Williamsport was a Civil War engagement fought in Maryland, 1863. The outcome was inconclusive.
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. July 12, Meade reached the vicinity and probed the Confederate line. 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.
From July 6 through July 16, 1863, Union and Confederate forces clashed in Washington County, Maryland, in an engagement remembered as the Battle of Williamsport, alternately called the Battle of Hagerstown or Falling Waters. This action, part of the broader Gettysburg campaign, should not be mistaken for the separate clash at Hoke's Run, which also carried the Falling Waters name.
Following defeat at Gettysburg, Lee's Confederate forces withdrew under cover of darkness on the night of July 4 into July 5, heading southwest along the Fairfield Road toward Hagerstown and Williamsport. Stuart's cavalry shielded this movement while Union infantry pursued warily, gathering near Middletown, Maryland, the following day.
Imboden managed on July 7 to prevent Buford's Union horsemen from seizing Williamsport and wrecking Confederate supply trains. A day earlier, on July 6, Kilpatrick had pushed two Confederate cavalry brigades back through Hagerstown, only to retreat himself once the remainder of Stuart's force arrived. Meanwhile Lee's foot soldiers reached the Potomac, swollen by rain and impassable, since raiders had already wrecked the pontoon bridge needed for crossing.
By July 11, Lee had dug in along a defensive line shielding the river crossings near Williamsport, biding time for Meade's Army of the Potomac to make its move. Meade's forces arrived in the area on July 12 and tested Confederate positions. The next day brought intense skirmishing as Meade maneuvered his troops toward a planned assault. Fortune favored the Confederates, however, as the river's waters dropped enough to permit a new bridge's construction, and Lee's men began crossing once darkness fell on July 13.
The following morning, July 14, brought Kilpatrick's division from the north and Buford's from the east, converging on the retreating Confederates. Rather than wait for Buford to flank the enemy from the rear, Kilpatrick struck first at Heth's rearguard division, capturing over 500 prisoners in the process. Pettigrew fell mortally wounded during this fighting.
The campaign's final clash came on July 16, when Gregg's cavalry pushed toward Shepherdstown, where Fitzhugh Lee's and Chambliss's brigades, bolstered by Ferguson's command, defended the Potomac fords against advancing Union infantry. Fitzhugh Lee and Chambliss launched attacks against Gregg's position, but he repelled repeated assaults and countercharges, continuing the fight intermittently until darkness finally forced his withdrawal.
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