Union Veteran at Fox's Gap

Claude Bauer

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Jan 8, 2012
Here's an interesting picture from 1920 of Union veteran Uberto Burnham in Daniel Wise's field at Fox's Gap where he fought 58 years earlier in the Battle of South Mountain. The Reno monument appears in the background. (Black-and-white images by Fred Wilder Cross | William Christen collection).

The photo shows what the terrain looked like at Fox's Gap during the battle and well into the 20th century. Today, the area is heavily forested and the field behind Reno Monument is full of trees. The land where veteran Burnham is standing (now known as the 17th Michigan Field) is owned by the National Park Service and the Appalachian Trail runs next to it.

The area around and behind the Reno monument is owned by the Central Maryland Heritage League, https://www.facebook.com/cmhl.org/ which is considering plans to return it to its original appearance, similar to what's seen below.

Union veteran Uberto Burnham in Daniel Wise's field at Fox's Gap.JPG


For more period and contemporary photos of the Fox's Gap area, see John Bank's Civil War Blog
 
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Restoring the site to its 1862 appearnace is a great idea. What does something like that cost?

A lot. The CMHL is looking for funding and working on the logistics, etc. It's a major undertaking, but there are other sites that have done it successfully--like Balls Bluff in Northern Virginia. It's complicated at Fox's Gap because the site is surrounded by private, state, and federal land.
 
So the area behind the monument in this photo is now wooded and where the NC monument is right? if so then pretty drastic change of scenery to today

Yep, that's right. It's like that everywhere along the S. Mountain ridge. I recall reading an account by a Confederate lookout who stood on the roof of what is now the South Mountain Inn at Turner's Gap, and he was stunned by what he saw--the whole Middletown Valley was full of Union soldiers. The only thing you'd see from the roof of that building now is the trees right in front of you.
 
Here's an interesting picture from 1920 of Union veteran Uberto Burnham in Daniel Wise's field at Fox's Gap where he fought 58 years earlier in the Battle of South Mountain. The Reno monument appears in the background. (Black-and-white images by Fred Wilder Cross | William Christen collection).

The photo shows what the terrain looked like at Fox's Gap during the battle and well into the 20th century. Today, the area is heavily forested and the field behind Reno Monument is full of trees. The land where veteran Burnham is standing (now known as the 17th Michigan Field) is owned by the National Park Service and the Appalachian Trail runs next to it.

The area around and behind the Reno monument is owned by the Central Maryland Heritage League, https://www.facebook.com/cmhl.org/ which is considering plans to return it to its original appearance, similar to what's seen below.

View attachment 342181

For more period and contemporary photos of the Fox's Gap area, see John Bank's Civil War Blog
What about a re-enactment to fund the project, similar to what was done a couple of years ago for the Shafer House, I realize it was rained out and the house was then deemed too far gone, but cutting trees and clearing brush seems an easier task. Depending on the type of trees they could be cleared and sold, though I'm sure that has already been discussed.
 
What about a re-enactment to fund the project, similar to what was done a couple of years ago for the Shafer House, I realize it was rained out and the house was then deemed too far gone, but cutting trees and clearing brush seems an easier task. Depending on the type of trees they could be cleared and sold, though I'm sure that has already been discussed.

Good idea, but putting on a reenactment is beyond the resources of the CMHL right now. I was at that event at the Schafer House in 2018 and looked around inside--yeah, it's in pretty bad shape, but I believe they're still looking at restoring it, and there's been talk of using it as a Visitor's Center for the Battle of South Mountain, since there's very little parking up at the gaps. Sounds like a good idea, but it will cost a small fortune to restore that house. There's some pictures of the place in this thread: https://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-schafer-house-gen-franklins-hq.149918/#post-1893136
 
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