Location Details
- Confluence of Conococheague Creek and the Potomac River Williamsport, MD 21975
- C&O Canal National Historical Park
- (301) 739-4200
The Conococheague Aqueduct was damaged by Union troops during the Antietam Campaign and by the Confederates in the Gettysburg and Monocacy campaigns.
The fifth of eleven stone aqueducts, the Conococheague Aqueduct was completed in late 1835 to carry the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal over Conococheague Creek. While the Battle of Antietam was raging, Union General George B. McClellan ordered Capt. Charles Russell of the 1st Maryland Cavalry and some Pennsylvania militia units to Williamsport to destroy the means by which the Confederates might cross the Potomac River or canal. An unsuccessful attempt was made to destroy the Conococheauge Aqueduct, but only minor damage was inflicted.
In the Gettysburg Campaign the Confederates committed extensive damage to the Conococheauge Aqueduct. Work parties tore out the masonry on each of the four corners of the structure down to the bottom of the canal. A large hole was also made in one of the aqueduct’s arches nearly the width of the canal and ranging from six to ten feet in length. During the Monocacy Campaign and subsequent screening operations in July–August 1864, the Confederates again damaged the Conococheague Aqueduct, although much less extensively than they had in 1863.
