Free previewStop 5 of Gettysburg Battlefield Driving Tour
Snakes, Sharpshooters and a Borrowed Body
You've come down off Little Round Top into Devil's Den, the jumble of giant boulders at the south end of Houck's Ridge. If you've pulled over, look at the rocks themselves: grey slabs the size of cars, stacked and tumbled, with dark gaps between them. Then look east, back up at Little Round Top, the hill you just left. Those two places were in a deadly conversation on July 2, 1863.
The name came before the battle. In the mid-1800s, locals said a huge snake lived in the crevices between these rocks. Depending on who was telling it, it ran anywhere from 8 to 15 feet long. They called it the Devil, and this was his den. Nobody ever produced the snake.
On the afternoon of July 2, the boulders mattered for a different reason. A Union battery under Captain James Smith hauled six cannon onto this hilltop.
That's the opening. The rest plays at stop 5 of Gettysburg Battlefield Driving Tour (3 min in all). Unlock the tour to hear it all, or try stop 1 free first.
