On September 14, 1862, Confederates under Brigadier General Howell Cobb were rushed to the top of Crampton’s Gap with little information and were expected to defend too much ground. Unlike the Confederates who held the initial line along Mountain Church Road, Cobb’s men had no reinforcements. As they abandoned their positions on the mountainside, Cobb and his staff tried to stop them and form a line in Padgett’s field, the open area beyond Arnoldstown Road. Although some soldiers took shelter behind a stone wall, most ignored their leader and continued rushing down the west side of the mountain. As Union troops closely pursued the retreating Confederates, two cannons of the Troup Artillery arrived in the gap, took position at the intersection of the roads, and fired several times at the approaching Union force before quickly joining the retreat. With darkness covering the battlefield, Union forces held firm control of Crampton’s Gap. Colonel John Basil Lamar, Howell Cobb’s brother-in-law and personal aide-de-camp, was mortally wounded near here while trying to rally the retreating Confederates.
