Battle of Shepherdstown

Among the other bluecoat regiments getting their baptism by fire that day was the 20th Maine Infantry. Ten months later, they would win immortal fame for their crucial stand on Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg. Their second in command, Lt. Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, rode a borrowed horse partway across the ford to direct reinforcements who were being sent to cover the withdrawal. The ford there was passable, but deep enough that the infantrymen were in danger of being swept off their feet and lost in the current. After the infantry had waded past Chamberlain, a bullet struck his mount. The wounded horse dumped Chamberlain into the river, but the officer dragged himself dripping wet but unhurt to the bank. Chamberlain's regiment performed well during its first time under fire. Despite some initial fear and confusion, only three of his men were wounded; one had accidentally shot himself with his musket.

The 118th Pennsylvania would not get off so easily. They were positioned across a ravine from their compatriots when couriers brought orders for neighboring regiments to retire across the river. The messenger sent to the 118th delivered the orders to a line officer, who relayed them to the colonel. Men from other regiments yelled across a ravine to relay the same orders. When word reached Colonel Charles Mallet Prevost, he spurned the messages, saying: 'I do not receive orders in that way. If Colonel Barnes has any message to give me, let his aide come to me.'

Prevost's men quickly regretted his cavalier attitude toward the orders. Not only were the rookies facing Hill's veterans, but half the Enfield rifles issued to the 118th had defective mainsprings, and the hammers could not strike hard enough to pop the percussion caps. Some men, dazed by the shock of their first combat, were not even aware that their rifles were not firing and rammed cartridge after cartridge into them. As men gave up and tossed away their useless weapons, others grimly held on and pounded on the hammers with rocks to force them to fire. Officers searched desperately for rifles dropped by the dead or wounded, hoping to find some that still worked.

Colonel Prevost grasped the regimental standard, waving the banner to steady his men and urge them forward. A musket ball slammed into his shoulder and ended the brief rally. Command passed to Lt. Col. James Gwyn. An aide brought new orders to retreat; Gwyn made no pompous objections to their form and heeded them. The intensity of Hill's attack and the inexperience of the regiment began to tell. The 118th fell back to the edge of the cliff and broke up in panic and confusion. Men rushed and tumbled down the steep hillside and streamed into the river as Hill's men reached the edge of the cliff and unleashed their fire at the fleeing Pennsylvanians. A Tar Heel soldier of Pender's Brigade watched 'them take the water like ducks.' Other Confederates took cover in the cement mill, firing out of the windows. It was the repeat of Ball's Bluff that Donaldson had feared.

Some of the 118th took shelter in the old limekilns near the cement factory. There, they had to dodge not only Rebel fire but also their own artillery. The gunners across the river were cutting the fuses too short, and shells exploded among the men trying to take shelter along the riverbank. Donaldson believed one Union shell alone killed 12 or 15 of their own soldiers, and he watched several of his men rush with a white flag to the Rebel lines to escape the friendly fire.

Crossing the Potomac under combined enemy and friendly fire seemed less dangerous than staying, and most of the Pennsylvanians decided to risk it. Some waded into the water, while others threaded their way across the mill dam, which in places was knee deep in water. Musket balls tore splinters from the slippery planks of the dam as Colonel Prevost was carried across. Many men were shot down before they could get to safety. Lieutenant J. Rudhall White only had time to give thanks to God for reaching the other side when a musket ball fatally struck him.

The 118th began the fight with 737 men. When the fighting died down around 2 p.m., three officers and 60 men had been killed, 101 were wounded and 105 were missing. Their 269 casualties constituted the bulk of the 361 Union men lost during the battle. Hill was satisfied at driving the Yankees back across the Potomac, and made no attempt to follow. Confederate losses numbered 30 dead and 261 wounded.

The Confederates, jubilant with victory, believed the Union cost was even higher. Hill thought that he had seen 'the most terrible slaughter that this war has yet witnessed. The broad surface of the Potomac was blue with the floating bodies of our foe.'

Some of Prevost's men blamed his stubbornness for the regiment's losses. The wound he received while waving the regiment's flag in the teeth of the enemy attack, however, not only saved Prevost from any official censure but eventually got him a brevet promotion to brigadier general.

The Battle of Shepherdstown was the last bloodshed of the 1862 Maryland campaign. The minor disaster convinced McClellan that caution should be the byword when pursuing Lee's army. His Union forces reoccupied Harpers Ferry but went no farther, and the Federal general seemed content with reports from his signal posts that the Army of Northern Virginia was remaining static.

Lincoln grew even more impatient with McClellan after Lee escaped with no more than the half-hearted attack repulsed at Boteler's Ford. If Pendleton blundered at Boteler's Ford on September 19, and Lee erred in placing him with only two weakened brigades to guard the ford, the chain of Federal mistakes the next day tipped the balance in favor of the South.Confederate newspapers seized the chance to bring a bit of good news to offset the bloody battle on September 17, and disappointment over the failure of the invasion of Maryland. Best of all, Lee's weary soldiers had some time to rest in their camps along Opequon Creek. As Captain John Esten Cooke of Stuart's staff put it, for a time 'the enemy had learned their lesson, and were quiet.'

This article was written by David A. Norris and originally appeared in the September 2005 issue of America's Civil War magazine.

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