take any more ground, and the Yankees couldn’t completely drive them off. Both lines essentially returned to their original positions by about 10:30am.