Tales About Our Watershed, Story 1
You can make a strong case that right now is the worst time in the environmental history of our watershed. After all, the headwaters on the upstream side of U. S. 29 have recently been stripped bare by development. This follows probably even worse destruction in the Willow Springs area and the Little Rocky Run neighborhood a few years back; the aftereffects of which are severe but unnoticed by the unpracticed eye.
However, there is a strong possibility that there was an even worse time. Specifically, the huge Confederate encampment that took over the Centreville area in late 1861 through March 1862 must have wreaked havoc on the local environment.
Something like 30,000 men camped in and around Centreville during this time and built some 1,500 log cabins for winter shelter. Extensive fortifications were also erected. This building and the need for firewood resulted in possibly total deforestation of the Little Rocky Run watershed. It was so bad that even as late as 1914 the devastation was still apparent, so much so that the Washington Sunday Star "Rambler" noted, "if ever a village was killed in the war, it was Centreville." (Source: Centreville, Virginia Its History and Architecture, by Eugenia B. Smith, June 1973).
Consider also that little attention was paid in those days to the proper disposal of human waste. The waste of 30,000 men undoubtedly went straight into Little Rocky Run and must have destroyed every creature from the headwaters to Bull Run Creek. Likewise, the dead appear to have been buried in a somewhat haphazard manner and bodies are still found in unexpected places to this day - for instance, the six Union soldiers recently found during the building of a McDonald's on U. S. 28. Maybe worse, the disposal of surgical waste was done with little thought for the environment as well. (See "Surgical Reminiscences of the Civil War" by Dr. W. W. Keen who cared for about a 100 soldiers in the Centreville area after the battle of 2nd Bull Run). In short, sanitation concerns during the Civil War were based on woeful ignorance.
Without question the Civil War was a disaster for the Little Rocky Run watershed.
On the other hand, the damage done then was short-term and the watershed recovered over time. Unfortunately, the damage being done now by out-of-control development may never be undone and is much more serious. This is not a happy thought, especially when you contemplate that watershed management practices in the headwaters section of Little Rocky Run are worse now than they were in 1862.
NF, October 2002; updated 7/12/04
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