Stonewall Changes Course
— Antietam Campaign 1862 —
On September 10, 1862, Gen. Robert E. Lee ordered Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson and a detachment of 15,000 men, about two-thirds of the Army of Northern Virginia, to capture the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry and secure Confederate lines of communication with Virginia. At first, Jackson planned to follow the Sharpsburg Road from Frederick to the Potomac River, but then he decided to cross the river here at Williamsport, where he could easily engage the nearby Federal garrison at Martinsburg, Virginia. When Jackson's column forded the river here on September 11, the outnumbered garrison fled to Harpers Ferry. By taking the longer route, however, Jackson found himself behind schedule. He did not capture Harpers Ferry until September 15 and rejoined Lee on the Antietam battlefield barely in time to save the Confederate army.| HM Number | HM2D |
|---|---|
| Tags | |
| Placed By | Maryland Civil War Trails |
| Marker Condition | No reports yet |
| Date Added | Friday, October 3rd, 2014 at 8:54am PDT -07:00 |
| UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 18S E 257261 N 4387264 |
|---|---|
| Decimal Degrees | 39.60075000, -77.82710000 |
| Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 39° 36.045', W 77° 49.626' |
| Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 39° 36' 2.70" N, 77° 49' 37.56" W |
| Driving Directions | Google Maps |
| Area Code(s) | 301, 240 |
| Closest Postal Address | At or near 205 W Potomac St, Williamsport MD 21795, US |
| Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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