Turner's Pass Tablet #2 - Boonsboro, MD - American Civil War Monuments and Memorials on Waymarking.com

In 1897 the War Department erected six cast iron tablets which described the Battle of South Mountain. At that time a person could read them and not even have to get out of their horse drawn buggy. Kind of hard to imagine a time when automobiles did not use this road, but it is true, when these tablets were placed, horses were the main way to get around these parts. I had to get out of car and walk a bit in some nasty summer heat to read them as they are far back now, much safer. This is a fun area to visit with so much history, and lots of markers. The Appalachian Trail passe a few feet away. The parking lot for this roadside area is across the street next to the South Mountain Inn.

In 1862, Union and Confederate forces in the early September days leading to Antietam would march along the National Road through the town. The old National Road crosses South Mountain at a point called Turner's Gap. It was at Turner's Gap, along with nearby Fox and Crampton's Gap, that the Battle of South Mountain was waged on September 14, 1862. The battle which was a Union victory is called by some the "Prelude to Antietam" which would occur three days later near Sharpsburg.

 In 1987 (Almost 100 years after they were erected) the Central Maryland Heritage League in cooperation with the National Park Service had the Cast Iron tablets relocated to a safer position. Now the visitor to Turner's Gap can read the tablets without having to worry about being hit by a speeding automobile. At that time it is hoped the visitor will find a better place to come and visit. And perhaps in the quietness of the moment, "in the evening dews and damps," they will witness the march of history, and hear the sounds of days gone by. The whoops of the red men, the tramp of the settlers, the ring of axes as the land was cleared and the National Road was built. Perhaps the visitor can catch a glimpse of marching men, long columns of blue and gray, and officers such as Stonewall Jackson, D.H. Hill, John Buford, and George Meade. SOURCE

Curiously, these tablets, while in the Turner's and Fox's Gaps Historic District, are not mentioned in the nomination form, and therefore do no contribute. They are not even mentioned as non-contributing objects. Weird.

This second tablet reads:

In the advance of the Union forces to repel the invasion of Maryland by the Confederates, the Army of the Potomac commanded by Major General Geo. B. McClellan, moved northward from Washington with its front extending from near the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to the Potomac River. On September 12th, Cox Kanawha Division of the Ninth Corps, occupied Frederick. On the 13th Pleasonton's Union cavalry, moving from Frederick on the National Road, forced the passage of Catoctin Mountain, Stuart's cavalry retired to Catoctin Creek and then to the east foot of this Pass. Cox's Division moved to Middletown. Willcox's and Sturgis' Division bivouacked at the west base of the Catoctin, and Rodman's at Frederick. The First (Hooker's) Corps bivouacked on the South side of the Monocacy near the crossing of the National Road, the Sixth (Franklin's) Corps at Buckeystown and Couch's Division between that place and the Potomac. The Second (Sumner's) and Twelfth (Mansfield's) Corps and Sykes' Division of the Fifth Corps concentrated at Frederick. Informed at Frederick of the position of the Confederate Army and the intentions of the Confederate commander, General McClellan, on the evening of the 13th, gave orders to cross South Mountain on the 14th, the main body by this pass to attack D.H. Hill and Longstreet, the Sixth Corps and Couch's Division at Crampton's Pass, six miles south, to attack McLaws and relieve Harper's Ferry.

To log a visit, a waymarker must visit the monument or memorial in person and post a photo. Personal observations and comments will be appreciated.