A brand-new analysis of the Confederate defeat at Fox’s Gap, part of the battle of South Mountain.
Hood’s Defeat Near Fox’s Gap is an exceptional analysis of Confederate Brigadier General John Bell Hood’s troop movements during the battle of South Mountain. For the past 160 years, all other authors misplaced Hood’s troop positions on the Fox’s Gap battlefield by approximately a half-mile. The actual location of Hood's attack reconfigures the entire placement of the competing forces in the battle and, thus, the conclusions one makes about the struggle. Other authors did not correctly analyze the geography and topography of the battlefield. The failure to understand the topographical characteristics of the battlefield led other writers to make false assumptions about Hood's movement. Before the publication of Hood’s Defeat Near Fox’s Gap, the battle for Fox’s Gap and South Mountain was never accurately reported or understood.
Foreword Preface List of Maps
The Approaching Battle Fox’s Gap—Union Perspective Fox’s Gap—Confederate Perspective BG John Bell Hood’s Advance The Confederate Dilemma at Turner’s Gap After South Mountain
Afterword Appendices End Notes Bibliography Index
Curtis L. Older is the author of The Braddock Expedition and Fox’s Gap in Maryland, The Land Tracts of the Battlefield of South Mountain, and News from Fox’s Gap. With Hood’s Defeat near Fox’s Gap, the author has solidified his place as one of the foremost authorities on Fox’s Gap in Maryland. The author’s research skills and analytical ability have enabled him to discover some of the lost secrets of Fox’s Gap.
“The bitter fights for the vital gaps in South Mountain during the Maryland Campaign are largely overshadowed by the subsequent battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day in American military history. Underreported and often misunderstood, the struggle for Fox's Gap was a crucial part of the South Mountain fighting. Author Curtis Older has taken the primary sources, terrain features, and on-the-ground inspection and woven those elements into a first-rate, compelling analysis of Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood's ultimately unsuccessful defense of Fox's Gap. This is a must-read for anyone interested in one of the Civil War's pivotal campaigns.”
~Scott L. Mingus, Sr., co-author of Unceasing Fury
"Curtis Older is one of the premier students of the battle of South Mountain, He has studied the tactics and traversed the slopes of Fox's Gap. In his new book he has some new thoughts and insights into the action of John Bell Hood on September 14th, 1862."
~John W Schildt, author of Drums along the Antietam
"Curtis Older’s concise, action-packed book presents a geographical, physical, and tactical account of Confederate defeat at Fox’s Gap, Maryland, and the Battle of South Mountain. His exacting micro-research in battlefield land features corrects previous historians’ accounts of Brig. Gen. John Bell Hood’s move south from Old National Pike towards Old Sharpsburg Road on the late afternoon of September 14, 1862. Fast-paced and accessible, Hood’s Defeat Near Fox’s Gap provides an important prelude to what President Abraham Lincoln considered the Rebels’ strategic defeat at Antietam, the Civil War’s bloodiest single day."
~John David Smith, author of Lincoln and the U.S. Colored Troops
“Readers may find Older’s minute on-the-ground analysis and conclusions overwhelming, but they must admire his research, attention to detail, and perceptiveness in presenting his views.”
~The Journal of America's Military Past
“[An] important new comprehensive work that should be read by serious history buffs of the Maryland Campaign. Older makes extensive use of primary sources, bringing readers eyewitness accounts from many soldiers from both armies, and an impressive number of maps, which support his argument that many authors have not always understood the landscape features of the battlefield at the time of the fighting.”
~The NYMAS Review
“Curtis Older’s research on the Battle of South Mountain re-examines and reinterprets the Maryland campaign, finally quelling all further discussion on why Lee lost his first major battle action. Highly recommended.”
~ARGunners.com
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