USS ALASKA
Captain
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2016
While looking up some info on the B & O for another forum, ran across some something that spawned a question.
The B & O was very important to the war effort but the western part of the line kept getting swacked during the war, disrupting operations.
Running from DC to Cumberland, MD is the C & O Canal. Opened in 1850. In some areas right along side the B & O.
During the ACW, was this waterway used much or was it avoided because of it's proximity to the Confederacy? Was it attacked like the B & O? I would have thought that the locks would have made tempting targets. Much easier to destroy than infrastructure like the Paw Paw Tunnel.
'The canal deteriorated during the Civil War. In 1869, the company's annual report said, "During the last ten years little or nothing had been done toward repairing and improving lock-houses, culverts, aqueducts, locks, lock-gates and waste weirs of the Company; many of them had become entirely unfit for use and were becoming worthless, rendering it absolutely essential to the requirements of the Company to have them repaired." Still, some improvements were made in the late 1860s, such as replacing Dams No. 4 and 5.'
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_and_Ohio_Canal
Not sure if this is the right forum for this but since we don't have a Logistics forum...and it is about water and 'silly boats' as my vastly more significant other says about my fascination with Naval things...
Cheers,
USS ALASKA
The B & O was very important to the war effort but the western part of the line kept getting swacked during the war, disrupting operations.
Running from DC to Cumberland, MD is the C & O Canal. Opened in 1850. In some areas right along side the B & O.
During the ACW, was this waterway used much or was it avoided because of it's proximity to the Confederacy? Was it attacked like the B & O? I would have thought that the locks would have made tempting targets. Much easier to destroy than infrastructure like the Paw Paw Tunnel.
'The canal deteriorated during the Civil War. In 1869, the company's annual report said, "During the last ten years little or nothing had been done toward repairing and improving lock-houses, culverts, aqueducts, locks, lock-gates and waste weirs of the Company; many of them had become entirely unfit for use and were becoming worthless, rendering it absolutely essential to the requirements of the Company to have them repaired." Still, some improvements were made in the late 1860s, such as replacing Dams No. 4 and 5.'
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_and_Ohio_Canal
Not sure if this is the right forum for this but since we don't have a Logistics forum...and it is about water and 'silly boats' as my vastly more significant other says about my fascination with Naval things...
Cheers,
USS ALASKA