Evening journal., 1904-03-11

twenty-four hours after the riot in
Baltimore on the 10Th OF April the
bridges as far north as the Gun Powder
River on the line of the Philadelphia,
Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad
were burnt, so that there was no means
of transporting the troops on tee sea-
board TO Washington by rail- After the
passage Of the canal on the night Of
April goth had been accomplished by
the empty boats, and it was seen that
the Government had full control. al
though it had not taken actual pos
session, no attempt was made to cut
the banks and no effort was thereafter
made to interfere in any way with the
passage of the boats through the canal
during the continuance of the Civu
War
From this time forward, until the end
Of the war the Chesapeake and Della
ware Canal became a most important
part Of the inland waterway which the
Government used for the transporta-
ton Of the supplies Of every sort for
the army.
They were brought from as far north
as Naragansett Bay, down through
Long Island Sound, through the Della
ware Raritan Canal. down the Della
ware River, through the Chesapeake
and Delaware Canal, down the Chesa-
peake Bay through the Albemarle and
Chesapeake Canal through the Abe
marie and PamlicO Sounds and so on
down to Beaufort, North Carolina, a
distance something over. 1000 miles.
at all times protected from the cruisers
of the Confederate fleet which secured
the coast.
The proof of the necessity Of getting
these valuable in fact invaluable sup
plies out of reach of the Confederate
cruisers, and the further proof that had
they gone outside they would have fall
len prey to the Alabama and Florida.
the Archer and Florida No. g. is fully
proven by the record which shows the
capture Of the bark Tacony. June 12
1862 just off Cape Hattrass. that is to
soy just outside of and above the
southern part of the inland water way
above referred to. Then again the
capture Of the revenue cutter Caleb
Gushing in the port of Portland. Maine
June q, 1868, by the Confederate priva-
teer Archer. The attack on the steam
er Chesapeake off Cape Cod, in Decem-
Der. 1868.
on June 10, 1864. the steamship
Electric Spark, bound from New York
to New Orleans on her maiden trip was
captured between the Chesapeake Bay
and Sandy Hook by the Confederate
steamer Florida. In other words, any
shipping that ventured outside this
inland waterway was sure to fall prey
to the Confederate cruisers.
For the use of transportation In
these canals and bays. constituting thi.
line Of inland Waterways from Nara
gansett Bay to Beaufort, n. c.. the
United States Government seized and
chartered during the war, IA propeller
steamers. 80 steam tugs. and s4.
FIRE. int barges. in all 1.O75 boats, which
were used in the passage Of thes,
canals.
The whole subject of the charterins
and seizure Of these boats during tn,
course Of the war for the purpose o
transportation Of Government supplie
to the army through this canal sys
tenn, is set out in full, I'm executive
document of the House Of Represents
uves, No. 337 Of the second session o.
the fortieth Congress. Isasmuch a,
there were in all 1912 vessels seized
chartered, or employed by the Fedora
Government during the war Throughout
the entire country it win appear thai
nearly one-third Of this whole number
was used I'm this particular system OF
canals.
Important to Governments
1t is plain to be seen from the i'm
portance these canals were to the
Federal Government during the war
more particularly. the Chesapeake Snc
Delaware Canal, that had it not beer
for the existence and the use of thi.
last named canal and the hurrving o.
the troops to Washington just aftei
the Baltimore riot, the grave possibility
of the capture Of Washington was posi-.
lively averted when no other meani
were presented to the Government fol-
so doing. This is further proved by the
shipment of the New Jersey troops