The bodies of Confederate soldiers killed by Union troops were scattered in an area called the "Slaughter Pen" in the vicinity of Little Round Top during the American Civil War Battle of Gettysburg. Four Confederate soldiers had been killed in action in the hills near Gettysburg.
Little Round Top is the smaller of the two rocky hills south of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It is the cousin of an adjacent tall hill named Big Round Top. Both the Union and Confederate armies kept up a strong barrage of fire, with repeated assaults and counter assaults. It was the site of a failed Confederate attack on the Union left flank on July 2, 1863, the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War.
The Battle of Little Round Top was successfully defended by Union troops. The colonel was mortally wounded during the battle and died five days later. The Union Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment, commanded by Chamberlain, fought a bloody battle against the Confederates. Depleted of ammunition and ordered to counterattack with fixed bayonets, they came down from their dramatic descent and charged the Confederates with bayonets, forcing the confused Confederates to surrender from Little Round Top. The Union battle that maintained Little Round Top became one of the most important engagements of the entire Civil War during the Battle of Gettysburg. The Confederate army crushed the already deflated Union army, and the possibility of pushing the Union government to the Civil War peace negotiating table disappeared.
Of the approximately 2,996 men who had served with the Union Army at Little Round Top, about 134 were killed in action, about 402 were wounded, and about 29 were missing. Of the approximately 4,864 Confederate casualties, about 279 were killed in action, about 868 were wounded, and 219 were missing.
