Battle of Williamsport

| Battle of Williamsport

| Began:|

July 6, 1863

|

| Ended:|

July 16, 1863

|

| Location:|

Washington County, Maryland

|

| Theater:|

Eastern Theater

|

| Campaign:|

Gettysburg Campaign

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| Outcome:|

Inconclusive

|

Combatants

Commanders

George G. Meade

Robert E. Lee

Strength

| |

|

Casualties

1,730 (US and CS)

1,730 (US and CS)

The Battle of Williamsport was fought during the closing phase of the Gettysburg Campaign of the American Civil War.

During the night of July 4–5, Lee's battered army began its retreat from Gettysburg, moving southwest on the Fairfield Road toward Hagerstown and Williamsport, screened by Stuart’s cavalry. The Union infantry followed cautiously the next day, converging on Middletown, Maryland. On July 7, Imboden (CS) stopped Buford’s Union cavalry from occupying Williamsport and destroying Confederate trains. Kilpatrick’s cavalry division drove two Confederate cavalry brigades through Hagerstown before being forced to retire by the arrival of the rest of Stuart’s command. Lee’s infantry reached the rain-swollen Potomac River but could not cross, the pontoon bridge having been destroyed by a cavalry raid. On July 11, Lee entrenched a line, protecting the river crossings at Williamsport and waited for Meade’s army to advance. On July 12, Meade reached the vicinity and probed the Confederate line, and on July 13, skirmishing was heavy along the lines as Meade positioned his forces for an attack. In the meantime, the river fell enough to allow the construction of a new bridge, and Lee’s army began crossing the river after dark on the 13th. On the morning of the 14th, Kilpatrick’s and Buford’s cavalry divisions attacked the rearguard division of Henry Heth still on the north bank, taking more than 500 prisoners. Confederate Brig. Gen. James Pettigrew was mortally wounded in the fight. On July 16, David McM. Gregg’s cavalry approached Shepherdstown where Fitzhugh Lee’s and J.R. Chambliss’s brigades, supported by M.J. Ferguson’s, held the Potomac River fords against the Union infantry. Fitzhugh Lee and Chambliss attacked Gregg, who held out against several attacks and sorties, fighting sporadically until nightfall when he withdrew. (NPS summary)

v • d • e

Gettysburg Campaign, June-July 1863

Brandy Station \-- 2nd Winchester \-- Aldie \-- Middleburg \-- Upperville \-- Sporting Hill \-- Hanover \-- Gettysburg \-- Carlisle \-- Hunterstown \-- Fairfield \-- Monterey Pass \-- Williamsport \-- Boonsboro \-- Funkstown \-- Manassas Gap

v • d • e

Battles of the American Civil War: 1863

Eastern Theater|

Fort Anderson \-- Kelly's Ford \-- Washington, NC \-- Suffolk \-- Suffolk (Hill's Point) \-- Stoneman's Raid \-- Chancellorsville \-- Salem Church\--2nd Marye's Heights \-- Brandy Station \-- 2nd Winchester \-- Middleburg \-- Aldie \-- Upperville \-- Sporting Hill \-- Hanover \-- Gettysburg \-- Carlisle \-- Hunterstown \-- Fairfield \-- Monterey Pass \-- Williamsport \-- Boonsboro \-- Funkstown \-- Manassas Gap \-- 1st Auburn \-- 2nd Auburn \-- Bristoe Station \-- Buckland Mills \-- Droop Mountain \-- 2nd Rappahannock Station \-- Mine Run \-- Charlestown

Western Theater|

Arkansas Post \-- Dover \-- Thompson's Station \-- Vaught's Hill \-- Brentwood \-- 1st Franklin \-- Grand Gulf \-- Snyder’s Bluff \-- Day's Gap \-- Port Gibson \-- Raymond \-- Jackson, MS \-- Champion Hill \-- Big Black River Bridge \-- Vicksburg \-- Milliken's Bend \-- Hoover's Gap \-- Goodrich's Landing \-- Helena \-- Tebbs' Bend \-- Lebanon \-- Corydon \-- Buffington Island \-- Salineville \-- 2nd Chattanooga \-- Cumberland Gap \-- Davis' Cross Roads \-- Chickamauga \-- Blountsville \-- Wheeler's Raid \-- Blue Springs \-- Brown's Ferry \-- Wauhatchie \-- Collierville \-- Campbell's Station \-- Chattanooga \-- Ringgold Gap \-- Fort Sanders \-- Bean's Station \-- Mossy Creek

Trans-Mississippi Theater|

2nd Galveston \-- 2nd Springfield \-- Hartville \-- Cape Girardeau\-- Chalk Bluff \-- Cabin Creek \-- Honey Springs \-- Raid on Lawrence \-- Devil's Backbone \-- 2nd Sabine Pass \-- Bayou Forche \-- Baxter Springs \-- Pine Bluff

Lower Seaboard Theater|

1st Fort McAllister \-- 1st Charleston Harbor \-- Fort Bisland \-- Irish Bend \-- Vermillion Bayou \-- Plains Store \-- Port Hudson \-- LaFourche Crossing \-- 2nd Donaldsonville \-- 1st Fort Wagner \-- Grimball's Landing \-- 2nd Fort Wagner \-- 2nd Charleston Harbor \-- 2nd Fort Sumter \-- Kock's Plantation \-- Stirling's Plantation \-- Fort Brooke

Naval|

Alabama vs Hatteras