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In the hazy light of a hot summer morning
you can see the rippling shoreline of Maryland from the abandoned Confederate
gun emplacements. This is history in the
raw, a place called Possum Nose, a long abandoned and forgotten Civil War site
on the Potomac River. Earthworks, once
built to protect cannons, watch the river blankly, while overgrown trenches
await a Union attack that will never come.
The remains of a powder magazine and scattered hut sites can be found in
the deep woods, but these are the only reminders that Washington was once held
hostage.
Even
before Virginia became part of the Confederacy, Northern Virginians realized
the opportunity they had to “strangle” Washington by erecting land batteries on
prominent points along the Potomac. The
decision to do so was finally reached in August 1861, while the Union Army lay
paralyzed after its defeat on July 21, 1861 at Manassas in the first major land
engagement of the war. A strong battery
was built at Evansport, at the mouth of Quantico Creek, some thirty five miles
south of Washington, on what is today the Quantico Marine Corps Base. Smaller batteries were erected at Possum Nose
and Freestone Point, also in Prince William County. In all, there were thirty seven heavy guns
placed along the river supported by five infantry regiments. The Confederates also used a captured
steamer, the C.S.S. City of Richmond, berthed
in Quantico Creek, to terrorize smaller craft on the river.
If
a strong force of Union ships had been patrolling the Potomac at the beginning
of August, it would have been impossible for the rebels to construct or
maintain gun batteries on the banks of the river. Once the three rebel batteries supported by
troops were dug in, however, it was considered to be almost impossible to
capture the positions by assault.
Washington
was shaken. The Capital was proud of its
busy wharves, where twenty new warehouses had been constructed. With the completion of the first Confederate
battery, trade began to suffer. The once
busy wharves fell idle. Trade came to an
abrupt halt. Shortages developed and
prices soared. Occasionally a ship would
run the Southern blockade, but only the little oyster pungies docked with any
regularity.
The Confederate defenses effectively closed
the Potomac River. All ships carrying
U.S. government shipments were directed to go to Baltimore to unload. Those ships not carrying government stores
which attempted to run the batteries were subjected to a hail of fire for a
distance of about six miles. Even the
fastest ships could be kept under constant fire for almost an hour. Unfortunately for ships trying to run the
Confederate gauntlet, the river’s deepest channel swerved close to the Virginia
shore just at the point where rebel batteries were mounted.
The
Confederate blockade was so successful during the fall and winter of 1861-1862
that a foreign correspondent reported that Washington was the only city in the
United States which really was blockaded.
The blockade became so frustrating to the North, both in terms of morale
and diplomatic embarrassment, that President Lincoln issued a direct order for
action, “Ordered, That the Army and the Navy cooperate in an immediate effort
to capture the enemy’s batteries upon the Potomac.”
Lincoln’s order was never carried out, for on
March 9, 1862, General Joseph E. Johnston ordered a general retreat of
Confederate forces to defensive positions further south, along the Rappahannock
River, to forestall a Union drive on Richmond.
Within two days the batteries were evacuated and the C.S.S. City of Richmond burned in Quantico
Creek.
Some evidence of the blockade still
exists. A restored site can be seen at
Freestone Point in Leesylvania State Park.
Evidence also remains at Possum Nose.
These un-restored earthworks remain in excellent condition. The largest, overlooking the river from a
seventy five foot hill with cliff-like banks, housed three guns. Smaller emplacements flank the main
battery. Behind the batteries, running
the entire width of Possum Nose, are winding rifle pits. The Fifth Alabama Infantry Battalion and one
company of the First Tennessee were stationed at Possum Nose and hut sites are
still visible.
Despite the growth of Northern Virginia in
the last century, many little known Civil War sites dot the countryside, haunting
reminders of that tragic war.
A brief look at love, sex, and marriage in the Civil War. The book
covers courtship, marriage, birth control and pregnancy, divorce, slavery and
the impact of the war on social customs.
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