Lieutenant Colonel Walton Dwight inherited the difficult task of whipping the green 149th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry into battle shape before the summer campaign of 1863. Through brutal drilling, he instilled in his raw Bucktails the discipline to withstand the horrors of the first day's action at bloody Gettysburg. Fearing Dwight more than the Rebels, the 149th held their ground despite relentless artillery cross fire and Confederate charges that decimated them for over two hours.Among the ranks of Dwight's regiment were Henry and Willie Cole, farm boys who had as much to learn about being men as they did about being soldiers. Henry was too cocky for his own good, while his younger brother lacked assertiveness. Two dogged charges to the railroad cut near McPherson's farm changed all that as their comrades fell dead and wounded around them. Gettysburg was not only the crowning moment for the Fighting 149th. It also brought to age a contingent of brave lads who endured the lethal rain of bullets and canister to write a new chapter in the glorious history of the Pennsylvania Bucktails.