Lee's Headquarters
— Antietam Campaign 1862 —
After Gen. Robert E. Lee issued Special Order 191 near Frederick dividing the Army of Northern Virginia into four columns, Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's command marched across South Mountain on September 10, 1862. His column passed through Turner's Gap and Boonsboro en route to compel the surrender of the Federal garrison at Harpers Ferry. Gen. James Longstreet's and Gen. D.H. Hill's columns also passed by here, and Gen. J.E.B. Stuart established his headquarters here temporarily on the evening of September 13. Here Stuart learned of the march of the Army of the Potomac under Gen. George B. McClellan from Frederick toward the eastern side of South Mountain and sent word to Lee near Hagerstown. Lee consulted with Longstreet, who recommended that he and Hill withdraw west of Antietam Creek to Sharpsburg, but Lee decided that the South Mountain gaps must be held to buy time for Jackson's attack at Harpers Ferry. Longstreet later complained, "The hallucination that McClellan was not capable of serious work seemed to pervade our army even to this moment of dreadful threatening." Lee established his headquarters here on September 14 during the Battle of South Mountain. The next day a rearguard cavalry engagement occurred here, during which some of this Unionist town's citizens sniped at the Confederates. Part of the Union army marched through here on its way to attack Lee's army, which had withdrawn to a ridge near Sharpsburg after accomplishing its mission at South Mountain.| HM Number | HMK9 |
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| Series | This marker is part of the Maryland Civil War Trails series |
| Tags | |
| Placed By | Maryland Civil War Trails |
| Marker Condition | No reports yet |
| Date Added | Monday, October 20th, 2014 at 6:11am PDT -07:00 |
| UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 18S E 271827 N 4376710 |
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| Decimal Degrees | 39.50975000, -77.65400000 |
| Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 39° 30.585', W 77° 39.24' |
| Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 39° 30' 35.10" N, 77° 39' 14.40" W |
| Driving Directions | Google Maps |
| Area Code(s) | 301 |
| Closest Postal Address | At or near 226-298 US-40 ALT, Boonsboro MD 21713, US |
| Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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