A "Dark, Gloomy Cleft"
— Mosby's Confederacy and Second Manassas Campaign —The gap to your left between Biscuit Mountain (the northern promontory of Pond Mountain) on the south and Mother Leathercoat Mountain on the north, described as "that dark, gloomy cleft" in an 1862 issue of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, was the site of several Civil War skirmishes. The most significant action, August 26-29, 1862, is described on the adjacent markers and illustrated on the map. Although technically a Confederate victory, the confrontation illustrated for the Federals the strategic importance of the gap and the rail line in the movement of troops and supplies. For the remainder of the war the Federals occupied the gap whenever Lee's infantry was thought to be in the area. In spite of Federal surveillance, Col. John Singleton Mosby and his raiders frequently camped in the area and used their intimate knowledge of the difficult terrain to stage surprise raids or evade capture.
Have you seen this marker? If so, check in and tell us about it.
|Series||This marker is part of the Virginia Civil War Trails series|
|Placed By||Civil War Trails|
|Marker Condition||No reports yet|
|Date Added||Saturday, October 18th, 2014 at 1:59pm PDT -07:00|
|UTM (WGS84 Datum)||18S E 264658 N 4300684|
|Decimal Degrees||38.82351667, -77.71088333|
|Degrees and Decimal Minutes||N 38° 49.411', W 77° 42.653'|
|Degrees, Minutes and Seconds||38° 49' 24.66" N, 77° 42' 39.18" W|
|Driving Directions||Google Maps|
|Area Code(s)||540, 703|
|Closest Postal Address||At or near 17588-17680 VA-55, Broad Run VA 20137, US|
|Alternative Maps||Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap|