Crampton’s Gap

Crampton’s Gap Quotes

Last Updated August 8, 2010 in alphabetical order of the individual making the quote.

“What took place at Crampton’s Gap, where McClellan should have gone in person, as that position was the key point of the whole situation.”

Porter Alexander

Alexander, Military Memoirs, 23

Sealed With Their Lives The Battle for Crampton’s Gap by Timothy J. Reese (Baltimore:  Butternut and Blue.  1998) Pg182

“Gen. Smith’s Division headed the column across the Catoctin range, and as we filed down the opposite side of the mountain we could occasionally get a view of he troops in front of us-infantry, artillery and cavalry-with the morning sun shining brightly upon their arms and accoutrements, winding down and stretching far out in the beautiful valley toward the Blue Ridge.  Such scenes which look tame upon canvas, are glorious t the young and enthusiastic soldier, who feels a thrill of pride as he looks upon the magnificent and real picture of war his comrades are presenting, and recalls to his mind the many battles they have already fought together, and is touched again with admiration and love for them as he sees how willingly and eagerly they are marching to hurl themselves against their old enemy in one more struggle for victory before that glorious sun shall fall below the mountain ranges that surround them.”

Joseph Bartlett

Colonel Bartlett describing the descent from Mountville Pass toward Jefferson.  Bartlett, “Crampton’s Pass, The Start of the Great Maryland Campaign.”  The National Tribune [Washington, D.C.], Dec. 19, 1889

Sealed With Their Lives The Battle for Crampton’s Gap by Timothy J. Reese (Baltimore:  Butternut and Blue.  1998) Pg 43

“What a panorama of autumn landscape, grandeur, and loveliness, lay before us!  There was the broad valley stretching up from the Potomac…miles of undulating curves…miles of intervale; over the face of all, almost perfect pictures of thrift and plenty; orchards groaning with fruit of many varieties; broad acres golden with ripened grain; groves of timber clean of underbrush; snug farm cottages and capacious barns, giving just the necessary variety to the scene; there were sheep on the hillsides, and herds of cows in the meadows; there were fine horses feeding in pastures….All this, bathed by a healthy, stimulating atmosphere, and gilded by the rays of the September sun, was presented to our view.  We seemed by some mental process, without conscious analysis, to grasp each of the elements of this wonderful picture at the moment the whole was presented to view when we came over the summit.  A deep voice behind us exclaimed:  “Is not this superb!”  We turned and beheld the speaker, Lieut Col. [Edward R.] Platt [Inspector General, Sixth Corps], riding with Gen. Franklin and his staff.  The eyes of the general and all of his suite were bent in admiration upon the scene before us.”

Andrew J. Bennet

Sep 14 1862

A gunner of the 1st Mass describing the descent from Mountville Pass toward Jefferson.    Bennet, First Massachusetts Light Battery,

Sealed With Their Lives The Battle for Crampton’s Gap by Timothy J. Reese (Baltimore:  Butternut and Blue.  1998) Pg 41

“The ascent was long an very tedious; but when upon the opposite side of the summit, the view was most magnificent.  A valley extending for miles dotted here and there with snow-white villas, with little streams flowing in various directions, abounding with beautiful groves and fields, lay spread out before us.  It was the loveliest landscape I ever beheld.  A painters ideal could not have surpassed it.  Expressions of surprise and admiration fell from hundreds of lips.  The bright and beautiful seemed to attend us at almost every step.”

George Bicknell

Sep 14 1862

An officer of the 5th Maine describing the descent from Mountville Pass toward Jefferson.    Bicknell Fifth Maine, 133-34

Sealed With Their Lives The Battle for Crampton’s Gap by Timothy J. Reese (Baltimore:  Butternut and Blue.  1998) Pg 41

“At every step, some poor soul escaped through a bullet hole into eternity, or some brave body fell forward, or sank to the earth, with agonizing shriek or cry of pain.”

John T. Boyle

Capt Boyle of the 96th Pennsylvania talking about the fighting at Crampton’s Gap

Our Boys Did Nobly Schuylkill County Pennsylvania, Soldiers at the Battles of South Mountain and Antietam by John David Hoptak (John David Hoptak 2009) Pg 116

Boyle, John T. “The Ninety-Sixth at Crampton’s Pass, September 14, 1862” Philadelphia Weekly Times, September 30, 1871

“Here, Casey, take my sword and follow the colonel.”

John Dougherty

Sep 14 1862

Lt Dougherty of Co F 96th PA dying words to First Sergeant James Casey

Sealed With Their Lives The Battle for Crampton’s Gap by Timothy J. Reese (Baltimore:  Butternut and Blue.  1998) Pg 134

“We are in a pen, how am I to get out of it?

Lafayette McLaws

McLaws describing the situation after Franklin captured Crampton’s Gap

Cavalryman of the Lost Cause by Jeffry D. Wert (New York:  Simon and Schuster, 2008) Pg 150

“Friendly little towns like Rockville, Barnesville, Poolesville, Buckeystown, Monocacy, Jefferson and others alternated with beautiful forests and fertile fields”

Friedrich Meyer

Meyer describes the advance of the Sixth Corps through Maryland

“The Narrative of Friedrich Meyer,” by Friedrich Meyer, edited by Anders Henriksson, Anders, The Maryland Campaign of 1862 and its Aftermath, Civil War Regiments Vol 6 No. 2 (Campell CA:  Savas Publishing Company, 1998) Pg 12

“the heaviest I ever engaged in, and the cavalry fought here with pistols and rifles.”

Thomas T. Munford

Munford describing fighting at Crampton’s Gap

Cavalryman of the Lost Cause by Jeffry D. Wert (New York:  Simon and Schuster, 2008) Pg 150

“there was never any excuse for Genl Stuart being off at Maryland Heights with McLaws.

Thomas T. Munford

Munford bemoaning the fact that Stuart left him at Crampton’s Gap.

Cavalryman of the Lost Cause by Jeffry D. Wert (New York:  Simon and Schuster, 2008) pg 149

Thomas T. Munford – Ezra Carmen, Dec 10, 1894, Carmen Papers NYPL

“As they drew nearer, the whole country seemed to be full of bluecoats.  They were so numerous that it looked as if they were creeping up out of the ground.”

George M. Neese

Sep 14 1862

A confederate gunner describing the approaching Yankees from Jefferson MD

Taken at the Flood Robert E. Lee & Confederate Strategy in the Maryland Campaign of 1862 by Joseph L. Harsh ( Kent OH:  The Kent State University Press, 1999) Pg 280

Neese, George Michael.  Three Years in the Confederate Horse Artillery, by…a Gunner in Chew’s Battery.  New York:  Neale Publishing, 1911

“Well, follow Torbert, and if you find anything to do, do it!”

Henry Slocum

Sep 14 1862

Slocum to Col Cake of the 96th Pennsylvania after Cake asked for orders

Our Boys Did Nobly Schuylkill County Pennsylvania, Soldiers at the Battles of South Mountain and Antietam by John David Hoptak (John David Hoptak 2009) Pg 109

Boyer, Henry. “At Crampton’s Pass:  The Ninety-Sixth Pennsylvania Regiment Under Fire. Its Gallant Charge Over Rough Ground and Under Galling Fire to Achieve a Triumph of Distinction.” Shenandoah, PA:  The Evening Herald, August 31, September 2,3, 1886