Gazing out through the trees and smoke, the Union officer knew that his weary fighters were in trouble and that the next Confederate attack would likely overwhelm his outnumbered command. What to do? He could not stay put. Retreat was unthinkable. A desperate charge seemed the only choice. Quickly, word was passed down the line: Fix bayonets and attack on command.

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A final glance told him all was ready. With a great roar, the men rose and charged the enemy. Startled, the onrushing Confederates fired a scattered volley and broke. Those who fought back were either killed or captured. The daring attack by the soldiers of the 20th Maine Infantry Regiment was a stunning success.

Was it Colonel Joshua Chamberlain defending Little Round Top at Gettysburg? No, it was Lieutenant Holman Melcher leading a charge by Company F of the 20th Maine during the confused fighting in the Wilderness on May 5, 1864 — just one example of the heroism that the saviors of Little Round Top repeatedly displayed long after the smoke had cleared from the battlefield at Gettysburg.

Five regiments did the hard fighting that saved Little Round Top for the Union: the 20th Maine, 83rd Pennsylvania, 44th New York, 16th Michigan and 140th New York. The first four made up Colonel Strong Vincent’s brigade in the V Corps’ 1st Division. The final unit was from Brig. Gen. Stephen Weed’s brigade in the V Corps’ 2nd Division, which arrived in the nick of time to help in the Round Top fight due to the initiative of its commander, Colonel Patrick O’Rourke, and the army’s chief engineer, Brig. Gen. Gouverneur Warren. Collectively, the units came to be called the ‘Little Round Top Regiments.

The critical role the regiments played at Gettysburg has garnered them much attention, but the story of the Little Round Top Regiments does not end there. The same men fought in all the major battles leading up to General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, Va., on April 9, 1865. Four of the five units made it to Appomattox under their original regimental designations. Re-enlisting veterans from the fifth unit, the 44th New York, were assimilated into the 140th and the 146th New York and marched into Appomattox under the flags of those regiments.

The Little Round Top Regiments brought their own unique identities to Gettysburg. Three of the five, the 83rd Pennsylvania, 44th New York and 16th Michigan, had been formed in September 1861, and they participated in all the subsequent major battles of the Eastern theater.

A well-drilled unit, the men of the 83rd Pennsylvania wore special French chasseur uniforms (each topped off by a tall shako sporting a green plume) awarded them by Maj. Gen. Fitz-John Porter in recognition of their marching precision. The 44th New York members were called Ellsworth’s Avengers in honor of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, who was killed hauling down a Rebel flag in Alexandria, Va., early in the war. Every ward in New York contributed men to this regiment. Recruits had to be at least 5 feet 8 inches tall, single, under 30 and of good moral character. The New Yorkers developed a strong bond with the 83rd Pennsylvania after the Keystone troops shared dinner with the Avengers, who arrived in camp after a long march without provisions. They became known as the Butterfield Twins after their brigade commander, Brig. Gen. Dan Butterfield.

The final veteran Little Round Top Regiment was the 16th Michigan. Recruited from the Detroit area, the hard-fighting unit had just 263 soldiers by the time it climbed Little Round Top (the other Little Round Top Regiments went into Gettysburg averaging 380 men each).

By contrast, the 20th Maine and the 140th New York were relatively green outfits. The 140th New York, nicknamed the Rochester Racehorses, suffered its first battle casualties at Chancellorsville, two dead and six wounded. Quarantined behind the lines with a smallpox epidemic, the 20th Maine missed that battle entirely. The regiment had seen action at Fredericksburg and against some of Lee’s rear guard covering the Confederate retreat from Antietam.

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