command, and Kemper, as the ranking colonel, assumed command of the brigade. At the Battle of Seven Pines, Kemper's brigade attempted to relieve General D.H. Hill's battered troops but retreated from massed enemy artillery fire and did not engage the U.S. infantry. Nonetheless, Kemper was promoted to brigadier general on June 3. During the Seven Days Battles, Kemper's brigade was held in reserve at the Battle of Gaines's Mill. At the Battle of Glendale, the relatively inexperienced brigade spearheaded Longstreet's attack on the U.S. lines; before this, the only general engagement the brigade had faced took place during the Battle of Williamsburg almost two months earlier, when they had been under A.P. Hill's command. During the week-long confrontation, Kemper's brigade suffered the fewest losses out of Longstreet's six brigades. Following the Seven Days, General Robert E. Lee reorganized the army, and Kemper became a temporary division commander, commanding half of Longstreet's former division. At the Second Battle of Bull Run, Kemper's division took part in Longstreet's surprise attack against the U.S. Army left flank, almost destroying Major General John Pope's Army of Virginia. Following Second Bull Run, the more senior Brigadier General David R. Jones took over command of the division, while Kemper reverted to brigade command. At the Battle of Antietam, Kemper was positioned south of the town of Sharpsburg, defending against Major General Ambrose E. Burnside's assault in the afternoon of September 17, 1862. He withdrew his brigade in the face of the U.S. advance, exposing the Confederate right flank. The line was saved only by the hasty arrival of A.P. Hill's division from Harpers Ferry. Another army reorganization after Antietam led to Kemper's brigade being placed in a division commanded by Brigadier General George Pickett, who had been on medical leave since being wounded at Gaines Mill. The division was held in reserve at Fredericksburg, and during the spring of 1863, was on detached duty in the Richmond area. As a result, Kemper also missed the Chancellorsville Campaign. At the Battle of Gettysburg, Kemper arrived with Pickett's division late on the second day of battle, July 2, 1863. His brigade was one of the central assault units in Pickett's Charge, advancing on the right flank of Pickett's line. After crossing Emmitsburg Road, the brigade was hit by flanking fire from two Vermont regiments, driving it to the left and disrupting the cohesion of the assault. Despite the