Given the success at Second Manassas by the Army of Northern Virginia & the beginning of the first Northern Invasion, where, if not Antietam/Sharpsburg MD, would the two armies have met on the battlefield that would have given 1) The North a better advantage 2) The South a better advantage. I understand the importance of the Garrison of Harper's Ferry & a necessity for the South to possibly swing the state of Maryland. Just wondering if anyone has ever thought of an area that could have benefited the North or the South more. (Even though the expulsion of the South from Maryland helped the North with Foreign Affairs) This is somewhat in comparison to the Pipe Creek Plan General Meade had during the Gettysburg Campaign.
-Michael
I ran an online game of the 1863 Gettysburg campaign back in the late 90s. As umpires it was fun watching decisive people have trouble making decisions with fog of war. Let us face it generals rarely knew the whole picture. One of the Confederate targets was the Confederates sending a cavalry force towards Baltimore. Even in 1863 the defenses for Baltimore were not on par with Washington. This took both sides by surprise as General Hooker (still in charge) was more concerned with Baltimore. A division tearing up the rails around Baltimore would cause a lot of long term trouble.
I would think battle would have been farther north had it not been at Sharpsburg. The Confederates needed to draw McClellan away from the fortifications of Washington and not allow the Federals time to reorganize after being defeated. Swinging Maryland to the Confederacy and potentially disrupting the pending elections in November would bring additional benefits. Based on Lee's writing I would suspect areas around Hagerstown or Chambersburg the most likely for battle. Longstreet was already at Boonsboro and looking at the map you can see a fairly straight route from Boonsboro to Hagerstown and Chambersburg. Lee had written Jefferson Davis of his intention:
"I am endeavoring to break up the line through Leesburg, which is no longer safe, and turn everything off from Culpeper Court-House toward Winchester, I shall move in the direction I originally intended, toward Hagerstown and Chambersburg, for the purpose of opening our line of communication through the (Shenandoah) valley, in order to procure sufficient supplies of flour."
I see it as being more difficult for the Federals in this campaign to select ground and await battle. McClellan could have for example chosen defensive ground at Frederick, but Lee has no need to stop and attack McClellan when his objective is to continue north.
Interesting to consider the options here, but I suppose the most likely locations would be in the vicinity of Hagerstown or Chambersburg.