Shepherdstown WV016
1862-09-19 to 1862-09-20 · WV · Maryland Campaign [September 1862] · frozen result: Confederate · NPS summary (as listed)
On September 19, a detachment of Porter's V Corps pushed across the river at Boteler's Ford, attacked the Confederate rearguard commanded by Brig. Gen. William Pendleton, and captured four guns. Early on the 20th, Porter pushed elements of two divisions across the Potomac to establish a bridgehead. Hill's division counterattacked while many of the Federals were crossing and nearly annihilated the 118th Pennsylvania (the "Corn Exchange" Regiment), inflicting 269 casualties. This rearguard action discouraged Federal pursuit. On November 7, President Lincoln relieved McClellan of command because of his failure to follow up Lee's retreating army. Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside rose to command the Union army.
Command responsibility (ledger v2)
US: Fitz John Porter
Grade A under rule 2; echelon corps_or_wing.
A cited passage states the command.
Major Generalarnold-cwsac-commanders, battle WV016, belligerent US, fullname Fitz John Porter; column rank · snapshot
6c587c298717…a detachment of Porter's V Corps pushed across the riverarnold-cwsac-battles, battle WV016; column description · snapshot
952b5d08402a…Confederate: William Pendleton
Grade A under rule 3a; echelon detachment_or_post. command_changed
Other candidates: A.P. Hill
NPS says the September 19 attack struck "the Confederate rearguard commanded by Brig. Gen. William Pendleton"; Palfrey says A. P. Hill had charge of the September 20 counterattack (rule 3(a); rule 4).
Brigadier Generalarnold-cwsac-commanders, battle WV016, belligerent Confederate, fullname William Pendleton; column rank · snapshot
6c587c298717…Major Generalarnold-cwsac-commanders, battle WV016, belligerent Confederate, fullname A.P. Hill; column rank · snapshot
6c587c298717…attacked the Confederate rearguard commanded by Brig. Gen. William Pendletonnps-wv016-v1 · snapshot
e7825fdff17d…Side strength (ledger v3)
US: grade D: no usable figure (modelled in the rating runs)
whole_engagement_leakage
Confederate: grade D: no usable figure (modelled in the rating runs)
whole_engagement_leakage
Dossier claims
Draft dossier, revision opening-strength-rationale-propagation-2026-09-25. Claims are extraction records with their quoted passages, not historical adjudication. JSON
information
supportedunresolved Palfrey says orders for Sykes to send a similar party did not reach him in time through a misunderstanding.
Attributed communication failure, not an inspected message record.
by some misunderstanding the orders did not reach him seasonably.palfrey-maryland-selections-v1, p.128 (OCR page markers; not checked against print) · snapshot
70cfd601c61f…logistics
unknownunresolved
No battle-specific supply, ammunition or transport return was inspected. Retrospective descriptions are not readiness measures.
objectives
supportedunresolved Palfrey says Porter set out to clear the fords and capture guns, then sent a reconnaissance in force; NPS says Porter aimed to establish a bridgehead on the 20th.
The sources frame the September 20 crossing differently; no inspected order.
Porter determined to clear the fords and to try to capture some guns.palfrey-maryland-selections-v1, p.128 (OCR page markers; not checked against print) · snapshot
70cfd601c61f…outcome
disputedpost_outcome The frozen result remains Confederate victory. NPS says the action discouraged Federal pursuit; Palfrey says the September 20 reconnaissance was driven back across the river. NPS gives four captured guns on the 19th and Palfrey five.
Retain the original result and engagement interval; later movements and campaign contribution are different measures. No new probabilities or individual causal credit. The captured-gun count differs between the sources and is not resolved.
resulted in the capture of five gunspalfrey-maryland-selections-v1, p.128 (OCR page markers; not checked against print) · snapshot
70cfd601c61f…driven back across the river with considerable losspalfrey-maryland-selections-v1, p.128 (OCR page markers; not checked against print) · snapshot
70cfd601c61f…disputedpost_outcome The frozen casualty text reads 625 total; the live NPS field reads 654 total (US 363; CS 291;). NPS gives 269 casualties in the 118th Pennsylvania; Palfrey says it lost 282 of 800, and rejects A. P. Hill's reported claim of 3,000 killed and drowned from one brigade.
Original casualty returns were not inspected; preserve totals, categories, cutoffs and differences. No canonical reconciliation or casualty-based opening count; related actions must not be added without resolving population overlap. A. P. Hill's figure is an attributed claim quoted by Palfrey, not a loss count.
It lost in all 282 out of 800palfrey-maryland-selections-v1, p.128 (OCR page markers; not checked against print) · snapshot
70cfd601c61f…they lost 3,000 men killed and drowned from one brigade alone.palfrey-maryland-selections-v1, p.129 (OCR page markers; not checked against print) · snapshot
70cfd601c61f…responsibility
supportedunresolved NPS says Pendleton commanded the Confederate rearguard on the 19th; Palfrey says A. P. Hill had charge of the counterattack, Griffin led the first crossing, and the cavalry ordered to cooperate failed to do so.
Different commanders on each day; the three frozen commanders (Porter, Pendleton, A. P. Hill) do not receive automatic sole credit.
attacked the Confederate rearguard commanded by Brig. Gen. William Pendletonnps-wv016-v1, Description · snapshot
e7825fdff17d…A. P. Hill, who had charge of the operationpalfrey-maryland-selections-v1, p.129 (OCR page markers; not checked against print) · snapshot
70cfd601c61f…under the charge of General Griffin.palfrey-maryland-selections-v1, p.128 (OCR page markers; not checked against print) · snapshot
70cfd601c61f…The cavalry ordered to co-ope- rate, failed to do sopalfrey-maryland-selections-v1, p.128 (OCR page markers; not checked against print) · snapshot
70cfd601c61f…strength
unknownunresolved
No inspected return establishes matched personnel at a common opening boundary. The frozen side-specific numerical strength bounds are blank (missing_numeric_strength). No figure in this pass is adopted as a simultaneous opening force.
supportedunresolved The frozen force field says Brigades; the live field reads zero. Palfrey says volunteers from four regiments crossed on the 19th and a reconnaissance under Morell and Sykes on the 20th, and that nine or ten Confederate brigades took part.
Two separate crossings with changing populations; no counts. Live zeros are not measured absence.
Volunteers from the Fourth Michigan, One Hundred and Eighteenth Pennsylvania, and Eighteenth and Twenty-second Massachusetts, crossed the riverpalfrey-maryland-selections-v1, p.128 (OCR page markers; not checked against print) · snapshot
70cfd601c61f…A reconnoissance in force was sent across the river the following morningpalfrey-maryland-selections-v1, p.128 (OCR page markers; not checked against print) · snapshot
70cfd601c61f…Nine or ten Confederate brigades took part in this affairpalfrey-maryland-selections-v1, p.129 (OCR page markers; not checked against print) · snapshot
70cfd601c61f…terrain
supportedunresolved Palfrey says Confederate artillery beyond the river was well posted to cover the fords; NPS names the crossing Boteler's Ford.
River-crossing description; no map verification or numerical terrain effect.
had artillery well posted to cover the fords.palfrey-maryland-selections-v1, p.128 (OCR page markers; not checked against print) · snapshot
70cfd601c61f…Open questions
- Returns, casualty reconciliation and the division of the action between September 19 and 20 remain deferred.
- NPS/CWSAC is one family; Palfrey is one retrospective history by a former colonel of the 20th Massachusetts who says he drew on his own recollection and used advance sheets of the Official Records; his service in this campaign is not shown in the inspected text. Reports quoted inside Palfrey are not additional independently inspected families.
- No automatic commander attribution, causal campaign score, morale/readiness number or battle/campaign double counting.