Hotchkiss Bicycle Railroad

Transcription

During the major Confederate invasions of Maryland, they always took pains to disable transportation lines, like the B&O railroad and C&O canal. During the Maryland campaign of 1862, for example, they crossed primarily at White's Ford in Montgomery County, but also using other fords in Frederick County. And they built a number of roads through the County; for example, I think it was five roads through the County that could pass through artillery and wagon trains. Stonewall Jackson’s map-maker Jedediah Hotchkiss recounts a brief idyllic moment in a field at Three Springs, Frederick County,MD with tasty fruits on a beautiful day after crossing the river. Friday September 5, 1862: To White’s Ford crossed. It was a noble spectacle, the broad river, fringed by the lofty trees in full foliage, the exuberant wealth of the autumnal wild flowers down to the very margin of the stream and a bright green island stretched away to the right. The General and his staff were treated to a noble melon on Maryland shore. We went on by a lock in the canal and there intercepted a boatload of melons on the way to Washington market which our men bought. As we reached the top of the bluff the enemy’s picket scampered away. We could see the dust of their flight at a long distance. Confederate General Jubal Early’s brigade lay down there too: After my brigade had lain down I received a message from General Jackson to let my men get green corn for two days, but, I told the staff officer bringing it, that they had already drawn their rations in that article, which was all they had now to eat. I will here say that green Indian corn and boiled beef without salt are better than no food at all by a good deal, but they constitute a very weakening diet for troops on a long march, as they produce diarrhea. A correspondent in the New York Tribune wrote of a more ghastly aspect of those resting along the river opposite White’s Ferry from the same division of Stonewall Jackson’s: Thursday, September 11, 1862: The point at which the Rebel army crossed the Potomac, from Virginia into Maryland, encompasses about twelve miles, which lie between a mile above the Point of Rocks and five miles below the Monocacy Aqueduct, on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. They then marched through fields, woods and road in detachments, for Frederick. The Confederate privates, according to their own acknowledgements, concur in the assertion that their Generals marched them nigh unto death through Virginia, in order that they might not be overtaken by the Union forces. Some of them were so overcome that they lay down by the roadside and expired. Others barely reached camp and them succumbed to death. This is well attested by what your correspondent saw near Monocacy. There, where they were encamped, two new trenches were prominent to the view in the woods. Undoubtedly, some 20 or more men had, within a day or two past, been laid beneath the sod.The horse, poor dumb animals, were driven so much that they became entirely exhausted. When they fell from excessive fatigue, they were either shot or knocked in the head, and then thrown into the basin of the canal. This is no fancy; it is a dire reality. Their carcasses lay there undergoing putrefaction. Most of the crossing must have been done at night, as large numbers of broken baggage wagons and ambulances lined the road. The line of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, for the distance of twelve miles, presents a scene of desolation which sufficiently attests the malignity of the Rebels and their emissaries. The first of three to cross - Confederate Gen. Daniel H. Hill - arrived from over Cheeks’ Ford on September 4th to the mouth of the Monocacy River. After the outnumbered 87th Ohio and 1st Potomac Home Guard fled, Hill’s destruction team went to Lock No. 27, drilled holes in its stone walls, filled them with black powder and sodium nitrate and detonated. A lock-keeper’s pleadings and a shortage of powder dissuaded Hill from going after the longest aqueduct in the canal system, the handsome Monocacy Aqueduct nearby. Still, D. H. Hill burned several canal boats, breached the banks of the canal at other places, draining the canal up to Lock 28 at Point of Rocks, called the seven-mile level. His men also destroyed the vital twenty-foot long culvert over the Little Monocacy River. For easier passage for the heavy equipment in crossing at Lock 27, Hill’s fatigue party also carved a swath through the canal’s sides and berms laying through that a corduroyed road. Dispatch from W. P. Thompson to Col. L. C. Baker; Poolesville, MD, September 5, 1862 1:50 am: A captain of the First Michigan Cavalry reports the rebels crossing the Potomac in considerable numbers at 11 pm, at the mouth of the Monocacy Creek. Have taken several prisoners and killed 4 or 5. Were building a bridge for their artillery to cross. Almost at the same time as D. H. Hill and Jackson’s crossings of the Potomac, Cavalry General A. P. Hill was crossing immediately up river at Noland’s Ferry doing like damage to the pivot bridge at Lock 28. Dispatch from Dixon Miles to H. W. Halleck; Harper’s Ferry, VA., September 5, 1862 10:15 am: Colonel Banning reports A. P. Hill’s division crossed the Potomac before dark last night; kept crossing all night, and are now crossing at a higher ford, about 3 miles from Point of Rocks. They have cut the canal at Seven-Mile level. As Bannings force would be cut off if he staid longer, I have ordered him to retreat slowly. D.S. MILES, Colonel Second Infantry. A. Pleasonton to R. B. Marcy; Muddy Branch, MD, September 5, 1862 7 pm: Signal officer of Banks corps reports from Sugar Loaf Mountain: The enemy crossed at Nolands Ferry last evening. The river is easily fordable at that point. Saw about 2,000 of the enemy on this side, scattered along from the aqueduct to Nolands Ferry. Think they are cavalry. Saw two guns in position on opposite side of the river, at Nolands Ferry. The Tribune correspondent continued: Commencing five miles below Monocacy, continuing up a mile beyond the Point of Rocks, in crossing, they tapped the canal at five different places. Several flood-gates were hewn to pieces, and from the heights above, large boulders of rocks were dislodged and thrown into the basin. For the present from 20 to 25 miles of the canal are rendered useless, and in the meantime boats can proceed only between Georgetown and Seneca. The latter place is about 45 miles from Harper’s Ferry. The canal basin is perfectly dry in many places, between those points, and where the water remains it is not more than a foot deep. Trees were chopped down and placed across the canal in different places within a circuit of ten miles . On two different occasions they attempted to destroy the Monocacy Aqueduct in Frederick County, a massive stone aqueduct over five hundred feet long, seven arches. But in both occasions, they failed. The officers who were assigned the task would report that the tools they were provided with were inadequate. They couldn't even find a crack in the masonry in which to insert the point of a crowbar. They didn't have black powder. So the aqueduct was well built and stood up to the task. Gen. Walker reported on his September 9th visit to the Monocacy Aqueduct:We arrived at the aqueduct about 11 pm, and found it occupied by the enemy’s pickets, whose fire, as they fled, severely wounded Captain [G. T.] Duffy, of the Twenty-fourth North Carolina Troops, of Brigadier-General Ransoms brigade. Working parties were at once detailed and set to work to drill holes for blowing up the arches, but, after several hours of labor, it was apparent that, owing to the insufficiency of our tools and the extraordinary solidity and massiveness of the masonry, the work we had undertaken was one of days instead of hours. Early on the morning of the 10th the aqueduct over the Monocacy was occupied by a large force of the enemy, with their artillery commanding the aqueduct and its approaches, as well as Cheeks Ford. I then determined to cross at the Point of Rocks, which I effected during the night of the 10th and by daylight on the 11th, but with much difficulty, owing to the destruction of the bridge over the canal and the steepness of the banks of the Potomac. My men being much worn down by two days and nights marching, almost without sleep or rest, we remained in camp during the 11th, and proceeded the next day toward Harpers Ferry, encamping at Hillsborough. Of course, all invasions burnt canal boats and damaged some locks. During the Maryland campaign, they also destroyed a culvert - that was probably the most significant damage - which drained the Little Monocacy creek under the canal. So essentially that culvert collapsed on top of the stream. So that water had to be diverted and it (the canal) had to be re-built. During the Antietam slaughter, the bluecoats do more of the same damage at Williamsport. To deny Gen. Robert E.Lee an escape route at Williamsport, MD and back into Virginia, Federal Commander George McClellan dispatched Captain Charles H. Russell with his company of the 1st Maryland Cavalry to Williamsport to burn the pivot bridge across the canal at Lock No. 44 and to destroy the Conococheague Aqueduct in an effort to cut one of Lee’s avenues of retreat. With the aid of some Pennsylvania militiamen who were holding the town, Russell’s men destroyed the pivot bridge, organized demolition teams, and burned eleven boats, nine of which were loaded with coal, that had been forced to tie up at Williamsport. Unable to materially damage the sturdy masonry of the aqueduct, Russell’s troops returned to the battlefield and the Pennsylvanians withdrew to Hagerstown. Fixing the damage. Earlier in the spring of 1862 the Canal Company had addressed damage to the Dams Nos. 4 & 5, that Stonewall Jackson had tried to destroy in late 1861. They finally got around to reinforcing the leaky Dam No. 5 with masonry. Spring torrential rains tested the attacked dams, causing some break-throughs. Funds paid for four weeks of repair work. As for the destroyed pivot bridge at Lock 44 at Williamsport, a $2,000 allotment and a week of fixing was needed. The eleven boatman who lost their boats had to seek relief on their own. More help made the new damage quick work. On October 1, 1862, 65 Federal troops were assigned to fix the breach at the Little Monocacy culvert, so the canal workers could focus on fixing the blasted granite walls of Lock 27. Eighty-five more Federal troops were added six days later, accelerating the progress so that on October 14th, water was safely re-admitted into the Monocacy Level. All that was needed now was even a little rain. Almost overnight the Canal Company’s fortunes changed dramatically. The $538 in total tolls collected for October, 1862 rocketed up to $6,084 for November. The source of harm had marched toward distant Frederickburg, Virginia and was arranging for battle. And the Canal President Alfred Spates reported: “All Humbug about Stonewall Jackson coming this way. He is busy in another direction.”