Hood's Defeat Near Fox's Gap: Prelude to Emancipation

by Curtis L. Older

An entirely new analysis of the battle for Fox’s Gap during the battle for 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.

223 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 20, 2023

Reviews

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: unless you are a very very serious Civil War buff, this book isn't for you. Luckily, I am a serious student of the War, so the book was right up my alley. The author turns 160 years worth of scholarship on its head and refutes nearly all the conclusions drawn by previous historians about the battle. The author does a commendable job of backing up his research with many, many maps and charts. Overall, a worthy effort and well worth perusing.

[Curtis Older · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marcy indicated the Confederates were surrounded on three sides at the end of the battle and most of the Confederate army would have been captured with two more hours of daylight. Cox reviewed Hood’s Advance and Retreat and adamantly indicated Hood’s men came nowhere near to Fox’s Gap and the Wise Cabin. Durell’s Battery of six guns fired 250 timed fuse shells over Wood Road and would have destroyed Hood’s men near Wood Road. Most of Hood’s men moved back nearly a half mile north of Old Sharpsburg Road. The book refutes three Phd authors as well as every other author who has written about Hood at South Mountain. Carman, Harsh, Priest, Hartwig, Jordan, Hoptak, etc. The Battle of South Mountain at Turner’s and Fox’s Gaps is the most misunderstood battle of the Civil War. This book is the greatest breakthrough in understanding the battle since September 14, 1862. It is unfortunate Civil War historians have failed to understand this battle.

[William Olenick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Older gives a new perspective on the Fox Gap battle. Using the study of terrain and deep research into accounts and reports of the battle he states that other authors have placed the units in the wrong positions and are about a half mile out of place.
Highly recommend this study to any interested in The Antietam Campaign. The study is supported by a local geologist. The are numerous photos, illustrations and maps that support the text of the book.