Battle of Shepherdstown

Ford near Shepherdstown, on the Potomac. Pickets firing across the river.
Alfred R. Waud, artist, Sept. 1862.

Date	September 19, 1862 (1862-09-19)–September 20, 1862 (1862-09-20)
Location	Jefferson County, West Virginia
Result	Confederate victory

Belligerents

United States (Union)

CSA (Confederacy)

Commanders and leaders

Fitz John Porter

William N. Pendleton

Units involved

V Corps

Artillery Reserve, A. P. Hill's Light Division

Strength

2 divisions

Casualties and losses

366 (73 killed, 163 wounded, 132 captured/missing)

307 (36 killed, 267 wounded, 6 captured/missing)

The Battle of Shepherdstown, also known as the Battle of Boteler's Ford, took place September 19–20, 1862, in Jefferson County, Virginia (now West Virginia), at the end of the Maryland Campaign of the American Civil War.

After the Battle of Antietam, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia prepared to defend against a Federal assault that never came. After an improvised truce for both sides to recover and exchange their wounded, Lee's forces began withdrawing across the Potomac River on the evening of September 18 to return to Virginia. Lee left behind a rearguard of two infantry brigades and 44 or 45 guns under his chief of artillery, Brig. Gen. William N. Pendleton, to hold Boteler's Ford.

Shortly before dusk on September 19, Union Brig. Gen. Charles Griffin sent two regiments, the 1st U.S. Sharpshooters and the 4th Michigan, across the Potomac River at Boteler's Ford. They attacked Pendleton's rearguard, capturing four artillery pieces before being recalled. Pendleton incorrectly reported to Gen. Robert E. Lee that he had lost all 44 guns of his artillery reserve.

Early on September 20, Porter sent two brigades across the Potomac on a reconnaissance-in-force. Major Charles Lovell's brigade of Regulars encountered Maj. Gen. A. P. Hill's "Light Division" about a mile from the river. While withdrawing back to the ford Hill's men attacked under a withering hail of federal artillery fire, which inflicted tremendous casualties.

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