Filling the Gaps (Turner’s Gap)

Turner’s gap is the site of one of the three Battles of South Mountain.  It is also the most difficult to take in because it takes the crossing of Old National Pike (US 40-Alt) to see all the signage.
The battle occurred on 14 September 1862 between Union forces pursuing confederate forces staging an invasion of the north.   Confederate General Lee feared the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry could interrupt his supply lines he divided his army so they could take both Hagerstown and Harpers Ferry.  A numerically superior Union force drove them back through the passes setting up the Battle of Antietam three days later.

In route to Hagerstown, Confederate Maj. Gen. D. H. Hill’s division was halted at Boonsboro to prevent the escape of the Harpers Ferry garrison through Pleasant Valley and also to support JEB Stuarts cavalry east of South Mountain.  To halt the advance of the Union Army attempting to repel the Confederate invasion of Maryland Maj. Gen. Hill deployed 5,000 men over more than 2 miles, defending two of the Gaps, Turner's and Fox.  The brigades under Hill were commanded by Brig. Gen Robert Rodes (AL), Brig Gen Nathan Evans (SC), Col Alfred Colquitt (GA), Kemper (VA) , Brig Gen. James Lane (NC).
Union Gen. Ambrose Burnside sent Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker's I Corps to Turner's Gap. Hookers brigades were led by Marsena Patrick (2^nd Brig), Col. Walter Phelps (1st Iron Brig), Col. Abner Doubleday (1^st Div) and Brig Gen John Gibbon (King's Wisconsin Brigade aka Iron Brigade).  Gibbon attacked Colonel Alfred H. Colquitt's brigade along the National Road, driving it up the mountain, but the Confederates never yielded the pass. Hooker positioned three divisions opposite two peaks located one mile north of the gap.  The Alabama Brigade of Brig. Gen. Robert E. Rodes was attack by three brigades under the command of Brig Gen James Ricketts.  Despite the arrival of reinforcements the Alabama Brigade was forced to withdraw because of its isolated position.  Darkness and the difficult terrain prevented the complete collapse of the Confederate line. At nightfall, the Union soldiers held the high ground and the Confederates still held the gap.  By dusk Lee ordered his outnumbered forces to withdraw from South Mountain. McClellan was now in position to destroy Lee's army before it could concentrate. 

Across from the markers for Turners Gap sits The Old South Mountain Inn.  During the Civil War period, South Mountain Inn was a part of two pivotal events, the John Brown Raid on Harpers Ferry, and the Antietam Campaign. In 1859 the inn was captured and held overnight as an outpost and probable staging point by Brown’s followers. Three years later it was the headquarters of Confederate Gen. D.H. Hill during the Battle of South Mountain, prelim to the Battle of Antietam.