Skirmish lasts only 15 minutes: A WV Sesquicentennial Moment
By Beth Vorhees and the Division of Culture & History
October 15, 2012 ·
On October 15, 1862, five-hundred Union cavalry and 6,000 infantry armed with six pieces of artillery marched from Sharpsburg, MD, toward Kearneysville, WV, where they exchanged fire with Confederate troops.
The skirmish lasted less
than 15 minutes.
Brigadier General A.A.
Humphreys said he later learned that the enemy’s infantry had advanced from
Bunker Hill the night before, and were in the process of destroying the
Winchester Railroad when Humphrey’s troops arrived in the Eastern Panhandle.
The next day, Humphreys’
troops advanced to Leetown on a successful reconnaissance mission and were on
the return march to Sharpsburg when “the enemy opened his artillery upon us” two
and a half miles outside Shepherdstown.
In an October 19, 1862,
dispatch to headquarters, Humphreys said the enemy fire upon his regiment’s
rear guard, killing many in the first platoon.
At least seven men died and
22 were wounded during the fight.