“The glorious charge of the 23rd & 12th Ohio Volunteers (Col. Scammon) against the 23rd and 12th North Carolina under the rebel Gen. Garland, who was killed in the charge.”
Library of Congress image.
The Battle of South Mountain — known in several early Southern accounts as the Battle of Boonsboro Gap — was fought September 14, 1862, as part of the Maryland Campaign of the American Civil War. Three pitched battles were fought for possession of three South Mountain passes: Crampton’s, Turner’s, and Fox’s Gaps. Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, commanding the Union Army of the Potomac, needed to pass through these gaps in his pursuit of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Despite being significantly outnumbered, Lee’s army delayed McClellan’s advance for a day before withdrawing.
Samuel Garland, Jr., (December 16, 1830 – September 14, 1862) was an American attorney from Virginia and Confederate general during the American Civil War. He was killed in action during the Maryland Campaign while defending Fox’s Gap at the Battle of South Mountain.
