[Footnote: The Union line was upon a fish-hook-shaped ridge about six miles long, with Culp's Hill at the barb, Cemetery Ridge along the side, and Little Round Top and Round Top, two eminences, at the eye. The Confederate line was on Seminary Ridge, at a distance of about a mile and a half. The Union troops lay behind rock ledges and stone walls, while the Confederates were largely hidden in the woods. In the valley between, were fields of grain and pastures where cattle were feeding all unconscious of the gathering storm.] _Second Day._--In the afternoon, Longstreet led the first grand charge against the Union left, in order to secure Little Round Top. General Sickles, by mistake, had here taken a position in front of Meade's intended line of battle. The Confederates, far out-flanking, swung around him, but as they reached the top of the hill they met a brigade which Warren had sent just in time to defeat this attempt. Sickles was, however, driven back to Cemetery Ridge, where he stood firm. Ewell, in an attack on the Federal right, succeeded in getting a position on Culp's Hill. [Footnote: Lee, encouraged by these successes, resolved to continue the fight. The Confederate victories, however, were only apparent. Sickles had been forced into a better position than at first, and the one which Meade had intended he should occupy; while Ewell was driven out of the Union works early the next morning.] _Third Day._--At one o'clock P. M., Lee suddenly opened on Cemetery Ridge with one hundred and fifty guns. For two hours the air was alive with shells. [Footnote: It is customary in battle to demoralize the enemy before a grand infantry charge, by concentrating upon the desired point a tremendous artillery fire.] Then the cannonade lulled, and out of the woods swept the Confederate double battle-line, over a mile long, and preceded by a cloud of skirmishers. A thrill of admiration ran along the Union ranks, as, silently and with disciplined steadiness, that magnificent column of eighteen thousand men moved up the slope of Cemetery Ridge. A hundred guns tore great gaps in their front. Infantry volleys smote their ranks. The line was broken, yet they pushed forward. They planted their battle-flags on the breastworks. They bayoneted the cannoneers at their guns. They fought, hand to hand, so close that the exploding powder scorched their clothes. Upon this struggling mass the Federals converged from every side. No human endurance could stand the storm. Out of that terrible fire whole companies rushed as prisoners into the Union lines, while the rest fled panic-stricken from the field. [Footnote: At the very moment when the last charge was being repulsed, Pemberton was negotiating for the surrender of Vicksburg to Grant. This was the turning point of the war. From that time the Confederacy began to wane.]