Christ Reformed Church Just Before the Battle - Middletown MD - Civil War Discovery Trail Sites on Waymarking.com

Christ Reformed Church-Just Before the Battle
— Antietam Campaign 1862 —
Eight thousand Confederates under Gen. Lafayette McLaws marched by this church on September 10-11, 1862, heading south to Harper’s Ferry. Since no Federals were in the area, McLaws expected no encounters with the enemy. Unknown to him, however, Union Gen. George B. McClellan had obtained a copy of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Special Order 191 containing the Confederate plans; soon the rear of McLaws’ column was in danger.

Most of McClellan’s Army of the Potomac marched west on the National Road (present-day Alt. U.S. Rte. 40) on September 14, en route to the gaps of South Mountain. The steeple of the Reformed Church served as a Union observation station during the battle that followed.

“Waking stiff and sore to a beautiful Sunday morning [September 14], the first thought was breakfast. Some cattle were driven up and killed in the neighboring field, and we tried broiling dollops of steaming fresh beef upon our ramrods. Some of the men visited the houses in the town [Middletown] in search of eatables, but with little success. The irrepressible Walsh returned with a tea kettle and cabbage…and set to work boiling the vegetable. While this was passing, artillery fire commenced, and white puffs of smoke began to rise between us and the range of blue hills, called South Mountain…Two o’clock in the afternoon came, and with it the order to ‘fall in.’ Walsh had not time to cook his cabbage, so he slung it, kettle and all, to his belt, in hopes of a chance to finish it.” - From the regimental history of the 35th Massachusetts Infantry.

Type of site: Transportation Route or Facility Address: 12 South Church Street Middletown, MD United States 21769 Admission Charged: No Charge Website: [Web Link] Phone Number: Not listed Driving Directions: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   11/17/2021 Don.Morfe visited it