BGuthrie Photos: PA -- Gettysburg Natl Battlefield -- Day 2 -- Devils Den and valley

PA -- Gettysburg Natl Battlefield -- Day 2 -- Devils Den and valley:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. GETDEV_130929_123.JPG: Devil's Den and the Slaughter Pen July 2nd 1863 - Second Day "Awful, awful rocks!!" For weeks after the battle, a delirious Alabama soldier suffering from his wounds repeated these words The labyrinth of boulders and crevices in front of you was known to local residents as "Devil's Den," a name that would become famous in the history of the Civil War. The rocky gorge to your left and behind you earned the name "Slaughter Pen" for the great number of Confederates killed there. Late on the afternoon of July 2, Confederates of Hood's Division captured Devil's Den and the ridge above here in a bloody struggle that lasted an hour and a half. Devil's Den then became a nest of Confederate sharpshooters who took aim at Union officers and men on Little Round Top behind you to the right. The sniping continued until the end of the battle on July 3. As historic photos demonstrate, the rocks of Devil's Den and the Slaughter Pen have changed little since the time of the battle. A trail beginning here winds up through the boulders 1/10 mile to the top of Devil's Den and a fine viewpoint of Little Round Top. Confederate infantry overran Devil's Den on the afternoon of July 2. During the fight for Devil's Den and Little Round To, scores of soldiers fell dead among the rocks. This Timothy O'Sullivan photo taken three days after the battle shows Confederate dead lying in the "Slaughter Pen," the valley behind you.
2. GETDEV_130929_163.JPG: Confederate Sharpshooter? "... some mother may yet be patiently waiting for the return of her boy, whose bones lie bleaching, unrecognized and alone, between the rocks at Gettysburg." -- Alexander Gardner, Civil War photographer In front of you is the setting of one of Gettysburg's most famous historic photographs, taken three days after the battle. The photo depicts a stone wall probably built and used by Confederate sharpshooters, a rifle-musket propped against the wall, and the body of a Confederate soldier with a knapsack under his head. Although the elements in the photo are authentic, they had been rearranged for dramatic effect. Photographers Alexander Gardner and Timothy O'Sullivan found the dead soldier – probably a Texas or Georgia infantryman – some 40 yards behind you, then placed the body on a blanket and moved it here to the sharpshooter position. The weapon – not a sharpshooter's rifle – was placed beside the body. The photo was staged, but the tragedy was real. A young man from the South lay dead, far from family and home. Civil war photographer Alexander Gardner titled this photo "The Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter." It was taken near this spot where you are standing on July 6, 1863, while Union soldiers were still at work removing and burying the dead. In Gardner's photo caption he claims he visited this site four months later and found the rusting rifle-musket and the decomposing body in the same position. Gardner and his associates took this and three other photos of the body at the spot where it was found on the hillside behind you before moving it to the sharpshooter's wall.
3. GETDEV_130929_182.JPG: The Attack on Devil's Den The Confederate infantry attack of July 2nd swept from Seminary Ridge and struck the left of Sickles line. For two terrible hours one reinforced Union Brigade and two batteries of artillery took the full shock of a three brigade attack. The survivors finally fell back to Cemetery Ridge.
4. GETDEV_130929_211.JPG: Smith's New York Battery: "For God's sake, men, don't let them take my guns away from me!" -- Capt. James E. Smith, USA, Commander, 4th New York Battery. On July 2, Capt. James E. Smith hauled four of the six cannon of his 4th New York Battery onto this craggy ridge, positioning them along the crest behind you. The cannon were 10-pounder Parrotts -- rifled guns with a three-inch bore and a range of up to 2 miles. At about 3:30pm, Confederate cannon about a mile in front of you began pounding this position, and Smith's guns thundered in reply. Within an hour, long lines of Confederate infantry began advancing in this direction, and Smith tried to cripple them with rounds of case shot and shell. So destructive was the fire that advancing Confederates believed they were facing twice the number of cannon. But the men in gray could not be stopped. When the Confederates came within 300 yards, Smith ordered the ammunition changed to canister. However, the Confederates found cover behind a stone wall at the base of the field below you where their deadly fire threatened the gun crews. Smith pleaded with the supporting infantry to save his guns, but after a long struggle the Confederates captured three of them when they seized the ridge. Capt. James E. Smith commanded the 4th New York Battery. In the action here, Smith lost 12 men, 11 horses, and 3 cannon. A shell fragment that ripped into the arm of Confederate Maj. Gen. John B. Hood may have come from Smith's guns. Hood was forced to give up command, but his regiments drove forward to this ridge where they captured Devil's Den along with three of Smith's guns. Artillery Projectiles: Sold Shot: Solid iron. Used at longer rangers against massed troops, fortifications, and other batteries. Also to fell timber on enemy soldiers in woods. Case Shot: Iron shell filled with musket balls sealed in rosin or molten sulphur. Powder charge in core ignited by fuse. Designed to explode before impact. Also called "shrapnel". Shell: Case-iron shell filled with black powder. Time fuse ignited by cannon's discharge. Shell exploded into fragments that could kill or maim. Canister: Tin can filled with iron balls packed in sawdust. Used at close range -- 400 yards or less -- against infantry. Double or triple canister could be used in a crisis.
5. GETDEV_130929_216.JPG: The Fight of Devil's Den: "No boys, hold your fire until they come right up. Then pour a volley into them, and if they don't stop, run your bayonets into their bellies." -- Brig. Gen. Henry L. Benning, CSA, Benning's Brigade, Hood's Division The fate of Devil's Den (located to your left) was partly decided in the Triangular Field, the grassy five acres in front of you. Union infantry, in support of Smith's 4th New York Battery, took position on the rocky ridge behind you. About 4:00pm on July 2, after a 30-minute artillery duel, Col. P.A. Work's 1st Texas Infantry appeared behind a stone wall at the lower edge of the field. The Texas marksmen silenced the cannon, which could not be aimed low enough to hit them, then jumped the wall and advanced up the field. When they neared the upper wall, Col. A. Van Horne Ellis ordered his New Yorkers to "up and fire," staggering the Texans. A daring Union counterattack down across the field kept the Southerners at bay, but Ellis was shot dead. Shouting "Give them hell, boys," Brig. Gen. Henry L. Benning led his Georgia Brigade up through the field in support of the Texans. The hard-pressed Union defenders could not hold, and Devil's Den fell to the Confederates. The 124th New York Infantry from Orange County, nicknamed the "Orange Blossoms," launch a bloody attack down through the Triangular Field against Confederates of the famed Texas Brigade, Col. A. Van Horne Ellis, the mounted officer in the center, was killed near the spot where you are standing. Painting by Don Troiani. A ship captain with a law degree, Col. Augustus Van Horne Ellis commanded the 124th New York Infantry here. One of his officers described him as cold, but "every inch a soldier." On the march to Gettysburg, Ellis prophesied that he would not survive the campaign. Maj. James Cromwell of the 124th New York rode down through the Triangular Field amidst a storm of bullets to rally his men. So gallant did he appear that even some of the Texans shouted, "Don't shoot at him -- don't kill him." He and his gray horse fell dead at the bottom of the field. Brig. Gen. Henry L. Benning, "Old Rock," came in Gettysburg with experience as a judge, a states' rights advocate, and a battle-hardened soldier. Commander of a Georgia brigade, Benning led the attack that secured this ridge and Devil's Den for the Confederates.
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Directly Related Pages: Other pages with content (PA -- Gettysburg Natl Battlefield -- Day 2 -- Devils Den and valley) directly related to this one: [Display ALL photos on one page]:
- 2008_PA_Getty_Devils: PA -- Gettysburg Natl Battlefield -- Day 2 -- Devils Den and valley (29 photos from 2008)
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Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject: [(NPS) Gettysburg Natl Military Park] [Civil War] [Park (National Park Service)]
2013 photos: Trips this year: three Civil War Trust conferences (Memphis, TN, Jackson, MS [to which I added a week to to visit sites in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee], and Richmond, VA), and my 8th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including sites in Nevada and California). Ego Strokes: Aviva Kempner used my photo of her as her author photo in Larry Ruttman's "American Jews & America's Game: Voices of a Growing Legacy in Baseball" book. Equipment this year: I mostly used my Fuji XS-1 camera but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000 and Nikon D600. Number of photos taken this year: just over 570,000.
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