This was the first invasion of the Confederate army moving north into the enemy backyard near the Mason-Dixon line. Confederate General Robert E. Lee moved north with 55,000 soldiers and off to the east, Union General McClellan blocked his access through the South Mountains with nearly 84,000 soldiers. However, General McClellan nearly lost these battles with poor planning and strategy.
On September 9, 1862, General Lee arrives near the Monocacy battlefield south of Frederick, Maryland. At this general area, the headquarters of Stonewall Jackson, James Longstreet, and General Lee was conversing on the next move to attack the enemy. They were moving north into northern Maryland and southern Pennsylvania to avoid the South to let the farmers recover from trampling on their crops. The northern fields were rich with a fresh harvest.
Maryland Historical Society of Frederick County, Maryland
On September 10th, General Lee tells Stonewall Jackson to capture Harpers Ferry. They move westward through Boonsboro and then towards Williamsport, and ford the Potomac River the day later. They do capture Harpers Ferry with barely any losses between September 12 to 15th, 1862.
However, General Lee also tells James Longstreet to capture Hagerstown, Maryland. Unknown to him, the orders were supposed to get to A.P. Hill, one of his commanders. General Hill never received the orders from Longstreet. At the same time period, the Confederates were moving westward from Monocacy.
The day after, the Union is on high pursuit of the enemy and arrives into Monocacy. There is when the “luck of the Irish” occurs for the Union. Union infantry within the 27th Indiana arrives on September 13th. There, Corporal Barton W. Mitchell and First Sergeant John M. Bloss find three cigars and orders rolled up around them. He hands them to his commanding officer, and he has found the orders that A.P. Hill was supposed to receive. Corporal Mitchell found what is now considered “Special Orders Number #191”.
General McClellan splits his Union forces in two. He orders 12,000 soldiers to relieve the soldiers at Harpers Ferry, unknown of the Confederate Army heading towards the same location. Major General William Franklin of the 6th Corps is the commanding officer of the some regiments from Vermont, New Jersey, New York, Maine, and Pennsylvania. Near Crampton’s Gap, the Union soldiers charged the gap towards the Confederate soldiers on the wall. Nearly 1,000 Confederate soldiers under General McLaws division opened fire with cannons and holding the “high” ground.
In the end, the Union assault began around 3pm on September 14th. An hour later, the Confederates were in full retreat and the Union had won the skirmish. The losses for the Union was 115 soldiers killed and 418 wounded, while the Confederates had 130 killed and 760 soldiers wounded. There are three monuments in this area.
Here is the War Correspondents Memorial Arch along with a small monument to the New Jersey Brigade that consists of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th regiments. Overall, the brigade had 40 killed and over a hundred wounded.