More questions than answers

In the month or so that I have been without internet service, I have done a ton of reading. Books have become my friends and without them I would feel so lonesome. But the biggest problem with all this reading that I do is that I start asking questions and I'm not finding the answers.

Here are a few questions that I have "discovered" and are bugging me. Maybe someone out there in "Blogland" can help me out. I've been reading up on the Confederates on July 2nd, 1863. Here are my questions:

1) The main goal of the Confederate army was to knock the Union army off of Cemetery Hill. As such, one of the places that wasn't a big priority (if one at all) was the Round Tops....both Big and Little. Big Round Top posed little danger to either army. The hill was high, steep and completely wooded.....not a good place for infantry or artillery. Little Round Top was a big different. It was still high and steep but it was cleared on the western slope. It was a good area for infantry (as proven by the 20th ME, 83rd PA, 16th MI, 44th NY and so many others) but not for artillery. Ask Gen Warren and Gen Hazlett. Pushing the guns up by hand probably wasn't a fun job. A few guns were used both on July 2 and 3 but they weren't major players in the battle. Now to head into my question. Dan Sickles moved his men out to the Emmitsburg Road....against the orders of General Meade. The Confederates knew about the troops in the Peach Orchard, but did they know about the line that went from the Peach Orchard that went to Devil's Den? AND did Hood know about these troops? His line started off on what is now South Confederate Avenue. The Alabamians marched across the fields, UP Big Round Top and DOWN Big Round Top....just in time to run into the 5th Corps on Little Round Top (who had only been there for around 10 minutes). What was the purpose of the Confederates heading all the way to the Round Tops????

2) On July 3, Rittenhouse had taken charge of the guns in Hazletts battery. There were Confederate sharpshooters in Devil's Den. Rittenhouse's guns made somewhat of an impact during Pickett's Charge. How did the sharpshooters affect Rittenhouse????

These are just some things that I started to think about over the past couple of weeks. I always have more questions than I have answers for....but I guess this is a good sign. The more we learn the more we need to know.