Posted on 09/14/2010 4:13:45 AM PDT by mainepatsfan
Sep 14, 1862:
Battles of South Mountain and Crampton's Gap
General Robert E. Lee's exhausted Confederate forces hold off the pursuing Yankees by closing two passes through Maryland's South Mountain, allowing Lee time to gather his forces further west along Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg.
After the Battle of Second Bull Run on August 29-30, Lee decided to invade Maryland to raise supplies; he also hoped a decisive win would earn the South foreign recognition. As he moved, he split his army into five sections while the hungry Rebels searched for supplies. A copy of the Confederate plans accidentally fell into Union hands when the orders were left in an abandoned campsite outside of Frederick, Maryland. McClellan now knew that Lee's force was in pieces, but he was slow to react.
As Lee moved into western Maryland, he left detachments to guard Crampton's Gap and Turner's Gap through South Mountain. If McClellan had penetrated the passes, he would have found Lee's army scattered and vulnerable. South Mountain, a 50-mile long ridge, contained several passes, but Crampton's Gap and Turner's Gap were the most important. The National Road ran through Turner's Gap to the north, and Crampton's Gap connected western Maryland to Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
I fyou have a ping list, could you add me to it?
TIA!
Good post and thank you!
LOL Your link to the NFL scores is priceless!
Just curious—why is the link to NFL scores? And why are the Southern forces referred to as “General Robert E. Lee’s exhausted Confederate forces” while the Union forces are “Yankees”? Shouldn’t it be Confederate Forces and Union Forces, or Rebels and Yankees, just for consistency’s sake?
If this isn’t meant to be an objective reporting of the history but yet another “Confederacy was great, Yankees were evil even though we’re living in the nation that exists because they won” vanity, then no problem.
Not enough caffeine yet.
LOL As soon as I posted that I was like ‘Look at his handle, ya dope, there’s yer answer...” :P No worries, just wondering if I was missing something. Have a good one.
Exhausted??
Lee was the invader, not the army on the defensive, reeling from defeat to defeat.
Of course invasion is hard work so there is a valid point to be made there, but a simple point might also be that McClellan was in a better position for counter moves than Lee and had the interior position & logistics that Lee did not have in this move.
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