Robert E. Lee didn't just walk into Pennsylvania with a vague idea of who was in charge. He brought the Army of Northern Virginia. It was a massive, clanking machine of men, horses, and iron. If you want to understand why the South lost—or how they nearly won—you have to look at the Gettysburg order of battle Confederate structure. It’s the skeleton of the entire three-day nightmare.
Most people just think of Lee and Longstreet. Maybe they’ve heard of Pickett because of the charge. But the reality is a lot messier. The army was in a state of flux. Stonewall Jackson was dead. He’d been killed just weeks earlier at Chancellorsville. This forced Lee to reorganize his entire command structure from two massive corps into three smaller ones. It was a huge gamble.
The Three Pillars of Lee’s Army
The Gettysburg order of battle Confederate was split into three main infantry corps. First, you had James Longstreet’s First Corps. People call him Lee’s "Old War Horse." He had the veterans. Then there was Richard Ewell’s Second Corps, the guys who used to follow Jackson. Finally, A.P. Hill took the newly formed Third Corps.
Longstreet was the rock. His divisions were led by Lafayette McLaws, John Bell Hood, and George Pickett. On July 2nd, Hood and McLaws were the ones smashing into the Peach Orchard and Little Round Top. Hood actually got shot in the arm early on, which messed up the coordination. If Hood stays healthy, does the Union flank hold? It's one of those "what if" moments that keeps historians up at night.
Ewell is a stranger story. He was a brilliant divisional commander under Jackson, but at Gettysburg, he seemed paralyzed. He had Jubal Early, Isaac Trimble, and Robert Rodes under him. On the first day, Ewell had a chance to take Culp’s Hill or Cemetery Hill. He didn't. He waited. That "if practicable" order from Lee is famous for a reason. Ewell decided it wasn't practicable.
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The Third Corps and the Chaos of Day One
A.P. Hill’s Third Corps is often overlooked, which is weird because they started the fight. Henry Heth’s division was looking for shoes—or so the legend goes—and ran into Union cavalry. That’s how the whole thing kicked off. Hill was sick during the battle. Some say it was a flare-up of an old ailment he picked up at West Point. Whatever it was, he wasn't himself.
His divisions were led by Heth, Dorsey Pender, and Richard Anderson. Pender was a rising star, arguably one of the best young generals in the South. He got hit by a shell fragment on July 2nd and died after an amputation. That was a massive blow to the Gettysburg order of battle Confederate leadership. When you lose guys like Pender, the whole machine starts to grind gears.
The Cavalry Problem: Where was Stuart?
You can’t talk about the Confederate lineup without mentioning J.E.B. Stuart. He was Lee’s eyes. But for the first two days of the battle, Lee was blind. Stuart was off on a massive raid, circling the entire Union army. He didn't get back until late on July 2nd.
By the time he showed up, Lee was furious. Stuart’s absence meant the infantry commanders were stumbling into fights they didn't expect. It’s like trying to play chess when you can only see two squares ahead. Stuart’s cavalry brigade commanders, like Fitzhugh Lee and Wade Hampton, were elite, but they were exhausted by the time they reached the field.
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Artillery and the Great Barrage
William Pendleton was the Chief of Artillery, but the real work happened at the battalion level. Unlike the Union, which centralized their guns, the Confederates attached artillery directly to the corps. This made it easier for infantry commanders to get support fast, but it made it harder to mass fire.
On July 3rd, before Pickett's Charge, the Confederates unleashed the largest preliminary bombardment of the war. Over 150 guns. It was supposed to knock out the Union batteries on Cemetery Ridge. It didn't. They aimed too high. The smoke made it impossible to see if they were hitting anything.
The Breakdown of Pickett’s Charge
When people search for the Gettysburg order of battle Confederate, they usually want to know who was in the charge. It wasn't just Pickett. It was a mix of Pickett’s division (First Corps) and Heth’s and Pender’s divisions (Third Corps).
- Pickett’s Division: Led by Brigadiers Armistead, Garnett, and Kemper. Garnett and Armistead died. Kemper was mangled.
- Pettigrew’s Division: (Taking over for the wounded Heth). These guys were from North Carolina and Tennessee. They took just as many hits as Pickett’s Virginians, but they rarely get the credit.
- Trimble’s Division: (Taking over for Pender). Small, battered, but they went in anyway.
The command structure for the charge was a disaster. Longstreet was in charge of the whole thing, but he didn't believe in it. He couldn't even bring himself to give the verbal order; he just nodded his head. When the attack failed, the Confederate order of battle was effectively shattered. They had lost too many colonels, too many brigadiers.
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Why the Structure Failed Lee
The reorganization was the silent killer. Lee had three corps commanders, two of whom (Ewell and Hill) were new to the job. They weren't used to the level of autonomy Lee gave his subordinates. Jackson knew how to read Lee’s mind. Ewell and Hill needed specific instructions, and Lee didn't give them.
The army was also top-heavy with Virginians. This caused friction. When North Carolinians in the Third Corps felt they were being used as cannon fodder while Virginians got the glory, morale dipped. This isn't just "lost cause" mythology; you can see it in the letters home. The Gettysburg order of battle Confederate looks neat on a map, but the internal politics were brutal.
Actionable Insights for Researching the Battle
If you are trying to track down a specific ancestor or understand a specific moment in the fight, don't just look at the Army level. You have to go deeper.
- Check the Official Records (OR): This is the gold standard. It contains the actual reports written by the commanders days after the battle. It’s where you find the raw data.
- Focus on the Brigades: In the Confederate system, the Brigade was the primary home for a soldier. Look for names like Barksdale’s Mississippi Brigade or the Stonewall Brigade. These units stayed together for years.
- Cross-reference with the Union OOB: To understand why a Confederate unit failed, you have to see who was across the field. If a veteran Confederate brigade hit a green Union regiment, the result was very different than if they hit the Iron Brigade.
- Use the Busey and Martin "Gettysburg Data": This book is the "bible" for numbers. It breaks down every single regiment's strength and losses. It’s the most accurate way to see the Gettysburg order of battle Confederate in terms of raw manpower.
Understanding this order of battle isn't just about memorizing names. It’s about understanding a massive, tragic human event through the lens of organization. When that organization broke down on the hills of Pennsylvania, the course of American history shifted forever.
To get a true feel for the scale, your next step should be looking at the regimental level maps provided by the American Battlefield Trust. They show exactly where these units stood at specific times, which turns these names into real movements on the ground.