Devil's Den was formed with
Little Round Top (to the east) and
Big Round Top (southeast) by periglacial frost wedging of the
igneous landform
formed 200 million years ago when a
diabase sill intruded through the
Triassic Gettysburg plain. The feature acquired its foreboding name prior to the 1863 battle. Throughout the mid-19th century, local residents believed that the crevices between the boulders were home to a large snake. The size of the reptile varied between accounts, but reports ranged from to as large as . The snake became known as "
The Devil", and thus the area he was believed to inhabit became known as "The Devil's Den". Some soldiers' accounts used the name "Devil's Cave", and a depression on a boulder that collects water resembles a flying horned bat.
Battle of Gettysburg On July 2, 1863, Smith's Union battery, with six Napoleon smooth-bores, used the hill to counterfire on
Confederate artillery prior to
McLaws' Assault at 5:30 pm. Against Hood's Assault that started at 4 pm, Devil's Den was defended by
Birney's 1st Division as the far left position from
The Peach Orchard Salient of the
III Corps. The hill was captured when the "
First Texas Regiment, having pressed forward to the crest of the hill and driven the enemy from his battery", and Anderson's Confederates used the hill for the first attack on
The Wheatfield. From near the
Slaughter Pen, the
40th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment forced the 2nd & 17th Georgia regiments of Benning's Brigade to retreat to Devil's Den. Confederate sharpshooters were stationed between the rocks to fire upon Union soldiers at Little Round Top, among their victims being General
Stephen H. Weed and Lieutenant
Charles E. Hazlett. Hazlett's guns counter-fired upon them, and many were killed from the concussion of air. The
124th NY monument with
Ellis statue was dedicated near Devil's Den in 1884.[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1884/07/03/103621505.pdf Postbellum avenues were constructed to Devil's Den such as Sickles' Avenue from the west, Crawford Avenue in 1895 (north), and Warren Avenue across Plum Run (east). From 1894 to 1916, the
Gettysburg Electric Railway operated on a curve crossing
Plum Run (Rock Creek) around the south base of the hill with the
Tipton Station providing Devil's Den services.In 1916, a Devil's Den boulder was used as a
Satterlee Hospital memorial at Philadelphia's
Clark Park. The nearby 1933 comfort station was demolished in 2009, and its access bridge over Plum Run remains to the east. In 1952, ROTC students conducted a mock battle at the site,[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tY8lAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yfIFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3114,2205238&dq=devil's-den+gettysburg&hl=en and the "Devil's Den Access Committee" was formed in 1988. The site's ID Tablet was designated a Historic District Contributing Structure in 2004, and the Devil's Den barricade is structure WA35 on the
Gettysburg National Military Park's List of Classified Structures. File:Confederate Dead at Devil's Den Gettysburg.jpg|
Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter - Post-battle Confederate sharpshooter body staged behind the "Devil's Den barricade" illustrating "a sharpshooter…of Devil's Den" such as the one presumed killed by a percussion of a cannon shot from
Little Round Top after Weed and Hazlett had been sniped. Tentatively identified in 2018 as a Georgian soldier. File:Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter, Gettysburg, July, 2020.jpg|The location of
Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter, in July 2020 File:View of dead at Devil's Den, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views.jpg|Taken in Devil's Den of PA militiamen playing "Dead" in November 1863! File:Alfred Waud by Timothy H. O'Sullivan.jpg|Civil War artist
Alfred Waud sketching for the
Battle of Gettysburg at Devil's Den. File:1904 Cope map - Gettysburg Electric Railway.png|Devil's Den (left) is across Sickles Av &
Plum Run from the
trolley railbed. File:View of Devil's Den at Gettysburg from Little Round Top.jpg|A view of Devil's Den from Little Round Top, in 2020. ==References==