Civil War: September 14, 1862 The Battle of South Mountain – Rebels Hold, Lee retreats, McClellan dawdles!

Yesterday I wrote about Barton Mitchell’s discovery of Special Order 191 concerning Robert E Lee‘s troop movements during his Maryland Campaign in 1862. The discovery of the orders provided information to Gen George McClellan, then commander of the Union Army allowing him to locate and pursue Lee’s troops. Lee had divided his troops and sent the troops under Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws to western Maryland to capture Harper’s Ferry.  To continue his pursuit McClellan’s troops and stop McLaws and Lee. McClellan’s troops had to cross South Mountain, which is the name for the extension of the Blue Ridge Mountains into and through the western portions of Maryland.  There are three major gap’s through the mountains. From south to north they are Crampton’s Gap, Turner’s Gap and Fox’s Gap.
At Crampton’s Gap a small force of  Confederate troops under the command of Brig. Gen. Howell Cobb (500 men) were defending the gap.Cobb’s troops were also protecting  the rear of Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws.  Cobb’s troops faced  Union Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin’s VI Corps. The 500 men who were spread out across a 3/4 of a mile stone wall held their ground until the night when Franklin’s troop pushed through the gap. However, Franklin did not immediately continue to move on to Harper’s Ferry which allowed McLaws time to complete his siege.
Meanwhile at Fox’s Gap and Turner’s Gap Confederate Maj. Gen. D.H. Hill had 5,000 men over more than 2 miles, defended both Turner’s Gap and Fox’s Gap. While potions of the line broke at Turner’s Gap Darkness and the difficult terrain prevented the complete collapse of Lee’s line. At nightfall, the Federals held the high ground while the Confederates still held the gap.
And at Fox’s Gap from Wikipedia….

Just to the south, other elements of Hill’s division (most notably Drayton’s Brigade [4]) defended Fox’s Gap against Reno’s IX Corps. A 9 a.m. attack by Union Brig. Gen. Jacob D. Cox’s Kanawha Division secured much of the land south of the gap. In the movement, Lt. Col. Rutherford B. Hayes of the 23rd Ohio led a flank attack and was seriously wounded. Cox pushed through the North Carolinians positioned behind a stone wall at the gap’s crest, but he failed to capitalize on his gains as his men were exhausted, allowing Confederate reinforcements to deploy in the gap around the Daniel Wise farm. Reno sent forward the rest of his corps, but due to the timely arrival of Southern reinforcements under Confederate Brig. Gen. John Bell Hood, they failed to dislodge the defenders. Union Maj. Gen. Jesse Reno and Confederate Brig. Gen. Samuel Garland, Jr., were killed at Fox’s Gap. Union soldiers dumped 60 Confederate bodies down Farmer Wise’s dry well, paying him $60 in compensation. Read More

The Union victory at South Mountain was a morale booster for the Army of the Potomac, with the New York World writing the victory “turn[ed] back the tide of rebel successes” and “the strength of the rebels is hopelessly broken.” The victory led Lee to think of ending of his Maryland campaign. But by limiting his actions on the 15th of September,  McClellan allowed McLaws to capture the Harper’s Ferry garrison and gave Lee time to unite his divisions at Sharpsburg, all of which led up to the Battle of Antietam on September 17th!!
An interesting side note is that two future US Presidents fought at the battle at Fox’s Gap, Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley were both members of the 23rd Ohio Infantry. Hayes as its commander, and McKinley as a commissary sergeant. Hayes would end the war as a brevet major-general and McKinley a brevet major. Hayes led a flank attack at Fox’s Gap and was seriously wounded.
Jesse W. Reno the son of Union General Jesse L. Reno, who was killed at Fox’s Gap went on to design one of the first working escalators.
Also it was on this date in 1901, that President William McKinley died from the wounds he received from an assassin’s bullet six days earlier and Theodore Roosevelt became President. At the age of 42,  Roosevelt became the youngest US president.