History of The Grand Old Ditch
THE C & O CANAL DURING THE
CIVIL WAR: 1861–1865
Research for the U.S NPS by Harlan D. Unrau
Prepared by Karen M. Gray
Edited to HTML by Barry A. Boyd
I. THE CANAL PRIOR TO THE OUTBREAK OF WAR
The year 1860 had not been profitable for the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Company. Political influence from the Maryland legislature had brought about the wholesale turnover of employees and the reorganization of the administration of the company in May and June.3
The canal had not been opened to navigation until mid-May. Business had then been brisk until November, when heavy rains over the Potomac Valley caused the rivers to rise rapidly. Dams Nos. 5 and 6 were injured, while considerable destruction was done to Guard Lock No. 4 and the towpath below Dam No. 4. The Marsh Run Culvert was washed out, several sections of the trunk were filled with silt and debris, and the walls of Lock No. 21 partially collapsed. The canal was shut down for three weeks while temporary repairs were made thus preventing the movement of coal from Cumberland to the District cities when such trade could be expected to be at its height. Income from the tolls that had totaled $32,547.54 in October fell to $15,951.47 for the final two months of the year, and the annual trade statistics showed a decline of more than 17,000 tons of coal from the 1859 totals.4
When the canal was drained for the winter in late December, more permanent repairs were made to restore the canal to its operating condition before the freshet. As a result of these efforts, company officials looked forward to a “prosperous boating season” in 1861 despite the looming clouds of war.5
Nevertheless, the approaching conflict was the cause of some anxiety and mixed emotions to the canal directorate as evidenced by the following communication from President Lawrence J. Brengle to Clerk Walter S. Ringgold on New Year’s Day: We are in great excitement here [company headquarters at Frederick] with regard to the National Crisis, and don’t know what to do that will be of any advantage to arrest the difficulty. We are much divided in sentiment on the subject. I still hope there is conversation enough in the country yet to save it.6
Water was readmitted to the canal in the second week of March 1861, and during the following month there were heavy shipments of coal from the Allegany County mines. In March income from the tolls was $16,768.25, while during the first ten days of April $12,581.01 was collected.7 On April 12 torrential rains drenched the entire watershed of the Potomac Valley, causing a disaster that dashed the company’s hopes of a profitable year.8
The Potomac continued to surge upward. Upon the portion of the canal, it reached a height only exceeded by the 1852 flood. Considerable destruction was caused to canal property as a result of “the unprotected condition of the embankments near the feeder at Dam No. 4.” A number of washes and breaches occurred on the Cumberland, Hancock, Williamsport, and Antietam Divisions while damage to the Monocacy and Georgetown Divisions was less severe than had been feared.9
3 Proceedings of the President and Board of Directors, K, 183–183, 192–195.
4 Thirty-Third Annual Report (1861), C&O Co. pp.3, 8–9, 14, and Charleton to Board of Directors, November 7, 1860, Fitzpatrick to Ringgold, November 6, 1860, and Stake to Board of Directors, November 13, 1860, Ltrs. Recd., C&O Co.
5 Ringgold to Colston, December 15, 1860, Ltrs. Recd., C&O Co., Thirty-Third Annual Report (1861),9–10, 14; and Proceedings of the President and Board of Directors, K, 240, 244.
6 Brengle to Ringgold, January 1, 1861, Ltrs. Recd., C&O Co.
7 Thirty-Third Annual Report (1861), 10, and Thirty-Fourth Annual Report (1862), C&O Co.,3, 9.
8 Carleton to Ringgold, April 13, 1861, Ltrs. Recd., C&O Co.
9 Thirty-Third Annual Report (1861), 10, and Washington Evening Star, April 15, 17, 1861
WAR COMES TO THE CANAL
Section: 2.1
