Boonsboro

After Robert E. Lee issued Special Order 191 near Frederick dividing the Army of Northern Virginia into four columns, Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s command marched across South Mountain on September 10, 1862, passing through Turner’s Gap and Boonsboro on the way to compel the surrender of the Federal garrison at Harpers Ferry. James Longstreet’s and D.H. Hill’s columns also passed through Boonsboro, and J.E.B. Stuart temporarily established his headquarters there on the evening of September 13. There Stuart learned that the Army of the Potomac under George B. McClellan was marching from Frederick toward the eastern side of South Mountain and sent word to Lee near Hagerstown. Lee, after consulting Longstreet, rejected a recommendation to withdraw west of Antietam Creek to Sharpsburg and instead decided to hold the South Mountain gaps to gain time for Jackson’s attack at Harpers Ferry. Lee established his headquarters in Boonsboro on September 14 during the Battle of South Mountain. The next day a rearguard cavalry engagement took place there, during which some citizens of the Unionist town fired at Confederates, and part of the Union army then marched through on its way to attack Lee’s army after it had withdrawn to a ridge near Sharpsburg following its mission at South Mountain.

Boonsboro, Maryland · United States