The Maps of Antietam: An Atlas of the Antietam (Sharpsburg) Campaign, Including the Invasion of Maryland and the Battle of South Mountain, September 2 – 14, 1862

By Bradley M. Gottfried

The Maps of Antietam: An Atlas of the Antietam (Sharpsburg) Campaign is the eagerly awaited companion volume to Bradley M. Gottfried’s bestselling The Maps of Gettysburg (2007) and The Maps of First Bull Run (2009), part of the ongoing Savas Beatie Military Atlas Series.

Now available as an ebook short, The Maps of Antietam: An Atlas of the Antietam (Sharpsburg) Campaign, Including the Invasion of Maryland and the Battle of South Mountain, September 2 – 14, 1862 plows new ground in the study of the campaign by breaking down the entire campaign in 44 detailed full page original maps. These cartographic creations bore down to the regimental level, offering students of the campaign a unique and fascinating approach to studying what may have been the climactic battle of the war.

The Maps of Antietam: An Atlas of the Antietam (Sharpsburg) Campaign, Including the Invasion of Maryland and the Battle of South Mountain, September 2 – 14, 1862 offers seven “action-sections” including:

- The Invasion of Maryland
- Preparing for Battle: The South Mountain Gaps
- South Mountain: Fox’s Gap (Morning)
- South Mountain: Fox’s Gap
- South Mountain: Frosttown Plateau
- South Mountain: Turner’s Gap
- South Mountain: Crampton’s Gap

Gottfried’s original maps enrich each map section. Keyed to each piece of cartography is detailed text about the units, personnel, movements, and combat (including quotes from eyewitnesses) that make the Antietam story come alive. This presentation allows readers to easily and quickly find a map and text on virtually any portion of the campaign. Serious students of the battle will appreciate the extensive endnotes and will want to take this book with them on their trips to the battlefield.

Perfect for the easy chair or for walking hallowed ground, The Maps of Antietam is a seminal work that, like his earlier Gettysburg and First Bull Run studies, belongs on the bookshelf of every serious and casual student of the Civil War.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Savas Beatie
• Release date: Sep 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781611211672

Bradley M. Gottfried

Bradley M. Gottfried served as a college educator for more than 40 years before retiring in 2017. After receiving his doctorate, he worked as a full-time faculty member before entering the administrator ranks. He rose to the position of president and served for 17 years at two colleges. His interest in the Civil War began when he was a youngster in the Philadelphia area. He has written 18 books on the Civil War, including a number on Gettysburg and map studies of various campaigns. A resident of the Chambersburg/Gettysburg, Pennsylvania area, Brad is an Antietam Licensed Battlefield Guide and a Gettysburg Licensed Town Guide.

Book preview

© 2012 by Bradley M. Gottfried

The Maps of Antietam: An Atlas of the Antietam (Sharpsburg) Campaign, Including the Invasion of Maryland and the Battle of South Mountain, September 2 - 14, 1862

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN-13: 978-1-61121-167-2

ePub ISBN:9781611211672

First Edition, First Printing

image1

Published by

Savas Beatie LLC

989 Governor Drive, Suite 102

El Dorado Hills, CA 95762

Editorial Offices:

Savas Beatie LLC

P.O. Box 4527

El Dorado Hills, CA 95762

Phone: [phone]

(E-mail) [e-mail]

Savas Beatie titles are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more details, please contact Special Sales, P.O. Box 4527, El Dorado Hills, CA 95762. You may also e-mail us at [e-mail], click over for a visit to our website at www.savasbeatie.com for additional information.

To my darling wife, Linda

Contents

Introduction

Foreword by Thomas G. Clemens

Map Set 1. The Invasion of Maryland

(September 2 - 13, 1862)

Map 1.1: September 2 - 4, 1862

Map 1.2: September 4 - 5, 1862

Map 1.3: September 6, 1862

Map 1.4: September 7 - 8, 1862

Map 1.5: September 9, 1862

Map 1.6: September 10, 1862

Map 1.7: September 11, 1862

Map 1.8: September 12, 1862

Map 1.9: September 13, 1862

Map Set 2. Preparing for Battle: The South Mountain Gaps

(September 13 - 14, 1862)

Map 2.1: September 13

Map 2.2: September 14

Map Set 3. South Mountain:

Fox’s Gap (Morning)

Map 3.1: Preliminary Movements (6:00 - 8:00 a.m.)

Map 3.2: Scammon and Garland Deploy (9:00 - 9:30 a.m.)

Map 3.3: The Buckeyes Attack (9:30 - 10:00 a.m.)

Map 3.4: The Death of Samuel Garland (10:00 - 10:15 a.m.)

Map 3.5: Confederate Reinforcements Arrive (10:15 - 11:00 a.m.)

Map 3.6: Most of Garland’s Brigade is Defeated (11:00 - 11:30 a.m.)

Map 3.7: The Buckeyes Battle the 13th North Carolina (11:30 a.m. - noon)

Map Set 4. South Mountain: Fox’s Gap

(noon - 8:00 p.m.)

Map 4.1: Midday Lull (noon - 2:00 p.m.)

Map 4.2: Additional Confederate Reinforcements Arrive (2:00 - 4:00 p.m.)

Map 4.3: Thomas Drayton’s Brigade Redeploys (4:00 - 4:30 p.m.)

Map 4.4: Scammon and Willcox Attack Drayton’s Brigade (4:30 - 5:00 p.m.)

Map 4.5: Drayton’s Brigade Collapses (5:00 - 5:30 p.m.)

Map 4.6: G. T. Anderson’s Dilemma (5:30 - 6:00 p.m.)

Map 4.7: George B. Anderson’s Failed Attack (6:00 - 6:45 p.m.)

Map 4.8: The Death of Jesse Reno (6:30 - 8:00 p.m.)

Map Set 5. South Mountain:

Frosttown Plateau (2:00 - 9:00 p.m.)

Map 5.1: Hooker’s I Corps Approaches the Field (2:00 - 3:45 p.m.)

Map 5.2: Meade’s Division Engages Rodes’ Brigade (4:00 - 6:00 p.m.)

Map 5.3: Rodes is Defeated (6:00 - 7:00 p.m.)

Map 5.4: The Arrival of Steven’s South Carolina Brigade (7:00 - 9:00 p.m.)

Map Set 6. South Mountain:

Turner’s Gap (3:30 - 9:00 p.m.)

Map 6.1: Hatch’s Division Advances (3:30 - 5:30 p.m.)

Map 6.2: Patrick’s Brigade Attacks Garnett’s Virginians (5:30 - 6:30 p.m.)

Map 6.3: Hatch’s Division Closes on Garnett and Kemper (6:30 - 7:00 p.m.)

Map 6.4: Garnett and Kemper are Defeated (7:00 - 7:30 p.m.)

Map 6.5: Doubleday Attacks, Walker’s Brigade Arrives (7:30 - 8:30 p.m.)

Map 6.6: Gibbon’s Iron Brigade Enters the Fight (5:15 - 6:30 p.m.)

Map 6.7: The Iron Brigade Defeats Colquitt’s Brigade (6:30 - 9:00 p.m.)

Map Set 7. South Mountain:

Crampton’s Gap (11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.)

Map 7.1: The Confederates Deploy (11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.)

Map 7.2: Federal Troops Deploy (4:00 - 5:00 p.m.)

Map 7.3: Pre-Battle Positioning (5:00 - 5:30 p.m.)

Map 7.4: The Confederates Abandon their Defenses (5:30 - 5:45 p.m.)

Map 7.5: The Destruction of Cobb’s Legion (5:45 - 6:15 p.m.)

Map 7.6: The Federals Continue up the Mountainside (6:15 - 6:30 p.m.)

Map 7.7: The Fight at Padgett’s Field (6:30 - 7:00 p.m.)

Appendix 1: Orders of Battle

Appendix 2: An Interview with Author Bradley M. Gottfried

Endnotes

Bibliography

Index

Introduction

What began several years ago with an idea to better visualize and understand the Battle of Gettysburg and the major campaigns in the Eastern Theater has developed into several volumes that are now part of the Savas Beatie Military Atlas series—a significant effort to research and illustrate the major campaigns of the Civil War in an original and useful manner. My initial effort in 2007 resulted in The Maps of Gettysburg, which spawned a second book two years later entitled The Maps of First Bull Run. Soon after the Gettysburg volume appeared my publisher expressed an interest in expanding the series to the Western campaigns. I agreed it was a good idea, but because my interest lies in the East, other historians would have to be brought aboard to assist. The first two were David Powell and David Friedrichs, who collaborated to produce The Maps of Chickamauga in 2009, the same year my First Bull Run study appeared. Other Western Theater campaign studies for this series are in the works, as are atlas books dealing with Napoleon’s 1812 invasion of Russia and various World War II campaigns. This is personally pleasing, for as so many people have shared with me, the only way you can really understand a military campaign is through maps, and this presentation unlocks other books on the same subjects.

All this explains why the book you hold in your hands, The Maps of Antietam: An Atlas of the Antietam (Sharpsburg) Campaign, Including the Battle of South Mountain, September 2 - 20, 1862, is my third effort but the fourth volume in this ongoing atlas series. My next volume, much of which is complete as of the date of this writing, covers the interesting but usually overlooked months following Gettysburg through the end of 1863 and into early 1864, including the campaigns of Bristoe Station and Mine Run and the various ancillary operations that took place during that period. The volume thereafter opens the Overland Campaign, with coverage of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania. Although I am not producing these in chronological order, it is my sincere hope that I will one day complete the major Civil War campaigns in the Eastern Theater of the Civil War from 1861-1865.

The Maps of Antietam is neutral in coverage and includes the entire campaign from both points of view. The text and maps cover the movement of the armies from the beginning of the campaign in early September to the battlefields in the various gaps slicing through South Mountain, the fascinating siege of Harpers Ferry, the maneuvering to the vicinity of Sharpsburg, and to the dramatic climax of the operation along Antietam Creek on September 17. The final segment of the book covers the withdrawal of Lee’s army into Virginia and the fighting at Shepherdstown on September 19-20. As anyone who is familiar with this series will attest, the purpose of these atlas books is to offer a broad and full understanding of the complete campaign, rather than a micro-history of a particular event or day.

To my knowledge, no single source until now has pulled together the myriad of movements and events of this mammoth campaign and offered it in a cartographic form side-by-side with reasonably detailed text complete with endnotes. Like the books that have come before, The Maps of Antietam dissects the actions within each sector of a battlefield for a deeper and hopefully more meaningful understanding and reading experience. Each section of this book includes a number of text and map combinations. Every left-hand page includes descriptive text corresponding with a facing original map on the right-hand page. One of the key advantages of this presentation is that it eliminates the need to flip through the book to try to find a map to match the text. Some sections, like the preliminary operations (September 13-14) immediately leading up to the fighting at South Mountain are short and required only two maps and two text pages. Others, like the fighting for the Sunken Road on September 17 at Antietam, required eight maps and their corresponding eight text pages. Wherever possible, I utilized firsthand accounts to personalize the otherwise straightforward text. I hope readers find this method of presentation useful.

As I have written in previous introductions, the plentiful maps and sectioned coverage make it much easier to follow and understand what was happening each day (and in some cases, each hour) of this complex campaign. The various sections may also trigger a special interest and so pry open avenues ripe for additional study. I am hopeful that readers who approach the subject with a higher level of expertise will find the maps and text not only interesting to study and read, but truly helpful. If someone, somewhere, places this book within reach to refer to it now and again as a reference guide while reading other studies on the campaign, the long hours invested in this project will have been worthwhile.

And now, a few caveats are in order. The Maps of Antietam is not the last word or definitive treatment of the campaign, the various battles, or any part thereof—nor did I intend it to be. Given space and time considerations, I decided to cover the major events of the campaign and battles, with smaller transition sections to flesh out the full campaign story. As a result, many aspects of the campaign are purposely not fleshed out deeply. For example, I included a light overview of the loss and discovery of General Lee’s Special Orders No. 191, but not a detailed explanation of how they were lost and who might have mishandled them. The importance to this book is that these important orders were written, lost, found, and utilized. The endnotes offer additional avenues of study on this and other interesting but tangential matters.

Original research was kept to a minimum. My primary reliance was upon firsthand accounts and battle reports, followed by quality secondary scholarship. Therefore, there are no new theories or evaluations of why the campaign or battles unfolded as they did. I am also very familiar with the battlefields described in this study and have walked them many times over the years, often in the company of other students of the war. Whenever a book uses short chapters or sections, as this one does, there will inevitably be some narrative redundancy. I have endeavored as far as possible to minimize this.

The sources can and often do conflict on many points, including numbers engaged, who moved when and where and why, what times specific things happened and, of course, casualties. I have tried to follow a generally accepted interpretation of the campaign and battles (I hope with some success) and portray the information accurately and with an even hand. Because of all these discrepancies, I have pieced the evidence together, discussed it with other historians, and reached my own conclusions. It is common to be confronted with multiple recollections by the men who were present of when and where events occurred. The simple fact is that we will never know or fully understand everything exactly how and when it transpired.

Inevitably, a study like this makes it likely that mistakes of one variety or another end up in the final text or on a map, despite endless hours of proofreading. I apologize in advance for any errors and assume full responsibility for them.

* * *

Everyone today studying the Maryland Campaign is indebted to Ezra A. Carman, who was a colonel in command of the 13th New Jersey infantry during the campaign (Brig. Gen. George Gordon’s brigade, Brig. Gen. Alpheus Williams’ division, Maj. Gen. Joseph Mansfield’s XII Corps). Carman witnessed fighting in and around the Miller cornfield and the East Woods. After the war he devoted his life to researching the entire campaign. He spoke to and corresponded with hundreds of veterans on both sides and frequently walked the fields, compiling an impressive collection of notes and letters he eventually utilized to write a long and monumentally important history of the campaign. Carman’s manuscript has only recently been published.

The Maps of Antietam could not have been written without the assistance of a host of people. As always, Theodore P. Savas of Savas Beatie heads the list. A good friend and effective editor, he has always supported my efforts. Because Ted is also a distinguished historian and author in his own right, he understands the researching and writing process and is always supportive.

I am also indebted to Dr. Tom Clemens, who has superbly edited Carman’s manuscript for publication in two large volumes, and to Antietam park ranger John Hoptak. Both read the manuscript and provided invaluable suggestions on how to make it better. Steve Stotelmyer, an engineer by trade, has devoted much of his life to studying the South Mountain battles in general, and the action at Fox’s Gap in particular. Steve was very generous of his time and materials, tramped over the fields with me, and shared many of his resources.

Ted Alexander, the Chief Historian of the Antietam National Battlefield, allowed me to use the battlefield library on numerous occasions and patiently answered all of my questions. Ted is a good friend to historians everywhere.

Finally, I would like to thank Linda, my friend, my partner, and my wife. Linda traveled with me on my many trips to the battlefields, patiently listened to my endless stories, and allowed me the time to complete this important effort.

Bradley M. Gottfried

La Plata, Maryland

Foreword

The late summer and fall of 1862 was, by any measure, the most critical time of the Civil War. After achieving significant victories in the spring, the summer found Union armies bogged down or in retreat across the country. Conversely the Confederates, reaping the benefit of their Conscription Act, mounted several campaigns destined to create a thousand-mile offensive from the Mississippi River in the west all the way east to the Chesapeake Bay. The most important of these was Robert E. Lee’s Maryland Campaign, whose failure north of the Potomac River foreshadowed the outcome of the others.

In July of 1862, Gen. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was tethered to Richmond by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac at Harrison’s Landing barely twenty miles from the city. Lee did not dare abandon his capital to venture northward, yet his impatience grew with the knowledge that the South could not win independence by defending their key cities. Lee’s agitation increased in late July when President Abraham Lincoln sent a new army under Maj. Gen. John Pope to threaten Richmond from the north. Lee sent his able lieutenant Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson with a small force to confront Pope, and was soon relieved to learn that Union Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck ordered McClellan to withdraw from the James River and join forces with Pope in northern Virginia. Lee boldly set out with most of his army to destroy Pope prior to any unification with McClellan’s forces.

Through a series of maneuvers, Lee turned Pope’s western or right flank and forced the Federals back toward their own capital. Lee then confronted Pope on the same ground near Manassas where many of these men had struggled thirteen months ago, and with similar results: a routed Union army flooding toward Washington, DC. After an unsuccessful attempt to cut off the retreat, Lee received reinforcements and turned his aspirations northward to Union-held Maryland and perhaps Pennsylvania.

Now with an unfettered opportunity, Lee sent his ragged troops splashing across the Potomac on September 4 with the crossroads town of Frederick as their primary objective. Although the weak and unfit were sent to Winchester to recoup and re-supply, the Army of Northern Virginia still numbered 55,000 to 60,000 men. Many and varied are the reasons ascribed to Lee for this daring campaign. He explained to his president, Jefferson Davis, that threatening Pennsylvania and occupying Maryland would yield numerous advantages to the South. Beyond the mundane but necessary requirement to provision his army and its thousands of horse and mules, Lee believed political and morale advantages could be gained in Maryland, a state of divided loyalties and sympathies. By feeding his army on Northern foodstuffs Lee ensured Virginia farmers could harvest and store their crops as occupying Union troops would vacate Virginia to follow his bold move. Beyond these logistical considerations Lee believed threatening Washington, DC would negatively impact Northern morale and politics. With mid-term elections on the horizon, Lee thought a Southern victory on Northern soil might result in a peace Congress capable of forcing Lincoln’s hand and creating a negotiated settlement to end the war. In an effort to win the hearts of Marylander’s, Lee ordered his army to respect private property and issued a proclamation casting his army as liberators of a state oppressed by Union tyranny. On September 8 Lee wrote to Davis from Frederick suggesting the latter open discussions of peace with the Lincoln administration.

Never were Confederate hopes higher. Lee had under his command a mostly veteran force, with a larger percentage of all Confederate soldiers in service than any other time during the war. After assuming command a scant three months earlier Lee had advanced the war’s frontier from the James River north to the Potomac River, and now hoped to checkmate Lincoln’s beleaguered call for 300,000 more troops to suppress the rebellion. As his troops basked in the sun outside Frederick, all things seemed possible.

Meanwhile, Washington DC remained in chaos, the defeated and demoralized Federal troops gathered at fortifications surrounding the city and suffering in wants physical as well as spiritual. Lincoln swiftly reacted by sacking Pope and giving McClellan authority to defend the capital. When it became clear that Lee had crossed into Maryland east of the Blue Ridge and was a scant forty miles from the city, Lincoln and Halleck determined to send a field army to confront him. After offering this command to two other generals they approached McClellan, putting him in command of the field army he created at their behest. This decision was far from popular with political leaders. Two of Lincoln’s cabinet conspired to challenge the appointment, but Lincoln when avowed that no other leader could organize an army and move it toward the enemy as quickly as McClellan could, the cabinet acquiesced. McClellan hastily assembled some 70,000 men and on September 6 moved them toward Confederate-occupied Frederick. Given the exigency of the situation, Maj. Gens. Fitz John Porter and William B. Franklin were released from arrest to go with the army. Not only was this hastily composed army disorganized and poorly supplied, but nearly 19,000 men were new to military life, having served no more than two months in the ranks.

The goals and objective given to McClellan were twofold: protect and defend Washington and Baltimore and drive the Confederates from