THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

Through the first two days of the battle, Confederates pushed Union forces onto two hilltop positions -- Cemetery Ridge and Culp's Hill -- but failed to dislodge them. On July 3, Robert E. Lee mounted yet another assault, the ill-fated Pickett's Charge. This is where the 28th Virginia lost its battle flag to the 1st Minnesota.

(1.) For two hours, Lee's artillery pounds Union positions on Cemetery Ridge. Then Lee sends 13,000 Confederate infantrymen charging up the hill. The 28th Virginia is near the front of the rebel attack.

(2.) The Confederates reach a stone wall. John A.I. Lee, of the 28th Virginia, leaps onto the wall and waves his company's battleflag. The Union soldiers fall back in retreat.

(3.) The Confederates grapple in hand-to-hand combat with the Union soldiers at a spot known as "the copse of trees." Union units, including the remnants of the 1st Minnesota, are rushed to the scene. John A.I. Lee loses the flag and Marshall Sherman of the 1st Minnesota claims it.

The Union forces repulse the Confederates, who suffer heavy losses. The next day, Robert E. Lee withdraws toward Virginia. Confederates spend the rest of the war on the defensive.