The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1908-10-23
CONOWIN6O BRIDGE.
An Interesting Historical Sketch By Hugh
A. Jones, ESQ.,, of Castleton.

vided for the right to raise by subscription in
shares of $40 each the capital stock not to exceed
$4,000. The incOrporators of the new company
were John Kirk, president; Henry McVey, Alb
SALON. Roman, Henry Wesley and VIM. B. Bond,
who also acted as its directors. The new COM
pany Immediately purchased of Mr.. Wesley the
old site and all of his rights connected therewith.
Evidently it was not an easy matter to place the
stock of the new company, for the structure was
not begun until the spring of 1858 and completed
in the spring of SO During the freshet OF 1866
the easternmost span of this bridge was carried
away on the 18th of March, the upper portion q
one of the piers not having been properly con-
structed, so that when the end of the bridge was
lifted from the pier by the water, it became an
easy prey to the raging torrent, and this ex-
perience was again repeated In February 1904
when the two spans east of the island were lifted
from their resting places and carried down the
stream. They were promptly replaced by iron
spans. which still remain.
In 1861 the war came on and Conowingo plays
no small part in the enactment OF the thrilling
experience and narrowing scenes of that troubled
period. Upon the breaking out of the war, SO
strong was sympathy in Maryland for the Con.
federacy that Captain Stephen s. Johns who at
that time lived near Berkeley, was able to take
possession of and guard the west entrance of the
bridge in order to prevent the passage OF Federal
soldiers. Later portion of the 18th Connecticut
stationed for three years in this vicinity. and
it was diligently engaged in capturing deserters
and sending them as prisoners to the Fort near
Baltimore. When Harry Gilmor made his cele'
brated raid and the railroad bridge was burned
across the Gunpowder river, 5000 Federal soldiers
enlisted for period of thirty days, were hurried
to Conowingo and there stationed to cut off the
enemy's passage. Foraging and plundering the
country thereabouts. they made themselves
singular comfortable while playing soldier. In.
deed after the battle of Gettyshurgin 1854, Milroy
whose division of the Federal army never stopped
retreating until it reached Philadelphia. took his
wagon train across the Conowingo bridge, and
LATER when moving southwark again, literally
appropriated whatever private property might be
conve nient for his use, and he even entered un.
invited the home OF Mr.. Hugh A. Jones. located
nearby, and ate the steaming dinner prepared for
the family. When Captain Johns could nolonger
hold the fort, tradition says that Squire James
Cummings with a keg of powder located on the
span near the middle of the bridge and connect
ed with the shore by means of a train Of coal oil,
held himself ready at moments notice, If Con-
federate soldiers did reach that span. to precipi
tate them into the seething waters of this well
known maelstrom. Later, when fearing their in-
ability to hold the bridge against Confederate
attack, the Federal soldiers cut all the lateral
bracing in the span which stretched across Jobs
Hole, SO that an army innocent of the fact would
be precipitated into the river.
The saddest part of our tale is to be told when
we recall the destruction of the bridge by fire on
the 9th day of June 1907, since which time its
handsome stone piers and the two iron spans be-
fore mentioned and two wooden spans are the only
reminders of this important highway. We use
the word important intentionally because since the
completion of fine Columbia and Port Deposit
railroad about thirty years ago and the loss OF
the Tide Water Canal in 1894, this bridge has been
the only means of emptying into the marts of
trade the agricultural products from the fertile
bosom of eastern Hartford for many miles around.
The burden thus entailed upon these people can
not be over.estimated and they are eagerly watt
ing for the reconstruction of the bridge under the
CONTRACT mutually entered into between the old
company and the new bridge company incor-
'aorated by the Legislature in the winter of 1907.
HUGH A. JONES.