Background
Battle
September 12
Miles divided his 10,400 garrison troops into four brigades, making sure that the raw, inexperienced men he had recently received were balanced by more experienced soldiers. He positioned two brigades, about 7,000 men, on Bolivar Heights, in a line that stretched from the Potomac River to the Shenandoah.{{sfnp, Murfin, 2004, p=139{{sfnp, Frye, 1989, p=17 On nearby Camp Hill, he placed a 1,000-man brigade of heavy artillery and supporting infantry to cover the position on Bolivar Heights. Miles did not position men on Loudoun Heights, considering it the least important of the heights as he deemed it too difficult for Confederate artillery to be placed there; in any event, any Rebel force there could be attacked by the artillery on Maryland Heights.{{sfnp, Frye, 1989, pp=17-18{{sfnp, Murfin, 2004, p=139 Miles did not believe that the Rebels would come by that route, and would instead approach via Bolivar Heights.{{sfnp, Murfin, 2004, p=144 The defenses of the most important position, Maryland Heights, were designed to fight off raiders, but not to hold the heights themselves. There was a powerfulSeptember 13
Kershaw began his attack at about 6:30 a.m., September 13. He planned to push his own brigade directly against the Union breastworks while Barksdale's Mississippians flanked the Federal right. Kershaw's men charged into the abatis twice and were driven back with heavy losses. The inexperienced New York troops were holding their own. Their commander, Col. Ford, felt ill that morning and stayed back two miles (3 km) behind the lines, leaving the fighting to Col. Eliakim Sherrill, the second-ranking officer. Sherrill was wounded by aSeptember 14
September 15
At dawn, McClaws' repositioning of his Confederate troops – 8,000 men in two lines across the floor of Pleasant Valley – was revealed to Franklin, who had been tasked by McClellan to "cut off, destroy or capture McClaws' command and relieve Colonel Miles." It was a bluff by McClaws, and it worked because Franklin was convinced that he was outnumbered two-to-one and that it would be "suicidal to attack" the Confederate formation.{{sfnp, Hartwig, 2012, p=553-581 The deluded Franklin thus halted only six miles from Harpers Ferry; there would be no relief for Miles' garrison.{{sfnp, Frye, 1989, p=32 By the morning of September 15, Jackson had positioned nearly 50 guns on Maryland Heights and at the base of Loudoun Heights, prepared toAftermath
Jackson had achieved victory at minor expense. The Confederate Army sustained 286 casualties (39 killed, 247 wounded), mostly from the fighting on Maryland Heights, while the Union Army sustained 12,636 (44 killed, 173 wounded, 12,419 captured).{{sfnp , ''eHistory: Harpers Ferry @ Ohio State University''{{sfnp , ''NPS CWSAC Report''{{sfnmp, Sears, 1983, 1p=153, Murfin, 2004, 2p=203, ps=Inquiry
The War Department appointed a special commission under Major GeneralBattlefield preservation
TheSee also
{{stack, {{Portal, American Civil War *References
Citations {{reflist Bibliography ::Books {{refbegin * {{cite book , last1=Bailey , first1=Ronald H. , editor1-last=Grunewald , editor1-first=Henry Anatole , title=The Bloodiest Day: The Battle of Antietam , date=1984 , publisher=Time-Life Books , location=Alexandria, VA , isbn=0809447401 , oclc =10925005 , url-access =registration , access-date = April 14, 2017, pages=176 , url=https://archive.org/details/bloodiestdayb00bail/page/n7/mode/2up , language=en , format=PDF * {{cite book , title=Militär-historisches kreigs-lexikon, (1618–1905), last = Bodart , first = Gaston , year = 1908 , publisher = Stern , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Eo4DAAAAYAAJ, language=de , format=PDF, url-access=registration * {{cite book , last1=Carman , first1=Ezra Ayers , author1-link=Ezra A. Carman , editor1-last=Clemens , editor1-first=Thomas G. , title=The Maryland campaign of September 1862. Vol. 1, South Mountain , date=2010 , publisher=Savas Beatie , location=New York , isbn=9781611210552 , pages=491 , edition=1st , url=https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=3007431 , language=en , format=eBook , url-access=subscription * {{cite book , last1=Divine , first1=John E. , title=35th Battalion Virginia Cavalry , date=1985 , publisher=H.E. Howard , location=Lynchburg, VA , isbn=093091919X , pages=112 , edition=1st , url=https://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990003981220203941/catalog , access-date=May 8, 2015 , language=en , format=eBook, url-access=subscription * {{cite book , last1=Eicher , first1=David J. , author1-link=David J. Eicher , last2=McPherson , first2=James M. , author2-link=James M. McPherson , last3=McPherson , first3=James Alan , author3-link=James Alan McPherson , title=The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War , publisher=External links
{{Commons, Battle of Harpers Ferry