Big Round Top

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Big Round Top
Round Top[1]:a — Great Round Top[1]:a

Round Top Mountain[2] — Sugar Loaf Hill[3]
landform: Top (Hill)
Big Round Top (photo by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, 1863).jpg
1863 O'Sullivan image of Big Round Top[specify]
beyond Little Round Top breastworks
Country United States
State Pennsylvania
County Adams
NPS unit Gettysburg National Military Park
Part of outcrop of Gettysburg sill[3]:5
Saddle point NE slope @ Little Round Top
 - elevation 582.7 ft (177.6 m) [4]
 - coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Summit near historic tower ruins
 - elevation 793.6 ft (241.9 m) [4]
 - coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Lowest point base of Big Round Top spur [4]
 - location W of summit, N of stone bridge [5]
 - elevation 495 ft (150.9 m)
Biome Northern Piedmont ecoregion,
Northeastern forest
Geology Pennsylvania Piedmont
physiographic region, Gettysburg-Newark Lowlands
(York Haven Diabase)[6]
Orogeny 200 mya (Tr-J boundary)
Management National Park Service
Owner Federal government of the United States
Access parking area: S Confederate Av
summit: paved foot trail
Nearest
community		 Round Top, Pennsylvania
Website: Gettysburg Scenic Vistas (nps.gov)

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Main articles: Geography of Pennsylvania and Gettysburg Battlefield

Big Round Top is a boulder-strewn hill notable as the topographic high point[7]:3 of the Gettysburg Battlefield and for 1863 American Civil War engagements for which Medals of Honor were awarded. In addition to battle monuments, a historic postbellum structure on the uninhabited hill is the Big Round Top Observation Tower Foundation Ruin.

Geography

Big Round Top is the southern peak of the Gettysburg Battlefield and is within the area encompassed by a drainage depression (southeast, south), Plum Run (west, north), and the Crawford Rd/Wright Av roadway (north, northeast). In addition to Little Round Top, adjacent battlefield locations are South Cavalry Field/Slyder Field (west), Devil's Den (northwest) and the Valley of Death/Slaughter Pen (north).[8] The hill is the highest point of an Adams County dendritic ridge which Plum Run divides at Big Round Top (the drainage divide continues to the east). In addition to Little Round Top (650), nearby heights are Warfield Ridge (west), hills of ~580 ft (southwest) and ~540 ft (northwest),[specify] and Houck Ridge (north-northwest); while Carr Hill (876 ft) is the nearest higher hill.[9] "Devil's Kitchen" is rock formation and small cave on the lower slopes of Big Round Top.[10]

History

The igneous hill was formed 200 million years ago when the "outcrop of the Gettysburg sill" intruded through the Triassic "Gettysburg plain".[3]:13 Subsequent periglacial frost wedging during the Pleistocene formed the hill's extensive boulders.[7] Early human activity included Indigenous people clearing an area[11]:d on the slope of Big Round Top and established a burial ground ~1 mile southwest.[4][5] prior to the 1736 British purchase of the region.

Civil War

File:1863 Gettysburg Battlefield - Big Round Top, Days 2 and 3.png
July 3 (left) & July 2, (right), positions & movements:
•Left: Well's charge (not depicted) crossed Plum Run and turned to pass behind the Confederates (red) on the spur of Big Round Top.
•Right: After the "20th ME" had 'refused the line' (4th & 5th TX were temporarily under Law).[2] Earlier on July 2 from Big Round Top, 2 of Law 's CSA (red) regiments assaulted the 20th ME.

Privately owned[who?] during the Battle of Gettysburg, Big Round Top's slope, timber, and boulders precluded placement of artillery on the summit. At various times during the 1863 battle, positions on Big Round Top formed the left flank of the Union defense. No fighting or other actions took place on Big Round Top on July 1.[12]

Battle of Gettysburg, second day
On July 2 when "it was growing dark", Big "Round Top was still in [the] possession of the [Confederate] skirmishers, who were firing upon our men. It was important to hold this hill, as…it commanded…our line. I directed Colonel Fisher to occupy it at once. He immediately detached [3 regiments], who advanced promptly, driving the enemy before them" (Crawford's report).[1]:a After 10 pm, Chamberlain's 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment occupied a Big Round Top summit position (the monument is on the north slope).[6] In 1893, Chamberlain was awarded a Medal of Honor for both "carrying the advance position on the Great Round Top" and "holding his position on the Little Round Top against repeated assaults" earlier in the day.
Battle of Gettysburg, third day
The July 3 Wells cavalry charge advanced from the west to beyond the Big Round Top spur and engaged the rear of Law's Alabama regiments[13] to carry the hill[14] and earn Wells' 1891 Medal of Honor.[15]

By September 1863, David McConaughy had begun to acquire a portion of Big Round Top for battlefield preservation.[16] The Elon J. Farnsworth monument was erected before 1896 at the base of Big Round Top,[17] and statues of William Wells (1931) and John Michael Tobin are also on the hill.

Postbellum

Kilpatrick Avenue[11]:c had been completed at the west base of Big Round Top by 1895[18] when the gravel South Confederate Avenue was constructed across the northwest slope.[19] In 1903, Wright Av was constructed along the northeast slope,[19] and in 1937, S Confederate Av and the Plum Run stone bridge were rebuilt [7][8] for the 75th battle anniversary and reunion. In 1940, Seminary Ridge CCC workers rerouted the stone trail to the Big Round Top summit,[1]:b and Harry Truman visited Big Round Top in 1946.[9] In 1964, the Big Round Top Nature Trail was created around the hill and provided access to the Devil's Kitchen.[10] The 1895 Big Round Top Observation Tower was dismantled in 1968 and the foundation was named a historic ruin in 2004.

Observation Tower

The tower was built in the late 19th century. Fred Lyons of Baltimore led the construction team that moved the foundation's granite blocks to the Big Round Top summit using block and tackle driven by a 12-horsepower engine. Constructed on the Gettysburg Battlefield's highest hill, the Big Round Top tower was to be replaced for the 1938 anniversary reunion by a stone "Gettysburg Peace Memorial" with a 75-foot-high observation deck above the summit and a flame 30 feet higher.[1]:a[20] (The memorial was instead erected on Oak Hill.)

Destruction

During 1968 tower maintenance, the Schlesser Demolition Co dismantled the Big Round Top tower[11]:b as uneconomical due to "its condition and the very limited use [due to an uphill, lengthy, and serpentine trail.] Most who started the climb gave out en route, and upon reaching the tower decided against continuing the climb to the top of the metal observatory" (GNMP Superintendent George F. Emery).[21] The foundation ruin (park structure RU05) of the "national landmark" tower,[11]:e was "entered-documented" as a historic site on January 23, 2004.[22]

External images
image icon monuments
image icon bas-relief of "Farnsworth's Charge"[verification needed]
image icon view from 300' National Tower

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
    a. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. "a deep, rocky depression separated it [Little Round Top] from the Great Round Top beyond. Into this depression Laws' brigade of Alabamians, supported by Robertson's Texans, had forced themselves and were advancing to the possession of Little Round Top."
    b. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "StarandSentinel" defined multiple times with different content
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. 793.559 ft (summit), 582.655 (saddle point), 501.2 (Plum Run @ Crawford Rd), 494.6875 (base of spur), 461 (stone bridge), 455.97 (Plum run @GNMP border)
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (The Big Round Top spur is visible via 40 ft contour lines.)
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (see also …Gettysburg…: How Mesozoic … Impacted American History.)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
    c. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
    d. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "GettysburgTimes" defined multiple times with different content
  12. ↑ Martin, David G. Gettysburg, July 1. Conshohocken, PA: Combined Books, 1996. ISBN 978-0-938289-39-5. p. 583. Retrieved June 4, 2014.  – via Questia (subscription required)
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (cited by Cross, pp. 44,60)[verification needed]
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (original formats: 1895, 1900, 1909, 1912, 1918)
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. ERRATA: The Big Round Top tower was dismantled in 1968 -- it was the Zeigler's Grove/Bryan House tower that was razed in 1961 [1] (~3 weeks after the nearby observation deck on Richard Neutra's Cyclorama Building had been built during Mission 66 for the 1963 anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg).
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