Battle at Sugarloaf Mountain-Mt. Ephraim Crossroads Sharpshooters Hold the Line - Comus MD - Battlefields on Waymarking.com

TEXT ON THE HISTORICAL MARKER

Mt. Ephraim Crossroads-Sharpshooters Hold the Line
— Antietam Campaign 1862 —
You are looking at Sugarloaf Mountain, where the running cavalry fight that began in the late afternoon on September 9, 1862, in Barnesville came to a halt. By the next morning, the 7th and 9th Virginia Cavalry had been brought to bay here at the southern base of the mountain by the 8th Illinois and 3rd Indiana Cavalry. Both sides had been reinforced, and each had brought up artillery. Dismounted sharpshooters of the 2nd Virginia Cavalry looked down on the Federals from among the trees and rocks on the slopes of the mountain. The fighting continued throughout the day with much cannon fire. By evening neither side had budged, and one Union cavalryman had been killed and one wounded.

Early on the morning of September 11, the Confederates slipped away after brief exchanges of gunfire, also abandoning a signal station atop the mountain. As the Army of Northern Virginia was marching northwest out of Frederick, the action at Sugarloaf Mountain proved to be a successful rear guard action.

(Sidebar)
The Comus Inn was the Benjamin Johnson family farm at the time of the Civil War, and the crossroads was known as Mt. Ephraim. The family’s log cabin was added to in the 1890s. The name Comus (Roman god of revelry and son of Bacchus) was not used until a post office was established here in 1930. In the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted to acquire Sugarloaf Mountain as his presidential retreat, but the owner, Gordon Strong, refused to sell, so the president went north to Shangri-La, now Camp David.

Name of Battle: Battle at Sugarloaf Mountain Name of War: U.S. Civil War Date(s) of Battle (Beginning): 09/09/1862 Entrance Fee: Not Listed Parking: Not Listed Date of Battle (End): Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Post a photo of you in front of a sign or marker posted at the site of the battle (or some other way to indicate you have personally visited the site.

In addition it is encouraged to take a few photos of the surrounding area and interesting features at the site.

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Date Logged Log User Rating   03/29/2023 Don.Morfe visited it 05/21/2020 Searcher28 visited it

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