MD -- Turner's Gap:
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- TGAP_070102_01.JPG: The Maryland Campaign of 1862
On September 4, 1862, General Robert E. Lee, hoping to shorten the war by winning a decisive victory on Northern soil, crossed the Potomac River into Maryland. Lee planned to draw the Army of the Potomac through South Mountain into Pennsylvania and fight on ground of his choosing. His plan depended on securing his supply line down the Shenandoah Valley past Harpers Ferry -- then garrisoned by nearly 13,000 Federal troops. When the Federals did not withdraw, Lee decided to attack them. From his camp near Frederick, Maryland, he divided his army into five parts. Lee gambled he could take Harpers Ferry and regroup before the Federals realized what he had done. He sent three units under the command of General T. J. "Stonewall" Jackson from Frederick to Harpers Ferry. A fourth marched into Hagerstown to guard against a rumored movement of Union troops from Pennsylvania. A fifth unit formed the rear guard at Boonesboro.
General George B. McClellan organized the Army of the Potomac into three wings and marched out of Washington along a twenty-five mile front. Learning that Lee's army was divided and marching in opposite directions well to the west, McClellan began his pursuit into western Maryland on September 11. Moving faster than Lee expected, he entered Catoctin Valley on the 13th and reached the foot of South Mountain on the 14th. The Battle of South Mountain smashed Lee's plan to invade Pennsylvania but did buy him time to concentrate his scattered army. Lee assembled his army at Sharpsburg and set up a defensive position behind Antietam Creek on the 15th. The Harpers Ferry garrison surrendered that morning. This event allowed Jackson to rejoin Lee. The Battle of Antietam was fought two days later.
In response to Lee's orders, Jackson marched via Williamsport and closed on Harper's Ferry from the north and west. McLaws moved via Brownsville Pass to occupy Maryland Heights, at the Southern end of Elk Ridge. Walker moved south and west to occupy Loudoun Heights. Lee moved with Longstreet to Hagerstown and D. H. Hill was ordered to cover the supply trains near Boonsboro.
- TGAP_070102_04.JPG: The Lost Orders
No other document of the Civil War has generated so much controversy as Lee's Special Orders No. 191. These "Lost Orders" detailed the movements of Lee's army for the operation against Harpers Ferry. On September 9 Lee sent copies of the order to his subordinate commanders. The copy that General George B. McClellan read on September 13 was found by three Federal soldiers in an abandoned campsite near Frederick in an envelope wrapped around three cigars. The envelope was addressed to General D. H. Hill. Due to confusion between General Lee's and General T. J. Jackson's headquarters over Hill's place in the chain of command, two copies of Special Orders No. 191 were sent to Hill. Hill received his copy from Jackson while the copy from Lee was lost.
McClellan's good fortune permitted him to move with a certainty he had never before displayed. Lee was puzzled by McClellan's uncharacteristic speed and took actions to protect his army until it could be concentrated. Later McClellan was criticized for not destroying Lee's army. Whatever criticism was due, it is unfair to argue that McClellan lost an opportunity presented to him by S. O. No. 191. By the time the Federals found the orders, they were already dated. Jackson was safely on the Confederate side of the Potomac and General James Longstreet could easily have crossed the Potomac at Williamsport. Had Lee chosen to seek safety across the Potomac, the Union troops in the Catoctin Valley could not have prevented him from doing so. On September 12 even before learning of S. O. No. 191, McClellan issued orders that would lead to the Battle of South Mountain. These orders placed the vanguard of General Ambrose E. Burnside's troops in the Catoctin Valley on the 13th. McClellan's main force did not arrive at the foot of South Mountain until the 14th.
If the Lost Orders had never been found, the battles of South Mountain and Antietam still would have occurred and Lee's gamble in Maryland still would have failed. Lee's chance for success was lost, not because his orders were found, but because his army remained divided too long and McClellan moved faster than Lee expected.
- TGAP_070102_14.JPG: Battle at South Mountain: A Natural Barrier;
The Battle of South Mountain erupted on September 14, 1862, when elements of the Union Army tried to drive the Confederate rearguard from Crampton's, Fox's, and Turner's Gaps and break through to the western side of the mountain to attack the Confederates there. When Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia marched into Maryland earlier in the month, he was looking for supplies and recruits for a possible invasion of Pennsylvania. He hoped while resting his men at Frederick that the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry would flee in leave his lines of communication and transportation unhindered. When the garrison stayed put, however, threatening his rear, Lee issued Special Orders No. 191 to divide his Army and send Stonewall Jackson with about half of the army to capture or Harpers Ferry. Lee marched over South Mountain, using it as a screen to help conceal the remainder of his troops and keep General George B. McClellan's pursuing Army of the Potomac at bay. But then the Federal's found a dropped copy of Special Orders No. 191, and it became especially critical for the outnumbered Confederates to hold the South Mountain passes until Jackson completed his mission and rejoined them. The daylong battle, it turned out, gave the Confederates just time enough.
- TGAP_070102_19.JPG: C19th Century Backpacker: The Civil War Soldier:
An unnamed citizen of Frederick city said the following of the Confederates he had beheld marching through his hometown: "I have never seen a mass of such filthy, strong-smelling men. Three in a room would make it unbearable, and when marching in column along the street, the smell from them was the most offensive... The filth that pervades them is the most remarkable... They have no uniforms, but are well armed and equipped, and have become so inured to hardships that they care about little for any of the comforts of civilization... They are the roughest looking set of creatures I ever saw, their features, hair and clothing matted with dirt and filth, and the scratching they kept up gave warrant of vermin in abundance." Another observer described the Confederates simply as "a lean and hungry set of wolves."
- Wikipedia Description: Turner's Gap
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Turner's Gap is a wind gap in the South Mountain Range of the Blue Ridge Mountains, located in Frederick County and Washington County, Maryland. The gap is traversed by U.S. Route 40 Alternate, the old National Pike. The Appalachian Trail also crosses the gap.
Geography
The gap is 200 feet (61 m) below the ridgline to the south, 400 feet (120 m) below the ridgline to the south and 400 feet (120 m) above the surrounding lowlands. To the east of the gap lies the Middletown Valley and to the west the Hagerstown Valley. Fox's Gap is 1 mile (1.6 km) to the south.
History
The Old South Mountain Inn and Dahlgren Chapel are located at Turners Gap.
Turner's Gap was the scene of heavy fighting during the Battle of South Mountain in September 1862 during the American Civil War. The area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Turner's and Fox's Gaps Historic District.
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