SOUTH MOUNTAIN, MD.
                                       SEPT. 14TH, 1862

                     South Mountain, Md., Sept. 14, 1862.  1st, 6th and 9th
                Army Corps.  The battle of South mountain was a preliminary
                engagement to the greater battle of Antietam.  About noon on
                the 13th the Union army reached Frederick City.  The 12th
                corps stacked arms on the same ground occupied by Confederate
                Gen. D. H. Hill the preceding evening.  Soon after halting,
                some of the soldiers found a paper which proved to be an order
                from Gen. Lee to Hill, directing the movements of his
                division.  The lost despatch-"Special Orders, No. 191"-was
                taken to Gen. McClellan, who learned from it the intentions of
                the Confederate commander and the position of his forces.  At
                that time Lee's army was west of South mountain and was
                stretched out over a distance of 25 miles.  The greater part
                of Jackson's corps was in the vicinity of Harper's Ferry,
                McLaws was at Maryland heights; Walker was on the Virginia
                side of the Potomac, D. H. Hill's division was at Boonsboro,
                and the remainder of Longstreet's command was at Hagertown.
                The order directed Longstreet to proceed to Boonsboro, where
                he and Hill were to be joined by Jackson, as soon as the
                capture of Harper's Ferry was effected.  Soon after the lost
                despatch fell into McClellan's hands orders were issued for a
                movement having for its object the piercing of the Confederate
                center, before Lee's orders could be carried out, and the
                destruction of the army in detail.

                     South mountain lies along the western side of the
                Catoctin valley, and from Middletown, in the valley, it is
                easily crossed at four different places.  Crampton's gap, the
                southernmost pass, is on the road leading from Jefferson to
                Keedysville; six miles north is Turner's gap, on the
                Middletown and Boonsboro road; a little way south of Turner's
                is Fox's gap, on the road that runs to Sharpsburg, while north
                of Turner's gap is the Braddock pass, on the road leading to
                Hagerstown.  The 6th corps, commanded by Maj.-Gen. W. B.
                Franklin, was directed to seize and hold Crampton's gap, while
                the remainder of the army was to direct its attention to
                Turner's and Fox's gaps, but especially the former.  Franklin
                moved at an early hour on the 14th and upon arriving at the
                pass found the enemy strongly posted on each side of the road,
                at a point where it ran through a narrow defile, giving them
                superior advantages in position.  The advance was near the
                base of the mountain, drawn up behind a stone wall, with open
                fields in front, and 8 guns were stationed on an elevation to
                the left of the road.  Slocum's division was pushed forward
                through the little village of Burkittsville to attack the
                right of the enemy , the 1st Md. battery was placed in
                position in the rear and to the left of the village; Smith's
                division was drawn up in reserve east of the village, from
                where he could support Slocum or protect the batteries as the
                occasion might require Slocum advanced steadily with
                Bartlett's brigade in front, closely supported by Newton's and
                Torbert's.  As soon as the enemy's position was determined the
                skirmishers were withdrawn and Bartlett's whole line became
                engaged.  Two regiments of Newton's command were then thrown
                to Bartlett's right and the rest of the supporting force to
                his left, and a charge was ordered.  Meantime Ayres' battery
                had been planted to the left of the reserves, and the two
                batteries kept up an uninterrupted fire until the enemy was
                driven from his position.  As soon as Slocum ordered the
                charge Franklin directed Brooks' brigade of Smith's division
                to advance upon the left of the road, and dislodge the
                Confederates in the woods on Slocum's flank.  The movement was
                admirably executed, after which Brooks moved forward in line
                with Slocum to the very crest of the mountain.  Crampton's gap
                was in possession of the Union forces.  The enemy was
                completely routed, abandoning 1 piece of artillery and
                throwing away haversacks, blankets and arms in the flight.
                Prisoners to the number of 400 were taken and 3 stands of
                colors were captured.

                     At Turner's gap the fighting was more severe.  On the
                afternoon of the 13th Lee learned that the Federals were
                moving by that route and D. H. Hill was instructed to hold the
                gap.  In obedience to this order Hill first sent the brigades
                of Garland and Colquitt to guard the pass, but after an
                examination of the ground he concluded that a larger force
                would be necessary and ordered up the rest of his division
                from Boonsboro.  At the same time Longstreet was directed to
                march from Hagerstown to Hill's support.  The action on the
                morning of the 14th was commenced by a reconnaissance of
                Pleasonton's cavalry, supported by Cox's and Willcox's
                divisions of the 9th corps and Benjamin's and Gibson's
                batteries.  Turner's gap is so narrow that a small force with
                artillery could hold it against an army.  Fortunately for the
                Union forces a road ran along the crest on either side of the
                pass, and it was to these roads the Federal commanders turned
                their attention as a means of gaining the enemy's flanks.
                Cox's division took the old Sharpsburg road to the left, with
                Scammon's brigade in advance, the 2nd brigade keeping in close
                supporting distance.  About half a mile from the summit, at
                Fox's gap, the enemy opened on Scammon with artillery, forcing
                him to leave the road and turn further to the left.  The 23rd
                Ohio, commanded by Col. R. B. Hayes, was sent through the
                woods to the left of the road to gain the crest and attack the
                enemy on the flank.  The movement was successful and Hayes
                gained a strong position, to drive him from which all efforts
                of the Confederates were futile.  At the same time the 30th
                Ohio, Col. Hugh Ewing, moved up to a position on the right of
                Hayes in the face of a galling fire from a Confederate
                battery.  The 12th Ohio, Col. C. D. White's regiment, drove in
                the enemy's skirmishers and charged up the slope in the
                center, driving the enemy from behind a stone fence at the
                point of the bayonet.  Willcox's division was first ordered by
                Gen. Pleasonton to move to the right of the main pike, with a
                view of turning the Confederate left, but before the movement
                could be executed the order was recalled by Gen. Burnside, and
                Willcox took up a position near Cox.  Toward noon there was a
                lull in the fighting, and during this temporary cessation of
                hostilities, which lasted about two hours, Meade's division of
                the 1st corps was steadily working its way up the road to the
                right of the gap, where a solitary peak completely commanded
                the Confederate position.  Hill discovered this movement and
                brought all his available artillery to bear on Meade, but with
                little effect.  Meade brought forward Cooper's battery and
                placed it on a ridge where it could reply to the Confederate
                guns, while the main body of the division pressed on toward
                the summit, Seymour's brigade leading the advance.  Seeing
                that his efforts to check Meade with artillery were vain Hill
                sent three brigades of infantry to seize and hold the peak.
                The lines met near the crest and a fierce combat ensued, each
                side taking all possible advantage of such natural defenses as
                the slope of the mountain afforded.  Seymour finally drove in
                the Confederate left and gained the crest, while the other two
                brigades of the division, under Magilton and Gallagher, made a
                courageous advance and the enemy was driven from the mountain.
                When darkness fell the Union troops held the gap and every
                position commanding it.  Longstreet arrived upon the field
                about 4 p.m., but too late to turn the tide of battle.
                Nothing was left for the Confederates but to retreat, which
                was done during the night.

                     At Crampton's pass the Federal loss was 113 killed, 418
                wounded and 2 missing.  The Confederate loss was reported as
                being 62 killed, 208 wounded and 479 missing, but Gen.
                Franklin, who was in command of the Union forces, reported
                that his men buried 15O of the enemy's dead and took charge of
                over 300 wounded who had been left on the field.  The Union
                loss at Turner's gap was 325 killed, 1,403 wounded and 85
                missing.  The estimated loss of the enemy was about 2,000
                killed and wounded and 1,500 prisoners.  Many of the
                prisoners, however, were among the wounded.  Gen. Jesse L.
                Reno was killed and Col. Thomas F. Gallagher, who commanded a
                brigade in Meade's attack on the right, was severely wounded.
                The Confederates lost Gen. Samuel Garland.

                Source: The Union Army, vol. 6

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