Maryland was ripe for action: The 6th Alabama Crosses the Potomac

Sergeant Otis D. Smith of the 6th Alabama, marching in the vanguard of the Army of Northern Virginia, observed the warm welcome the army received from Maryland residents when they entered the state in early September 1862.

          “Everyone in high spirits at the thought of crossing the Potomac and freeing Maryland,” he commented. “The citizens began to flock in to see us. They could hardly realize our arrival but welcomed us most enthusiastically and assured us of a warm reception and any quantity of aid and comfort. During the day, people from a distance of 16 miles away visited us. All assured us Maryland was ripe for action.”

          Private Smith, a Vermont native who moved south in the 1850s to teach with his namesake uncle, was working near Columbus, Georgia when the war began. “Always quiet in manner, unobstructive, and self-forgetful in the services of others,” his obituary read. “His purity of character, sanity of mind, cheerful disposition, and warm heart won the respect and love of all who knew him.”

He enlisted as a private in the ranks of the Russell Volunteers, which later became Co. E of the 6th Alabama Infantry. Smith saw action with his regiment at First Manassas, Fair Oaks, and Malvern Hill before marching into Maryland. A week after writing this letter, Smith was severely wounded in the right arm at the Battle of South Mountain and captured when he was left behind in the hospital. He was exchanged on December 29, 1862, but did not return to the regiment, being designated as physically disabled. Smith was thus detailed as traveling agent based in his home at Columbus, Georgia for the duration of the conflict according to his official military record.

His letter first saw publication in the September 22, 1862, edition of the Columbus Daily Sun.

Sergeant Smith's 6th Alabama was in the vanguard of Lee's invasion of Maryland, crossing the Potomac at Cheek's Ford near the confluence with the Monocacy and promptly set to work destroying portions of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. Local residents welcomed their arrival, at least initially. 

Camp of Rodes’ Brigade, Frederick Junction, Maryland

September 7, 1862

Editors of the Sun,

          Thinking it might interest your numerous readers to learn something of the movements of the first brigade who put foot upon Maryland soil and at the same time convey some information to the friends of the members of that brigade, I send you a short account of our movements.

          Our division (General Daniel Harvey Hill’s) left Hanover Junction on Tuesday the 2nd of August and reached the Rapidan River on Friday. We crossed the Rapidan the next morning, passed through Culpeper Courthouse and reached Warrenton Springs on Sunday evening. After passing Rapidan, the country everywhere exhibited traces of the devastation of the enemy: deserted buildings, burned fences, abandoned fields. At Culpeper was a large number of the enemy’s wounded from the Battle of Cedar Mountain who had been left during the retreat. The desolation of this place was enough to make one’s heart sick who had seen it in its prosperous days.

          Leaving Warrenton Springs Monday night, we camped within three miles of the Manassas battlefields of August 29th and 30th and saw a large number of the wounded and prisoners of the enemy. Tuesday, we passed over the field and on every side were traces of the terrible work of destruction. Hundreds of corpses of Federal soldiers were laying scattered over the field, black and bloodied, a loathsome sight, mingled with dead horses, broken carriages, caissons, etc. The enemy suffered a terrible loss and the dead were thicker than on any of the fields around Richmond.

          Wednesday night we reached Leesburg where we were welcomed in the most enthusiastic manner. Cheer after cheer rent the air; brave men and women wept tears of joy at our return and the houses of the citizens were thrown open to the hungry soldiers. Their ability was the only limit of their hospitality. Long shall we remember the people of Leesburg than whom there is not a more loyal people in the Southern Confederacy. The meeting of many of the soldiers from this town with their friends from whom they had so long been banished was truly affecting.

Sergeant Otis D. Smith, Co. F,
6th Alabama Infantry

          On Thursday September 4th, Hill’s division, our brigade in front, took up our line of march from Leesburg to the Potomac, everyone in high spirits at the thought of crossing the Potomac and freeing Maryland. We marched to a point about five miles above Leesburg where we halted, sent out a party of skirmishers to the bank of the river, and a couple pieces of artillery. A few shots from our skirmishers and a few shells from the guns caused the Yankee pickets to skedaddle in hot haste. We then crossed over at a shoal place where the river is nearly waist deep and about 800 yards wide. The ridiculousity of our appearance, officers and men, divested of their nether integuments, was certainly in strong contrast with the boldness and importance of an act which soars to the sublime.

          On reaching the opposite or Maryland shore, we dispatched a party of skirmishers up and down the bank of the canal (which here runs along the river) and succeeded in capturing a Yankee lieutenant and a private from a regiment of Massachusetts cavalry, just in from Hilton Head, South Carolina. The other Yankees made off on the double quick, one in the Georgia major’s uniform, so sudden and unexpected was our appearance.

          That night, we cut the canal in many places, destroyed some locks, captured several boats loaded with grain, bacon, salt, and other much needed stores. The next morning, the citizens began to flock in to see us. They could hardly realize our arrival but welcomed us most enthusiastically and assured us of a warm reception and any quantity of aid and comfort. During the day, people from a distance of 16 miles away visited us. All assured us Maryland was ripe for action. A party of Yankee cavalry came in sight of us but quickly left on the approach of our regiment (6th Alabama) who were sent out as skirmishers.

          On Friday night, having completed our work of destruction on the canal, we left and arrived at this point at the junction of the Frederick and Harper’s Ferry with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Our army was greeted with more enthusiasm than could have been expected and we have repeated assurances of the readiness of the people for action. Thus far, we have met with no opposition and have accomplished most important results- the destruction of the canal, the control of the railroads, and the occupation of a rich country abounding in all needed supplies.

Of the future, I will not prophesy. But everything foreshadows important movements. Our men are in high spirits, have full confidence in our officers, and know no such word as “fail” or “defeat” in their vocabulary.

P.S. To the friends of the Russell Volunteers and Opelika Volunteers, I would say that all are with us who left Richmond except John Jones, Shannon, and Price, who were left on the other side of the river, slightly unwell and doubtless will rejoin us in a few days.

 Sources:

Letter from Sergeant Otis David Smith, Co. F, 6th Alabama Infantry, Columbus Daily Sun (Georgia), September 22, 1862, pg. 2

Military Record for Otis D. Smith, Co. F, 6th Alabama Infantry, M311 Civil War Service Records- Confederate-Alabama; National Archives and Records Administration


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