Longstreet, however, did not oppose the views of his commander to the extent of thwarting his purpose or weakening the plan adopted.  On the second of July the battle began in earnest about noon.  The Confederates advanced against the Union centre and left, and at a later hour a strenuous and partly successful attack was made on the Federal right.  But complete success was not attained by Lee in any part of the field.  About sundown the Confederates gained considerable advantage against Slocum, who held the line along Wolf Hill and Rock Creek; and on the Union left a terrible struggle occurred for the possession of Great and Little Round Top.  In this part of the field the fighting continued until six o’clock in the evening; but the critical positions still remained in the hands of the Federals.

In the centre the contest was waged for the mastery of Cemetery Hill, which was the key to the Union position.  Here were planted batteries with an aggregate of eighty guns, and here, though the assaults of the Confederates were desperate and long continued, the integrity of the Federal line was preserved till nightfall.  The fighting along a front of nearly five miles in extent continued in a desultory manner until about ten o’clock on the July night, when the firing for the most part ceased, leaving the two armies in virtually the same position which they had occupied the day before.

This signified, however, that thus far the advantage was on the Union side; for on that side the battle was defensive.  The Confederate army had come to a wall, and must break through or suffer defeat.  The burden of attack rested on the Confederate side; but General Lee did not flinch from the necessity.  In the darkness of night both he and the Union commanders made strenuous preparations for the renewal of the struggle on the morrow.

On the morning of the third both armies seemed loath to begin the conflict.  This phenomenon is nearly always witnessed in the case of really critical battles.  It was so at Waterloo, and so at Gettysburg.  It seems that in such crises the commanders, well aware of what is to come, wait awhile, as though each would permit the other to strike first.  As a matter of fact, the topmost crest of the Civil War had now been reached; and from this hour the one cause or the other must decline to the end.

The whole forenoon of the third of July was spent in preparations.  There was but little fighting, and that little was desultory.  At midday there seemed to be a lull along the whole line.  Just afterward, however, General Lee opened from Seminary Ridge with about one hundred guns, directing his fire against the Union centre on Cemetery Hill.  There the counter position was occupied by the American artillery of about equal strength, under command of General Hunt.  The cannonade burst out at one o’clock with terrific roar.  Nothing like it had ever before been seen or heard in the New World.  Nothing