All the Plans of the Rebels - The Mystery of Special Orders #191, Part III

At the time the Confederate army crossed the Potomac into Maryland, two small Union garrisons occupied the sleepy towns of Harper's Ferry and Martinsburg (in present-day West Virginia), several miles to the west.

With a large enemy army now close by and squarely between them and potential help from the Army of the Potomac, Lee assumed that the Union garrisons - roughly 10,000 at Harper's Ferry and another 2,500 at Martinsburg - would evacuate their respective posts rather quickly. It was a reasonable assumption; but the garrisons remained in place.

Although the presence of these enemy soliders represented no threat to Lee's army, they did represent a potential threat to his supply line back to Virginia.

The presence of Lee's army at Frederick suggested a possible advance to the east against Washington D.C., or perhaps Baltimore; but Lee had neither of these objectives in mind. He was going to cross to the west, over the Appalachian Mountains, and attempt to draw the Army of the Potomac away from its base at Washington before bringing it to battle somewhere, hopefully on his terms.

While food could be replenished from the surrounding countryside while the Confederate army was on the march, the same was not true of ammunition. It was therefore necessary to have a clear line of supply back to Virginia if at all possible. The presence of Union troops at Harper's Ferry and Martinsburg meant that this would be difficult if not impossible to do.

Lee therefore made the decision to move against the two garrisons, surround and capture both them and their supplies, and remove this problem for good.

Accordingly, on September 9th the Confederate commander drew up the necessary orders to carry out his plans. The resulting document was known as Special Orders #191.

Three or Four Weeks

Essentially, Special Orders #191 divided the Army of Northern Virginia into four separate parts, with three of the parts cooperating with each other in the operation against Harper's Ferry and Martinsburg while the remaining portion of the army stood by near Boonsboro in Maryland, guarding the passes along South Mountain. (Located roughly 15 miles west of Frederick, South Mountain is actually many miles in length, stretching all the way from the Potomac River into Pennsylvania as part of the Appalachian Mountain Range.)

Dividing an already outnumbered army into several different parts was a risky proposition - not quite in keeping with the "timid and irresolute" image of Lee painted by McClellan back on the Virginia peninsula - but the Rebel

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