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Traveling witness to the conflict

Merchant has many accidental brushes with history

By Richard E. Clem SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES | Thursday, October 16, 2008

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In 1888, just four years before his death, William Firth Cowden of Cumberland, Md., published a book titled simply "Cowden's Poems." Cowden recorded events witnessed mostly while traveling on the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal (C&O) during the Civil War. In the Introduction, he writes:"It fell to my lot, to pass through Harper's Ferry, on the memorable night of October 16th, 1859, while the force led by John Brown was in the act of raiding the town." He was only 22 years old at the time.

"Being on the Maryland side of the river, our boat passed on down the canal unmolested; when nearing Point of Rocks, I saw a special Train, bearing Genl. Robert E. Lee, and a large number of United States Marines, to the scene of the conflict, which was soon ended by the capture of John Brown of Osawatomie."

Point of Rocks is a small community along the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad and C&O Canal just east of Harpers Ferry that hasn't changed much since the War Between the States. During the war, this area served as one of the Union's largest supply depots. When Lee took Brown prisoner at Harpers Ferry in 1859, he held the rank of colonel in the United States Army. Lee would not become a general until he joined the Confederacy.

C&O Canal

Cowden was born in New Brunswick, Canada, on Feb. 25, 1837, the eldest son of John and Mary Ann Firth Cowden. He could trace his roots back to Scotland, where in 1815 his ancestors sailed for North America on a ship called the Alexander. In the spring of 1844, the Cowdens settled in Johnstown, Pa., residing there until 1850, when the family moved to Cumberland, Md., on the Potomac River.

Cowden attained financial prosperity by selling and moving merchandise on the C&O Canal from his home in Cumberland to Washington. It was during one of these business dealings that he had his brush with John Brown.

The C&O Canal operated between 1836 and 1924, paralleling the Potomac River from Cumberland to Washington. The total length of what some called the "Grand Old Ditch" was 184.5 miles. The primary purpose of the narrow waterway was to haul coal, lumber and grain by a system of boats or barges pulled by mules walking on a towpath along the side.

Early in December 1861, a Confederate officer later to be known as Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson tried demolishing Dam No. 5 on the Potomac River, which furnished water to the canal. Jackson's plan was to prevent coal mined in Western Maryland from reaching the Union's capital. This attempt to cut off an important source of Washington's fuel was one of few objectives the Southern legend failed to accomplish.

Confederate flag

On a business trip in May 1861, Cowden had another brush with history. "As if fate had predetermined my path, I happened to be in the City of Alexandria, Virginia, the day the first Confederate flag was hoisted, waving its folds over the Jackson House. This was the same banner that Col. Elmer Ellsworth lost his life in taking down May 1861."