Location Details
- Edward’s Ferry RoadPoolesville, MD 20837
Controlled by Union forces, this was an important Potomac River crossing site during several campaigns.
Edward’s Ferry, at Lock 25 of the C&O Canal, was controlled by Union troops for the duration of the Civil War. Federal forces passed through during the Battle of Ball’s Bluff (though they did not participate in the fighting), and again in large numbers during the Gettysburg campaign. Confederates also passed through, raiding the site in 1863, 1864, and 1865, damaging the canal and Union equipment. From December 1862 until March 1863, it was the base for Thaddeus Lowe’s balloon operations. Lowe, appointed Chief of Army Aeronautics in 1861 by President Lincoln, used his balloons to observe nearby Confederate forces from overhead, recording their positions and movements.
For Additional information
- Susan Cooke Soderberg, A Guide to Civil War Sites in Maryland – Blue and Gray in a Border State (Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Books, 1998): 67.
- Historical Marker Database
- http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=1686
