September 15, 2016 Thursday–Civil War Medicine

After visiting the Antietam Battlefield with its huge number of killed and wounded, it caused us to wonder; how did they deal with all of this?  Near Antietam was the Pry House, a residence turned into a field hospital.  Unfortunately it wasn’t open while we are here, but the National Civil War Medical Musum in Fredrick was.  So that’s our destination.

Prior to the Civil War, the state of medicine was pretty primative; no understanding of infection or sterlization of instruments.  There also was no system in place for removing and treating the wounded from the battlefield.  So if there is anything good that came of the Civil War, it was the formation of the ambulance service and the establishment of field hospitals.  In fact we learned some interesting facts.  Of the 4 year duration of the war, actual battle days numbered 60.  This meant that many more days were spent in camp or marching.

Fact one:  60% of the soldiers died of diarrhea, dysentery, measles, small pox, pneumonia, and malaria due to the unsanitary conditions of the camps; not gunshot wounds.  It was not uncommon for these camps to have 20,000 men.

Fact two:  The devastating nature of the wounds were due to the new 57 caliber rifled musket, in combination with what they called a Minie’ ball, which is equivalent to today’s hollow point bullet.  Combine that with the insane, Napoleonic fighting formations,  which worked with smooth bore musket balls in previous wars it became suicide with the more accurate, powerful, and devastating nature of the Minie’.

Dr Johnathon Letterman developed battlefield medical procedures, including ambulance transport of the wounded and a triage system to determine treatment response based on the type of wound.  For example, the mortally wounded would be seperated and made comfortable.  More minor injuries were of lower priority than those requiring surgery.  Which brings us to a couple of other facts.

Fact Three:  Soldiers requiring surgery were given anesthesia, usually chloroform or ether.  No, they were not given a bullet to bite down on nor a bottle of whiskey.

Fact Four:  Amputation was not a given, but many were done if the Field Surgeon felt the damage to the bone could not be repaired.  60,000 amputations were done during the Civil War, so they got pretty good at it.  Surgeons could complete one in about 10 minutes.  Survival rates for amputation was 75%.

They began using iodine and bromine to prevent infection, although their understanding of germs was still limited.  They recognized the benefits of at least washing surgical instruments between operations, including the use of alcohol.

The museum was very interesting, mostly with reading panels and dioramas that included period artifacts and photographs.  Therefore there are no photos for us to share.  We learned a lot and were glad we stopped.

A parting funny, Frederick is an old 1800s town.  Parking is pretty much limited to decks/garages.  And they ain’t very big.  Driving into one today for parking, was a challenge for us and the truck.  Most vehicles in it were compact cars.  Felt like an elephant in a phone booth!

September 14, 2016 Wednesday–C&O Canal Part 2

We continue our journey east along the Canal, stopping at various features along the way.  The map below will provide reference to the locations mentioned.

We have not learned much new about the operation of the Canal and Towboats, but have heard some pretty interesting stories.  As we said earlier, the boats are loaded going downbound and usually empty returning upbound.  However, many times the captains would secretly try to secure some cargo upbound to supplement their income.  On one such occasion,  the captain agreed to transport a travelling circus on his return trip.  All went well until the circus’s bear escaped his restraints in the hold of the boat .  He caused quite a ruckus as no one wanted to enter the hold to retie him.  On another occasion, the lockmaster was drunk and let the lock drain too quickly, causing the boat to sink. 

We have encountered several cyclists along the towpath, many are making the Pittsburgh to Washington trek.  Our amazment is that if you start talking with them, they know very little about the Canal or history.  They are simply putting miles down.  They’re clueless about where they are or why this path is here; just miles covered today and miles to go.  Wouldn’t you think they would like to know more about the area?

It appears all the locks and lock houses are built from the same blueprints.  They all look alike except the rock may vary due to locale.  There are 6 lock houses that you can overnight in.  They have varying amenities, like indoor plumbing and electricity.  Others are strickly 1850s.  Price runs between $100 to $150 per night.

The longest aqueduct in the system is Monocracy Creek Aqueduct.  It has seen some restoration, but its size is impressive.

 

 

The last interstate ferry operating in Maryland is White’s Ferry, with service to Leesburg, Virginia.  It is privately owned.  Cost is $5 one way. 

There is a store/restaurant which show the levels of flooding.  The last one was 1996.

 

The next stop was Seneca Lock and Aqueduct.  Note the red stone, likely quarried locally.  The aqueduct has the same brick work.

As you can see, this puppy needs some TLC.  You are looking at flood damage, look at the lumber trapped on the upstream side.  Restoring this would be a challenge.  It is a complex structure, as there is a lock, aqueduct, and inlet dam.  As you look along these streams you can’t help but notice the very large wood debris on the upstream side of bridges.  The floods they have experienced on the Potomac must have been dooseys!

We will check out the last section of the Canal, Great Falls area, in the next few days. 

September 13, 2016 Tuesday–Harper’s Ferry

The weather cooled a bit the past weekend and humidity dropped.  Unfortunatetly, it’s warming up again, so we thought we might visit Harper’s Ferry today before the big heat and humidity returns.  Our campground in Brunswick lies between the Potomac and the Canal.  We drive about a mile down the towpath to reach the campground.  The place is a dust bowl.  Virtually no grass and dust covers everything.  I doubt they have seen rain here in months.

Brunswick is like railroad central, so there are constant trains that travel tracks on the other side of the Canal.  You see them, feel them, and hear them.  Fortunately they do not blow whistles at night.  We have to cross the tracks to get to our entrance road.  This evening we waited over 1/2 hour for the track to clear to get back to the campground.  Not going to miss this place after we leave.

Harper’s Ferry is a triangle of land formed by the convergence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers.  It is low lying land and has flooded at least a dozen times, but is felt to be a strategic location due to its proximety to goods, transportation, and Washington DC.  It was an industrial center up to the 1850s.  During the Civil War it changed hands 8 times!  But, between the floods and the War, Harper’s Ferry was pretty much a ruins.  The Government stepped in, made it a National Park 1944, and is in the process of restoring it.  There is history here, from George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and the most well known, John Brown.

However, we question if it really is money properly spent.  Just because George and Tom walked around here, does that make it significant?  In 1859 John Brown came into town, then part of Virginia, to free the slaves here.  A 3 day fight ensued with Brown and his “army” being captured or killed.  Brown was found guilty of murder, treason, and messing with slave freedom.  He was hung a month later.

It is felt his action and resultant execution was one of the larger events that started the War.  Most of the buildings here are reproductions.  The fire house building Brown holed up in has been moved 4 times, but now resides in its original location, but has had major reconstruction. 

Check out the yardstick to the left.  I shows the water levels and dates of the floods here.

A steep 2 block climb takes you up to high town, where most of todays 300 residents live.  The view of the Shenandoah River is pretty cool.  This picture was taken by a young lady (25 ish) from Chicago who was bicycling from Pittsburgh to Washington, by herself!!  Her trip was nearly complete. 

The NPS has done a good job in telling the story about Harper’s Ferry.  Probably not worth a special visit, but if in the area, it is a worthwhile stop.

September 12, 2016–Antietam Battlefield

After our relatively short journey of 75 miles to Brunswick, MD we decided to visit the Antietam Battlefield.  It was with some reservation since our visit to Gettysburg several years ago was quite disturbing, but this battle was a turning point in the Civil War.  It lasted one day, September 17, 1862, but was the bloodest of all the battles fought.  The Confederate army had crossed the Potomac into Union territory.  By this time, the Confederacy had a slight, winning edge in the War.  Lee felt a win on Northern land would convince the English and French to recognize the CSA and throw backing (money, resources, even men) to help win the War.

The Union Army commanded by George McClellan was determined to push Lee back.  Lee was out numbered 2 to 1, but his army were some of the best soldiers in the Confederate Army.  McClellan had 100,000 men at his disposal for this battle, compared to Lee’s 40,000.  But, McClellan’s army was inexperienced, 20% were right out of boot camp and this was the first battle for half of the rest.  At end of the day, which started at 5:30AM, over 23,000 men were dead or wounded, that’s more than 1 per second!!  And worst of all’ neither side could claim a victory.  Lee retreated back over the Potomac late that night with what was left of his army.

The nitty-gritty of each battle can be found in books and on line so we will not go into detail here.  A few pictures follow.

The building in the background is Dunkers Church.  This area saw intense fighting.

This sunken farm lane was one of the bloodest battles fought that day.  Over 5,000 men from both sides died in 3 1/2 hours of fighting.

You can imagine the carnage left in this area after the battle was over.  In this sunken lane it was described as bodies piled across like railroad ties and stacked like cordwood.  The Union soldiers were buried where they fell.  Only a few Confederates remained behind to bury their dead, as Lee hastily retreated.  We were told by a ranger, they found a body (skeleton) on the battlefield in 2008.  Eventually the Union bodies were reinterred in a cemetary in Sharpsburg.  The Confederate soldiers ended up in Hagerstown and Frederick.  They would not allow them to be buried with the Union soldiers.

Look at the number of headstones!  This gives you a sense of the human loss here.  Yes, this place was also troubling to us on so many fronts.  Now we have only visited two battlefields, but to us, it seems interesting that we have NEVER seen the people visiting for which these battles were fought.  The warfare tactics were suicidal and the leaders were inept.  This war cost the United States 500,000 lives, 2% of its population at the time, mostly young men in their prime, leaving farms, businesses, and broken families.  It is unbeliveable that a resolution could not be reached that would have avoided this.

September 9&10–The C&O Canal Part 1

We have learned a bit more about the towboats.  They were approximatly 95 feet in length and could carry up to 100 tons.  The Canal had a downbound current of about 2 mph and the mules pulled another 1 – 2 mph.  By my calculation, the team of two mules had to pull about 6,000 lbs, assuming negligible friction from the water.  Although the barges would run 24 – 7, the mules were 6 on, 6 off.  

The towboat had 3 sections, the stern section was the living quarters.  Crews were usually families, but often a group of men.  The living area was maybe 300 sq ft and not uncommon for 7 people to share this area.  The forward section contained a stable for a second mule team.  They would often switch teams at the locks, since the team was unhitched for the lock through and the boat was stopped.  Remember, for these guys time was money and they barely made enough to live on.

The center section is the cargo hold.  The cabin in the center is a hay barn.  The mule tender also bunked here.  85% of the cargo was coal from western Maryland coal mines, destined for Georgetown.  It was loaded from train to boat at Cumberland using a chute system, actually not that much different from what we saw last year with the Lakers.  One boat could hold all the coal from one train.  At Georgetown, it would be off-loaded by hand!!  200,000 lbs!! by a few guys using shovels??  Think about 85% of 500 boats every 5 days,  thats a lot of shovelling.  Believe it or not they could unload in 5 hours, with 4 men.

The picture below is a replica of a full size towboat built to allow you to experience the size and conditions.  The stern is left.

                  

Ok, so we were wondering… where does all the poop and garbage go?  Hmmm… yep.. probably the best advice is don’t fall overboard.  It has been in the 90s here the last few days.  Ahh.. imagine the Canal fragrance of summer!

So we have begun our journey in Cumberland.  Here, one of several dams are located to fill the Canal from the Potomac.  In addition, a steam powered pump would pump water into  the Canal if river levels were low.  The target depth was 8 feet to allow adequate freeboard for the loaded boats.  This place was a hub of activity.  Boats were loaded, built and repaired.  Tolls were collected for weight and type of cargo.  Coal was a $2 toll for 100 tons going to Georgetown.

 

The next stop takes us to Lock 75 and the lockhouse.  Here we learned about the life of the Lock Tender.  His job sucked!  He was on call 24-7.  At peak, he rarely got 2 hours off.  Often his wife would cover for him so he could get some sleep.  His responsibility was to control the lock doors and the lock gate used to flood or drain the locks.  Most locks were designed to raise or lower the water depth by 8 feet.  He also checked load manifests and recorded date, time, and boat name.  Boats announced their arrival with a bugle.  Locking took about 1/2 hour.

This is a test.  How many locks did we say were on the Canal?  (Go back to Sept 8 post)  yep, 74 locks.  So whats going on?

 

There is no Lock 65.  There is a series of locks in this area, so they increased depth in 3 locks by 2 feet and did not need to build Lock 65.

Next stop was our first aqueduct at Town Creek.  A short single arch aqueduct.  We will see several on our journey, they are a bit of an engineering and constuction wonder.  In case you are wondering, an aqueduct is basically a bridge with a limestone “trough” built over another waterway.  So you see the Town Creek flows under and the Canal crosses over.

Next stop is the Paw Paw tunnel.  Recall the construction of this tunnel delayed completion of the Canal by about 4 years.  Its purpose was to provide a straight passage of about a mile rather than follow the Potomac on its 6 mile meandering route in this area.  Problem was the mountain terrain.  So they burrowed a 3110 tunnel through the mountain. No easy task.  Note the brickwork on the ceiling.  Inside it is dark, dripping, and damp.  (Note: its whimpy compared to the RR tunnel in Montana)

Going through, you walk the towpath used by the mules.  You might wonder what happens if 2 boats enter opposite ends at the same time?  Rules are, first boat sends a man to the opposite end with a lantern.  That rule came about as result of a 2 day stand off of 2 captains that “met” in the middle and neither would move.  With boats stacking up in both directions, a Canal Officer built a smokey fire of green corn stalks at one end of the tunnel.  The tunnel filled with smoke and the stand-off ended.

One of the more interesting stops was in Williamsport.  There is an aqueduct over the Conococheague Creek.    In 1920 a towboat bumped the wall here and the force broke out the wall on one side.  The boat, cargo, and mules went down into the Creek.  It also emptied the lower 80 miles of the Canal.  It was repaired with wood, which has since rotted away.  Here is  a picture:

This completes our first section of the Canal.  We have found this interesting and have learned a lot.   Brunswick is the next stop on Monday to explore the center portion.

September 8, 2016–C&O Canal Intro.

We will be visiting sections of the C&O Canal during our journey, however along the way we will also visit other things of interest.  The Canal was built east to west, from Washington DC to Cumberland, MD, but we will tour it in the opposite direction.  Our fasination with this is the history attached, not only of the Canal itself, but as a reflection of our country’s development.  Think of the events that occurred during the late 1700s to late 1800s.

A little history of the Canal first.  George Washington envisioned a westward expansion in the 1700s that would connect Pittsburgh (the Ohio River) to Georgetown (later Washington, DC).   At the time, the US capitol was Philadelphia, and DC didn’t exist, remember this is prior to the Revolutionary War.  So it was his dream to connect the Ohio and Potomac Rivers.  He was going to name it the Patowmack Canal.  Well that didn’t happen, but in 1829 based on his vision, construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal began.  By 1839 they had made it to Hancock, about 130 miles. 

A shortage of funds, labor problems, constructing a tunnel (the Paw Paw Tunnel), and the recently completed railroad connecting Baltimore and Cumberland nearly killed the whole project with only 50 miles remaining to complete.  The Canal was completed in 1850 but ran only to Cumberland, not Pittsburgh as originally planned.  Not much happened until after the Civil War.  As growth in Washington exploded, the Canal carried coal, building products, farm goods, you name it.  It took approximately 5 days to complete the journey.

Business boomed until 1889 when a flood destroyed the Canal.  It went bankrupt, bought out by the B&O Railroad and reorganized in 1902, but commerce never returned.  Another flood in 1924 pretty much was the end.  In all, 184.5 miles of ditch and towpath were laid between Cumberland and Washington.  They built 74 lift locks (there is a 600 foot differential between Cumberland and Chesapeake Bay), 7 dams, 11 aqueducts, and a 3,118 foot tunnel.  Considering the tools of the day it is pretty amazing.

The first part of our journey will cover Cumberland MM 184.5 to Williamsport MM 100.  Not sure how much you will be able to decipher from the map, but hopefully it will give you and idea of where we’re at, and where we’re going.