Alfred Waud's Foot Rest in Devil's Den

Gettysburg Greg

First Sergeant
Joined
Jun 6, 2010
Location
Decatur, Illinois
waudrock1.jpg


Like our friend Walleyfish, I feel a tug from the "witness rocks" to touch them and in effect touch history. With that in mind, here is a unique post for WF as well as my friend, @Bee that you can find for yourselves if you are so inclined. Most of us are familiar with the Gardner photograph of Alfred Waud, sketching on one of the large boulders in Devil's Den recorded on July 5th or 6th, 1863. As you see, his left leg is extended and rests on a small ledge on the rock. On the right below, I have my hand resting on the exact spot Waud's rested his boot. Many, including myself, recreate Waud's pose for a now photo. If any of my friends on the forum ever want to follow in Waud's footstep (so to speak) remember to place your foot in this exact spot to accurately match the original image. I will include my then and now of the Waud Rock.

waud2 combo.jpg


edited for promotion - ami
 
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Thank you for your post and the kind words. I must say that I have never paid attention to that ledge on the "Waud" rock.
Indeed I have posed on that rock for a bunch of years. I will follow your foot placement recommendation on a future trip.

I am fortunate enough to be within a 3 hour drive of Gettysburg. So I have been there a lot. For many years I was a monument jumper moving from monument to monument without taking strategy or the terrain into consideration.

Over time I started to understand the strategy and finally the geography/geology impact on the battle. Despite reading over 100 books on Gettysburg, I still have trouble in remembering regiment order and positioning. Thankfully monuments and tons of notes help me on the technical front.

I then moved to finding "out of the way" points of interest on the battlefield with the help of JD Petruzzi's Gettysburg Guide book. Then I purchased Gary Aldeman and Tim Smith's Devil's Den guide. That book turned my interest to the rocks of Gettysburg. The references then turned me to Frassinto's work. But I never invested the time while I was in Gettysburg to find the historic photo locations.

Your photo posting inspired me to find more of them. I purchased Jack Kunkle's Gettysburg photo book because of all the GPS coordinates. On my last trip, I crawled around the Rose Farm to find many locations. I particularly love books such as Mr Petruzzi's, Eric Wittenberg and others who add detailed walking tours with coordinates of the battlefield in their books.

I never grow tired of anything Gettysburg. I am constantly amazed that such a beautiful landscape as Gettysburg has had such a historical event occurring on it. I am now retired and I spend a lot of time here. I just wish I can add a bit of Gettysburg knowledge to posts. I thank you again for your posts. They certainly enrich my Gettysburg experience.
 
My old friends the rocks are featured, again! @PeterT ! @Frums @War Horse we missed our Brady opportunity on that last day.! I think what gets me is that these rocks are EXACTLY THE SAME as they were back then. EXACTLY. The perfect match-ups occur nowhere else but with these rocks. Thank you so much for indulging us once again, @Gettysburg Greg
 
My old friends the rocks are featured, again! @PeterT ! @Frums @War Horse we missed our Brady opportunity on that last day.! I think what gets me is that these rocks are EXACTLY THE SAME as they were back then. EXACTLY. The perfect match-ups occur nowhere else but with these rocks. Thank you so much for indulging us once again, @Gettysburg Greg
Oh rats! Another reason to go back again. :D
 
View attachment 117581

Like our friend Walleyfish, I feel a tug from the "witness rocks" to touch them and in effect touch history. With that in mind, here is a unique post for WF as well as my friend, @Bee that you can find for yourselves if you are so inclined. Most of us are familiar with the Gardner photograph of Alfred Waud, sketching on one of the large boulders in Devil's Den recorded on July 5th or 6th, 1863. As you see, his left leg is extended and rests on a small ledge on the rock. On the right below, I have my hand resting on the exact spot Waud's rested his boot. Many, including myself, recreate Waud's pose for a now photo. If any of my friends on the forum ever want to follow in Waud's footstep (so to speak) remember to place your foot in this exact spot to accurately match the original image. I will include my then and now of the Waud Rock.

View attachment 117583

edited for promotion - ami
Wow!!! absolutely fascinating. I know the next time I go back I am going to invest quite a bit more time looking for the places like the Waud Rock. There aren't too many places like Gettysburg and other Civil War battlefields left where you can actually touch history. Especially if that place in history was captured on film when it happened (or very shortly thereafter).
 
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I missed the last time I was in London I hope very much that the forum does it again this year I would love to go and meet some of the people for all the arguments I might get into I know that on this site the people that are writing back usually know what they're talking about and in this day and age it's a rare thing.
 
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