BGuthrie Photos: MD -- Blockhouse Point Conservation Park

MD -- Blockhouse Point Conservation Park:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. BLOCK_150829_005.JPG: Life During Encampment in Montgomery County 1861 - 1865 Troops stationed in Montgomery County did not sit idle while waiting to fight. In addition to preparing for battle, they also had to combat many deprivations, including proper food, clothing and shelter. Life as a soldier was difficult on all counts and frequently led to encounters with local residents. Theft was rampant during the war and horses were a highly sought-after commodity. Dr. William Palmer of Sandy Spring may have sought to avoid having his stolen. On July 13, 1864, Brigadier General Bradley T. Johnson, CSA ordered that "[a]ll officers and soldiers are forbidden to trouble in any way the property of Dr. Wm. Palmer. His horses must not be touched." Palmer's neighbors were not so fortunate: "The rebel cavalry made their appearance at numerous points in Montgomery County, Md.… making levies upon horse flesh generally, pouncing with special vim upon the fat animals owned by the Quakers about Sandy Spring." In most cases, no injuries resulted from thefts. Thomas N. Nelson, however, was not so lucky. According to the Sentinel, in September 1862 Wilson was killed by a bayonet while attempting to stop three soldiers from stealing pigs from his Colesville farm. Not all interaction with county civilians was so negative. Prior to the Civil War, the United States only recognized two national holidays: Independence Day and President Washington's Birthday. Union troops stationed in Montgomery County were also accustomed to celebrating the New England tradition of Thanksgiving in November. The New York Times recorded the local festivities witnessed by Marylanders in 1861. Soldiers feasted on an abundance of food, including "turkeys, hams, oyster pies." In addition, a grand ball was thrown in the vicinity of Poolesville were attendees included "a large number of New-England ladies." The atmosphere was one of "good cheer and a proper degree of thankfulness." "Local newspapers reported that soldiers had "robbed poultry roosts, gardens, corn fields and potato patches, orchards and dairies... broke into houses, searched stores, and carried off property which they failed to return even when ordered to do so by their officers. They solicited our negros to leave their owners..." -- - Montgomery Sentinel, 16 August 1861
2. BLOCK_150829_011.JPG: The caption of this Winslow Homer print reads, "Soldiers enjoying the turkey wishbone at camp site." President Lincoln made Thanksgiving an official federal holiday in 1863. Harper's Weekly, 8 December 1864.
3. BLOCK_150829_013.JPG: Illustration shows Confederate troops with livestock and goods taken from Maryland farmers. Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 30 July 1864.
4. BLOCK_150829_017.JPG: Personal property, regardless of the status of the occupant was vulnerable to looting. Falklands, the Silver Spring home of Montgomery Blair (seen here in 1864) was destroyed by Confederate soldiers. Blair served as Postmaster General in President Lincoln's Cabinet.
5. BLOCK_150829_019.JPG: "A Negro family coming into Union lines." The scene from this stereograph illustrates a group of contrabands entering a Union camp taken in January 1863. Contrabands were slaves who escaped to find refuge behind Union lines.
6. BLOCK_150829_021.JPG: Traveler's Impressions of Montgomery County 1861 - 1865 If you were a marching soldier, what would have been your impression of Montgomery County during the Civil War? While the built environment may not have impressed travelers, the variety of natural resources in this area garnered admiration. Sergeant Henry C. Lyons of the 34th New York Volunteer Infantry, while stationed in Poolesville, sent samples of both paw-paw and persimmon seeds to his home in South Pulteney, New York. Lyons directed his brother to plant seeds in the spring of 1862, "I will be up there by the time they are large enough to make a shade for me to lie under." Sadly, Lyons died at the Battle of Antietam later that year. Interest in plants went beyond just being a local curiosity. With medical supplies and drugs becoming increasingly scarce as the war progressed, reliance on natural remedies increased. The bark and root of the persimmon, for example, was used as an astringent to clean wounds and to cure kidney problems and diarrhea. For hungry soldiers, the natural environment offered an additional source of food. Trees such as the pawpaw provided seasonal fruit that could be enjoyed on a nice sunny day under a full leaf canopy. "A ride from Rockville to Great Falls on the Potomac, though passing through an old settled country, is suggestive of the frontier of Iowa or Missouri. Dwellings are scarce and rude in their construction... Within and without the houses there is nothing like taste displayed.... The country is sparsely settled. A ride of ten miles this morning from Rockville to the river did not disclose a dozen houses.... I traveled over a mile before I found anybody who could correct me in the error of my way." -- New York Times 9 October 1861.
7. BLOCK_150829_026.JPG: View of Edward's Ferry, in Harper's Weekly November 9, 1861
8. BLOCK_150829_028.JPG: The Beall Home Darnestown, as depicted by Union General D. H. Strother
9. BLOCK_150829_030.JPG: The view of Poolesville, MD in 1862
10. BLOCK_150829_032.JPG: Scenes of Hyattstown, published in 1895, but illustrated during the war
11. BLOCK_150829_038.JPG: Blockhouse Point Conservation Park is one of the most important natural areas in Montgomery County. The park contains, [sic] large areas of maturing upland and stream valley forest with large trees and a wide variety of plants, including some rare and threatened species. Streams, wetlands, and river-rock outcrops that form high bluffs along the Potomac River add to the park's diversity providing habitat for a rich wildlife community. The park gets its name from the military bunker of "blockhouse" built on the high bluff overlooking the Potomac River during the Civil War to protect Washington DC from attack. Little remains of these structures today but archaeological work continues to provide clues to the daily life of the soldiers who served here. Over 5 miles of hiking trails offer access to the park's resources and spectacular views of the Potomac River.
12. BLOCK_150829_070.JPG: Walk in the footsteps of Union Soldiers. Trail Guide: (1) Here Old River Road joins with the Blockhouse Trail. This trail was the original military road used by troops heading to the blockhouse and camp. (2) On your left, just past the bridge and at the base of the hill, are the springs used by the troops as a water supply. Continue uphill. (3) Turn left at top of hill. Follow this trail to intersection with the Turkey Fan Trail. (4) Turn right at intersection and follow trail to overlook. (5) From overlooks like this, Union sentries kept watch for any Confederate movements across the river or at area fords. To get a closer look at the C & O Canal and the area of one of the Camps at Muddy Branch retrace your steps to your car. Drive south on River Road and turn right at Pennyfield Lock Road and follow to end. (6) Turn right at end of road. This is the location of a Camp at Muddy Branch and a sentry post guarding the culvert. (7) To see Pennyfield Lock and Lockhouse (owned by the National Park Service), follow the road along the canal.
13. BLOCK_150829_075.JPG: The Camps at Muddy Branch: On July 10, 1861, General Robert E. Lee wrote Colonel Eppa Hunton, commanding troops in Loudoun County, Virginia: "It is necessary to destroy the navigation of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, to prevent its being used by the enemy..." Long hours of picket duty and drill. Swampy camp conditions and muddy drinking water. Forays into Virginia chasing Confederate raiders. These military experiences were not what Union troops expected when sent to protect the fords of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in Montgomery County. Now considered some of the most scenic sites in the Washington area, the C & O Canal, the Muddy Branch stream valley and the Blockhouse Point Conservation Park were home to scores of Union troops. These troops camped near Muddy Branch, a stream which flows into the Potomac near Pennyfield Lock. Troops guarded the Potomac crossings and canal towpath to prevent Confederate raids into Maryland and the destruction of canal locks and boats. In the fall of 1861, some 5,000 troops under Brigadier General Alpheus S. Williams, occupied the Muddy Branch area. During their stay, one Massachusetts soldier, Lieutenant Robert Gould Shaw, later the colonel of one of the first black regiments, summed up his stay at Muddy Branch: "We are in the worst camp we have ever had. It is in a hollow, where the dampness collects ..." The 19th Massachusetts Infantry followed the brigade and built three blockhouses during the winter of 1862. For nearly a year after Gettysburg, a battalion of the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry, under Colonel Charles Russell Lowell, tried to stem the raids of Confederate units led by Colonels John Singleton Mosby and Elijah Veirs White. The most significant event at Blockhouse Point was the result of Confederate General Jubal Early's attack on Washington, D.C. in July of 1864. The Muddy Branch troops left the area a day or so before Early's attack to aid in the defenses of Washington. With Early's forces on the doorstep of the nation's capital, Mosby burned three abandoned blockhouses and camps along the Potomac, including the blockhouse at Blockhouse Point. The blockhouse was not rebuilt. The last troops stationed at Muddy Branch were cavalry units used to protect the area from further Confederate raids, search for the Lincoln assassination conspirators, and parole Confederate troops returning to Maryland at the end of the war.
14. BLOCK_150829_077.JPG: The Archaeology: Blockhouse Point Conservation Park gets its name from one of the blockhouses associated with the Muddy Branch camps. Because the site is one of the few undisturbed Civil War camps in the Washington area, it gives us a unique opportunity to use the tools of archaeology to learn more about life at a small outpost. Park archaeologists and volunteer associates have begun a program to search written records and conduct field work. Written records have told us when and how the blockhouse and camp were built and when it was finally burned. Fieldwork started with a scientific survey and computer mapping of the site. Since archaeology is history from the ground up, the gridded squares of the excavation have uncovered artifact-bearing soils which reveal changes over time. Archive and field research will then give us the tools to interpret and display the story of the officers and soldiers at Blockhouse Point.
15. BLOCK_150829_249.JPG: I liked the large boulder that had been deposited on the rock near the canoers.
16. BLOCK_150829_266.JPG: I tried to figure out where the flag was located but couldn't figure it out. The white object in the distance on the right is probably the Trump country club. The island might be Pond Island.
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