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 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

Bailey's Dam at Alexandria, Louisiana

From Wikipedia.

In the last post I wrote about Bailey's Dam which resulted in the saving of Admiral Porter's fleet during the Red River Campaign when it raised the river's water level high enough for the ships to pass through some very shallow water.

The site was listed on the NRHP in 1976.  Remnants of it could be seen at low water until 1987 when the United States Corps of Engineers completed the John Overton Lock and Dam downstream which flooded the site.

Before flooding it, however, the Corps sponsored archaeological excavations of it.

--Old Secesh

MCCWRT Meeting-- Part 8: Red River Campaign-- Bailey and the Dam

On April 23, 1864, there was an engagement at Monett's Ferry and banks was able to get away to safety.

In the meantime, Admiral Porter's Union fleet was in dire straits at Alexandria as the Red River was too low for his ships to pass there.  It was six feet lower than usual and the gunboats were stranded.  The Union faced the serious possibility of having to destroy its entire fleet.

Enter Joseph Bailey who suggested temporary dams to raise the water level and enable the ships to pass over the shallows.  The first dam broke, but the USS Lexington and some ships did manage to get through to safety before the river got too shallow again.

It was rebuilt, along with wing dams upriver.  It was opened May 13 and all of Porter's ships got through this time.

Then on May 20th, the Union Army was unable to cross the Atchafalaya River because of high water.  It was Bailey to the rescue again when he had steamers line up, placed planks across them and a temporary bridge made.

For his efforts, Bailey was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Some Kind of Engineer, That Joseph Bailey.  --Old Secesh