Holman Staples Melcher was an American military officer, businessman, and politician active during the Reconstruction Era. A faction of historians and soldiers controversially contend that he led the downhill bayonet charge of Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg. Aside from his feats during the American Civil War, he served two one-year terms as the Mayor of Portland, Maine, from 1889 to 1890.
Holman Melcher in August 1864
The Battle of Spotsylvania, where Melcher was severely injured
Letterhead for H. S. Melcher Co.
The 20th Maine Regimental Association at Gettysburg in October 1889.
Little Round Top is the smaller of two rocky hills south of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania—the companion to the adjacent, taller hill named Big Round Top. It was the site of an unsuccessful assault by Confederate troops against the Union left flank on July 2, 1863, the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, during the American Civil War.
"View from the summit of Little Round Top at 7:30 P.M. July 3rd, 1863", painting by Edwin Forbes
Little Round Top (left) and [Big] Round Top, photographed from Plum Run Valley in 1909
Little Round Top photographed in 2006
Little Round Top, western slope, photographed by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, 1863
![Little Round Top (left) and [Big] Round Top, photographed from Plum Run Valley in 1909](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/Round_Tops_panorama_1909.jpg/640px-Round_Tops_panorama_1909.jpg)
