Back in the “good ole days,” before malignant forces took Whites Ferry away from the good citizens of Leesburg and Poolesville, an angler could leave his house in Leesburg and be on the Potomac River in about thirty minutes.
A favorite fishing day started with a two-mile, forty-minute, motorized jaunt upriver to the top of Mason Island, and then a slow, languorous float down river, letting the current take the boat where it may, and fishing the whole time. That, my friends, is paradise!
However, we found that whenever we reached the top of Mason Island the water was always so shallow that we had to get out of the boat and drag it the rest of the way. It was only later, when I began to study the history of the Potomac River area that I discovered that that shallow top of Mason Island is White’s Ford, a river ford that was used by the early inhabitants of the area 8,000 years ago, during our Civil War and, as I found out on Saturday, even today.
With that introduction, begins my story. On Saturday morning, I visited White’s Ford. It was a beautiful summer morning, sunny and not too hot. I waded into the river up to my knees and stood, listening to a myriad of sounds; of insects and birds; the splash of leaping bass; and then, a far-off human shout coming from the opposite shore over a thousand feet away. Moments later, I saw its source.
A sizeable force led by a British flag, yes, the Union Jack (!), was entering the river at the Maryland side of the Ford and marching toward Virginia. Hadn’t the British learned their lesson at Yorktown I mused? There with our French allies, we turned their world upside down. As they surrendered, they sang:
Listen to me and you shall hear, news hath not been this thousand year:
Since Herod, Caesar, and many more, you never heard the like before.
Holy-dayes are despis’d, new fashions are devis’d.
Old Christmas is kickt out of Town.
Yet let’s be content, and the times lament, you see the world turn’d upside down.
But apparently that wasn’t lesson enough for the British who in August of 1814 invaded again. Storming into our Capital City, they sang this heroic song from Handel’s Judas Maccabeus,
“See, the conqu’ring hero comes!
Sound the trumpets! Beat the drums!
Sports prepare! The laurel bring!
Songs of triumph to him sing!”
They burned Washington, D.C. then marched up to Baltimore determined to conquer another American city. Fortunately, despite a naval attack with “rockets’ red glare, and bombs bursting in air,” Fort McHenry held out and the next morning, “our flag was still there.” Again, the Brits were ignominiously defeated.
I was suddenly stirred from my historical musings when, to my surprise, I sighted Old Glory. Yes, the Stars and Stripes were also being carried by this mob! I then realized I was not witnessing a foreign invasion, but the annual “Crossing of the Potomac” led by historian, Poolesville journalist and Son of the American Revolution, Jon Wohl. The throngs who joined him represented the Veterans of Poolesville, The Senior Center of Poolesville and other patriotic citizens.
I later found out that the Brits were guests from the embassy in Washington DC and they, fortunately, had no ill intentions.
After resting on the Virginia shore, the Marylanders made their way back to their home state and, presumably, the Brits to their embassy. During this whole ordeal, I played my role as Virginia host as well as could be expected.
To reach Fords Crossing, drive up route 15 from Leesburg towards Lucketts until you see the sign for Piscataway Regional Crossing Park. There, you will find some useful informational signs which detail the Civil War history of the ford which was named after E.V. White, a local Confederate cavalryman who owned the land. Confederate personages who crossed here during the Civil war include Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Jubal Early and J.E.B. Stuart. It was also used by Union troops on their way to the Antietam battlefield.
Paul Kreingold, August 3, 2024
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