BGuthrie Photos: MD -- White's Ferry

MD -- White's Ferry:

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Description of Pictures: The Rockville courthouse Confederate statue had been moved here. This was my first chance to see it. Note it faces Virginia.

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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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. WHITES_171125_013.JPG: 1862 Antietam Campaign Lee Invades Maryland Fresh from victory at the Second Battle of Manassas, Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia crossed the Potomac River on September 4-6, 1862, to bring the Civil War to Northern soil and to recruit sympathetic Marylanders. Union Gen. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac pursued Lee, who had detached Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's force to capture the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry. After the Federals pushed the remaining Confederates out of the South Mountain gaps, Lee awaited Jackson's return near Sharpsburg and Antietam Creek. On September 17, at the battle of Antietam, the two armies clashed in the bloodiest single day in American history and suffered some 23,000 casualties. Lee soon retreated across the Potomac, ending his first invasion of the north. Follow in the footsteps of Gens. Lee and McClellan along Maryland Civil War Trail's Antietam Campaign: Lee Invades Maryland, a 90 mile tour route that allows you to explore the stories of triumph and tragedy at more than 60 Civil War sites. Please travel carefully as you enjoy the beauty and history along the trail.
2. WHITES_171125_018.JPG: The Confederate army crosses the Potomac River into Maryland
3. WHITES_171125_022.JPG: White's Ferry Invasion or Liberation? Antietam Campaign 1862 The serenity of the Maryland countryside was shattered on September 4-6, 1862 as 35,000 Confederate soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia waded across the Potomac River. Gen. Robert E Lee, hoping to rally support in the divided state, sent the bulk of his army across at White's Ford two miles north of here. The military operations would change the lives of the fighting men and affect local residents and businesses. The largely indifferent reaction to the Confederates as they entered Montgomery County was described by a Missouri soldier, "[I]nstead of an outburst over overflowing joy, at the sight of their deliverers, not one solitary soul had come to the River bank to see us cross or welcome us to the soil." A resident recalled the veteran troops as "the dirtiest, filthiest, piratical-looking, cutthroat men I ever saw... Yet there was a dash about them that the Northern men lacked." The invaders passed the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal via road culverts and bridges erected by their engineers. Walls of the canal were breached to disrupt commerce and the enemy's supply lines, but efforts to destroy the Monocacy Aqueduct were unsuccessful. As the largest part of the Confederate army marched toward Frederick, Gen JEB Stuart's cavalry formed a protective screen to the south.
4. WHITES_171125_028.JPG: The Confederate army crosses the Potomac River into Maryland
5. WHITES_171125_031.JPG: Gettysburg Campaign Invasion & Retreat After stunning victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, Virginia, early in May 1863, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee carried the war through Maryland, across the Mason and Dixon Line and into Pennsylvania. His infantry marched north through the Shenandoah Valley and western Maryland as his cavalry, led by Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, harassed Union supply lines to the east. Union Gen. Joseph Hooker, replaced on June 28 by Gen. George G. Meade, led the Army of the Potomac from the Washington defenses in pursuit. The Federals collided with Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on July 1, starting a battle neither side had intended to fight there. Three days later, the defeated Confederates began retreating through Maryland, retracing their steps to the Potomac River and crossing into Virginia on July 14. To follow in their footsteps and to discover their stories, stop by any Welcome Center or local Visitor Center to pick up a Gettysburg: Invasion & Retreat Civil War Trail map-guide. Please drive carefully as you enjoy the history and beauty of Maryland Civil War Trails.
6. WHITES_171125_104.JPG: I visited the moved Rockville Confederate statue and it works being at White's Ferry, facing Virginia, waiting for the Gen Jubal Early boat to pull in. I would have preferred to have a statue of Josiah Henson erected next to it at the courthouse to show that most whites in the country were pro-slavery and the man behind Uncle Tom's Cabin was one of the costs of this but so be it.
7. WHITES_171125_134.JPG: White's Ferry Before you is the last operating ferry on the Potomac River. Early settlers recognized these relatively still waters would provide an ideal location for a ferry. The first known ferry operation here was Conrad's Ferry in 1817. After the Civil War, former Confederate soldier Elijah White purchased and made many improvements to the service. He named his ferry boat in honor of his former commander General Jubal Early. More than a convenient river crossing, the ferry provided a place of commerce between the canal and surrounding community. Farmers from Virginia used the ferry to get their crops to market in Washington, D.C., and Maryland via the C&O Canal. In the days before modern refrigeration, a farmer's access to reliable transportation meant the difference between prosperity and watching a year's worth of work rot in storage. Together the canal and the ferry shortened the time it took farmers to get goods to market. Today White's Ferry continues to serve the needs of its community by providing a safe river crossing and a living link to the past. To assist farmers in getting their crops to market, White built a granary along the canal to store grains until they could be loaded and shipped via the canal. In the early 1900s as horse and wagon gave way to the Model T, White's Ferry adapted to the times. Ferryman Charles Ashby Williams leans over the ferry's railing to check its engine.
8. WHITES_171125_138.JPG: Explore a Trail Network
9. WHITES_171125_153.JPG: Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park. The canal and towpath are dedicated to Justice William O. Douglas of White Ferry.
Wikipedia Description: White's Ferry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

White's Ferry, originally Conrad's Ferry, is an inactive cable ferry service that carried cars, bicycles, and pedestrians across the Potomac River between Loudoun County, Virginia and Montgomery County, Maryland, and is the last one of its kind to cross the Potomac. The location offered fishing services and water recreation including canoeing. It transported between 600 and 800 customers daily until its operations were suspended indefinitely in 2020 due to a legal dispute over the land surrounding it.

History

Early settlers recognized that the relatively still waters of the Potomac River at the location would provide an ideal location for a ferry. One of the earliest mentions of the ferry appeared in an act of the Maryland General Assembly passed on December 27, 1791 (Liber JG. No. 1, folio 447):

Be it enacted, by the General Assembly of Maryland, that the following roads shall be laid out, surveyed, marked, bounded, and cleared in the manner herein directed, to wit: One road through Anne-Arundel county from the turnpike road in Baltimore county until it intersects the road from Frederick-town at the line of Frederick county, near William Hobbs's; one other road from Green's bridge, on Patuxent river, to the mouth of Monocacy, on Potowmack river, through Montgomery county; and one other road from Conrad Myer's ferry on Potowmack river aforesaid, until it intersects the road from Green's bridge aforesaid, to the mouth of Monocacy aforesaid, southwestward of the road leading from Frederick to George-town in Montgomery county aforesaid; and one other road from Conrad Myer's ferry on Potowmack river to the mouth of Seneca, or to intersect the road from Georgetown to the mouth of Monocacy, by way of Brooke Beall's mill on Watt's branch, in Montgomery county.

A road map published in the Maryland Land Records for Montgomery County in 1795 (Liber F-6, folio 195) showed a side road near Seneca Bridge coming off the main road between Georgetown and the mouth of the Monocacy River labeled "Road to Conrad Mire's ferry." Another early mention of the ferry appeared in the book: "The life and adventures of Robert Bailey, from his infancy up to December 1821" written by himself: "From the house of this good man, I crossed at Conrood's ferry, and went to Montgomery County, in Maryland, where I once more (after an absence of nearly six years,) had the heart feeling gratification of beholding my dear and affectionate mother and my kind and loving sister." Assuming the book is chronological, the crossing apparently took place after December 15, 1778. But, "The Moco Show" claims that the ferry was opened to the public in 1786. The following advertisement appeared in the National Intelligencer on Thursday, February 1, 1821: "Ranaway in September last, Abraham Dublin, a black man; from Geo. Ward, Montg. Co, Md; living about 17 miles from Gtwn, on the road leading to Coonrod's ferry." The first known ferry operation at the location was Conrad's Ferry, pronounced contemporaneously by the locals as "Coonrod's Ferry" in 1861. After the Civil War, former Confederate officer Elijah V. White purchased it and made many improvements to the service. He named his ferry boat in honor of his former commander, General Jubal Early. The ferry boat was renamed "Historic White's Ferry" in June 2020.
Currently, the ferry is owned by Malcolm Brown, whose father purchased the location in 1946 with other business partners. He eventually bought out his partners and shipped new ferries from Baltimore in 1953 and from Norfolk in 1988; both of which were named after Confederate General Jubal A. Early because of his, "rebellious, no surrender attitude".
The Confederate statue that had been moved from Rockville to White's Ferry in 2017, was moved to a private storage location by the owners on June 16, 2020, although the base of the monument remains.
Each May, White's Ferry hosts an event honoring wounded soldiers recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Escorted to the area by a large motorcycle honor guard, the soldiers enjoy a day of music, food, fishing, and rides on the ferry. The event is sponsored by the town of Poolesville, Maryland, and receives support from many groups and individuals within the community.
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