Monterey pass
Encyclopedia
Monterey Pass is a mountain pass
Mountain pass
A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...

 near Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania
Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania
Blue Ridge Summit is an unincorporated community in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, United States, southwest of Gettysburg in the central part of the state, adjoining Pennsylvania's southern border with Maryland. It is less than 3 miles east of Pen Mar, Maryland...

, and the Mason-Dixon Line
Mason-Dixon line
The Mason–Dixon Line was surveyed between 1763 and 1767 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in the resolution of a border dispute between British colonies in Colonial America. It forms a demarcation line among four U.S. states, forming part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and...

. The saddle area
Saddle point
In mathematics, a saddle point is a point in the domain of a function that is a stationary point but not a local extremum. The name derives from the fact that in two dimensions the surface resembles a saddle that curves up in one direction, and curves down in a different direction...

 lies near Happel's Meadow between Monterey Peak (1,663 ft) and Clermont Crag (1627 ft). It was the site of the July 1863 Fight at Monterey Pass
Fight at Monterey Pass
The Fight at Monterey Pass was an American Civil War military engagement beginning the evening of July 4, 1863, during the Retreat from Gettysburg. A Confederate wagon train of Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell's Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, withdrew after the Battle of Gettysburg, and Union...

 during the Retreat from Gettysburg
Retreat from Gettysburg
The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia began its Retreat from Gettysburg on July 4, 1863. Following General Robert E. Lee's failure to defeat the Union Army at the Battle of Gettysburg , he ordered a retreat through Maryland and over the Potomac River to relative safety in Virginia. The Union...

.

Gettysburg Campaign

The first military engagement
Engagement (military)
A military engagement is a combat between two forces, neither larger than a division and not smaller than a company, in which each has an assigned or perceived mission...

 at Monterey Pass was on June 22, 1863. Captain Robert B. Moorman, commanding Company D of the 14th Virginia Cavalry was dispatched eastward from the area between Greencastle, Pennsylvania
Greencastle, Pennsylvania
Greencastle is a borough in Franklin County in south-central Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,722 at the 2000 census.-History:...

, and Hagerstown, Maryland
Hagerstown, Maryland
Hagerstown is a city in northwestern Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Washington County, and, by many definitions, the largest city in a region known as Western Maryland. The population of Hagerstown city proper at the 2010 census was 39,662, and the population of the...

, to obtain horses reportedly available from local Southern sympathizers. After the company passed through Leitersburg, Maryland
Leitersburg, Maryland
Leitersburg is a census-designated place in Washington County, Maryland, United States. The population was 523 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Leitersburg is located at ....

, and on to Caledonia Furnace
Caledonia State Park
Caledonia State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Greene Township, Franklin County and Franklin Township, Adams County in Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is named for an iron furnace, Caledonia Furnace, that was owned by Thaddeus Stevens beginning in 1837. Today the park is known...

; at Monterey the company encountered Bell's Adams County Cavalry and the First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry, both temporarily based in Gettysburg. After a very brief skirmish, the Confederate troops withdrew toward Hagerstown, joining General Richard S. Ewell
Richard S. Ewell
Richard Stoddert Ewell was a career United States Army officer and a Confederate general during the American Civil War. He achieved fame as a senior commander under Stonewall Jackson and Robert E...

, who was advancing with a larger force.

Previous combat in the area included a June 21 engagement at Fairfield
Battle of Fairfield
The Battle of Fairfield was a cavalry engagement during the Gettysburg Campaign of the American Civil War. It was fought July 3, 1863, near Fairfield, Pennsylvania, concurrently with the Battle of Gettysburg, although it was not a formal part of that battle...

, and subsequent engagements prior to the Battle of Gettysburg
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...

 included the first combat of Adams County, Pennsylvania
Adams County, Pennsylvania
Adams County is a county in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 101,407. It was created on January 22, 1800, from part of York County and named in honor of the second President of the United States, John Adams...

, during the Civil War. (Pennsylvania militia at Fountain Dale on June 28) and at Emmitsburg, Maryland
Emmitsburg, Maryland
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 2,290 people, 811 households, and 553 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,992.9 people per square mile . There were 862 housing units at an average density of 750.2 per square mile...

, on June 24.

In addition to the July 4–5 Fight at Monterey Pass
Fight at Monterey Pass
The Fight at Monterey Pass was an American Civil War military engagement beginning the evening of July 4, 1863, during the Retreat from Gettysburg. A Confederate wagon train of Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell's Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, withdrew after the Battle of Gettysburg, and Union...

, July 4 combat in the area included the Skirmish at Fairfield Gap, Pennsylvania
Battle of Fairfield
The Battle of Fairfield was a cavalry engagement during the Gettysburg Campaign of the American Civil War. It was fought July 3, 1863, near Fairfield, Pennsylvania, concurrently with the Battle of Gettysburg, although it was not a formal part of that battle...

, and skirmishes near Emmitsburg MD
Emmitsburg, Maryland
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 2,290 people, 811 households, and 553 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,992.9 people per square mile . There were 862 housing units at an average density of 750.2 per square mile...

 (9.4 miles east), Zora, Pennsylvania, and Waynesboro, Pennsylvania
Waynesboro, Pennsylvania
Waynesboro is a borough in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, located northwest of Baltimore, Maryland, 67 miles southwest of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and north of the Mason-Dixon Line. The population within the borough limits was 9,614 at the 2000 census. When combined with the surrounding...

 (6.5 miles west). As late as July 8, Union forces such as Company D, 10th New York Cavalry, were still in the area.
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