Before Antietam: The Battle for South MountainRobert E. Lee, after decisively repelling John Pope's August 1862 invasion of Virginia at the Second Battle of Manassas, took the offensive. Moving north into Maryland, Lee divided his forces to capture Harpers Ferry while continuing his advance further into Union territory. George B. McClellan, the new Union commander, learned that Lee had divided his forces, and advanced to attack the Confederates. The armies, from squad to corps level, fought hard in both cavalry and infantry actions for control of the three gaps across South Mountain, about sixty miles from the Federal capital. The victory McClellan's officers and men gave him forced Lee to fall back and regroup near the town of Sharpsburg, Maryland, thus setting the stage for the Civil War's bloodiest day which soon followed at Antietam Creek. Three days before that September day, the opposing armies fought a series of engagements that came to be known as the Battle of South Mountain. Until Before Antietam, those battles existed in our history as only a footnote to the events at Antietam. Because of the work of John Michael Priest those terrible encounters now have their rightful place in American military history. |
Contents
September 5 1862 | 15 |
September 6 1862 | 31 |
Chapter Five | 49 |
Copyright | |
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12th Ohio 12th Virginia 8th Illinois Cavalry Antietam National Battlefield Army of Northern artillery battery battle Boonsboro Borcke brigade Burkittsville Captain Carolinians casualties Charles Civil War Round column command Company F Confederate cornfield Corps D. H. Hill Diary E. N. Gilpin Collection Ezra Carman Federal fire Fox's Gap-September 14 Frederick front Frosttown Road George ground guns H. B. McClellan halted Harpers Ferry Harrisburg Civil Hill horse Illustrated Collection infantry IX Corps Jackson John Lee's Library of Congress Manuscript Division Maryland Campaign Middletown miles Monocacy Munford National Pike Neese North Carolina Northern Virginia officers Old Sharpsburg Road Pennsylvania Reserves Potomac Private Rebels Refer to Map regiment rode Samuel J. B. V. Gilpin September 12 Sergeant shot skirmishers soldiers South Mountain stone wall Stuart Thomas Munford troopers troops Ulysses Robert Brooks USAMHI Valley VI Corps Virginia Cavalry William wood road wounded Yankees York