Devil's Den: The Orange Blossoms
American Civil War
•
21m
In the mid afternoon of July 2, 1863 the 238 men of the 124th were stationed near Captain James Smith’s 4th NY Battery on the south end of Houck’s Ridge near the rocks of Devil’s Den. To the west was a triangular shaped field leading down to Rose Run and the opposite hillside of pasture, small woodlots and boulders that led to the ridge near the Emmitsburg Road. The 1st Texas advanced through the relentless fire from Smith’s battery and pushed back the Union skirmishers. Soon, the Texans arrived at a stone wall on the west side of the triangular field and directly threatened the battery who could not depress its fire enough to repel the Confederates. The 124th’s Colonel, A. Van Horne Ellis had his horse brought up and ordered a charge. The 124th responded with bayonets. They drove the Texans down the triangular field, over the stone wall at the bottom and beyond Rose Run. The price of the charge was steep. Colonel Ellis and Major James Cromwell were killed in the charge.
Up Next in American Civil War
-
The Assault on Fort Stedman
R.E. Lee’s last offensive against the Union army around Petersburg is recreated in “The Assault on Fort Stedman.” Confederate General John B. Gordon’s elaborate plan to capture a portion of the Union siege lines is explored, including the making of white strips of cloth, used to identify
Confeder... -
A Cowardly Rout
On July 21, 1861, world-renowned War correspondent and London Times Reporter William Howard Russell would view the greatest military spectacle of his career. The first to report of the famed “Charge of the Light Brigade” would view perhaps a greater military disaster at Bull Run Creek in Manassas...
-
Spencer vs Henry
Revised and updated for HistoryFix, this program looks at what it took to send the Spencer and Henry rifles into the field with Union soldiers during the Civil War. New for 2023, get a better experience with more recreated battle footage and stills of both original soldiers and the weapons they c...
