Who Defended the Bridge?

The other evening our neighborhood friend who owns the Antietam Ironworks Inn asked me to use my fine Googling skills to find out which general defended the Antietam Ironworks bridge during the battle.  (He wasn't sure that in fact someone did, but he was under the impression that someone had.)
Unfortunately, I did not come up with a name or even that the bridge played any role in the battle except that Rebel troops crossed it in their journey to support Lee at Sharpsburg.  However, my short search did find that companies from the 13th Massachusetts camped here for a bit in 1861 (a year before the battle).  The letters at this site are very interesting glimpses into the soldiers' lives. I especially enjoyed a letter from James B. Noyes; apparently, the most memorable part of being in Antietam Village was the vicious attack of fleas!

Modern day defenders watching over the bridge

Hope in the Next Generation

When we were going to and coming from WV today, we spied these young folks cleaning out the plastic from the debris field dammed up behind the Ironworks bridge on the Antietam Creek. The clogging is a result of the March 14-15th flooding, and it truly is a horrible sight to see. Not only is there a ton of logs and sticks, but there are virtually thousands of plastic bottles and other trash stuck in the mess. These three told us that they are from Shepherdstown; I'm not sure if they're students at the college, but we are truly grateful to them -- should have been us too out there stuffing bags. Really, we should all be this concerned about our watershed.

First the Flood, Then the Flowers

This will be a photo post:
These flood pix are from Sunday, March 14, 2010 - Antietam Creek at the Ironworks Bridge


This pic is at Molly's Hole on Antietam Creek (Burnside Bridge Road) -- it did open the next day so that we could take a reasonable ride to school. Harpers Ferry Road was still closed on Monday.
This pic is from across the river in WV - directly across from around Dargan Bend.
This photo is from the railroad station in Harpers Ferry -- you're looking at the confluence.This pic was taken Tuesday, March 16, 2010, from the Antietam Ironworks Bridge -- that's one disgusting mess and it's still there. Yuck.These post-flood pix were taken Wednesday, March 17, 2010, along Canal Road --

Thank God the yellow flowers are here! Winter, you've been too long in the Hollow!!

Precipitating

Whew! What a week! It's been very busy around the hollow, so I've been unable to post. In my absence on-line, we got soaked. There are a few flakes falling now (while our neighbors to the south get slammed with a vicious snow and ice storm), but a few days ago we were experiencing our fair share of raindrops. As a result, first all the creeks swelled and then the rivers. Here are a few photos of the Antietam Creek at the Ironworks on Thursday morning.

This is looking north from the bridge.

Notice the log jam

This is looking south from the bridge toward the Potomac River. I believe the water came up into Harpers Ferry Road sometime on Wednesday.

The inhabitants of this area have always dealt with flooding. Harpers Ferry in particular, having been built at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers, has been flooded many many times. Apparently, they missed a big one this week. It was last in January and September 1996 when the town dealt with major floods; the Blizzard of Jan. '96 and then Hurricane Fran marked the first time in the town's history that the waters rose above 29 feet in a single year. The most devastating flood was that of March 1936 when the waters rose to 36 1/2 feet and swept away two bridges and many homes and businesses. Check out this interesting page for photos and more floods.

Oh, by the way, since I've written this post this morning, we have accumulated more than a few flakes . . . There is nearly a white-out with a bit more than a dusting already on the ground . . .

edited a few hours later to add: We now have almost 5 inches! A surprise snow for us!

edited the next day to add this link to a pic and vid of flooding at Shepherdstown this past week