1862: The 118th at Shepherdstown

Why this battle is in our family story

Margery-Ann Coppock (b. 1835), a Carter descendant in generation 6 (Jeremiah, Abraham, Edward, Ann Carter Roberts, Hannah Roberts Coppock), married Samuel Phillips in 1851 SUPPORTED. They had two children, William H. and Lavinia (Potts nos. 902 and 904) DOCUMENTED. In August 1862 Samuel joined Company A of the new 118th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Five weeks later he was dead, killed on the Virginia bank of the Potomac on 20 September 1862 SUPPORTED. (Bates III p.1319; 1888 regimental roster). See the family line and his place among the people.

The 118th's story

A brand-new regiment

The Corn Exchange of Philadelphia, the city's grain merchants, resolved on 27 July 1862 to raise a regiment. The men trained at Camp Union on Indian Queen Lane by the Falls of Schuylkill and were mustered in on 30 August, each with a $10 bounty from the Exchange DOCUMENTED. On 12 September they joined Barnes's brigade of Porter's V Corps, and at Antietam on the 17th they waited in reserve DOCUMENTED (Bates III p.1310). Confederates later jeered them as the "$200 boys from Philadelphia" (1888 history p.71) DOCUMENTED.

The ford and the bluff

On the morning of 20 September Barnes's brigade, 1,711 men, waded Boteler's Ford, which the reports call Blackford's Ford, about a mile and a half below Shepherdstown DOCUMENTED (OR, Barnes p.346). The 118th, 737 strong, crossed about 8 a.m. (Gwyn p.348). Beside the ford stood a cement mill and its dam. The regimental history describes the "dam-breast, some ten feet wide" coated in "slippery green slime", lime kilns built into the face of the bluff, and an "old abandoned mill" (p.54) DOCUMENTED. Of Barnes's regiments, only the 118th reached the top of the bluff (p.56) DOCUMENTED.

The rifles that would not fire

The regiment carried Enfield rifles, and its own officers said many would not fire. Lt. Col. Gwyn reported that "not more than 50 per cent." could be discharged (OR p.348). Colonel Prevost, as quoted in the regimental history, put it at "quite one-fourth of them would not explode the caps" (p.62). The two accounts conflict over how many failed, but both agree the guns were bad DOCUMENTED. General Porter called them "spurious Enfield rifles" and added that the defect "had been reported to the General-in-Chief, but all efforts to replace them had failed" (OR p.340) DOCUMENTED. Men who did not notice the misfires kept loading "until they nearly filled the piece to the muzzle" (1888 history p.61) DOCUMENTED.

Why did they fail? A modern presentation attributed on its slide to a gunsmith named Eric Johnson argues that over-hardened mainsprings made the hammer fall and crush the cone (the nipple that holds the cap). The American Battlefield Trust likewise speaks of "defective mainsprings" that "could not strike hard enough to pop the percussion caps". No 1862 source names the mainspring. The regimental history's "too weak to explode the cap" fits a faulty spring, and Private Meehan of Co. A wrote "I had broken the nipple of my gun", which fits a crushed cone. The explanation is plausible but modern HYPOTHESIS. The explanation comes from the Eric Johnson segment of the YouTube video "1862-68 Battle of Shepherdstown September 19-20, 1862" (Things You Should Know, c. 2020), a modern interpretation; the Eric Johnson shown may be the Shepherdstown-area blacksmith of Southwood Farm Forge HYPOTHESIS.

The order

As A. P. Hill's division came on in two lines, Barnes ordered his brigade back across the river. The order reached Prevost second-hand, and he refused it: "I do not receive orders in that way… if Colonel Barnes has any order to give me, let his aid come to me" (1888 history pp.60–61) DOCUMENTED. When the centre wavered he took the colours himself and was shot, a musket ball shattering his shoulder blade (p.63). Barnes met him "disabled by a severe wound in the shoulder" (OR p.346) DOCUMENTED.

The slaughter on the bluff and the river

The regiment broke for the only way out, down the face of the bluff. Men slid down a ravine past a fallen tree with "bodies suspended from the branches" (p.67) and crowded into the kiln arches, where Union shells from the Maryland side, falling short, tore "to pieces ten or twelve" of their own men (p.68) DOCUMENTED. Captain Ricketts cried, "My God! I am shot by my own men" (p.65). From the river road they crossed on the narrow dam while Confederates fired down from the summit (Gwyn, OR p.349) DOCUMENTED. Meehan saw the dam "contained many dead and wounded men" and passed one man "completely under water" (pp.81–85). Major Herring and Private William Hummell saved the colours (p.68) DOCUMENTED. Hill wrote that "the broad surface of the Potomac was blue with the floating bodies of our foe" (OR p.982). DOCUMENTED Barnes's whole brigade lost 92 killed, 131 wounded and 103 missing (OR p.347) DOCUMENTED. No primary source counts the drowned.

The map

The day, hour by hour

In their own words

Capt. Francis Adams Donaldson, Co. H, 118th Pennsylvania (‘Corn Exchange’), crossing the dam, 20 September 1862

“I shall never forget the scene as I worked my way across the dreadful causeway. The bullets struck all around me, men were shot in various places of the body, some falling, others again staggering and struggling to make the other side, and all hurrying wildly on with the consciousness of the desperate chances they were taking. When nearly midway across, one poor fellow just ahead was shot, and in falling rolled over and over. As I came up to where he was lying, he clutched the tail of my overcoat, and in piteous accents called out, ‘Help me Captain, for God’s sake don’t leave me here.’ Without stopping, I unfastened the overcoat from around my neck and left it in his death grip, saying I couldn’t help him then, but would send after him as soon as I got across. I pushed on, but the poor fellow’s soul had reached the presence of the Great Commander before I got to the other side.”

Lt. Col. James Gwyn, 118th P.V., report of 30 Sept 1862

Owing to the worthlessness of our pieces (condemned Enfield), not more than 50 per cent. of which could be discharged, the line began to waver, when Colonel Prevost advanced with the colors to the front, and was almost immediately severely wounded

Gwyn, on the retreat

Our only way of retreat was over the bluff, and it was very precipitous… On getting on the road under the bluff, we were immediately fired on by the enemy from the summit, with great effect. The regiment crossed at the dam opposite the ferry under a galling fire

Maj. Gen. Fitz John Porter

Their arms (spurious Enfield rifles) were so defective that little injury could be inflicted by them upon the enemy.

Col. Charles M. Prevost, refusing the relayed order

I do not receive orders in that way… if Colonel Barnes has any order to give me, let his aid come to me.

Pvt Joseph Meehan, Co. A (Samuel's company)

I had broken the nipple of my gun… I felt that I would give all the world to be able to shoot the advancing foe

Meehan, at the river

A breakwater ran across the river near us, and it contained many dead and wounded men

Regimental history (1888)

Some of the weapons were too weak to explode the cap… cartridge after cartridge was rammed into the barrel under the belief that each had been discharged, until they nearly filled the piece to the muzzle.

Maj. Gen. A. P. Hill (Confederate)

the most tremendous fire of artillery I ever saw

Brig. Gen. W. D. Pender (Confederate)

driving them headlong into the river

Samuel's record

Bates's roster of Company A reads: "Phillips, Samuel… Private, Aug. 14, '62, 3 [yrs]. Killed at Shepherdstown, W. Va., Sept. 20, '62 — buried in National Cemetery, Antietam, Md., section 26, lot A, grave, 9" (Bates III p.1319) SUPPORTED. The 1888 regimental roster says the same, and Potts (1883, p.169) calls him a "member of Co. A, 118th Reg. P. V." Corporal James G. Wilson of his company, whose leg was torn off by a shell in the kiln arches according to Meehan, lies three graves away (no. 3606).

The cost

Every count puts the loss at about 270–280 men, more than a third of the regiment, in its first fight. Bates adds that "all the dead were left upon the field" DOCUMENTED. Days later Lt Crocker and the surgeon Dr Joseph Thomas crossed under a flag of truce and found the dead on the dam (1888 history pp.76, 85–86) DOCUMENTED.

His grave at Antietam

Samuel lies in the Pennsylvania section of Antietam National Cemetery, grave 3590, in the same row as other men of the 118th who died at Shepherdstown. See also Allied Families: Phillips.

Sources

Research notes: people/Samuel-Phillips-118th.md. Kevin's reference map and slides were used only as pointers and are not reproduced here.