Existing comment:
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. |