Devil's Den
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For other places or institutions named "Devil's Den" see Devil's Den (disambiguation)
Devil's Den is the nickname for a terrain feature south of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, that was the site of fierce fighting at the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War.
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Devil's Den is a rocky expanse of shrubs and scrub trees, the southernmost part of Houck's Ridge, directly west of Little Round Top across the Plum Run Valley (also known to the soldiers as the Valley of Death). The central feature of Devil's Den is an outcropping of massive boulders. This igneous rock, similar in appearance to granite, is an outcropping of diabase sill, known to geologists as "Gettysburg Sill", that is about a mile wide, 1,800 feet thick, and runs for almost 40 miles, directly through the Gettysburg Battlefield. It was formed over 180 million years ago under and within the beds of sandstone and shale that covered the area and over time was forced upward between existing strata. Where the sheet has been exposed to the seasonal freezing of water in the crevices and cracks, it has broken into smaller pieces that have been weathered over the years into separate boulders.[1]
The origin of the name "Devil's Den" is uncertain. All documented references to it are post-battle, although historian John B. Bachelder claimed in his 1873 travel book, Gettysburg: What to See and How to See It, that "it was a name given to the locality before the battle."[2] Stories by local resident Emanuel Bushman, first documented in 1884, claim that a "monster snake" resided there. An account by Salome Myers Stewart in 1913 referred to a snake named "The Devil", which was never caught and thus became legendary.[3] Some accounts by soldiers after the battle began using the name "Devil's Cave" or "Devil's Den" due to the appearance of the area. The boulders, tumbled together loosely, form a number of natural caves—the "den" of the name. On the upper horizontal surface of one of the uppermost boulders is a depression used as a natural rain reservoir. When viewed from higher ground, the depression resembles a gigantic horned bat in flight—the "devil" of the name. The natural caves and galleries among the boulders provided cover for sharpshooters from both sides throughout the battle. By the late 19th century, the name "Devil's Den" became universal.
This landmark gained importance in the second day of the fighting near Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, with a Confederate assault by Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's First Corps through this terrain. Conducted by the division of Maj. Gen. John Bell Hood, the charge was directed towards the left flank of the Union Army of the Potomac and hit Devil's Den as well as the high ground at Little Round Top. Devil's Den was defended by the Union III Corps division of Maj. Gen. David B. Birney, later reinforced by the V Corps.
[edit] Sharpshooters at Devil's Den
Today, public attention is generally focused only on the sharpshooter activity that characterized Devil's Den later in the battle. In fact, Devil's Den has become something of a legend among snipers due to a specific engagement that took place during the second day of the battle. A Confederate sharpshooter had taken up position, harassing the Union artillery battery, preventing them from firing.
Among the interesting incidents that occurred on Little Round Top was the summary way in which a sharpshooter was disposed of in rear of Devil's Den. He had concealed himself behind a stone wall between two boulders and for a long time we were annoyed by shots from that direction, one of which actually combed my hair over my left ear and passed through the shoulder of a man a little taller than myself who was standing behind me for a cover. At last we were able to locate the spot, by the use of a field glass, from whence the shots came by little puffs of smoke that preceded the whizzing of the bullets that passed by our heads. We then loaded one of our guns with a percussion shell, taking careful and accurate aim. When the shot was fired the shell struck and exploded on the face of one of the boulders. We supposed the shot had frightened him away, as we were no longer troubled with shots from that location. When the battle was ended we rode over to the Devil's Den and found behind the wall a dead Confederate soldier lying upon his back and, so far as we could see, did not have a mark upon his body, and from that fact became convinced that he was killed by the concussion of the shell when it exploded on the face of the boulder.
—Captain Augustus P. Martin, commander of Union V Corps artillery at Gettysburg., Gettysburg Compiler, October 24, 1899
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Adelman, Garry E., and Smith, Timothy H., Devil's Den: A History and Guide, Thomas Publications, 1997, ISBN 1-57747-017-6.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Adelman and Smith, p. 1.
- ^ Adelman and Smith, p. 7.
- ^ Adelman and Smith, p. 11.
- ^ This photograph of a dead Confederate soldier in Devil's Den was taken on July 6 or July 7 by Timothy O'Sullivan. The photo may have been staged for dramatic effect with a body recovered elsewhere.
[edit] External links
- The Devil's Den Sharpshooter Re-Discovered
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps or Yahoo! Maps
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
- Satellite image from Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth
