Meanwhile, Meade was feeding troops into his line as fast as they arrived on the battlefield. He was concerned about the Union left flank and sent his chief of engineers, Brig. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren, to Little Round Top to assess the situation. Warren arrived at 3:30 p.m. and–to his utter surprise–found the hill undefended. Recognizing a disaster in the making, he frantically sent riders to Meade and Sickles commanding the adjacent III Corps, requesting immediate assistance. Sickles, whose troops were already hotly engaged, replied that he had none to spare. Fortuitously, Colonel Strong Vincent, who commanded the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Division, V Corps, intercepted one of the messages for help. He immediately recognized the strategic importance of the hill and led the 1,350 men of his brigade at the “double quick” to Little Round Top. Vincent positioned the four regiments of his brigade–the 20th Maine, 83rd Pennsylvania, 44th New York and 16th Michigan–along the southern and western slope facing the oncoming Rebels. His last words to the 389 men of the 20th Maine were: “This is the left end of the Union line. You understand? You are to hold this ground at all costs!”

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Advancing against them were the 15th Alabama Regiment and seven companies of the 47th Alabama Regiment, under the command of Colonel William C. Oates. He had been ordered to “pass up between the Round Tops, find the Union left, turn it and capture Little Round [Top].” His men were drawn to their right by fire from a detachment of Major Homer R. Staughton’s 2nd U.S. (Berdan’s) Sharpshooters at the base of Round Top. Pushing them back, the Alabama regiments drove to the top of Round Top.

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.”

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