Battle of Gettysburg : Devil's Den

Devil's Den from the Valley of Death.
Gettysburg NMP

Located 900 yards west of Little Round Top, this unique landmark lies at the southern end of a forested ridge that separates Plum Run Valley from the Wheatfield. Considered a curiosity by local residents long before the battle, the huge granite formations and steep cliffs of Devil's Den provided height and protection for the Union battery placed on the summit. On the afternoon of July 2, Captain James Smith's 4th New York Battery was stationed here on the extreme left of General Sickles' advanced Third Corps line. From the summit, Smith could survey the Slyder and Bushman farms up to Warfield Ridge where Longstreet's Confederates readied themselves for the afternoon attack. Though the position Smith held appeared formidable, there was a major weakness- there was only room for four of Smith's six guns and no place to safely park the artillery limbers that carried the ammunition chests. Ammunition would have to be run up the steep hill from the limbers parked on the eastern side of the den. With guns and gunners crowding the summit, there was precious little room for anything else including infantry support. Smith and his officers hoped that if the Confederates attacked, they would do so on the west side through a triangular field and not from another direction. Otherwise, they would be trapped.

The den
Rock formations at Devil's Den.
Gettysburg NMP
Smith's worse fears came true when Confederates struck the den from three directions at once. Southerners were awe struck by the terrible nature of the ground. One veteran of the battle described it as, "a wild, rocky labyrinth which, from its weird, uncanny features, has long been called by the people of the vicinity the 'Devils Den.' Large rocks from six to fifteen feet high are thrown together in confusion over a considerable area and yet so disposed as to leave everywhere among them siding passages carpeted with moss. Many of the recesses are never visited by the sunshine, and a cavernous coolness pervades the air within it." Pastures around the base of the Den were filled with piles of rocks and large boulders that caused battle formations to fragment. Officers lost control of their commands and soldiers lost their way in this wild garden of stone. Men scrambled behind boulders for protection from the shower of bullets, shell and canister.

4th New York Battery
Gettysburg NMP

The 4th New York initially dueled with Confederate batteries near the Emmitsburg Road three quarters of a mile to the west until Confederate infantry from Brig. General Jerome Robertson's brigade and Brig. General Henry L. Benning's brigade closed in on their position. The fighting was at close range. Repeated charges by the 15th Georgia and the 1st Texas Infantry through a triangular-shaped field on the west side of Devil's Den wore down Smith's artillerymen. When it appeared that the guns were in danger of capture, a desperate counterattack by the 124th New York Infantry stalled the southern assault. The aggressive Union defense made General Robertson believe that he was outnumbered six to one, but he rallied his Texans with the 3rd Arkansas Infantry for one last effort. At this same time, Confederates were successfully driving into the Union rear around the den. With no help in sight and his infantry support withdrawing, Smith knew he would lose his guns. "The men are instructed to remove all implements if they are compelled to fall back, so that our pieces may not be turned against us. Alas, we are flanked by the enemy moving through the gorge (and) our pieces are now useless." Shouting the famous rebel yell, the 1st Texas charged up the triangular field to finally take the summit. Georgian and Texan alike swarmed over Devil's Den and took three of Smith's guns as prizes. One enthused Texan stood upon one of the cannon and triumphantly waved the flag of the 1st Texas at the retreating northerners.

Captain Smith raced to his last two guns stationed on a small knoll in the Valley of Death: "I run with all speed in me and open fire with these two guns on the troops coming through the gorge. Their battle flag drops three times from the effect of our canister. Their line wavers and seeks shelter in the woods, but in a moment they return in a solid mass. The 6th New Jersey moves forward across my front, then the 40th New York passes through the park of horses and carriages stationed near (our) position and attacks Benning's Brigade."

Between Devil's Den and Big Round Top the valley narrowed into a boulder-choked gorge cut by a slow moving stream called Plum Run. Rushed into the marshy valley, Union infantry battled Alabama and Georgia troops who had swept around the Den to threaten the Union rear. With sword in hand, Colonel William F. Perry ordered his 44th Alabama Infantry to charge through the gorge: "I received an order to capture the battery at the Devil's Den. I at once resolved to make the attack from the woods south of the battery. My regiment, which was near the center, was thrown to the left by an oblique march... wheeled so as to face to the north, and at once moved upon the point of attack. As the line emerged from the woods into the open space, a sheet of flame burst from the rocks less than a hundred yards away. A few scattering shots in the beginning gave warning in time for my men to fall flat, and thus largely escape the effect of the main volley. No language can express the intensity of the solicitude with which I surveyed the strange, wild situation which suddenly burst upon my view. Before the enemy had time to reload their guns a decision was made. Leaping over my prostrate line, I shouted the order 'Forward!' and started for the rocks. The response was a bound, a yell, and a rush..."

Union retreat from Devil's Den
drawn by Alfred Waud after the battle.
Battles and Leaders

The battle lines surged back and forth until the outnumbered Union troops were forced to retreat. One wing of 44th Alabama rushed to the summit of Devil's Den where Major George Cary planted the regiment's flag among the boulders. "A few minutes later," Colonel Perry recalled, "the Major found me among the rocks near the foot of the hill, prostrated by heat and excessive exertion (and) exhibited an armful of swords as trophies of his victory." In the hands of the Confederates, Devil's Den soon became a haven for Confederate sharpshooters who practiced their deadly craft on Union targets on Little Round Top.

As the battle for Devil's Den raged, the last brigade of General Hood's Division charged toward the Wheatfield.

The Valley of Death

Little Round Top from Devil's Den, taken by Timothy O'Sullivan on July 6, 1863.
Library of Congress

After the battle, the area between Devil's Den and the Round Tops was nicknamed "The Slaughter Pen" and Plum Run Valley referred to as the "Valley of Death". The names have remained to this very day. Dead of both armies littered the landscape and it was over a week after the battle ended before all of the bodies were buried. Twenty years later this area had become one of the most heavily visited sites on the battlefield. Hundreds of visitors tramped over the area and thrilled themselves climbing over the large boulders of Devil's Den or exploring the small coves of Plum Run. Gettysburg photographer William Tipton established a photo gallery here at the Slaughter Pen where he sold battlefield photos to these early tourists and took their images perched among the boulders in Devil's Den. Tipton was later contracted to photograph the work performed by the park commission of the United States War Department, which laid out the avenues and placed many of the position markers in the park. By the turn of the century, a group of entrepreneurs had constructed the "Gettysburg Electric Railway" through this portion of the battlefield. The rail line transported tourists aboard an electric trolley car to and around Devil's Den, through the Valley of Death, and across the base of Little Round Top. The controversial trolley was finally removed after 1915, but the old rail bed is still visible today.