Saturday, September 12, 2009

~ Crossing the Potomac River ... In Commemoration Of Our History~






White's Ford Crossing celebration takes place annually on the last Saturday of August. The purpose is for Southern Heritage organizations to gather & commemorate General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia's (ANV) 1862 crossing into Maryland during the Sharpsburg Campaign.

(These people come to walk across the Potomac River for a fun day. They have a huge barbecue for the hundreds of people to attend & other events during the day. My DH is in the bottom two pics in ithe red shirt & red cap).

Over a 3-day period, from Sept. 5 - 7, 1862, the bulk of the ANV's 55,000 soldiers crossed White's Ford to liberate Maryland from the Federal occupation forces and, hopefully, force an end to the conflict. On the first day General 'Stonewall' Jackson's command crossed & moved northeast to Buckeystown. Later that day General Stuart crossed his cavalry & maneuvered towards Poolesville as the screen to the Army's right flank. The next day General Longstreet crossed his command. The third day General 'Sandy' Pendleton's artillery reserve crossed. The ford was used before & after by numerous Confederate forces of varying sizes during the course of the war.

Some of the organizations involved in this event are the Sons of Confederate Veterans, United Daughters of the confederacy & The Military Order of the Stars And Bars.

15 comments:

  1. What a wonderful way to commemorate the event! It looks like such a fun day!!! Hope all's well with you~ happy weekend!
    Hugs!

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  2. I so love history & this looks like a wonderful way to spend a day!!
    Have a wonderful day!!
    Love,
    Marilyn

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  3. They are having reenactments of the Civil War here this weekend too.

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  4. Hi Marydon,
    How cool, and what a wonderful way to celebrate our history !! God Bless this wonderful country, we call, AMERICA !! I LoVe learning about all the history of our great country !! Amazing...Love to you~
    hugs ~tea~xo

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  5. We love the civil war re-enactments.
    What a great post and photos !

    ~ Blessings to you sweet friend !

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  6. I love anything to do with our beautiful country's history... thanks for sharing... Bisous... Julie Marie

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  7. Hi Marydon,

    Lovely to hear some history from your parts, thank you for sharing.
    It looks like you had a fun day out.

    Hugs
    Carolyn

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  8. What a wonderful day to and it looks like it was a blast. I loved looking at your pictures, thank you for sharing them with me this Saturday.

    Blessings,
    Heidi

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  9. What a fun tradition! They walk through the river? How deep is it?

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  10. Hi there. I just wanted to say hi and thanks for stopping by my blog the other day. I'm off to look around here a bit.

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  11. How neat---to celebrate an important piece of history. My Great Aunt was in the UDC and my mother was in the DAR. My hubby LOVES Robert E. Lee (with a passion) even though he was born and raised in Indiana. And--I'm a Virginia southern gal!!!!

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  12. Can't imagine so many crossing this...
    very interesting to read this post of yours.
    blessings to you,
    d

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  13. Hi Marydon,
    What a fun day full of history. You always have such interesting and learning posts. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
    Have a nice rest of the weekend.
    Blessings, Celestina Marie

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  14. Hi Marydon...

    Wow! I love a great little history lesson. I slept through most of it in school and I've spent years since then trying to catch up!

    What an awesome experience....and, fortunately, a beautiful day too!

    Have a wonderful day, dear gal.

    Hugs,
    Spencer

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  15. Hi Marydon! This looks like quite an event!.. The history, the BBQ, and all the people there! Sounds wonderful! ~tina

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