Civil War: The Battles of South Mountain • Fox's Gap • Turner's Gap • Crampton's Gap • Frostown Gap
Park Info: George Townsend • Gathland • Washington Monument • AT North • AT South
Park Tours: South Mountain State Battlefield Driving Tour • Fox's Gap Walking Trail

Fox's Gap

The fighting at Fox's Gap lasted all day. The morning action unfolded roughly 3/4 of a mile south of the Reno Monument. The site of this action is privately owned and inaccessible to the visitor at this time. Union General Jacob Cox's Kanawha Division of Reno's IX Corps, opened the battle about 9:00 am by attacking General Samuel Garland's Confederate brigade, which General D.H. Hill hurried to the gap earlier that morning. Intense fighting resulted in one of the war's rare instances of hand-to-hand combat. The Ohioans successfully turned the Confederate flank and drove back the North Carolinians. Garland was killed about mid-morning and most of his brigade scattered down the western slope of the mountian. Future President Rutherford B. Hayes was wounded during the morning's combat.

General Jesse L. Reno, commander of the Federal IX Corps and a veteran of the Mexican War.

Fifty yards west of the present Reno Monument is the site of farmer Daniel Wise's cabin (now gone). By late morning, the area around Wise's cabin became the scene of a severe struggle as Cox's men cleared the last remnants of Garland's brigade from the gap. Although they had gained Fox's Gap and were clear to advance on Condereate General D.H. Hill's headquarters at Turner's Gap, Cox's Ohioans remained in their defensive positions south of Fox's Gap. Hill sent two regiments of Confederate General George B. Anderson's Brigade to replace Garland's scattered forces. Anderson's men fired from one position and then quickly moved to another and fired again. This tactic had the effect of convincing General Cox that he faced a large force of the enemy and that he should await reinforcement by the rest of the IX Corps.

By 4:00 pm the rest of Reno's men arrived and made their final assualt from the east. By this time the Confederate defenders were the men of Brigadier General Thomas Drayton's Drigade. They were part of General Longstreet's Corps and had marched that morning 1 mile from Hagerstown, Maryland. Unaware of the Union advance from the east, Drayton's men formed up in the Sunken Road (Old Sharpsburg Road) to face Cox's men across Wise's Field. As Drayton's men advanced to the southern end of Wise's Field, they were hit on their left flank by the IX Corps' advance. Outnumbered at least four-to-one, Drayton's men fought valiantly but were overwhelmed by the Union assault.

The Sunken Road, unknown date. The stone wall is still present to the right.

The Sunken Road as it appears today.

The Confederates fell back to the stone walls that lined the roads running through Fox's Gap. They now faced east to confront the IX Corps' attack. In the field north of the Reno Monument, the raw, untested recruits of the 17th Michigan received their baptism by fire. The 17th advanced across the field and charged the stone wall defended by Drayton's men. At the same time, across the sunken road in Wise's Field, the 45th Pennsylvania charged toward the Rebels behind the walls near Wise's cabin. The men of the 45th suffered 136 casualties (21 killed, 115 wounded), more casualties here than in any other battle the 45th participated in during the entire war.

The Confederates also fared poorly. Drayton's brigade suffered 50% casualties (killed, wounded, and missing). The IX Corps' attack sent the remaining Confederate defenders scattering down the western slopes of South Mountain.

As before, there was nothing to stop a Federal advance on Turner's Gap. At twilight, Union General Reno arrived on the field to assess the situation. Impatient with a perceived delay to march on Turner's Gap, Reno rode north to reconnoiter. Unfortunately for Reno, general John Bell Hood's Texas Brigade made the last Confederate attack of the day. Reno was mortally wounded in the melee. Darkness finally eneded the fighting at Fox's Gap. Around 11:00 pm Hood's Texans withdrew to Boonsboro, leaving the IX Corps in possession of the field.

The surviving IX Corps verterans erected the Reno Monument on September 14, 1889. On September 13, 1986, a metal marker was raised to commemorate the 17th Michigan Field and the site of the Wise cabin are owned by the Appalachian Trail Conference. The ten acres directly south of the Reno Monument are owned by the Centeral Mayland Heritage League.

An excellent article with illustrated maps following the detailed action at Fox's Gap can be seen here: Death of a Brigade – Drayton's Brigade at Fox's Gap.