On the morning of September 19, 1862, McClellan awoke to find the Army of Northern Virginia had vanished. He sent cavalry to investigate. The cavalry was ordered NOT to cross the Potomac unless significant damage could be inflicted upon the enemy without loss.[1] Upon reaching the Potomac, the cavalry found that the tail of Lee’s army had just crossed the ford as the Confederate batteries opened fire. Artillery placed on the bluffs of the Virginia side had covered the crossing during the night. [2]
General Fitz John Porter (LOC)
Lee knew that a Federal pursuit must be prevented. Therefore, he assigned his head of artillery, William Pendleton, to defend the ford. At his disposal, Pendleton had forty-four guns of the artillery reserve and two brigades of infantry to support the guns. However, following the Battle of Antietam two days prior, those brigades brought only six hundred effectives to the field (a typical brigade consisting of three to five thousand men). Throughout the afternoon of the nineteenth, elements of the Fifth Corps, commanded by General Fitz John Porter, arrived and took up positions on the Maryland side of the Potomac. [3]
Pendleton had never commanded infantry. Fearing flanking movements, he dispatched men to protect each flank. This left him with only three hundred men to defend the ford.[4] That evening, Porter ordered a movement to the Virginia side. The First U.S. Sharpshooters, under Captain John Isler, advanced across the ford, while the Fourth Michigan, which crossed after that, provided covering fire.[5] The assault overwhelmed the Confederates, who broke in confusion. The Federals took some prisoners and captured four guns. Pendleton, in a panic, left the field to look for help. He arrived at Lee’s headquarters around midnight and told Lee (mistakenly) that all his guns had been captured. Upon hearing this information, Lee immediately stopped the movement toward Williamsport and ordered A. P. Hill to return to Shepherdstown to retake the ford.[6] In the meantime, the Federals had re-crossed the ford and returned to the Maryland side.
The following day, September 20, Porter ordered a reconnaissance in force and sent four brigades, under the command of Major Charles Lovell, across the ford. Orders to his brigade commanders were to advance, determine the enemy force, and fall back. Meanwhile, McClellan, thinking that Lee may try to re-cross elsewhere, sent Pleasonton, with half of his cavalry, to the nearest crossing upriver from Shepherdstown at Williamsport. McClellan also sent most of the Union Sixth Corps (about eleven thousand men) to that crossing. One thing was sure. Lee was not going to cross at Williamsport. The remainder of the cavalry did not get its orders soon enough. It did not precede the infantry across the river, so the reconnaissance in force did not have a cavalry screen …. not an ideal situation. Lovell’s force was marching blind.[7]
After proceeding slightly over a mile on the Charlestown Road, Lovell encountered A. P. Hill’s division. He deployed his troops, fell back to the bluffs, and sent a hurried message to General George Sykes. Sykes ordered Colonel James Barnes’ brigade, at the time marching to Shepherdstown, to return to cover Lovell’s right flank as he withdrew. Gouvernor Warren’s brigade crossed the Ford and formed on Lovell’s left. Meanwhile, Hill’s men advanced, led by the brigades of General William Pender on the left and General Maxcy Gregg and Colonel Edward Thomas on the right.
As Pender advanced against Lovell’s troops, he feared he would be flanked and requested reinforcements. Three brigades under General James Archer immediately came to his aid.[8]
As a battle began to unfold, and with the reconnaissance in force about to tumble out of control, General Porter ordered all units to withdraw and cross the Potomac. Lovell and Warren crossed upon receiving the orders. They were immediately followed by Barnes’ troops ……. except for one regiment. The One Hundred Eighteenth Pennsylvania (* the Corn Exchange Regiment). This green regiment, commanded by Colonel Charles Prevost, had been in the army for about three weeks. Prevost refused the order to withdraw because it had not come through the proper channels. Having served in a reserve role at Antietam, they had not seen action until now. With overwhelming odds against them, they now had to decide to surrender, fight, or retreat. Facing the battle-hardened veterans of Hill’s division, these men discovered that half of their Endfield rifles were defective and would not fire. They began to retreat in panic. Trying to rally his men, Prevost grabbed the colors, was hit in the shoulder, and carried from the field.[9] Command passed to Lieutenant Colonel James Gwynn. The men ran to the bluffs, tumbled down the hillside, and crossed the ford as Hill’s men unleashed a withering fire on them. The One Hundred Eighteenth had brought seven hundred thirty-seven men to the field. The regimental loss was sixty-three killed, one hundred-one wounded, and one hundred-five missing or captured. The two hundred sixty-nine casualties (thirty-seven percent of the regiment) accounted for seventy-five percent of all Federal losses in the battle.[10]
The Fifth Corps was kept on station until late the following month to keep Boteler’s Ford secure. McClellan had blocked the Confederates from crossing at two fords but, being ever so cautious, chose not to pursue. This inactivity would lead to President Lincoln relieving McClellan of command of the Army of the Potomac.[11] With his rear now secure, Lee retreated up the Shenandoah Valley to Winchester. The Battle of Shepherdstown marked the end of the Maryland campaign.
[1] The Battle of Shepherdstown, https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/shepherdstown-battle-of/
[2] Shepherdstown Battle of Boteler’s Ford, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/shepherdstown>
[3] Antietam leading to The Battle of Shepherdstown: Antietam 158, American Battlefield Trust, YouTube, 20:30, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7R76JRMPMY
[4] Battle of Shepherdstown, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/battle-shepherdstown
[5] Ibid
[6] Shepherdstown, Boteler’s Ford, https://ehistory.osu.edu/battles/shepherdstown-botelers-ford
[7] Antietam leading to The Battle of Shepherdstown: Antietam 158, American Battlefield Trust, YouTube, 20:30, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7R76JRMPMY
[8] Thomas A. McGrath, One Small: Blunder – The Fateful Battle of Shepherdstown, YouTube, 35:01, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14dv1zrnFUw
[9] Ibid
[10] Battle of Shepherdstown, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/battle-shepherdstown
[11] The Battle of Shepherdstown, https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/shepherdstown-battle-of/