Sounding the Shallows by Joseph L. Harsh

Author:Joseph L. Harsh [Harsh, Joseph L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, Wars & Conflicts (Other)
ISBN: 9780873386418
Google: WOT2lL37U98C
Publisher: Kent State University Press
Published: 2000-01-15T03:06:31+00:00

H. EXCERPT FROM THE REPORT OF JOHN G. WALKER

After the war Brig. Gen. John G. Walker would claim that he learned the details of the expedition against the garrisons at Harpers Ferry and Martinsburg from Lee on either September 8 or 9 and while still in Frederick. He asserted that he proceeded to the first part of his mission (destruction of the C&O aqueduct) and received S.O. 191, codifying what he already knew, while on the road.

A passage from his report, dated October 7, 1862, less than a month after the event, demonstrated that Walker had no specific foreknowledge of the Harpers Ferry expedition when he left Frederick. On the contrary, Walker was under the impression that the Army of Northern Virginia was marching to Hagerstown on the 10th. Since this was Lee’s intention only on the morning of the 9th, the reference helps to place the time of the Lee-Walker meeting:36

The movement of our main army from Frederick toward Hagerstown, which I had been officially informed would take place on the 10th, would leave my small division in the immediate presence of a very strong force of the enemy, and, while it would be engaged in destroying the aqueduct, in a most exposed and dangerous position. I therefore determined to rejoin General Lee by way of Jefferson and Middletown, as previously instructed by him. Before marching, however, I received instructions to cross the Potomac at Cheek’s Ford and proceed toward Harper’s Ferry, and co-operate with Major-Generals Jackson and McLaws in the capture of the Federal forces at that point.

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