"Warren! I hear a little peppering going on in the direction of the little hill off yonder," spoke General Meade. "I wish that you would ride over and if anything serious is going on...attend to it." Lt. Washington A. Roebling, Warren's Aid and future builder of the Brooklyn Bridge, said that he recalled the request verbatim fifty years after the event.

Brigadier General Gouverneur K. Warren, was appointed the chief engineer of the Army of the Potomac at the beginning of the Gettysburg campaign by General Hooker. Little did either Warren or Meade realize at the time just how important the soft order that Meade had given Warren would be. When Warren arrived on the summit of Little Round Top he found it occupied with only signalmen. In the woods to his left he saw the glint of sunlight on the bayonets of the Confederate Army advancing through the trees. With all of his experience in his different commands he quickly realized the implication of this, should Little Round Top fall into hands of the Army of Northern Virginia the northern army's line on Cemetery Ridge would have to be abandoned.