Following the Route Today
I tried the follow the route of the escape earlier this summer. As best I can determine, the following directions will lead the interested traveler in the footsteps of the escaping cavalrymen.
While the pontoon bridge in Harper’s Ferry is gone, one can still visit the opening in the seawall and the ring bolts embedded in it where the bridge was anchored. Once across the river, Highway 65 still generally follows the route of the Harper’s Ferry–Sharpsburg road. One can see the place where the road rises in a steep climb to the top of Maryland Heights and picture troopers spurring their mounts up it in the dark.
At Sharpsburg, the route is lost for a while, as it is of course impossible to drive through the farmer’s fields from Sharpsburg north to near Tilghmanton. North of Tilghmanton, one picks up their path again on the old Boonsboro-Williamsport turnpike (Highway 68) at Lappans and follows it northeast to Williamsport.
Just north of Williamsport, turn onto the old Williamsport-Hagerstown turnpike (now Highway 60). A short distance to the northeast one can find the Maryland state historical marker erected on the site of the capture of Longstreet’s ammunition train.
After the capture of the wagon train, the route of the Greencastle road is most closely followed today by Highway 63 from Williamsport north to Greencastle, Pennsylvania.
Regular Cavalry in the Civil War 
Don,I look forward to reading your posts on the HF cavalry escape. As an Antietam buff, and living in the area, I appreciate your effort!Do you know of any sources for histories of the regular cavalry during the war, specifically the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th, all of which were with McClellan at Antietam?Keep up the good work.Larry
Larry,Thanks for the comments. If you live in the area and have the chance to try to validate the driving tour, I’d love to get some feedback. As I said in the post, it was written from memory several months old. And I didn’t think to take any pictures at the time.There will be more on the escape as I turn up more sources, as I need to refine what I already have and I’ve noticed a few gaps.Your question on sources is an excellent one, and the answer will be a post of its own in the next couple of days. I’d say tomorrow, but I invariably get in trouble when I promise dates. If you don’t see what you need there, feel free to email me directly.Thanks again for stopping by!
Don,My wife and I will be driving/walking around the South Mountain gaps at the end of October learning more about those areas. Perhaps later this year we can use your articles and Brian’s map to follow Grimes.Larry
Larry,Any time that you happen to get to it would be great. I won’t be out there any time soon.Have the leaves turned there yet? The aspens are fantastic her ethis year, but I haven’t figured a way to incorporate them into the blog.The source post went up today. If you need/ want more, let me know.
Don,We are at an elevation of about 1500′ on the east side of Cacapon Mountain but only a few trees are changing color. I think some are just dropping leaves due to the semi-drought we have had. Living in 15 acres of woods means that raking our yard is not something we look forward to. Also, while most of our trees are hardwoods, many are oaks which don’t much good color. But the maples and others should be a good backdrop when we attend the N-SSA national this Saturday near Winchester, Va., to watch the cannon firing.We plan to celebrate our anniversary at the Old South Mountain Inn (The Mountain House during the CW) to end our South Mountain tour later this month. We were married in the Dahlgren Chapel across the road (The Old National Road). Quite a spot!We have spent time in the west and appreciate the aspens, in fact a few weeks ago we hiked in Washington State including San Juan Island of Pig War fame. Great fun.Larry