ORDER OF BATTLE // September 14, 1862
Battle of South Mountain
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 46,000 estimated
United States
28,000
Medium-confidence figure
Confederate States
18,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The Battle of South Mountain was a component engagement of the Maryland Campaign, in which Union forces under McClellan pressed against Confederate positions holding three passes through South Mountain: Crampton's, Turner's, and Fox's Gaps. The engagement involved three separate pitched battles for control of these passes, with Confederate forces under Lee and D. H. Hill contesting a Union force that outnumbered them by roughly 10,000 men. Confederate casualties slightly exceeded Union losses despite the defenders' positional advantage. The battle is known in some early Southern accounts as the Battle of Boonsboro Gap, reflecting the geographic stakes of the contest over mountain passage routes during Lee's incursion into Maryland.
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