** Henry Haupt organized supply and troop movements during the Gettysburg Campaign.
** He had permission to commandeer Virginia railroads, but now got control over those railroads in Maryland and Pennsylvania.
** He was a big enemy of Governor Andew of Pennsylvania.
** After the war, Haupt was involved in an oil pipeline and became very wealthy.
--Old Secesh
Boteler's Ford was a mile and a half downstream from the town of Shepherdstown, Virginia (now West Virginia) and also called Blackford's Ford and Pack Horse Ford and had been a spot to cross the Potomac River since colonial times. When the water was down, the stony shelf of the ford was clearly visible. However, during the Confederate retreat it was described as "deep and rocky" by Confederate artillery officer Lt. Col. Edward Porter Alexander.
The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal followed the Potomac River on the Maryland side through here. The war had been hard on the canal and its berm had been destroyed in numerous places, draining the channel. Rolling hills on the Maryland side offered Union artillery abundant sites. There were heights on the Virginia side, but they were somewhat steep and made for difficulty in placing artillery for the Confederates.
Roads on both sides leading to the ford were so narrow in places that it was difficult for a horse to pass a wagon.
Lee expected McClellan to, at some point, pursue him and was aware that the ford should be defended until his army was well away from it. Perhaps because so many able officers had been lost on September 17, he chose William Pendleton, an officer with little combat experience, to guard Boteler's Ford.
--Old Secesh
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
I must admit that I was entirely unaware of this Battle before I wrote about it in this blog. On the scale of the Battles of Antietam and Gettysburg, it was not a huge battle, but important in the Maryland Campaign.
The two commanders were Fitz John Porter for the Union and William N. Pendleton on the Confederate side.
Casualties for the North were 366 (73 killed, 163 wounded and 132 captured or missing). For the Confederacy 307 (36 killed, 267 wounded and 6 missing or captured).
From what I've read, this was not William Pendleton's proudest moment.
Of course, learning new stuff is a big reason I started this blog.
**********************************
BATTLE OF PRINCETON
This was a key battle during the American Revolution and, like with the case of the Battle of Shepherdstown, one that I was unaware of. It was a follow up to George Washington's much more famous crossing of the Delaware River and surprising the British at Trenton the day after Christmas, December 26, 1776. The Battle of Princeton took place January 3, 1777.
I have been writing about this one in my Cooter's History Thing blog.
Like I Said, I Do These Blogs to Learn Stuff. --Old Secesh
AFTERMATH
The total Union dead and wounded at the Battle of Shepherdstown makes it the bloodiest battle fought in what would become the state of West Virginia.
The battle convinced both commanders that the Maryland Campaign was over. George McClelland decided that an active pursuit of the enemy was not possible at this time and established a defensive line along the Maryland side of the Potomac River.
And, for the Confederates, Robert E. Lee chose to abort his army's movement back into Maryland.
With the Confederates driven from Northern soil, President Abraham Lincoln used the opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862.
BATTLEFIED PRESERVATION
As of December 2021, the American Battlefield Trust and its partners have acquired and preserved 621 acres of the battlefield in more than ten acquisitions since 2004.
--Old Secesh
