South Mountain's Confederate commanders at Gettysburg

Several of the key players in the combat along the ridges and gaps of South Mountain would survive the battle and accompany the Confederate Army during it's second invasion of the North culminating in the Battle of Gettysburg. Here are just a few that may be of interest.

Brigadier General John Bell Hood : At South Mountain, he commanded a division which consisted of the famous Texas Brigade, under Colonel William T. Wofford, and the brigade of Colonel Evander Law. Hood was under arrest for a getting into an argument with Nathan Evans over captured ambulance wagons following the Battle of Second Manassas. As his division advanced up the mountainside, pleas from the soldiers eventually convinced Robert E. Lee to release Hood from arrest, giving him back his command. They advanced to Turner's Gap and filed down the Wood Road towards Fox's Gap. His division went into line of battle, fixed bayonets and charged into the advancing Union troops of the XI Corps. They halted the Union advance and are credited with mortally wounding the XI Corps commander Jesse Reno. His division would be the rearguard as Lee retreated towards Sharpsburg. At Gettysburg, Hood would command a division with the rank of Major General. Attacking late in the afternoon of the second day, Hood would be wounded by a shell fragment that would cause him to lose the use of his left arm for the rest of his life.

Brigadier General Richard B. Garnett: During the First Corps assault on South Mountain, Garnett commanded the brigade of George Pickett, who was wounded in the Seven Days' Battles. Garnett's men were in Hagerstown when the fighting broke out at Fox's Gap on the morning of September 14th. Garnett's men, along with the rest of James Longstreet's command, made a forced march to Boonsboro. Arriving on at the base of the mountain in the early afternoon, Garnett was rushed to the summit after the Union First Corps had all but broken the Confederate brigade holding the ridges to the left of Turner's Gap. His brigade arrived just in time to help halt the Union division under John Hatch before it could sweep over the mountain. His brigade would be pulled off the mountain that night. At Gettysburg, he would command a brigade in the division of Major General George Pickett and he would fall during the assault on the Union center on July 3rd. His remains would never be identified and he was buried in a mass grave with his men.

Brigadier General James Kemper: At South Mountain, he commanded a brigade in the division of David Rumph Jones. His brigade, like Garnett's was in Hagerstown when hostilities broke out on the mountain. After a forced march, his brigade fell into line to the left of Garnett's and helped repulse John Hatch's Division of Union infantry. His brigade would be pulled off the mountain that night and it would take up position south of Sharpsburg. At Gettysburg, he would still command his brigade and it would be a part of George Pickett's Division. During the assault on July 3rd, Kemper would be wounded severely and captured by Union soldiers. He would be rescued by his men and borne back to Seminary Ridge where he would plead with General Lee that "do full justice for this division for its work today." During the retreat from Gettysburg, he would be captured and held in a Union prison until September when he was exchanged.

Colonel Evander Law: At the fight at South Mountain, he commanded a brigade in Hood's division. During the Confederate counterattack in the fading light at Fox's Gap, Law's brigade would suffer the most losing several men killed, wounded, and captured. At Gettysburg, Law would command an all Alabama brigade in the Confederate assault through the Devils Den and against Little Round Top. Following the wounding of General Hood, Law rose to command of the division but his performance was lacking because he did not surrender command of his brigade. The other brigadiers in the division recalled later that they never recieved any orders from Law. He would keep the division in line over the its hard earned ground on July 3rd.

Colonel Eppa Hunton: Commanded the 8th Virginia in Garnett's brigade during the Battle of South Mountain. His regiment resisted the Union assault of Hatch's division losing 11 men out of 34 in the entire regiment. At Gettysburg, he would lead his regiment against the Union positions on Cemetery hill during Pickett's Charge. He would be wounded and his regiment would lose its flag to the 16th Vermont.

Colonel John B. Gordon: At South Mountain, he would command the 6th Alabama in the brigade of Robert Rhodes. His regiment was deployed as skirmishers and help resist the assault of General George Meade's division against the Frostown Gap. His regiment would help resist the Union advance for nearly three hours until Confederate reinforcements arrived. His regiment would retreat off the mountain that night. At Gettysburg, now holding the rank of Brigadier General, he commanded a brigade in the Jubal Early's division. On the first day, his brigade practically broke the Union line by itself and he requested the surrender of the town and his brigade occupied the town for the remainder of the battle.

Brigadier General Robert Rodes: At South Mountain, he would command the brigade that held Frostown Gap against George Meade's Pennsylvania Reserve Division for nearly three hours. His brigades resistance was called "Rodes Resistance" and earned him alot of credit in the eyes of his superiors. He would be promoted to Major General following Chancellorsville and he command a division at Gettysburg. His division helped drive Union First and Eleventh Corps through the streets of Gettysburg. His division would remain in place for the rest of the battle.

"The army has met with a grievous loss. . ."

After fighting a long and bloody stalemate around Fox's Gap on September 14, 1862, Major General Jesse Reno moves up with his staff to get a look at the situation for himself. With daylight fading, it is quite difficult to get a handle on his troops positions and as General Reno's party came within yards of the gap, shots rang out. Immediately, there was the distinct thud of hot lead hitting human flesh and General Reno crumbles in the saddle. One of his staff officers gains control of the General's horse and leads the mortally wounded commander of the Union 9th Corps back down the mountain. Reno would be laid underneath an oak tree where, within the hour, he would succumb to his wound.


Jesse Lee Reno was born on April 20, 1823 in Wheeling, West Virginia to Lewis Thomas and Rebecca Reno. He was the third of eight children the couple would have together. His parents moved the family Franklin, Pennsylvania in the northwestern part of the state. The young Reno would spend his childhood here and he would receive an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1842 while living here. in 1846, he would graduate eighth in a class that included future Civil War generals George B. McClellan, Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall), and George Pickett. He would serve in the Mexican-American War where he would be brevetted a first lieutenant following the Battle of Cerro Gordo and Captain following the battle of Chapultepec.

During the period before the outbreak of the Civil War, Reno would serve in various different capacities. He would teach at West Point, be a member on various ordnance boards, take part in
mapping surveys, and he would serve as the chief of ordnance during Albert Sidney Johnston's Utah Expedition. He would also hold commands at the U.S. Arsenals at Mount Vernon, Alabama, and Leavenworth, Kansas.

In January of 1861, during the secession crisis, Reno was forced to surrender the Mount Vernon Arsenal to the State of Alabama. In April, war broke out and by November, Jesse Reno was commissioned a brigadier general of volunteers and his first command was a brigade in the Carolina Coast expedition under Ambrose Burnside and fought in the fights on Roanoke Island, New Bern, and Camden, North Carolina. Following this expedition, Reno would command a division in the Federal Department of North Carolina until he was recalled to Washington, D.C. in August 1862.

He was appointed major general on August 20 with rank from July 18th, 1862. During the Second Manassas Campaign, he commanded Burnside's IX Corps while General Burnside was in command of the right wing of John Pope's Army of Virginia as it advanced north away from the Rappahannock River. Reno's command would fight well during the Battle of Second Manassas and in the Battle of Chantilly of September 1, 1862. As the Union force retreated into the defences of Washington, D.C., George McClellan was given command of the demoralized force and it was incorporated into the Army of the Potomac with Reno remaining in command of the IX Corps with Burnside given the overall command of the Right Wing of the Army. The Rebel Army crossed into Maryland between September 4-7, 1862 and by the 9th they were concentrated around the city of Frederick, Maryland. Their stay in Maryland would prove to be a short one. Reno's 9th Corp was ordered to move to Leesbourough, Maryland on September 5th and then onward through Damascus and New Market and the corps arrived in the vanguard of the Army of the Potomac at Frederick on September 12th fighting a brief skirmish in the outskirts and streets of Frederick before encamping on the banks of the Monocacy River. On the 13th, the IX Corps moved through Frederick towards Braddock Gap and after Union Cavalry under Alfred Pleasonton cleared the gap, Reno pushed his corps right up to the base of South Mountain. The evening, McClellan recalled Reno's troops back to Middletown where they would encamp for the night.

On the morning of the 14th, the Kanawha Divison under Jacob Cox moved out in a reconnaissance in force towards Turner's Gap along the National Pike. After recieving information that a sizable force of Confederate Infantry was at the gap, Cox filed his division off to the left of the pike and moved up the Old Sharpsburg Road in an attempt to outflank the Turner's Gap position. The lead elements of Cox's men ran into the brigade of General Samuel Garland around 9 in the morning near Fox's Gap and fighting became rather intense with General Garland being mortally wounded. Reno pushed forward the remainder of the IX Corps to the support of Cox at Fox's Gap. The Confederates attempted a counterattack in the afternoon but it was stopped cold and Reno ordered the entire IX Corps to push towards the gap. Reno's men gained possession of the gap before being pushed back by reinforcements from John Bell Hood's division of Confederates.

As light was fading, General Reno moved up the Old Sharpsburg Road with his staff to get a handle on the situation himself and issue orders as needed. As he got close to the gap, picket's from both sides were firing and a volley from the woods was unleashed upon the group. General Reno was struck in the chest of and Major Charles Goodwin assisted the General back down the mountain until the general could be placed on a stretcher. As orderlies carried the general on the stretcher, Reno saw his old friend, one of his brigade commanders, Samuel Sturgis and cried out, "Hallo Sam! I'm Dead". Sturgis heard the voice in such a way that he would not believe that Reno was going to die. Reno also came across one of his division commanders, Orlando Willcox, who Reno confided in that he believed the he had been shot by his own men. Major General Jesse Reno would die of his wounds within an hour underneath a large Oak tree.

The general's body was taken to Boston to his wife and placed within a vault at Trinity Church. His remains would be removed to Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown in April 1867. General Reno is memorialized by a monument within a gated area near that site of his wounding on the Fox's Gap Battlefield (above, right). He is also memorialized by the City of Reno, Nevada. The city sprouted up near a silver mine and the settlers of the town voted to name in Reno, in honor of the general. This act caught the notice of President Lincoln who would make Nevada a state in October 1864. Today, Reno memorializes its name sake with a large wooden statue of the general. He is also memorialized by various other places and communities throughout the country including his birthplace of Wheeling, West Virginia.

(Monument in Wheeling, WV)

Birth of the Iron Brigade

Co. K, 7th Wisconsin Infantry

As you drive along the Old National Road (present day Alt. 40) across the Middletown Valley, just as you begin driving up the slope of South Mountain towards Turner's Gap, you'll notice a clear field with a few rock outcroppings and trees. It was here that one of the most famous brigades to come out of the Civil War earned the moniker, "Iron Brigade".

What we know today as the "Iron Brigade" had it's beginnings in the Fall of 1861 when the 2nd, 6th, and 7th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment's and the 19th Infantry Regiment were joined together in a brigade under the command of Brigadier General Rufus King. Of these regiments, only the 2nd Wisconsin had been in any kind of combat being present at the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) on July 21, 1861. The brigade would also include Battery B, 4th United States Artillery and it would assigned to the defenses of Washington, D. C. for the next nine months or so. While staying manning Washington's defenses, the brigade would become recognizable almost immediately for two reasons, one it was the only all-western brigade in the Eastern Theater and two because of the Model 1858 Hardee Hat that was issued to the brigade. This hat itself earned the brigade it's "Black Hats" nickname. The brigade would not go with the Army of the Potomac when George McClellan attempted to march on Richmond, Virginia by going up the Virginia Peninsula, so the brigade avoided the bloody Seven Days' battle. Instead they would march to Fredericksburg, Virginia to take up a reserve position with the Major General Irwin Mcdowell's Infantry Corps.

By August 1862, Brigadier General John Gibbon was in command and the brigade was attached to General John Pope's Army of Virginia in an attempt to hunt out and destroy "Stonewall" Jackson's Confederates operating somewhere in northern Virginia. Jackson would find Pope instead. On August 28, 1862, General Jackson came out of hiding and attacked Gibbon's brigade at Brawner's Farm near the old Bull Run battlefield. The fight that ensued was nothing short of an all out slug fest. Jackson committed the better part of four brigades in an attempt to drive off Gibbon's men but they slugged it out round for round with the Jackson's veterans. The discipline that had been pushed upon the men by General Gibbon paid off in the fight. All told in three hours of savage fighting where the opposing lines were less than 30 yards apart, the men of Gibbon's brigade lost nearly 800 men out of over 2,000 engaged while inflicting over 1,000 casualties on the attacking Confederates. The brigades trial by fire showed that the western men would fight. They would go on to fight in the Union disaster that was Second Bull Run and retreat back to the defenses of Washington. The brigade remained in Washington where it was transferred to the Army of the Potomac and into the First Corps under the command of Joseph Hooker.

Between September 4-7, 1862, General Robert E. Lee marched his seemingly invincible Army of Northern Virginia north across the Potomac and into Frederick, Maryland where they would eventually march west in the hopes of pushing the campaign into Pennsylvania. Gibbon's men and the First Corps were ordered to march out of Washington on September 5th marching toward Brookville and eventually towards Frederick. The advance elements of the Union Army arrived in Frederick on September 12th and by the 13th, McClellan had most of his army massed in and around Frederick. As the Union Army encamped at Frederick on the 13th, a piece of paper outlining Robert E. Lee's plans for his campaign which called for the division of his army and the capture of Harpers Ferry, Virginia. General McClellan used this document to put his army in motion. On the 13th, the lead elements of the Union Army pushed through the passes within the Catoctin Mountain range and advanced right up to the base of South Mountain.

On the morning of the 14th of September, Gibbon's brigade along with the rest of the 1st Corps were ordered to move up the National Pike towards South Mountain. By early afternoon, the Corps had reached the small town of Bolivar at the base of the mountain and proceeded to turn to the right up Mount Tabor Road in an attempt to outflank the Confederates holding the pass. All this while hearing the distant rumble of cannon and musketry up at Fox's Gap where portions of the Union 9th Corps under Major General Jesse Reno had all but turned the Confederate right flank. While the 1st Corps was moving into position near the Frostown Gap, Gibbon's brigade was detached from his division and sent back to the National Pike to await further orders.

Gibbon's brigade was ordered to advance directly up the National Pike against the confederates holding Turner's Gap. The brigade moved into position late in the afternoon of the 14th and the regiments were deployed as follows: the 19th Indiana was deployed on the right of the pike and the 7th Wisconsin on the left of the pike creating the main battleline of the brigade. Two companies of skirmishers from the 2nd and 6th Wisconsin would be deployed out in front as skirmishers. The 2nd and 6th Wisconsin would form a second battle line a little ways back from the first line and move as support. To give artillery support to the brigade, a section of Battery B, 4th US Artillery of Lieutenant James Stewart was placed just to the rear of the first line. Opposing Gibbon was the brigade of Alfred Colquitt that was a mixture of Georgians and Alabamians.

As the advance began, the skirmishers of both sides came into contact. The Federals slowly pushed the Confederates back but the advance eventually ground to a halt. Confederate sharpshooters had taken up position in a house near the pike and their fire was holding back the entire Union advance it seemed. The sharpshooters were forced out of the house after a few rounds fired by Lieutenant Stewart's guns were sent through the house. After this incident, the 7th Wisconsin and 19th Indiana advanced to support the skirmishers and the engagement intensified.

The 7th advancing up the right side of the pike came under a flank fire from the 28th Georgia that was in line behind a stonewall while engaging the 23rd Georgia in front also in position behind a stonewall. The regiment also recieved fire from the 6th Georgia from the left. The 19th Indiana advanced up the left side of the pike and came into contact with the 13th Alabama and 27th Georgia. As the advance of both of these regiments became stalled, the 2nd and 6th Wisconsin came to their support. The 2nd Wisconsin took up postion in between the 19th Indiana and 7th Wisconsin and the 6th Wisconsin extended the brigades right flank to reliece pressure on the 7th from the Confederates firing into the regiments flank. While the 6th and 7th were duking it out with the 23rd and 28th Georgia, Colonel Solomon Meredith of the 19th Indiana solved the impasse on his front by moving Company G to his extreme left flank and into a position that allowed the company to fire into the Confederate flank. The fire from this company caused a panic in the Confederate line and forced them to retreat with the 19th Indiana and 2nd Wisconsin hot on their heals pushing them back up the mountain. Both regiments, after pushing the Confederates opposing them, took turns pouring a flanking fire into the Confederates that remained in position agains the 7th and 6th Wisconsin.

On the right of the pike, the 6th and 7th Wisconsin were caught up in a severe fight for possesion of the stonewalls occupied by the Confederates. The two regiments duked it out with the Confederate defenders until well after dark and their ammunition was exhausted. One last action occurred after dark when Union soldiers were ordered to conserve what ammunition they had left one final push if possible. The Confederates noting the silence, advanced from behind their strong position and began to fire into the darkness. Almost immediately, the 6th and 7th Wisconsin replied with a deadly fire. The 6th's fire was so terrific that the Confederates retreated in confusion and once they Confederates were gone, the 6th remained in position to await any more advances. The 7th meanwhile fixed bayonets and charged against the advancing Confederates and when they were nearly 20 paces from the Confederates, they too unleashed a volley that caused the enemy to retreat in confusion. The fighting had lasted roughly four hours and the Confederates still held Turner's Gap but they were holding on by their fingertips. Darkness had ended the fighting and at around midnight, Gibbon's brigade was relieved by the brigade of General Willis Gorman.

Gibbon's brigade would suffer rather heavily in their fight for Turner's Gap. The losses of the 2nd Wisconsin are reported as being relatively light by the regiment's commander Colonel Lucius Fairchild. The number of casualties in this regiment are missing but it is known that the captain of Company B had been killed. The 6th Wisconsin under Lt. Colonel Edward S. Bragg were 11 killed, and 79 wounded for a total of 90. The 7th Wisconsin under Captain John B. Callis was the heaviest of all the brigades regiment with a total of 147 men out of 375 men engaged. The 19th Indiana under Colonel Solomon Meredith lost 9 killed, 37 wounded, and 7 missing for a total of 53. In total, Gibbon reports that the brigade lost a total of 318 men: 61killed, 274 wounded, and 45 missing.

The fight at Turner's Gap earned his men the "Iron Brigade" nickname. The story goes something like this. General Joseph Hooker of the 1st Corps rides up to McClellan's headquarters to get orders. A conversation begins between the two men and McClellan asks, "Who are those men fighting in the Pike?". Hooker replies that it is the western brigade of General Gibbon. McClellan to this answers, " They must be made of iron." Hooker exclaims that they had fought even better at Second Manassas and McClellan exclaims they must "be the best troops in the world." This conversation excited Hooker and the general rode off without his orders and the "Iron Brigade" name stuck. Whether this story is true or not, it does make for an interesting story!

The brigade would continue fighting with the Army of the Potomac suffering heavily at Antietam where the brigade spearheaded the early morning attack of the 1st Corps up the Hagerstown Pike and through the infamous Cornfield. Just before the battle of Fredericksburg, the 24th Michigan was added to the brigade. The brigade would fight at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville in late 1862 and early 1862 respectively. The Iron Brigade would go down in glory for its desperate stand on Mcpherson's Ridge against the onslaught of General James Archer's massive Confederate brigade. The fighting at Gettysburg, especially that of July 1st, devastated the brigade so much that it lost it's all-western status when a Pennsylvania regiment was added to make up for losses. The Iron Brigades survivors would fight on with the Army of the Potomac during the 1864 Overland Campaign, the Siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox Campaign. The Iron Brigade gained everlasting fame for its stand at Gettysburg, but it was at South Mountain that it earned its famous nickname.

(All statistics on losses at South Mountain at from the Official Reports that can be found at www.aotw.org)

(photo of 6th Wisconsin at Turner's Gap courtesy of http://www.history.army.mil/images/artphoto/pripos/amsoldier/5/1862.jpg)

This is a battle report by Colonel Edgar B. Montague about the Battle for Crampton's Pass on September 14, 1862. The 32nd Virginia was positioned in support of Captain Basil Manly's battery that had taken up a position near Brownsville Pass about a mile south of Crampton's. Montague writes about what he sees after watching the effectiveness of Manly's fire. Crampton's Gap was essential to the Confederate position of South Mountain because if the 6th Corps of William Franklin punched throught the gap, the portion of the Confederate Army under Lee that was massing around Boonsboro on the 14th would be cut off from retreat into Virginia. Also, the division of Lafayette McLaws would be trapped on Maryland Heights between Franklin and the Union Garrison at Harpers Ferry. So with the fall of Crampton's Gap over half of Lee's Army would be forced to surrender, if it could not escape back across the Potomac. Crampton's Gap would be the battle that would change Lee's Maryland Campaign.


IN THE FIELD NEAR MARTINSBURG, W. VA.,September 25, 1862

Captain E. B. BRIGGS,Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

SIR: In obedience to orders from division headquarters, I forward the following report of the part sustained by my command at Brownsville [Crampton's] Gap on the 14th instant:
On the evening of the 13th I was ordered by Brigadier-General Semmes to proceed with the Fifteenth Virginia Regiment and my own, and two pieces of Manly's battery, to the top of South Mountain, to watch for and report any advance of the enemy in that direction.
On the morning of the 14th I received a message from Major-General Stuart to the effect that the enemy were advancing in great force, and that I must defend the pass at all hazards, calling for re-enforcements if necessary, should the enemy select in as his point of attack, which, however, he thought doubtful.

At 9 or 10 o'clock the enemy's advance came in sight from the direction of Jefferson, seemingly in great force. At about 11 o'clock they masked most of their force under a hill and wood about 3 miles, and advanced two brigades by the left flank into a field opposite our position. Meantime I had sent to General Semmes for re-enforcements, and he promptly ordered up the Fifty-third Georgia Regiment and three pieces of artillery (rifled), under the command of Captain Macon, two of his own guns, and one of Captain Magruder's. I stationed a picket of about 200 men at the foot of the mountain, near Burkittsville, and a line of skirmishers along my whole front, connecting with Colonel Munford's, on my left. Shortly afterward the enemy threw out a large advance of skirmishers, who steadily advanced toward the base of the mountain, supported by a brigade of infantry, the other brigade remaining at a halt. I ordered Captain Manly to open upon them with his 3-inch rifled gun, which he did so effectually as to check the advance of the skirmishers and cause the advancing brigade to fall back on its reserve, beyond our range.

At about 3 or 4 o'clock, after withdrawing his skirmishers, he moved by the right flank, leaving Burkittsville on his left, formed three strong parallel lines of battle, and started the whole in advance, still leaving an immense force in reserve, and moved with great celerity and perfect order against Crampton's Gap. I was in a position to see every move that was made, and saw at once that, by moving my artillery to the left a few hundred yards, I could bring the advancing host within easy range. This was done, and Macon's, Manly's, and Magruder's guns were played upon the enemy with great effect, time and again their ranks being broken by their deliberate and well-directed fire, the enemy's guns not being able to reach us on account of our elevated position. Captain Macon, the senior artillery officer, managed his guns most handsomely, and he and his juniors are entitled to all the credit of the occasion, if any is due. I was more of a spectator than participant in the action. My infantry force was not engaged, though they were ready and anxious to take part in the conflict.

Our guns continued to play on the enemy until dark, long after our forces at Crampton's Gap had been driven from their position. At least three hundred guns were fired during the evening. At least eight brigades of the enemy were engaged in this fight, and many more were coming up when night closed the scene. I withdrew after dark, by order, and joined the balance of our force on the road just above Brownsville.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

E. B. MONTAGUE,Colonel Thirty-second Virginia Volunteers.

" No Yankee Bullet will kill me..."

The following is a letter written by Lieutenant David Hamilton Ray of the 5th North Carolina while the Confederates were encamped around the city of Frederick, Maryland on September 9th. Lt. Ray had been in the Regular Army for 8 years as a younger man but he found himself in the Confederate Army in 1862. During the Battle of South Mountain, he would be cited for gallant conduct by General D. H. Hill for the fight at Fox's Gap.




Camp 5th N.C.I. near Frederick City MD
Sept. 9th 1862

My Dear Mother
How little did either you or I think that in les than three weeks from the morning I left you all, that I would be in Maryland. We left Hanover C.H. on the 26th Aug. and marched every day for thirteen (13) days, it would be useless for me to attempt to give you a description of the trials and hardships, through which we passed. I held out altho I was sick when started with the direreah, some days I felt as if every step was my last had I been a private I certainly never would have held up, but as an officer If I stoped every privated considered that he had the same rite. We pased through Jackso's Battlegrounds and I do pray that I may be speared from ever witnessing such horrors again. Officers in our Reg' who were in the Richmond Battles say that there was no such slaughter on and one field there, we laped some days after the Battle and roads fields, woods were covered with the dead, the smell was awfull. I thought from what I had heard that I could see heads, arms, legs, and the dead men without feeling but I tell you it sickened me. I have been sick more since I have in eight or ten years before. Soldiereing now is altogether different from what it was when I was in before I knew this improves that I will have to resign after this campaign, that is if I am speared that long. I construed into cowardice and I prefer death to that. this is certainly a bright day for us the So' Confederacy yet I belive that we are on the verge of great-events to resuly from some of the Bloodiest-battles of this war. I shall trust-in God believing that if is his will for for me to be speared that no Yankee bullet will kill me.
We have been here since Saturday night cant tell where or when we are going
Love to all

Your Aff Son
D.H.Ray

Following the fight at South Mountain, Lieutenant Ray would remain with the 5th North Carolina through the Battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. He would be sent home to North Carolina in January 1864 to become an enrolling officer and in February 1865 he would be discharged for chronic illness. While this letter was written days before the fight at South Mountain, Lieutenant Ray survived the savage fighting at Fox's Gap. His letter gives insight to the thinking of one Confederate who entered Maryland that September.

Battery B, 4th US Artillery at South Mountain

Just days before the Battle of Antietam where this famous battery suffered heavily during the conflict that raged through the Bloody Cornfield, Battery B, 4th United States Artillery took part in the assault on Turner's Gap by the Iron Brigade up the National Pike against the Confederate brigade of Alfred Colquitt.

In the late afternoon as the brigade of General John Gibbon was moving forward to dislodge the Colquitt's brigade, a section of the battery under the command of Lieutenant James Stewart was unlimbered and went into action just behind the line of the 19th Indiana and 7th Wisconsin. The guns began firing upon the Confederate skirmish line that was making the advance of the Westerner's rather difficult. There was a house located just to the left of the National Pike that was within the line of advance of Gibbon's men. Some Confederate sharpshooters had taken up residence in the upper story of the home and was pouring a rather deadly fire into the 19th Indiana. The colonel of this regiment, Solomon Meredith, called for support from Stewart's two guns to fire on the house. The detachment sent three rounds in the direction of the home, sending one through the second level, forcing the Confederates out. The section of guns moved up the pike as Gibbon's men pushed back Colquitt's regiments. The section engaged the Confederate batteries stationed on the heights around Turner's Gap. The fighting died down a few hours after nightfall. Stewart, in the words of General Gibbon, used his guns with "good judgement, solid effect" upon the Confederates in the fight.

Lieutenant Stewart's section was relieved that night by the remaining guns of Battery B, but Stewart put up a strong defense to keep his guns in position but he and his section were relieved and sent to the rear. The fight at Turner's Gap by Stewart was rather brief and but his sections fight would be the first time Battery B took the field in the Maryland Campaign.

Lieutenant Stewart and Battery B would go on to glory at Antietam where the battery would lose heavily and Stewart would come out in command of the entire battery. The battery would continue serving alongside what became the "Iron Brigade" and was there on the fateful day in July 1863 when the brigade was practically destroyed in it's stand against determined Confederates along Seminary Ridge outside of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

5th Alabama: "cut all to pieces"

This entry is from the diary of John S. Tucker of the 5th Alabama Volunteer Infantry. While the entries are short, you can get an idea of the savage resistance that occurred along the Frostown Gap where Brigadier General Robert Rodes brigade of Alabamians fought tooth and nail to keep the Federal division of George G. Meade from crushing the Confederate left flank and pouring over the mountain into the Confederate rear area. I've included the entries from September 12 and 15th to show the movements of this regiment prior to and after the fight on South Mountain. From these three entries you can see the morale of a southern soldier, the demoralization of the Confederates following the Battle of South Mountain, and the morale booster that resulted with the fall of Harpers Ferry.

Friday Sep 12, 1862

Took an early start this morning for Hagerstown but traveled very slow having quite a mountainous road to go over. Pass through Boonsborough early and found many warm Sympathisers in the place. Camped in 6 ms of Hagerstown. Expecting a fight and may remain here several days. Had another rain this evening.

Sunday Sep. 14 1862

Was ordered off early this Morning back in the direction of Middletown where a hard fight is going on 9 AM - Genl Garland Killed early this morning. The 5th Ala ordered to the scene of action early in the morning. In the evening a general engagement commenced which resulted most disastrously to our arms. Our Brigade "cut all to pieces" & many of our men taken prisoners. Only 40 odd men to be found in the 5th at dark. at which time we commenced retreating leaving all our wounded in the enemy's hands. traveled all nigh long. The fight was at North Mountain [one and a half miles] east of Boonsboro from which I presume it will take its name. Never saw so much stragling in all my life.

Monday Sep 15th 1862

The army was halted 7 miles from Sparksburg (Sharpsburg) & 3 miles from the Potomac and formed in line of Battle where they remained all day, having a little fight in the evening. Rode all day try to get provisions for the Men. Some of our Men came in. Harpers Ferry captured.