1862 - Armistead Family in the Civil War (part two)
The Siege of Harpers Ferry
Harpers Ferry was located in Virginia in 1862 but is now part of West Virginia. It is situated right in the "v" of the junction where the Shenandoah River feeds into the Potomac River. I've always thought of it as a town, but it was actually just a "factory or armory". (1) It would become a critical location during the war due to its access to two rivers and two railroads that passed by that location. The Winchester & Potomac Railroad "ran south from Harpers Ferry into the Shenandoah Valley between the Blue Ridge and the Allegheny Mountains". "The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad linked Baltimore and Washington with the Ohio River Valley, crossing the Potomac River from Maryland to Harpers Ferry and running along the Potomac northwest toward Martinsburg, Virginia". (2)
Obviously, this was a great location for moving supplies and munitions, as well as soldiers, to various locations in the US. In the map below you can see three area heights look down on Harpers Ferry, Bolivar Heights, Loudoun Heights, and Maryland Heights. Oh, I love maps! You'll see several in this post.
On this map, you can see the three heights labeled as well as the rivers and railroads. Union troops are noted in blue off to the northeast, as well as at the armory and on Bolivar Heights.
These surrounding mountains made Harpers Ferry extremely hard to defend and because of this, it changed hands several times during the war. In fact, General "Stonewall" Jackson said he would rather capture Harpers Ferry 40 times than defend it once. At this particular time of the war, the union army had a large supply hub here. Lee knew he must take Harpers Ferry because of the large number of troops garrisoned there, and because taking Harpers Ferry and its large storage of supplies, would be a boost to the Southern Army. If he failed to take the armory, it would deal a huge blow to his Maryland Campaign. (3)
If you have read about the Maryland Campaign you will probably remember what happens next. General Lee wrote orders for his plan to take Harpers Ferry and his plan to invade the North. He would use the destruction of Harpers Ferry, and the vital supply lines of the Union Army, as a springboard to invade the north, and eventually capture Washington DC. The orders were "Special Orders 191". These orders outlined General Lee's detailed plans for "ambitious simultaneous convergences by widely separated columns upon an assigned objective." "Low-lying Harpers Ferry, more trap than a fortress, was dominated by heights that frowned down from three directions." General "Stonewall" Jackson, who had been in command of Harpers Ferry the year before and knew the area well, was to be in charge of the operation. (4)
Jackson would "move with his three divisions through Boonsboro to the vicinity of Williamsport, where he would cross the Potomac and descend on Martinsburg, capturing the garrison there or driving it eastward to Harpers Ferry, where he would occupy Bolivar Heights, McLaws, with his own and Anderson's divisions, would move southwest and take a position on Mayland Heights, Walker would move south with his two-brigade division, cross the Potomac below Point of Rocks, and occupy Loudoun Heights". (5) Thus surrounded it was expected the Union garrison would not be able to hold out long.
Longstreet, for his part, would move westward and occupy Boonsboro, supported by D.H. Hill. All movements were to begin Sep. 10th and the three Generals were to converge on Harpers Ferry on the 12th or 13th at the latest. Once Harpers Ferry was defeated the three generals were to rejoin Lee's main body at Boonsboro, where Lee would continue through Maryland and into Pennsylvania. (6)
The orders went out to the generals and their staff. They in turn, once the plans were read and understood, were supposed to burn or destroy the orders. Unfortunately, the copy of the orders that went out to General D.H. Hill did not suffer the firey end it was supposed to. One of the staff officers, instead of destroying the copy, decided he would keep the orders as a souvenir. He used the orders to wrap around three cigars and stuffed them in his pocket. (7)
General Lee, proceeding with his Maryland Campaign, led his army through the little town of Fredrick, Virginia, (As you can see on the maps above, in the upper-middle portions of the maps.) and then headed toward South Mountain, and on through Turner's Gap. The final, grand act of Lee's astonishing plan was to take his united army to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The importance of this town was based on the Pennsylvania Railroad that crossed the Susquehanna River at this location. "That is the objective point of the campaign," Lee explained. Destruction of the bridge there, supplementing the previous seizure of the B & O crossing at Harpers Ferry and the wrecking of the Monocacy aqueduct of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal - this last would be done by Walker, in accordance with instructions already given him, on the way to point of Rocks - would isolate the Federal East from the Federal West, preventing the arrival of reinforcements for McClellan except by the slow and circuitous Great Lakes route. "After that," Lee concluded, 'I can turn my attention to Philadelphia, Baltimore, or Washington, as may seem best for our interest.' The war would be over - won." (8)
As Lee moved north, McClellan's troops were not far behind, only a couple days. In fact, they stopped to make camp in Frederick, Maryland, exactly where the Confederate army had just been. Two Union soldiers, Private B. W. Mitchell and Sergeant J. M. Bloss, Company E, 27th Indiana, upon the order to stack arms and take a break, were lounging in the grass near Frederick when they made an exciting discovery, free cigars! To their astonishment and delight, lying on the ground wrapped in paper, were three cigars. Their good fortune quickly took an even more fortuitous turn for the Northern Army upon their recognizing the simple paper wrapped around the cigars was actually Confederate orders. Oh, yes, of course, those were "Special Orders 191". (9)
Special orders 191 By Wilson44691 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17489610
"Here is a paper with which, if I cannot whip Bobby Lee, I will be willing to go home." General George B. McClellan (10)
Remember that the Civil War did not end until 1865. This was September of 1862. Just think of the lives that would have been saved if McClellan had broken Lee at this point in the war.
But McCellan's dream was not to be. As fate would have it, on the occasion of McClellan's receiving the lost "Special Orders 191", there happened to be a Maryland citizen with southern sympathies at McClellan's headquarters. Upon hearing what had happened he made a mad dash to Jeb Stuart's line and gave him the news, Stuart then passed it on to General Lee. (11)
Now, with the knowledge that McClellan knew of his original plans, Lee was able to at least try and mitigate the effects of this knowledge. But still, Lee was now on the defensive, rather than the offensive, and certainly, the surprise element of his plan was out the window. He could revise his plans somewhat, but the whole of the Maryland Campaign now seemed in doubt.
On his way to Boonsboro, Lee deployed D. H. Hill at Turner's Gap to protect the rear from any approaching Union Forces. Now that Lee knew McClellan had the orders, he knew he would be coming with his entire army, so he had to do something to keep Hill from being overwhelmed. He immediately sent word to Hill at Turner's Gap with the news of the lost orders and implored him to hold as long as possible. If the Union Army came swarming through Turner's Gap and descended on Harpers Ferry his entire army would be endangered. He just needed Hill to give him enough time to take down Harpers Ferry, but he knew Hill could not do this alone, so at the same time, he ordered General Longstreet to hurry to Turner's Gap to reinforce Hill. (12)
Lee was right to be worried. Hill fought admirably but eventually started to be pushed back and was on the verge of being routed when Longstreet's army arrived. Longstreet quickly sent his troops forward to shore up Hill's faltering lines. Fortunately for Lee, they were able to stabilize the situation until darkness, and both sides made camp for the night. This was the evening of Sep 14, 1862. There were 1800 casualties on each side with an additional 800 Confederates captured at South Mountain. Meanwhile, events were unfolding at Harpers Ferry. (13)
Hayes Civil War - Rutherford B. Hayes - Wikipedia
An interesting footnote to history. Amongst the Union forces fighting at Turner's Gap that day was Lieutenant Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes of the 23d Ohio. Hayes was wounded but he would recover and go on to become the 19th President of the United States fifteen years later. For another Union soldier, Sergeant William McKinley, no bullets would find him that day, but unfortunately, his destiny did include a bullet that would find him almost forty years later while serving his second term as the 25th President of the United States. That bullet was fatal and Vice President Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th president. Also, there was General McClellan, who would soon be booted out as General of the Union Army. He would run an unsuccessful campaign for president against Abraham Lincoln in 1864. (14)
Upon arrival on the 13th, the first order of business for McLaws was to dislodge the Union forces occupying Maryland Heights. This objective was accomplished and on the morning of the 14th, McLaws, and the main body of his troops (including Robert and Thomas Armistead), set up on Maryland Heights, with his artillery aimed at Harpers Ferry. At the same time, he was preparing for the attack on Maryland Heights, he deployed three brigades to his rear in the direction of South Mountain to protect from any rearguard action by Union forces. General Walker also moved his artillery into place on Loudoun Heights. Jackson was maneuvering around Bolivar Heights to place his artillery at Schoolhouse Ridge. As soon as all the artillery was in place they would begin bombardment.
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68956277
On the morning of the 14th, General Jackson knew he had Harpers Ferry in a desperate position. However, he also knew he was a day behind the schedule set out in "Special Order 191" and he knew that General Lee's army was dangerously divided across Maryland and Virginia. What he did not know would have worried him even more. "Portions of McClellan's 75,000 man army were already in the Middletown Valley and heading toward South Mountain". (16)
As mentioned before, D.H. Hill was defending at Turner's Gap on the day of the 14th, and McClaws, stationed on the Maryland Heights, could hear the rumbling sounds of battle rolling along South Mountain. He was not worried by the distant sounds or at least not until they were no longer distant. The battle sounds were getting closer and louder. At first, he was told, and as he suspected, the louder sounds were from his rearguard engaging with a brigade of Union troops. He was not worried at first, but then the noise grew louder and McClaws decided he had better take a look at the situation in person. Upon arrival he found his men breaking in panic and fleeing. It turns out it was not a brigade but Major General William B Franklin's VI corps that had come down through Crampton Gap, sent by McClellan to relieve Harpers Ferry.
McLaws was able to rally his troops and get them turned and back in line. They had performed well in holding the line but had finally been overwhelmed. He quickly brought up three more brigades from the heights to help set up a line a couple miles south of Crampton Gap. Franklin did not push the advantage and settled down for the night. Lee was fortunate Franklin demurred. Had Franklin pressed his advantage when he had it, he might have been able to disrupt Jackson's assault on Harpers Ferry.
Lieutenant Anthony Armistead and his brother Thomas Stewart Armistead were serving in the 8th Florida Infantry that was under Richard H Anderson's division, so I think they probably remained on the Maryland Heights while McClaws most likely would have used his own brigades in the rearguard action. But they probably took part in the assault on Maryland Heights on the 13th.
Meanwhile, at 2:00 pm on the 14th, Jackson signaled the start of the artillery bombardment of Harpers Ferry from all sides. For four and a half hours the bombardment continued. Harpers Ferry did not fall. (17)
During the night of the 14th, 1400 cavalrymen and their horses unbelievably escaped from Harpers Ferry, a place that was surrounded by Confederate soldiers. At 8:00 am the next morning the Confederate Army commenced firing again. What little morale that was left in the Union Infantry quickly evaporated when they found that they were not only surrounded, and out of any long-range ammunition for their batteries, but they had also been abandoned by the calvary.
Within Harpers Ferry, the leaders decided to surrender. "The Harpers Ferry Garrison lost 44 killed, 173 wounded and an astounding 12,737 men captured, along with 73 artillery guns, 13,000 small arms, and 200 wagons. It remained the largest surrender of U.S. troops until Bataan in 1942." (18)
In war, you never have time to savor the victory or grieve the losses. Lee and Longstreet were at Sharpsburg and Lee needed desperately to get his divided army back together. If McClellan could move into the gaps and cut off pieces of Lee's army or attack Lee's troops at Sharpsburg, the Army of Northern Virginia would be in grave danger. The first order of business for Jackson was to get to Sharpsburg, where Lee and Longstreet had set up a line of defense. Walker's division crossed the Shenandoah and followed Jackson to Sharpsburg. McLaws and Anderson began crossing the Potomac to begin their march to Sharpsburg. General A.P. Hills Divison was left at Harpers Ferry to confiscate all the provisions, munitions, and anything of value, that he could, and then to parole the Union soldiers. This meant he would be the last to come up to rejoin the main body of Lee's army.
Jackson and Walker reached Sharpsburg on the 16th following a forced march from Harpers Ferry. Lee had built his meager defense on the high ground between Sharpsburg and Antietam Creek and had each end of his line anchored on the Potomac River to prevent being flanked. These new arrivals brought his total number of soldiers to 26,000. McClellan's army had over 70,000 troops. If McClellan attacked Lee with his 3-1 advantage Lee would most likely have been overwhelmed. Even if McLaws and Anderson's divisions arrived in time, along with A.P. Hill's Division, which was still at Harpers Ferry, Lee would still be outnumbered 2-1. (19)
General McClellan, approaching Sharpsburg with at least twice as many troops, believed that he finally had Lee in an inferior position and was confident of a significant victory.
Of course, neither of them knew what was really going to happen. What did happen was Sep. 17, 1862, the "Bloodiest Day in American History"! (20)
1) Kunkel, Jack, Showdown at Antietam, A Battlefield Tour of America's Bloodiest Day in American History, Pepper Publishing and Pepper Studios, Copyright 2013, pg 202.
2) Ibid, pg 202.
3) Ibid, pg 202
4) Foote, Shelby, The Civil War, A Narrative, Fort Sumter to Perryville, Random House, New York, Copyright 1958, pg 667.
5) Ibid.
6) Ibid, pg 668.
7) Ibid.
8) Ibid, pg 668-669.
9) Ibid.
10) Ibid, pg 671.
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