Crampton’s Pass Tablet C.P. 3

On September 14, 1862, as the Sixth Corps of the Army of the Potomac approached from Jefferson, Col. T. T. Munford, commanding a cavalry brigade, prepared to contest its advance through Crampton’s Pass. Mahone’s Brigade, under Lt. Col. Parham, was placed at the foot of the mountain with dismounted cavalry on either flank. Chew’s Virginia Battery of Horse Artillery and two guns of Grimes’ Portsmouth Virginia Battery were positioned halfway up the mountain; later Grimes’ guns were moved to the crest near this point, and for nearly three hours, aided by five guns in Brownsville Pass, Munford held the Union forces in check before being compelled to retire when overlapped on both flanks and pressed in front. As the line began to give way, the 10th Georgia of Semmes’ Brigade came to assist, and Cobb’s Brigade, brought back from Sandy Hook, met the retiring forces a few yards east of this point, but the whole command was quickly overpowered and, with many captured, retreated into Pleasant Valley, the cavalry to Rohrersville and the infantry to Brownsville. Semmes abandoned Brownsville Pass and joined Cobb and Mahone, Wilcox moved back from near Weverton, and Kershaw and Barksdale, except the 13th Mississippi, were withdrawn from Maryland Heights; before midnight, the six brigades under R. H. Anderson were drawn up across the valley to oppose the Sixth Corps. McLaws, with the four brigades of Pryor, Featherstone, Armistead, and Wright, together with the 13th Mississippi of Barksdale’s, continued the investment of Harpers Ferry, which surrendered on the morning of September 15, 1862.

Maryland · United States