Pausing to rest, Oates aligned his men and sent them crashing down the northern slope of Round Top into the saddle between the hills. Suddenly, what he described as a ‘heavy force’ of the enemy poured ‘a most destructive fire’ into his troops from the slope of Little Round Top–it was Chamberlain’s 20th Maine Regiment.

Oates had the advantage in numbers, 644 riflemen to 358 from Maine. He described the 15th Alabama as the’strongest and finest regiment in Hood’s division.’ His men were battle hardened and supremely confident, boasting they’d ‘never been whipped.’ When they attacked, they struck hard, ‘with an impetuosity which betrayed the anticipation of an easy triumph.’ They must have been tired, however, having marched 28 miles in the previous 24 hours to get to the battlefield. Oates himself was not a professional soldier, having only become colonel of the 15th Alabama in May 1863, but he was known as a fearless and aggressive leader.

The men of the 20th Maine, in contrast to the Alabamians, were not veteran troops, having had little battlefield experience. These men were also tired; they had marched 107 miles in the past five days, including 26 miles the previous day, to get to the battlefield. Their colonel had been a professor of religion and romance languages at Bowdoin College. However, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain sought to offset Oates’advantage with strength of position, better handling of his men, and iron determination. Chamberlain reported that every man who could carry a rifle, including ‘every pioneer and musician,’ was placed in the line. Two soldiers from the 2nd Maine Regiment being guarded by the 20th Maine Regiment while awaiting court-martial were also given rifles and willingly joined the battle line.

Chamberlain sent Company B, commanded by Captain Walter G. Morrill, out to the left as skirmishers to protect his flank. Cut off by the advancing Rebels, Morrill’s men hid behind a stone wall. There they were joined by 14 of Berdan’s Sharpshooters, who had previously been driven from in front of Round Top. This occurrence was subsequently to have important consequences.

The Alabama troops struck at 6 p.m., and the fighting immediately became intense. Oates later described the struggle: ‘I ordered my regiment to drive the Federals from the ledge of rocks, gain the enemy’s rear, and drive him from the hill. My men obeyed and advanced about half way to the enemy’s position, but the fire was so destructive that my line wavered like a man trying to walk against a strong wind, and then slowly, doggedly, gave back a little.’

Oates ordered another advance: ‘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 their bayonet.’ Another charge by the Alabama troops and the ‘20th Maine was driven back from the ledge but not farther than to the next ledge on the mountainside.’

Fighting was now at close quarters, so close that–for once–the fabled bayonet actually became a weapon instead of a mere threat. One 20th Maine private, emboldened or maddened by the fight, tried to grab the colors from the 15th Alabama’s color-bearer, John G. Archibald. As the Yankee made a sudden lunge for the flag, Sergeant Pat O’Connor coolly stepped forward and jabbed a bayonet into the Federal’s head.

The noise of battle, as might be imagined, was deafening. Captain James H. Ellison, commanding Company C, cupped his hand to his ear as Oates shouted an order. Then, in the process of executing the ordered maneuver, Ellison suddenly fell with a bullet through the head. He turned over onto his back, raised his arms, gave a shudder and died. The rest of the company, horrified by the sight, lost momentum and gathered around their fallen leader until Oates got them started forward again.

Another company commander, Captain Henry C. Brainard of Company G, fell among the rocky ledges of Little Round Top. His last words were, ‘O God, that I could see my mother!’

Even more grievous to Oates, on a personal level, was the loss of his younger brother John, who now succeeded to Brainard’s command. The younger Oates had been sick that day and had only reached the battlefield after his brother found him a horse to ride. Colonel Oates then came upon him Lying sick in a field and suggested that he could, with honor, remain behind the lines. ‘Brother, I will not do it,’ said John Oates. ‘If I were to remain here people would say that I did it through cowardice; no, sir, I am an officer and will never disgrace the uniform I wear; I shall go through, unless, I am killed, which I think is quite likely.’ John Oates fell dead, struck by several bullets, moments later.

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