 On the morning of July 3, members of the 16th regiment were stationed as pickets forward of Cemetery Hill.In the afternoon, after a two-hour artillery duel, Confederate General Robert E. Lee launched what has become known Pickett's Charge.The Vermont pickets were withdrawn, and as the Confederates approached Cemetery Hill, the three Vermont regiments flanked the Confederate troops first flanking Pickett's division by wheeling two units to the right and then doing the same to two detached Confederate brigades by wheeling two regiments to the left.