Alonzo Cushing's Little Round Top Stand at Gettysburg

Feb 11 , 2026

Alonzo Cushing's Little Round Top Stand at Gettysburg

Alonzo Cushing was the storm at Gettysburg’s center, a young artillery officer who refused to lower his gun. As Union lines faltered and cannons thundered around him, he stood tall—wounded, bleeding, but firing. His hands slipped from broken bones, his blood soaked the earth beneath him, yet he stayed in the fight until the last breath left his body. He bore the weight of a collapsing line on those battered shoulders.

The Roots of Resolve

Born in Wisconsin, 1841, Alonzo was raised with both faith and duty carving deep trenches in his soul. A West Point graduate and son of a former U.S. Secretary of War, his life never bent to comfort. His was a faith tempered in discipline, grounded in the idea that service exacts a toll—and that toll is paid with loyalty, courage, and sacrifice.

Cushing’s Christian conviction wasn’t a quiet whisper but the iron flame fueling his resolve. He believed in the greater purpose of his duty, that suffering was sanctified in the defense of a fractured nation. His code was forged in practice: no man leaves his post. No artillery piece falls silent while the flag still flies.

The Battle That Defined Him

July 3, 1863. Little Round Top, Gettysburg. The Confederate Army surged, desperate to rip the Union flank apart in the war’s bloodiest moments. Cushing commanded Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery. With fewer than 140 men and six guns, he faced a wave of rebel assault that would crush lesser wills.

Hand to hand, shell to shell, every second counted. When his men were driven back by the Confederate onslaught, Cushing refused retreat. A Union line breached, the artillery unsupported, and he was hit—first a wound that shattered his shoulder. Still, he stayed, adjusting aim and shouting fire commands over the chaos.

“He never quit firing,” recalled Major General Gouverneur K. Warren, the Union commander who said Cushing’s stand was crucial to holding the line. Despite being struck twice more—once through the leg, once through the abdomen—Cushing kept directing the cannons. His last act was issuing orders. Then he dropped, dead at 22 years old, a silent hero etched into that hillside where so many died to hold the Union together.[1]

Honor in Blood and Citation

It took over a century, but Cushing finally received the Medal of Honor posthumously in 2014. The citation read in part:

“Major Cushing bravely manned his battery against overwhelming odds, continuing to direct artillery fire until mortally wounded… His heroic actions contributed significantly to the Union victory at Gettysburg.”

President Barack Obama awarded the medal at a White House ceremony, acknowledging a valor overlooked by history for too long. “Major Cushing’s courage at Little Round Top was a beacon in one of the darkest hours of the war,” the President said.

Eyewitness accounts from comrades and foes alike recognized his iron will. Lieutenant Charles E. Hazlett, killed moments after Cushing, remarked upon the officer’s grit under fire. Confederate reports noted the stubborn artillery fire that poured from Battery A, stubborn as the Union men holding the hill.

The Legacy of Broken Men Who Refuse to Fall

Cushing’s sacrifice is not just a story from a distant battlefield. It is the blueprint of sacrifice etched in every veteran’s scar. It’s about standing when broken, fighting when exhausted, giving your last ounce to hold the line.

He symbolizes the brutal and redeeming truth of combat: victory exacts a debt in blood. But in that sacrifice, there is transcendence. As Joshua 1:9 demands,

_“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”_

This is the soldier’s creed beyond bullets and uniforms—an unyielding faith in purpose when all else fades.

Alonzo Cushing’s name is carved on Gettysburg’s hallowed earth, a timeless testament to grit and valor. His story humbles the living and honors the fallen. It challenges every generation to remember: Courage is forged not in victory alone, but in the refusal to surrender.

In the final stillness of that farm hill, amid thunder and blood, a young man’s stand saved a nation’s soul.

Sources

[1] The U.S. Army Center of Military History – Medal of Honor Citation: Alonzo Cushing [2] "Courage Under Fire: The Battle of Gettysburg" – Library of Congress Archives [3] Presidential Medal of Honor Ceremony Transcript, White House, 2014 [4] "Gettysburg: The Defining Day" by Michael Shaara (historical research and eyewitness accounts)