Big Round Top

Hill in Pennsylvania, United States

Big Round Top is a boulder strewn hill notable as the topographic high point 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 reconstruction era structure on the uninhabited hill is the Big Round Top Observation Tower Foundation Ruin.

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 Avenue/Wright Avenue 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). 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 ft.), nearby heights are Warfield Ridge (west), hills of 580 ft (southwest) and 540 ft (northwest), and Houck Ridge (north northwest); while Carr Hill (876 ft) is the nearest higher hill. Devil's Kitchen is rock formation and small cave on the lower slopes of Big Round Top.

The igneous hill was formed 200 million years ago when the outcrop of the Gettysburg sill intruded through the Triassic Gettysburg plain. Subsequent periglacial frost wedging during the Pleistocene formed the hill's extensive boulders. on the slope of Big Round Top and established a burial ground about one mile southwest. prior to the 1736 British purchase of the region.

During the Battle of Gettysburg, Big Round Top's slope, timber, and boulders precluded placement of artillery on the summit. 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). to carry the hill and earn Wells' 1891 Medal of Honor. By September 1863, David McConaughy had begun to acquire a portion of Big Round Top for battlefield preservation. The Elon J. Farnsworth monument was erected before 1896 at the base of Big Round Top, and statues of William Wells (1931) and John Michael Tobin are also on the hill.

Kilpatrick Avenue when the gravel South Confederate Avenue was constructed across the northwest slope. In 1903, Wright Avenue was constructed along the northeast slope, Harry Truman visited Big Round Top in 1946. In 1964, the Big Round Top Nature Trail was created around the hill and provided access to the Devil's Kitchen. The 1895 Big Round Top Observation Tower was dismantled in 1968 and the foundation was named a historic ruin in 2004.

Late in the day of July 3, Union brigadier general Judson Kilpatrick ordered the cavalry brigade of Brigadier General Elon Farnsworth to charge Confederate infantry of Major General John Bell Hood’s division who were on and near the slopes of Big Round Top. Hood had been wounded the previous day, and his division was under the command of Brigadier General Evander Law. One after another, three of the four regiments of Farnsworth’s brigade charged over broken ground into Confederate fire and were repulsed. The final regiment, the 1st Vermont, then made the attempt. Farnsworth divided it into three battalions and personally led the second battalion. 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. (The memorial was instead erected on Oak Hill.)

During 1968 tower maintenance, the Schlesser Demolition Co dismantled the Big Round Top tower 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). The foundation ruin (park structure RU05) of the "national landmark" tower,