White’s Ferry

On September 4-6, 1862, the serenity of the Maryland countryside was shattered 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 changed the lives of the fighting men and affected local residents and businesses. The largely indifferent reaction to the Confederates as they entered Montgomery County was captured by a Missouri soldier, who said that instead of an outburst of overflowing joy at the sight of their deliverers, not one solitary soul had come to the river bank to see them cross or welcome them to the soil. A resident recalled the veteran troops as the dirtiest, filthiest, piratical-looking, cutthroat men she ever saw, yet said there was a dash about them that the Northern men lacked. The invaders passed the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal by 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. J.E.B. Stuart’s cavalry formed a protective screen to the south.

Maryland · United States