The Confederate Blockade of the Potomac River

     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.

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The Golden Era of Potomac River Bridge Building

Construction of Memorial Bridge ( view from the Lincoln Memorial)

     The 1930s saw the construction of two new bridges across the Potomac.  The Arlington Memorial Bridge, widely regarded as Washington’s most beautiful bridge, was opened on January 16, 1932.  Memorial Bridge was designed to symbolically link North and South in its alignment between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial.  The functional Point of Rocks Bridge connecting Loudoun County with Maryland was completed in 1937.

Memorial Bridge from the air

     The late 1950s and early 1960s were the hey-day of bridge building in Northern Virginia.  As part of the Interstate Highway System created by Congress in 1956, the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge was opened in 1961.  The American Legion Memorial Bridge, originally known as the Cabin John Bridge, was built in 1963.  The Theodore Roosevelt Bridge, connecting Rosslyn to Washington was opened June 23, 1964.

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The Long Bridge Across the Potomac River

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The Long Bridge, the ancestor of the five bridges which are now collectively known as the 14^th Street Bridge, was a wooden toll bridge opened in 1809 by a private firm called the Washington Bridge Company.  When the British burned Washington in 1814, President Madison and other government officials escaped into Virginia across the Long Bridge.  The Americans then destroyed the Virginia end to prevent pursuit by the British.  The British destroyed the Washington end to prevent a counterattack by the Americans.  It took four years to reopen the bridge.

During the Civil War, Washington became a major military supply depot.  Railroads were a relatively new invention which the military was using for the first time.  How to get supplies from Washington City, across the river to the battle front in Virginia became a central concern of war planners.  Rails were placed on Long Bridge, but fearing that the structure might collapse under the strain of too much weight, the generals had horses pull railroad cars and engines across the river into Virginia.  A new stronger bridge dedicated solely to rail traffic was built one hundred feet downstream, but this bridge was not operational until the war was almost over.  The Long Bridge was frequently damaged by floods over the following decades, but served until 1906 when it was replaced by the “Highway Bridge”.  The traffic in 1906 seems light compared to the 250,000 automobiles that now pour across the 14^th Street Bridge daily.  At the turn of the century the average daily traffic over the Highway Bridge was fifty two single electric trolley cars, two hundred two-car trains, some one hundred automobiles, eight hundred double-animal teams, four hundred single-animal teams, five hundred pedestrians and eight horsemen.

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Most people think that the English were the first Europeans to explore what is now Virginia, founding Jamestown in 1607. There is evidence, however, that the Spanish beat the English to Virginia by several decades.

An attempt at colonization was made in 1570, when Governor Pedro Menendez of Florida, authorized an expedition. At the time, it was believed that the Chesapeake Bay was the long sought short passage to China. Jesuit missionaries convinced the Governor to send their small unarmed expedition to the area as a forerunner to future colonization. On September 10, 1570, a small band of Jesuits headed by Father Segura, vice provincial of the Jesuits settled near a place the Native Americans called Axacan. The nearest surviving Indian word that suggests the name, is "Occoquan”. One historical school places the unfolding drama in a village located on the Occoquan River in Northern Virginia.

The Jesuits were convinced that they could gain the trust of the natives and willingly convert thousands to Christianity for one simple reason; they were accompanied by a prince of that country who had converted to Christianity in Spain itself.

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The Confederate Blockade of the Potomac

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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 River.

The decision to do so was finally reached in August 1861, while the Union army lay paralyzed after its defeat at Bull Run. In all, there were thirty seven heavy guns placed along the river. And five regiments were encamped along the river to protect the vital gun positions. The Confederates also had a captured steamer, the C.S.S City of Richmond, terrorizing smaller craft on the river.

The Confederate defenses effectively closed the Potomac River from August 1861 to March 1862. The speediest ships could be kept under constant fire for almost an hour. The Confederate blockade was so successful that a foreign correspondent reported that Washington was the only city in the United States which really was blockaded.

When Confederate forces shifted south in March 1862 to forestall a Union drive on Richmond, the batteries along the river were evacuated.






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