Summit of South Mountain, Maryland.

At the foot of the George Washington Monument C.1826 at the summit of South Mountain, Maryland. It was here that the Army of the Potomac broke through the rearguard of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia after discovering special order 191, Robert E. Lee's battle plans for the Invasion of the North inside a cigar box near a farm outside of Frederick. The top secret plans described in detail how the already outnumbered army had been divided into 5 corps and spread out. Lee himself quickly learned through spies in Washington that his plans had been discovered,
and immediately cancelled the planned invasion. Lee then ordered his divided army to regroup outside the nearby town of Sharpsburg, where the Confederate army would cross the Potomac River back to the safety Virginia. Unwilling to abandon his army’s first invasion of the North with nothing to show for it, Lee ordered his men to make a stand against the oncoming Army of the Potomac along the banks of Antietam Creek.

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Image Size: 4256x2832 / 4.4MB; www.craighudsonphoto.com; South Mountain Maryland American Civil War George Washington Monument Boonsboro Maryland Campaign black and white monochrome 1862
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At the foot of the George Washington Monument C.1826 at the summit of South Mountain, Maryland. It was here that the Army of the Potomac broke through the rearguard of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia after discovering special order 191, Robert E. Lee's battle plans for the Invasion of the North inside a cigar box near a farm outside of Frederick. The top secret plans described in detail how the already outnumbered army had been divided into 5 corps and spread out. Lee himself quickly learned through spies in Washington that his plans had been discovered, <br />
and immediately cancelled the planned invasion. Lee then ordered his divided army to regroup outside the nearby town of Sharpsburg, where the Confederate army would cross the Potomac River back to the safety Virginia. Unwilling to abandon his army’s first invasion of the North with nothing to show for it, Lee ordered his men to make a stand against the oncoming Army of the Potomac along the banks of Antietam Creek.