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>> We're standing now on Warfield Ridge, at Auto Tour Stop Seven on the Gettysburg Battlefield,
and you're looking east, towards the Union position on July 2, 1863.
And from here, we can see two hills
that will play a really big role in the story of the battle.
On the right, covered with trees, is Big Round Top, and just to the left or north,
the hill with the rocky summit, that's Little Round Top,
and we'll talk about both those hills a little bit later in our tour.
On this spot, on July 2, 1863, at about 3:00 was positioned a brigade of Alabamians,
led by a young officer named Evander Law.
Evander Law and his Alabamians actually began the day well over 20 miles away.
They had to make a forced march through the night,
just to arrive on the Gettysburg battlefield, and then just to get to this position,
they had to participate in Longstreet's march to the point of the attack.
By the time these men get here, they're physically exhausted.
Most of them have had no real rest, very little food, and a lot of men don't even have water.
Colonel William C. Oates, who commands the 15th Alabama,
which would have been positioned not far from where we're standing right now,
wanted his men to have full canteens before they went into action.
So, he detailed a little over 20 men to round up everyone's canteens and go off in search
of water, so at least his men had some water before they saw battle.
Well, no sooner did these 20 men disappear with everyone's canteens, then Evander Law
and his brigade, including the 15th Alabama, will be ordered forward,
across the fields behind me, towards Big and Little Round Top.
And now these men, exhausted, having marched well over 20 miles, up all night,
are going into the fight not only without water, but without the ability
to carry water should they come across it.
And these Alabamians will have to confront some of the most difficult terrain
on the entire Gettysburg Battlefield.
They'll be involved in the fighting on that rocky hill, Little Round Top,
and a jumble pile of boulders at the base, called Devil's Den.
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The state of Alabama commemorates the men of Law's Brigade and other Alabamians who fought
in this battlefield by the Alabama Memorial, which prominently sits
at Auto Tour Stop Seven today, still looking off in the direction that those men marched
and advanced across on July 2, 1863.
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