Hey everyone, welcome to episode 184 of our Civil War podcast.

My name is Rich.

And I'm Tracy.

Hello y'all.

Thanks for tuning into the podcast.

With the last show, as y'all recall, we set the stage for the Battle of South Mountain,

which was fought on Sunday, September 14th, 1862.

And now we want to take this episode to start to talk about the fighting at South Mountain,

because the Battle of that day was an important mile post along the road that takes us up to

Antietam.

Exactly.

So just to start off with a quick review, but Robert Lee has invaded Maryland with an

eye to perhaps even heading up into Pennsylvania.

But his goal, as ever, was to draw the Union Army into a decisive battle.

So to pull the Yankees away from their Washington base, Lee marched west from Frederick across

South Mountain to Boonsboro, and then he divided his army.

Lee wanted to open up a new line of communication and supply through the Shenandoah Valley.

So he sent some of his army south to deal with the two enemy outposts at Martinsburg and

Harper's Ferry, and that operation would be under the overall command of Stonewall Jackson.

In the meantime, Lee and James Longstreet took another part of the Confederate Army and

headed north to Hagerstown.

Lee left behind D.A. Chills Division at Boonsboro and gave Jeb Stewart's cavalry the job of

...