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On the afternoon of July 1, 1863, the Union 1st and 11th Corps defended Oak Ridge from repeated Confederate assaults.  By 4:00 p.m., with no help in sight, the Federal troops were forced to fall back to Cemetery Hill, the high ground outside of Gettysburg.  Prior to falling back, Division commander Brig. Gen. John Robinson rode up to Col. Charles W. Tilden and ordered him to hold his position at any cost.  Robinson wanted the 298 men of the 16th Maine to delay the Confederate advance long enough to give the rest of his division time to retreat.  “All right, General, we’ll do the best we can,” Tilden said. Robinson wheeled and spurred his horse, which jumped over a stone wall and carried the general toward Gettysburg. Tilden turned back to his men. “You know what that means,” he said.  “Yes, the regiment knew what it meant,” remembered Frank Wiggin, then a sergeant in Co. H. “It meant death or capture, and every man realized it perfectly.”