Devil's Den Witness Tree in 1863 Photo?

Gettysburg Greg

First Sergeant
Joined
Jun 6, 2010
Location
Decatur, Illinois
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The towering tree seen today above Devil's Den is commonly referred to as a confirmed witness tree. However, I have never seen any documentation or photographs that prove this to be true. I located a high resolution version of Mathew Brady's photograph from Little Round Top that includes the area where the tree now stands. The photo taken just days after the battle is not sharp enough to say for sure whether the tree is there or not. If it is in the photo, I would have to say it was very small and insignificant at the time. In the highly magnified comparison below I have labeled some of the rocks that can be matched up in both the 1863 image and the modern one I took a few years ago. I identified where the tree would have been in 1863, but cannot positively say I see it. You judge for yourselves. Just to be clear, the "A" marks the well known Table Rock at the north end of the Den and the * is the wall of the sharpshooter's nest made famous in Gardner's July 6th, 1863 photograph. The other marked locations are just various rocks that can be matched in both photos. The entire area within the blow up was the scene of heavy fighting just days earlier before being overrun by the Confederates. The Tri-field can be seen in the background.
 
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It's my old friends the Devil's Den rocks :smile: In some ways, I feel more of a sense of posterity when I look at those rocks than any other landmark in the park. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were there in 1863. Now, back to that tree: I think I see it :smile:
 
Nice comparison Greg. The location appears to be appropriate for the witness tree.

As you can probably tell, I am a photography nut and I really like Greg's photo comparisons. I have many photo's of that witness tree in my collection. I have used the following link many times as the most beautiful current day photograph of the Devil's Den witness tree. I hope you enjoy that photo as much as I do.

http://danandholly.com/2015/04/potw-the-devils-den-witness-tree/
 
Location is right I just question the size. Shouldn't it be bigger than that after 150 years?

Not necessarily. Diameter and height are actually rather poorly coordinated with age. That's because size is linked with the totality of site conditions. If there's limited water, a poor nutrient base, a short growing season, or other factors old trees can be rather stunted (think about how bonsai are created) and with marginal yearly diameter growth. I don't know the site conditions at Devil's Den but given how rocky it is I could certainly imagine growth rates might be slowed. The simple way to find out is to use a tool called an increment borer which is used to drill into the tree and extract a core which then allows for measurement and counting of the growth rings. It doesn't hurt the tree (most of the wood is not really alive). Who knows, maybe the Park Service has already cored it. Maybe somebody who lives close by could ask them.
 
Excellent detective work! Kudos.
There may be a way to unequivocally settle this matter. Have someone take a core from the extant tree. It will be about 1/8" in diameter and will not hurt the tree. It needs to go through the center, the pith of the tree, then simply count the tree rings. Since 154 years have passed, then if there are less than 154 rings, then it would be impossible to have been standing at the time. Presumably there should be more than ~165 rings to allow for the tree to have a little size at the time.
 
Not necessarily. Diameter and height are actually rather poorly coordinated with age. That's because size is linked with the totality of site conditions. If there's limited water, a poor nutrient base, a short growing season, or other factors old trees can be rather stunted (think about how bonsai are created) and with marginal yearly diameter growth. I don't know the site conditions at Devil's Den but given how rocky it is I could certainly imagine growth rates might be slowed. The simple way to find out is to use a tool called an increment borer which is used to drill into the tree and extract a core which then allows for measurement and counting of the growth rings. It doesn't hurt the tree (most of the wood is not really alive). Who knows, maybe the Park Service has already cored it. Maybe somebody who lives close by could ask them.

that's true I didn't consider the rocky soil there. It's possible
 
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