Summer of 21 - #16 - Gettysburg Battlefield#5 -July 2nd,1863 - Devils Den

 May 13th, 2021 - Battlefield Tour Part 5 of 8 

July 2nd, 1863 - Day 2-Part 3, of the Battle of Gettysburg.

We gave ourselves a days rest and then resumed our driving tour of the battlegrounds.  We added a stop to the driving tour and started at Devil's Den.

Devils Den

We were below Little Round Top, where we had been in the previous blog. 

Little Round Top at the top of the hill

The tower we climbed in the previous blog

This LINK tells you what happened at Devils Den.

There were several large boulders/rocks that you were allowed to climb and explore in, and on. The little child always comes out at places like this and it's as if you are transported back to childhood, exploring all the nooks and crannies. Of course, this wasn't a playground and the history here sets a somber scene, which we were careful to respect. We still had a little fun climbing and exploring though.

The rock in the picture below looks like an animal but we can't decide what. Lion? Gorilla? Hippo? What do you think?

Our car is down there.

Let's take a look up there.

We walked up and got a closer picture of the monument up the hill. It was for the 1st Division.

and found a few more.

They were Robertson's Brigade, part of whom had been successful in taking the Devil's Den and Rocky Ridge from the Union.

Inscription on monument in picture above.

"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."

The picture below show the troops positions through the attack.

Devil's Den was as far as the Confederates got.  They were unsuccessful on the attempt to take Little Round Top as detailed in the prior blog.

On the way back to the car we explored some more.

This bridge led to a pathway up the hill to Little Round Top.  As we had already been there we didn't go back.

Bryan waiting for me as I walked over the bridge to see where it went.

This is probably the same Red Tailed Hawk we saw two days ago at the tower at Little Round Top.

I have no idea why Devils Den is not part of the tour, maybe they don't want to encourage people to go there, but just seeing it from Little Round Top we knew we needed to go there. We were so glad we did.