Officers of Co. K, 118th Pennsylvania Infantry at Battle of Shepherdstown

From Steve's Civil War PHP page.

RICKETTS, JOSEPH W.--  Captain --  Killed at Shepherdstown, W. Va. on September 20, 1862.

CROCKER, LEMUEL L.--  Captain--  Promoted from 1st Lt. of Company C on September 20, 1862.  Resigned on February 26, 1864.  (I wrote about his brave river crossings to save his comrades last month.)

M'KEAN, WILLIAM N.--  1st Lieutenant--    Wounded at Shepherdstown, W. Va. on September 20, 1862.  Discharged on March 25, 1863.  (Also spelled McKeen which is most likely the correct spelling.)

MOSS JR., J. MORA--  2nd Lieutenant--  Killed at Shepherdstown, W. Va.  September 20, 1862.

WILSON, JAMES B.--  2nd Lieutenant--  Promoted from 1st sergeant Co. A on October 22, 1862 to 1st Lieutenant  Co. B on January 12, 1863.

So, Co. K had its captain and 2nd lieutenant killed and 1st lieutenant seriously wounded at the Battle of Shepherdstown.

--Old Secesh

Second Day at Shepherdstown-- Part 6: Heavy Losses for the 118th

The 118th's dilemma.  Crossing the Potomac under the combined enemy and friendly fire seemed less dangerous than staying and most of the Pennsylvanians decided to risk it.  Some waded right into the water, while others threaded their way across the mill dam, which in places were knee-deep.  

Musket balls tore splinters from the slippery planks as Colonel Provost was carried across. Many men were shot down before they got to safety.

Lieutenant  J. Rudhall White only ha time to give thanks to God for reaching the other side safely when a musket ball fatally  struck him.

This is when Lt. Lemuel Crocker got involved with his rescue mission.

The 118th Pennsylvania entered the fight with 737 men.  When the fighting died down around 2 pm, three officers and sixty men had been killed, 101 were wounded and 105 were missing.  Their 269 casualties constituted the bulk  of the 361 Union men lost at the battle.  

A.P. Hill was satisfied that the Yankees had been driven back across the Potomac and made no attempt to follow them.  Confederate losses numbered 30 dead and 261 wounded.

--Old Secesh

The Second Day of Shepherdstown-- Part 4: The 118thPennsylvania Sees the Elephant in the Worst Kind of Way

The 20th Maine got off fairly easily in what could have been a debacle.  However, the 118th Pennsylvania wasn't so fortunate.  (This is where Lt. Lemuel Crocker comes in).  They were positioned across a ravine from the other Union troops when couriers brought orders to withdraw across the Potomac River.

The messenger sent to the 118th delivered the message to a line officer, who relayed them to the colonel.  Men from other regiments yelled across the ravine to tell them to withdraw.    When word reached Col.  Charles Mallet  Prevost, he refused to accept them, saying: "I do not receive orders in that way.  If Colonel Barnes has any messages to give me, let his aide come to me."

Colonel Prevost grabbed the  regimental standard and started waving it to urge his men to move forward.  Just then, 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 and this time they were promptly followed.

The intensity of Confederate General A.P. Hill's attack and inexperience of the 118th began to tell.  They fell back to the edge of the bluff and began to break up in panic and confusion.  Men rushed and tumbled down the steep  hillside and streamed into the river.  Hill's men reached the top of the bluff and began pouring fire into the 118th.

One Tar Heel soldier wrote that he watched "them take to the water like ducks."

And, it is not yet over for the 118th.

--Old Secesh

Second Day: Battle of Shepherdstown-- Part 1: Back Across the River with the 118th Pennsylvania

Now, we come up to where the 118th Pennsylvania and Lt. Lemuel Crocker enter the battle.

As the sun rose on the morning of September 20 over their camps on the Maryland side of the Potomac River, Union soldiers finished their coffee and fell into ranks to again cross the river.  Once over, they headed to Shepherdstown along a narrow road,

They passed a tall bluff and an abandoned brock building that had once housed a cement mill.  A dam across the river at this spot diverted water to help power the mill.  (This is where the 118th Pennsylvania really Saw the Elephant.   As they advanced, they became aware of the approach of many enemy soldiers (A.P. Hill's division)

Other units were crossing the river as well, including Colonel James Barnes' brigade of Major General  George W. Morrell's division.  This included  a green regiment, the 118th Pennsylvania that had left Philadelphia for war just three weeks earlier after just barely a month of training.

The Philadelphia Corn Exchange, a financial market that speculated in agricultural futures, paid for their equipment and a $10 bonus for each man and the unit  had been nicknamed the Corn Exchange Regiment.

At the Battle of Antietam they had been kept in reserve and had not yet "seen the elephant."

Hey, That's What I Say.  --Old Secesh

Looking for Lt. Crocker-- Part 4: '...It Seemed Certain Death to Cross It'

Two days after the battle, Crocker, whose only punishment for disobeying orders was a reprimand, described his harrowing battle experience in a letter to his parents:  "As we got to the riverside we had to go near a half mile to a dam over which our men were attempting to cross, and to make this dam many a man lost his life, as the rebels were stationed on the bluff taking deliberate aim during the whole fight."

"I was cool and collected during my travel by the riverside," he continued, "but when I reach this dam, I think my cheek blanched, for it seemed certain death to cross it, as the rebels had got into a large brick building below the dam, and the main body above on the bluff, picking off our poor fellows."

Ravaged by time, nature and graffiti, that brick building used by the Confederates still stands.

After Lemuel Crocker's death in Buffalo in 1885, apparently from a stroke, no mention appeared in the local newspaper of his long-ago heroism.  It said that he was a respected businessman "noted for for his liberality, public spirit and kindheartedness.  he had many warm friends by whom his sudden taking off will be greatly deplored.

He was buried at Buffalo's famous Forest Lawn Cemetery.

He did not receive a Medal of Honor for his Shepherdstown efforts.  Hopefully at some time soon that will be rectified.  He definitely deserves one (along with William Barker Cushing in my book).

--Old Secesh

John Banks Looking for Lt. Crocker-- Part 3: 'Shell and Be Damned'

So, here you have an inexperienced group of soldiers pinned down by fire from Confederates above them and starting to get shelled by their own artillery from across the river.  Friendly and unfriendly fire.  Captain Frank Donaldson of the 118th Pennsylvania wrote later:  "A cry of horror went up from our men, heard across the river."

Lt. Lemuel Crocker had been one of the fortunate members of the 118th and made it across the river to safety in Maryland.  It was too much for his honor to do nothing so decided to start crossing that river and rescue wounded comrades and retrieved the dead as well.

Although in the army for less than a month, the lieutenant "absolutely covered with blood and dirt" was carrying a soldier to the riverbank when he was approached by an aide for 5th Corps commander Fitz John Porter.  He yelled at Crocker to stop or battery will open fire to persuade you.

"Shell and be damned," replied Crocker, who went on and continued his work on the Virginia side of the river.

On one trip across the river, he was confronted by a Confederate general and his staff, Crocker -- a large, muscular man with a hick beard -- told them "humanity and decency demanded" that Union dead and wounded be cared for properly.

The Confederates allowed him to continue his efforts, or, as Banks wrote:  "And so this Civil War bad ass proceeded with his rescue and recovery mission.

Taking No Guff from Anybody.  --Old Secesh

John Banks Looking for Lt. Crocker at Battle of Shepherdstown-- Part 2: 'Beaten, Dismayed, Wild With Fright'

Like I said, John Banks gets down and dirty (and in this case with the copperheads) with his person.  he goes there and experiences.

He goes out to where the battle was fought and he's standing there with the Potomac River about 15 yards away and a steep bluff to the other side of River Road where he is standing.  He can imagine what a treacherous place this would be for even veteran troops, but especially for the "rookie" 118th Pennsylvania, the Corn Exchange Regiment.

This is their first real action.  They are described as "beaten, dismayed, wild with fright" where they now find themselves.  Atop the bluffs they had already fought with muskets that proved defective.  Some had plunged to their deaths off those bluffs.

Under these circumstances. Lt. Lemuel Crocker and others hastily beat a retreat under fire across a mill dam to the Maryland side of the Potomac River.  (They were on the Virginia side  (now West Virginia).  You can still see the remains of that dam stretching across the river.

Others huddled alongside the river by Boteler's Cement Mill kilns where some were even killed by friendly Union artillery fire from across the river.  John Banks said:  "You can still see those ruins, too, if you're mentally prepared for the copperheads."

Hard to get More Real Than This.  --Old Secesh

John Banks Goes Looking for Lt. Crocker, Unsung Hero of Battle of Shepherdstown-- Part 1: 'My House Is Haunted'

From the December 2021 Civil War Times magazine "No Man Left Behind" by John Banks.

Every so often, John Banks' blog makes an appearance in the hallowed pages of this magazine (I believe it was the first non-veteran regular magazine published).  This is how I became aware of him and now I often go to Mr. Banks' blog as he writes more than one blog a month.

He often travels to the spot he's talking about in his post, as he did for the Battle of Shepherdstown. 

Now, remember, until recently I really didn't know anything about this battle.  I've learned a lot and it was quite the coincidence that the battle would be featured again.

John Banks' goal was to walk in the footsteps of 118th Pennsylvania Lieutenant Lemuel Croker "whose heroics on September 20, 1862, in the final Maryland Campaign should be legendary."

They, unfortunately, are not, but Mr. Banks makes a good point of support for the lieutenant.  

In typical John Banks style, he meets an interesting character who will take him on a tour of the battlefield, but had some time to kill, so finished his cup of coffee in the Sweet Shop Bakery.  

Because of the likelihood of ghosts since the building was used as a Confederate hospital in the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam, the war's single bloodiest day, he asks the woman behind the counter is that creeps her out.

She tells him:  "My own house is haunted so it really doesn't bother me."

And, then John was off.

--Old Secesh