SEPTEMBER 14, 1862:
The
Battle of South Mountain.
“South Mountain” is the name given to the
continuation of the Blue Ridge Mountains after they enter Maryland. It is a
natural obstacle that separates the Hagerstown Valley and Cumberland Valley
from the eastern part of Maryland. Three
pitched battles were fought for possession of three South Mountain passes:
Crampton's Gap, Turner's Gap, and Fox's Gap. The Union Army of the Potomac
needed to pass through these gaps in pursuit of the Army of Northern Virginia.
1. The Battle of
Crampton’s Gap (The Battle of Burkittsville) pitted 13,000 Union troops against
3,000 Confederates holding the Gap. The hypercautious local Union commander
believed even after the battle that he had been significantly outnumbered, and
acted like, it was said, a "lion making exceedingly careful preparations
to spring on a plucky little mouse." After daylong heavy fighting, the
Union took the Gap, but the Confederates had been able to delay troop movement
and had kept the Union from reinforcing beleaguered Harper’s Ferry.
2. The Battle of
Turner’s Gap: 5,000 Confederates held
Turner’s Gap against a significantly larger Union force. Again, the Union
command believed they were outnumbered, and again the battle raged all day. The
battle ended at dusk with a skeleton force of Confederates still holding the
Gap.
3. The Battle of
Fox’s Gap: Union troops actually
took Fox’s Gap, but Confederate reinforcements shifted from Turner’s Gap
stalled the Union advance through the Gap. On graves detail around dusk, Union
soldiers dumped 60 Confederate bodies down a local farmer’s dry well, paying
him $60 in compensation.
Although the Rebels still (barely) held Turner’s Gap and
Fox’s Gap at nightfall, Lee realized that the next day’s fighting might create
a rout and so he ordered his outnumbered and exhausted forces to withdraw from
South Mountain.
The Battle of South Mountain was an important morale booster
for the defeat-stricken Army of the Potomac, and equally deflating to the Army
of Northern Virginia.
Lee actually
contemplated a retreat out of Maryland since McClellan was now in position to
destroy Lee's army before it could concentrate.
However,
McClellan's limited activity on September 15 after his victory at South
Mountain condemned the garrison at Harpers Ferry and gave Lee time to unite his
scattered divisions at Sharpsburg for the Battle of Antietam on September 17.
Union casualties of 28,000 engaged at South Mountain were 2,325 (443 killed,
1,807 wounded, and 75 missing); Confederates lost 2,685 (325 killed, 1560
wounded, and 800 missing) of 18,000.
