Frenzel, 5and they were ready for a fight. As Reynolds went to asset the situation, he was shot dead by a Confederate sharpshooter. Command was passed temporarily to Major General Abner Doubleday. The Federal Corps I was so badly hurt that it was never able to perform as a unit again and was broken up in the following winter (Bellah 12).Major General Robert Rodes's division of Ewell's II Corps was heading toward the federals right flank.Major General Oliver Otis Howard(U.S.A.) took command over Doubleday by seniority and brought troops to meet Rodes's troops. Major General Jubal Early and his men of Ewell's II Corps came at the precise moment to attack Howard's exposed right flank. Lee had rode to the field headquarters of Hill. Lee concluded that the battle must not go any farther at this moment. Not even half of his army was present and he had no idea where Meade's army was.Yet Early's division had caught the Federals right flank, Ewell's division was not far away, and Longstreet's troops were on their way and would be there in a few hours.(Foote 243) Lee had a decisive victory on his hands and he now took advantage of it. The Federals had begun to retreat from Seminary Ridge and ran through the battered town of Gettysburg. They made a stand with Howard's men along Cemetery Hill. The messengers that Reynolds sent before his death finally reach Meade. Meade rushed Major General Winfield Hancock to assume general command. Hancock had a dispute over command with Howard who outranked him. Yet Hancock took the battered Federal divisions and Frenzel, 6 positioned they the best that he could. He sent word to Meade that Gettysburg would be a suitable place to fight (Tucker 12-17). The most disputed question about the battle Of Gettysburg is: Why did Ewell not follow up the fighting with a sweep of the ...
