"Controversial" Oates' Rock

[Gettysburg Greg]

Located about 20 yards behind the 20th Maine's right flank marker on Little Round Top is the controversial boulder known as Oates' Rock. Controversial for a number of reasons beginning with Colonel Oates claim that his 15th Alabama Brigade has broken the Union line at one point during the July 2nd fight and penetrated as far as this rock. Notice in my photo of the rock below you can see the Union line where the post-battle rock wall now stands. General Chamberlain held firm throughout his life that the Alabamians never broke his line. Oates also insisted that his brother had been mortally wounded near this rock receiving seven wounds before being dragged behind it for protection. And finally, the dispute continued into the 20th century as Oates petitioned the Gettysburg National Military park to erect a monument to the 15th Alabama at this spot. The Park commissioners and Chamberlain blocked the request, partly because of the disputed location and partly because monuments were typically placed where a unit's line started or held, not where they briefly penetrated.

 

[Aaron Vinson]

From Oates' book P. 218-19
"We drove the Federals from their strong defensive position ; five times they rallied and charged us , twice coming so near that some of my men had to use the bayonet , but in vain was their effort. It was our time now to deal death and destruction to a gallant foe , and the account was speedily settled. I led this charge and sprang upon the ledge of rock , using my pistol within musket length , when the rush of my men drove the Maine men from the ledge along the line now indicated by stone markers on the east end of Vincent's Spur. I have seen a statement from General Chamberlain that his right was not forced back beyond the point or angle of the rocky ledge , where the right marker of his regiment stands. My recollection is quite different. At this angle and to the southwest of it is where I lost the greatest number of my men. The Twentieth Maine was driven back from this ledge , but not farther than to the next ledge on the mountain - side. I recall a circumstance which I recollect. I , with my regiment , made a rush forward from the ledge . About forty steps up the slope there is a large boulder about midway the Spur. The Maine regiment charged my line , coming right up in a hand - to - hand encounter. My regimental colors were just a step or two to the right of that boulder , and I was within ten feet. A Maine man reached to grasp the staff of the colors when Ensign Archibald stepped back and Sergeant Pat O'Connor stove his bayonet through the head of the Yankee , who fell dead. I witnessed that incident , which impressed me beyond the point of being forgotten. There never were harder fighters than the Twentieth Maine men and their gallant Colonel. His skill and persistency and the great bravery of his men saved Little Round Top and the Army of the Potomac from defeat. Great events sometimes turn on comparatively small affairs. My position rapidly became untenable."

 

[rpkennedy]

I can see two possibilities as to how this went. The first scenario is that the 20th Maine's line ebbed and flowed back and forth with the fluidity of the combat. There are accounts that stated that there were times that the two wings were almost back-to-back and I could see a small group of Confederates make it as far as the Oates rock before the Federal left whipped back to it's position, leaving a mortally wounded John Oates behind the line.

The other scenario is that there was a small break in the line due to casualties that allowed Lt. Oates to penetrate the position before the left wing reformed and cut him off.

IMO, I tend to think that the first scenario is more likely but I don't discount that it very well could be a combination of both as well.

Ryan

 

[RedRover]

I can see two possibilities as to how this went. The first scenario is that the 20th Maine's line ebbed and flowed back and forth with the fluidity of the combat. There are accounts that stated that there were times that the two wings were almost back-to-back and I could see a small group of Confederates make it as far as the Oates rock before the Federal left whipped back to it's position, leaving a mortally wounded John Oates behind the line.

The other scenario is that there was a small break in the line due to casualties that allowed Lt. Oates to penetrate the position before the left wing reformed and cut him off.

IMO, I tend to think that the first scenario is more likely but I don't discount that it very well could be a combination of both as well.

Ryan

The first is pretty much what Colonel Chamberlain describes, that his men were in extended order. That at several points Confederates came reached and penetrated his line. That his men rallied behind their line, and advanced again to it, etc. etc.

Chamberlain says it all... the tactics employed were "wild rush and desperation." The troops were not formed in parade ground order, and they didn't go out of their way to expose themselves. As Chamberlain mentions, the "edge" of battle moving to and fro, over the casualties) as the men of the two sides did their best to kill each other, and hold or take the contested position.


"Squads of the enemy broke through our line in several places, and the fight was literally hand to hand. The edge of the fight rolled backward and forward like a wave. The dead and wounded were now in our front and then in our rear. Forced from our position, we desperately recovered it, and pushed the enemy down to the foot of the slope. The intervals of the struggle were seized to remove our wounded (and those of the enemy also), to gather ammunition from the cartridge-boxes of disabled friend or foe on the field, and even to secure better muskets than the Enfields, which we found did not stand service well. Rude shelters were thrown up of the loose rocks that covered the ground."

In this fighting, there were times the two forces mingled or intermixed to some degree: "the two lines met, and broke, and mingled amidst the shock." With Chamberlain himself "at times" seeing about him more enemy than friendly soldiers...

Chamberlain reported:

"Three times our line was forced back, but only to rally and repulse the enemy. As often as the enemy's line was broken and routed, a new line was unmasked..."

It is interesting to note both Chamberlain and Oates claimed that as they repulsed each other, they both assumed the new attacks directed on them were reinforcements, rather than each regiment in turn rapidly reorganizing to advance again and again over the "contested ground" over which Chamberlain reported, "the edge of the conflict swayed to and fro--now one and now the other party holding the contested ground..."

Captain Prince of the 20th Maine confirms...

Colonel Chamberlain reported that at the time his regiment made its final bayonet charge, to secure its position, etc., the ranks were "shattered" and he got the "groups" to charge downhill with the bayonet...

I see that in a letter to one of his senior officers (Letter to Gen. Barnes) Colonel Chamberlain noted that at the time of this charge, the men of his "shattered line" were directed to take five pace intervals, in reforming, viz. "ordered 'bayonets fixed,' and 'forward' at a run" and that "I directed the whole Regiment to take intervals at 5 paces by the left flank, & change direction to the right, all this without checking our speed … while the left [wing] swept around …"

in one of his more straightforward accounts, Ellis Spear relates that at the time of the charge, the some of the 15th Alabama were principally "concealed" by the rocks, and the 20th Maines' dead were within the Confederates' lines...

"At one time our dead were within the advanced lines of the enemy; but just at this critical moment, in the hottest part of the fight, when it was perhaps uncertain whether we should hold the place assigned us or be driven back, the Colonel ordered a charge!
Nothing could have been more opportune. It saved the regiment perhaps from defeat and certainly gave it all the success which was gained. The men[,] encouraged by the order, rushed down over the slope with yells and so quickly that the rebels who were concealed amongst the rocks nearest us had no time to escape."