ped a mile and a half east of Middletown.
Sturgis's halted not far from the western foot of the mountain, with
corps headquarters near by. My own camp for the night was pitched in
front (west) of the village of Middletown along Catoctin Creek.
Pleasonton's cavalry was a little in advance of us, at the forks of
the road where the old Sharpsburg road turns off to the left from
the turnpike. The rest of the army was camped about Frederick,
except Franklin's corps (Sixth), which was near Jefferson, ten miles
further south but also east of Catoctin Mountain.

The Catoctin or Middletown valley is beautifully included between
Catoctin Mountain and South Mountain, two ranges of the Blue Ridge,
running northeast and southwest. It is six or eight miles wide,
watered by Catoctin Creek, which winds southward among rich farms
and enters the Potomac near Point of Rocks. The National road
leaving Frederick passes through Middletown and crosses South
Mountain, as it goes northwestward, at a depression called Turner's
Gap. The old Sharpsburg road crosses the summit at another gap,
known as Fox's, about a mile south of Turner's. Still another, the
old Hagerstown road, finds a passage over the ridge at about an
equal distance north. The National road, being of easier grades and
better engineering, was now the principal route, the others having
degenerated to rough country roads. The mountain crests are from ten
to thirteen hundred feet above the Catoctin valley, and the "gaps"
are from two to three hundred feet lower than the summits near them.
[Footnote: These elevations are from the official map of the U.S.
Engineers.] These summits are like scattered and irregular hills
upon the high rounded surface of the mountain top. They are wooded,
but along the southeasterly slopes, quite near the top of the
mountain, are small farms, with meadows and cultivated fields.

The military situation had been cleared up by the knowledge of Lee's
movements which McClellan got from a copy of Lee's order of the day
for the both. This had been found at Frederick on the 13th, and it
tallied so well with what was otherwise known that no doubt was left
as to its authenticity. It showed that Jackson's corps with Walker's
division were besieging Harper's Ferry on the Virginia side of the
Potomac, whilst McLaws's division supported by Anderson's was
co-operating on Maryland Heights. [Footnote: Official Records, vol.
xix. pt. ii. pp. 281, 603.] Longstreet, with