We began our diorama in 2013, to mark the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. Unfortunately for the diorama, that year we also unexpectedly moved to Gettysburg to start the process of opening Civil War Tails! And so work on Little Round Top was put on hold for a while. Finally, 11 years later, we finished the diorama on February 9, 2024!

At 11 feet long and 4’8″ wide, “The Boys Are Still There” is our largest diorama. It holds 2,650 cat-soldiers, including Cat 6000, Cat 7000, and Cat 9000 and over 60 identified officers and men.

The point in time that we chose to portray is just as the 20th Maine begins their bayonet charge on July 2, 1863. Moments before, Col. Patrick O’Rorke and the 140th New York had arrived on the crest, just in the nick of time to save the right flank of Col. Strong Vincent’s brigade from being overlapped and turned by a fresh Confederate regiment. Their arrival also likely saved Lt. Charles Hazlett’s battery from being captured, had the Confederates succeeded in rolling up Vincent’s right. O’Rorke was killed, but the 140th came into line alongside Vincent’s men and successfully stopped the enemy attack.

Meanwhile, on the left of Vincent’s line, Col. Joshua Chamberlain’s 20th Maine had been fighting for over an hour, was low on ammunition, and would likely not hold off yet another attack. But, since they were the left of Vincent’s brigade and, indeed, the Union army, retreat was not an option. Chamberlain ordered, “Bayonet!” but only his right wing heard him. The left wing, knowing nothing of the order, just saw their flag moving forward (actually in an effort to get some of their wounded men behind the line instead of stranded between the firing lines) and received an order to advance (Maj. Spear did not want a gap to develop between the left and the center). They put two and two together, as it were, and charged!

The arrival of the 140th New York on the right and the charge of the 20th Maine on the left pushed the Confederates back, ending the fighting on Little Round Top.