Potomac River

Place Unit Type
Rivers/Waterways
Containing Unit
Date Type
At Point of Rocks, Union troops on the Maryland side skirmish with Confederate units across the Potomac Battles/Soldiers
Fugitive John Wilkes Booth rides into Maryland and reaches the farm of Dr. Samuel Mudd at four a.m. Crime/Disasters
In the Potomac Estuary, scores of soldiers drown after a midnight collision between steamships Crime/Disasters
- John Wilkes Booth and David Herold are hiding from their pursuers in a remote Maryland pine thicket Crime/Disasters
On the Potomac, Thaddeus Lowe launches the first balloon observation flight from a naval craft Science/Technology
On the Potomac, Thaddeus Lowe's balloon carrier is towed into position off Mattawoman Creek Science/Technology
- Prince Albert makes a brief visit to Richmond, Virginia US/the World
Robert Brown, a fugitive slave from Virginia, arrives in Philadelphia after crossing Potomac on horseback Slavery/Abolition
The breaking up of the ice dams on the Potomac carries away Washington, D.C.'s Long Bridge. Crime/Disasters
- The Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania ends when Lee's troops slip away across the Potomac in the night Battles/Soldiers
- The retreating Army of Virginia reaches the Potomac and finds it flooded and impassable Battles/Soldiers
- The Second Corps of the Army of Virginia crosses the Potomac and marches on Pennsylvania Battles/Soldiers
Union troops push back attacking Virginia units around Harpers Ferry near Pritchard's Mill on the Potomac Battles/Soldiers
United States Navy raiding party crosses the Potomac and destroys a Confederate schooner in Dumfries Creek Battles/Soldiers
Virginia Republican arrested for circulating anti-southern literature Lawmaking/Litigating
How to Cite This Page: "Potomac River," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/9073.