Existing comment:
Setting the Trap:
Special Orders 191 anticipated a Southern victory at Harpers Ferry on September 12, but only one of the three Confederate columns converging on the town came close to its objective on that day. Confederate General Lafayette McLaws ordered two of his brigades to seize the high ground known as Maryland Heights. Rough ground and heavy underbrush along the narrow ridge forced the Southerners to stop their advance at nightfall, but not until they were within speaking distance of the Union line. On September 13, the battle for this mountain, the key to Harpers Ferry, began. As the Southerners on the ridge top launched their attack, two other columns of Confederates, under generals John Walker and "Stonewall" Jackson, approached Loudoun Heights from the south and School House Ridge from the west. These two Southern columns occupied their positions without firing a shot. Maryland Heights would not be taken so easily.
"So long as Maryland Heights was occupied by the enemy, Harper's Ferry could never be occupied by us. If we gained possession of the heights, the town was no longer tenable to them."
-- Confederate General Lafayette McLaws
Union fortifications on the summit of Maryland Heights consisted of a small clearing fronted by a tangled mass of felled, sharpened trees known as abatis, and two lines of log and stone breastworks. A few hours before the first and most important fighting of the battle for Harpers Ferry, the center of these hastily constructed defenses were manned by inexperienced Northern recruits.
"The Loudoun Heights are in possession of Walker. I desire you to move forward until you get complete possession of the Maryland Heights."
-- Confederate General "Stonewall" Jackson to Lafayette McLaws |