Giesboro Point Article, Tragedy

[JPK Huson 1863]

Just managed to erase an entire post, am starting allll over with a headache this time....

Found this, which again may be old hat for some here. Sounds more than ghastly, cannot imagine the numbers here- even for men somewhat ' used' to the sights of war this would have been beyond horrific especially for horse lovers. I realize a lot of men had no experience with horses pre-war. Some, like my grgrgrandfather had a lot. You can't tell me he'd spent his youth and adult life fooling around with them, being in charge of his family's business-end horses and mules and joine the cavalry by accident.This would have flattened him, and all those like him.

Some well known photos of the Point. Will try to pull up more extensive stories on this unless some has something ( would be helpful- I'd be starting from zero, no idea what the best sources would be ).

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

PS- spelled Giesboro incorrectly- how surprising. Would someone mind changing this if there's a few minutes, please? Looks awfully silly.

 

[donna]

What a horrible thing to happen. Never heard about this one. I just can't imagine that happening to the horses. War is always so cruel but just senseless for these horses.

 

[Mike Serpa]

...The Depot was designed to hold up to 30,000 horses, although the largest number present at any one time was about 21,000. From January 1864 to the end of the war, Giesboro handled 170,622 cavalry horses; issuing 97,580 for use by the Army and selling 48,721 as unfit for military service. Waterworks consisting of a reservoir, steam pumps and 27,000 feet of piping were installed. The Depot's staff of nearly 1500 grew its own vegetables, slaughtered its own beef and milled its own wheat. The horseshoeing shop alone employed over 100 blacksmiths. The Depot's steam grist mill grinded grain and cut hay and straw. At full capacity, the Depot was estimated to generate 700 tons of manure a day. (And some people think today's nearby Blue Plains Treatment Plant smells on a summer afternoon).

The installation's veterinary hospital had stalls for treating 2,500 invalid horses. The unprecedented concentration of horses did contribute to equine disease outbreaks, such as glanders, and more than 17,000 horses were lost to disease between January 1864 and April 1865. With thousands of horses grouped in corrals, there was also a constant danger of stampedes. The Alexandria Gazette reported of one stampede in 1863, which resulted in nearly 1,000 horses drowning in the Potomac River and Eastern Branch. With each horse costing the government at least $150, the staggering financial cost of these losses brings to mind Lincoln's statement that "I can make more generals, but horses cost money."…

http://civilwarwashingtondc1861-186.../geisborough-point-cavalry-depot-parking.html