The Stage is Set

On the evening of September 13, 1862, Confederate cavalry under Brigadier General Wade Hampton and Colonel Thomas Munford occupied the Crampton’s Gap and Burkittsville vicinity. Early on September 14, Major General J.E.B. Stuart, on his way to Harpers Ferry, met with Munford and Hampton, took Hampton’s cavalry with him, and left Munford’s 2nd and 12th Virginia Cavalry regiments behind. Late that morning Munford, with fewer than 300 troopers, saw a large Federal force approaching from the east. A mile south at Brownsville Pass, Brigadier General Paul Semmes also watched the blue columns drawing nearer and sent Colonel William A. Parham’s brigade—the 6th, 12th, and 16th Virginia Infantry regiments, the Portsmouth Light Artillery, and the 10th Georgia Infantry—to strengthen Munford’s line. Across the valley, the Federal VI Corps under Major General William Franklin, numbering 12,800 men, moved slowly toward South Mountain under orders from General George B. McClellan to drive through Crampton’s Gap, strike McLaw’s rear at Maryland Heights, and relieve the Harpers Ferry garrison. At noon the 96th Pennsylvania Infantry, leading Franklin’s column, turned into Distillery Lane about a quarter mile east of Burkittsville and, after sending skirmishers forward, crossed a fence into a field behind the town. Within minutes Confederate artillery fire from Brownsville Pass forced the Federals back. Confederate skirmishers then advanced into the village, but Union skirmishers drove them back. By the time the rest of the VI Corps arrived, the Confederates had retreated, and the Federals halted to cook rations while Franklin considered his next move.

Maryland · United States