Sequence of Events Antietam Campaign
Events at South Mountain and Harper's FerrySept. 4: Lee's army crosses into Maryland at White's Ferry.
Sept. 7. Lee concentrates his army at Frederick before sending Stonewall Jackson to capture Harper's Ferry.
Sept. 4-7 McClellan resumes command of the Federal army and advances cautiously to find Lee and cover Washington.
Sept. 11: D. H. Hill's Confederates guard the passes in South Mountain while Longstreet watches to the north at Hagerstown.
Sept. 11-12: Jackson attacks the Federal garrison at Martinsburg and drives them towards Harper's Ferry.
Sept. 13: McClellan reaches Frederick and discovers Lee's plans in the mislaid Confederate Order 191.
Sept. 13-15: Jackson seals the southern exit to Harper's Ferry and bombards the Federal garrison.
Sept. 13-15: McLaws Confederate division captures Maryland Heights, cutting off a Federal retreat northwards.
Sept. 13-15: Walker's Confederate division occupies Loudon Heights and completes the cordon around Mile's division. The Federals surrendered 12,000 troops at Harper's Ferry on the 15th.
Sept. 14: Federal I and IX Corps capture Turner's Gap from D. H. Hill and Longstreet, forcing a Confederate Retreat.
Sept. 14: A portion of McLaw's Confederates delay Franklin's Federal VI Corps at Crampton Gap.
Sept. 15: With the imminent fall of Harper's Ferry, Lee determines to make a stand along Antietam Creek at Sharpsburg.
Events at Antietam (Sharpsburg)
Sept. 17:
6 am: Hooker's Federal Corps begins the attack but his left bogs down under artillery fire from Nicodemus Hill.
7 am: Hood's Confederates counterattack and stop I Corps' advance at the Miller cornfield.
7:30-9 am: Mansfield's XII Corps attacks to the Dunker Church but fresh Confederate reinforcements drive them back.
10 am: Sedgwick's division of Sumner's II Corps attacks into the West Woods but is flanked and repulsed with heavy losses.
1 pm: Richardson's and French's division of Sumner's II Corps capture Bloody lane and breach Lee's center.
10 am-1 pm: Burnside's IX Corps seize the bridge across the Antietam after repeated attempts to cross.
1 pm: Rodman's division of IX Corps wades through Snavely's Ford and flanks Toombs' Confederates above the bridge.
3 pm: Burnside launches a general assault pushing Longstreet's Confederates back to the outskirts of Sharpsburg.
4 pm: A.P. Hill's Confederate division arrives from Harper's Ferry just in time to cripple Burnside's advance with a counterattack against the Federal left flank.
Source: "The Atlas of the Civil War" by James M. McPherson
This page last updated 12/17/03