George Right Smith - The Maryland Campaign

The Maryland Campaign

Battles of South Mountain and Antietam – Lee's forces surged northward into Maryland after the resounding defeat of the Union soldiers at Manassas. On September 14, 1862, General Hood led his division under General Longstreet's Corps into the Battle of South Mountain, in central Maryland, between Frederick and Hagerstown. He was sent to assist General D.H. Hill who was heavily outnumbered. After intercepting an order from General Lee to General Hill, the union soldiers under General McClellan inflicted 2,863 casualties upon the Confederates while there were only 1,831 Union casualties.

The next day, September 15, the 1,862 confederate troops left fell back to a cramped position along Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland. By this time, Hood's troops were subsisting on green corn picked right out of the local corn fields and most of his force was barefoot. On the morning of September 17, the entire division went into reserve status to cook their first hot meal in four days. But, at sunrise, they were thrown back into the front line to assist General D.H. Hill again in the Battle of Dunker Church (also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg) against General Meade supporting Hill's left flank. It was the bloodiest single-day of battle in the entire war. The battle lasted until the evening when "an eerie silence fell on the battlefield."

Total casualties at Sharpsburg; Confederates 13,609 men, Union 12,410 men. The 18th Georgia Regiment earned the dubious honor of having the highest proportion of casualties of any civil war unit at any major engagement. They went into battle with 176 men and lost 101 of those killed, wounded, or missing. General Lee had won a tactical victory, but strategically was compelled to move quickly back to Virginia. General McClellan's forces were so beaten, he was unable to pursue.