The Washington herald., 1911-06-04

OF sufficiently light draft to negotiate the
Potomac could live through the flood of
shot and shell which these two forts could
pour upon It,
For four long years the Potomac con-
stituted the boundary line between two
warning nations. At least one Of these
nations, the late Confederate States OF
America. SO considered it. although the
North pe.sistently refused to consider 1t
more than the line drawn by one faction
OF an indivisible Union which that same
North stood unwilling to see divided.
For four years the Union war ships
patrolled the Potomac. From April. 1851,
to. April, 1865, the Potomac was the scene
Of blockade running. dispatch running.
and desultory fighting. At no time did
the ships Of the Union, which at one
time numbered in their fiotilla forty-two,
come to grips in a general engagement
with the navy OF the Confederacy. In
this 1t was unlike the Mississippi But
from the beginning of the war to its end
the Potomac echoed and re-echoed with
shots fired in anger.
In the earlier days Of the war, when
the Confederate sympathizers of the older
Maryland families were making their
way to the South. the grand old river
furnished their avenue of connection be-
tween loyal Maryland and rebellious Vir-
Maryland skiffs would put out from the
left bank. In the dark Of the moon by
preference on a rainy night, some little
party OF the to-be wearers Of the gray
would run the river. Out Of the shadows
or Maryland into the dank swelter Of the
river fog they would proceed. oars muf-
fled. toward the Southland. Perhaps they
got across IN safety: generally they did.
But then again just when their crossing
seemed assured there would proceed from
the ever-watchful Yankee a hail. Then
and the bang" OF a ships howitzer.
Hands UP and stop rowing" was the
command. noncompliance eliciting per.
maps seccnd shot or a fusillade OF
mimic balls from the ever-ready marine
guard Then out OF the river darkness
crestfallen group OF young scions of
the grand old TerrapIn State would De
called to the quarterback to explain the
occasion for their midnight excursion
through the interdicted waters.
Lineoln Crossed Three Times.
Three times IN the course OF the war
Abraham Lincoln made the Potomac his
avenue Of travel between the Capital and
the center Of operations Of the Union
army in the field. The last trip. begin
ming March .. 1855. carried the liberator
first to City Point. Va, then Gen. Grants
headquarters. At City Point Lincoln held
his most famous war council. Around
the big cak table in the little cabin OF
the steamer River Queen. which even to-
day Is plying the same waters in the
peaceful pursuit Of conveying excursion
lists TO the river resorts. gathered Abra-
ham Lincoln. Lieut. Gen. Grant, Maj
Gems. Sheridan. Meade, Ord, and Warren.
Later came the fall Of Richmond. after
which Lincoln visited the still smolder-
ing ruins Of the Confederate capital, and
on April 10. only four days before the
tragic box party in the old Ford's Thea
ter, Abraham Lincoln took his final river
journey over the Potomac, no longer a
boundary line.
1t is believed that more than 1000 900
Union troops crossed the Potomac. going
and coming. In the course Of the civil
war. At the War Department they will
refuse to estimate as to the number.
From the day when in April, 1861, Els
worth's Fire Zouaves crossed into Alex
andria until the last rank of the boys in
blue marched back into Washington in
May, 1865. to participate in the grand re-
view Of the armies Of the Potomac and
Of the West the Potomac was crossed by
by millions OF men-millions of men OF
whom, according to the War Depart
ments statistics, more than Is per cent
never returned.