For decades, a legend became entrenched in the history of the Battle of Gettysburg that an informal truce of sorts allowed the wounded of both sides to have access to the waters of Spangler's Spring.

Not only did no such truce ever exist, but soldiers of either side approaching the spring generally produced a violent, if brief, firefight, until the offending soldiers returned to their respective works...hardly a truce by any definition.

"It was at Spangler's Spring at the southern base of Culp's Hill...Unaware that the Confederate lines (now) included the spring, the Union men were looking for water...A voice from the darkness popped out, "Hell, those are Yankees!" A musket was fired. Another. And then muskets crackled all over the place until some Union officers rushed up and pulled the disgusted Yankees off, minus the hoped-for water. This kind of brushfire war kept up all night." - Gettysburg, the Long Encampment by Jack McLaughlin.

The spring fell within the Confederate's zone of control on the second day of battle after Union troops had constructed a series of earthworks on the rise above the spring, and were, on the morning of July 2, subsequently ordered to fall back from them to assist in the protection of other portions of the Union line.

Union troops under General Green were left to defend the works and the adjacent Spangler's Meadow (where the spring was located as well).

Confederate troops under Brig. General George Steuart over-ran the lightly defended earthworks on the crest of the knoll overlooking the spring and meadow, and "captured a number of prisoners and a stand of colors" (Official Records, XXVII, Part 2, p. 504).

Uncertain of the nearby deployment of Union troops, Steuart was ordered to hold the crest of the knoll and the earthworks he had captured. Thus, this portion of the field remained in Confederate hands through the night into the morning of July 3.

Elements of the Union 12th Corps were ordered back into their former position on the knoll during the night but came under fire several times (beginning around 9 pm, evening of July 2) and abandoned the effort until daylight. They were apparently uncertain as to the state of affairs at the spring, and thought at one point that they had wandered into a friendly-fire situation involving Green's troops. It was, of course, Confederate fire that they were taking (U.S. Army War College Guide to the Battle of Gettysburg).

Able to ascertain the correct state of affairs in the morning light, an engagment soon ensued to retake the Confederate-held works on the knoll. To this desperate end, the 2nd Massachusetts and 27th Indiana were sent on a charge up the slope from the meadow and spring toward the awaiting Confederates.

These two Union units were thrown back with heavy losses. North of the spring, the Confederates charged a Union position threatening the Confederate position with no better outcome. The battle for the knoll overlooking the spring and meadow was turning into a deadly, seven-hour long stalemate.

Seeing that nothing was being gained of any consequence, Confederate General Johnson ordered that the troops occupying the knoll and flanks fall back, and the battle for this section of the field came to a conclusion, with the Union troops finally able to advance and re-occupy the works they had left on the 2nd.

This is one of the "little" under-estimated battles of the Gettysburg, and one that could have turned the tide for the Confederates if their troops had been able to advance across Spangler's Meadow and beyond.

A Union officer assessed the little battle thusly: "Of the disasterous consequences to the Union army, had Lee succeeded in penetrating our lines (via Spangler's and the adjacent Tawney Farm) and placing himself square across the Baltimore Pike in rear of the center and right wing of the entire army, there can be no question." - Captain Jesse H. Jones, 60th New York Volunteers.