Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 12.djvu/531

 Reunion of Virginia Division A. N. V. Association. 521

army at Boonsboro' or Hagerstown. Each regiment on the march will habitually carry its axes in the regimental ordnance wagons, for use of the men at their encampments to procure wood, etc.

By Command oi General R. E. Lee.

R. H. Chilton, Assistant Adjutant- General. Major- General D. H. Hill

Cotnmanding Division.

At what time on the 13th General McClellan obtained possession of this order is unknown. His order to Franklin to move at day- break of the r4th on Burketsville is dated Sept. 13th, 6.20 P. M.

At that hour all of his army was in camp. Most of his corps had marched about six miles that day. Only two or three divisions had marched as far as eight miles. A vigorous march of six hours would have put Burnside through Turner's Gap, and Franklin through Crampton's by daylight of the 14th. Longstreet and Hill would have been cut off from the rest of the army, and McLaws cooped up in Pleasant Valley with 6,500 men, by Franklin with 12,300 at the one end of the Valley and Miles with 11,000 at the other.

But such prompt action was not taken by the Federal Commander- in-Chief. He put his troops in motion on the morning of the 14th, after a comfortable breakfast, and they proceeded leisurely enough to Burketsville and Middletown.

On that morning Stuart, finding nothing in front of Crampton's, sent Hampton down to Sandy Hook, the point between the South Mountain and the Potomac, and left Munford with his handful of cavalry to guard Crampton. He had the Second Virginia cavalry, 125 men, Twelftli Virginia cavalry, 75 and two fragments of infantry regiments of Mahone's brigade. About noon Franklin arrived, Munford dismounted his cavalry and deployed them behind a stone wall on each side of the road at the foot of the mountain on the flank of the infantry. His artillery, consisting of Chew's battery and a section of Navy Howitzers belonging to the Portsmouth battery, was posted on the slope of the mountain. Colonel Parham. commanding Mahone's brigade soon came up with two more regiments numbering 300 men and were similarly posted by Munford.

Franklin promptly formed Slocum's division on the right of the road leading through the gap and Smith's division on the left and moved them forward. Munford clung to his position with tenacity.