Rock Creek (Monocacy River tributary)

Rock Creek is an 18.9-mile-long (30.4 km)[3] tributary of the Monocacy River in south-central Pennsylvania and serves as the border between Cumberland and Mount Joy townships. Rock Creek was used by the Underground Railroad (at McAllister's Mill, "slaves would slosh through the water to throw off the tracking dogs that were pursuing them")[4] and flows near several Gettysburg Battlefield sites, including Culp's Hill, the Benner Hill artillery location, and Barlow Knoll.

Rock Creek intersections, north-to-south
Intersection	Location/Description	Coordinates
Sources	On drainage divide with Conewago Creek Northernmost watershed point: Summit near Oak Hill Rd: Summit on Stone Jug Rd: Summit on Harrisburg Rd:	39.92145°N 77.18907°W[3]
Leedy Rd		39.898669°N 77.190043°W
Shriver's Corner Rd		39.894012°N 77.194464°W
Keller Rd		39.888435°N 77.199297°W
Branch	Crosses US 15 at milepost 13.2 north of Hunterstown Rd bridge	39.87042°N 77.213781°W
Branch	Extends beyond Shriver's Corner Road (at Goldenville Rd) to just beyond Rentzel Rd: 39.911909°N 77.19552°W	39.864656°N 77.21848°W
Boyd's Schoolhouse Rd	Cumberland/Straban township border	39°51′24″N 77°13′24″W
Survey line	Borough line
	"Site 59" on creek in Cumberland and Straban townships "intended for flood control".
Blocher's Run[5]	Flow from Marsh Creek (west) & Conewago Creek (north) triple pt on Oak Ridge:39.858792°N 77.24483°W}	39.847665°N 77.225797°W
US 15 Bus.	Harrisburg Road site of former 1846 covered bridge built by Joseph Clapsaddle[6] near Barlow Knoll	39°50′41″N 77°13′22″W
Run	drainage from the east
Run	Drainage along former site of Alm's house[7] from Gettysburg College's Quarry Lake & Oak Ridge triple point (with Willoughby/Pitzer Runs)	39.838126°N 77.221412°W
Stevens Creek[8]		39.836882°N 77.221527°W
Island	Depicted on 1916 Gettysburg National Military Park map[9]
Run	(Depicted on battlefield map at right)
Railroad	Early's Confederates burned the trestle on June 27, 1863 (rebuilt days later & in 1912)
US 30	1807 3-arch stone bridge of 60 ft (18 m),[10] 1853 covered bridge,[6] 1919 Lincoln Highway bridge, replacement	39°50′54″N 77°13′11″W
PA 116	Site of former 1853 90-foot covered bridge built by John Finly[6] and 1932 concrete bridge.	39°49′51″N 77°13′4″W
Survey line	Borough line
Winebrenner Run[5]		39.829632°N 77.217922°W
Rock Creek Ravine	Location noted in several battle records	39.826369°N 77.217579°W
Jones Bridge Run?[5]	Flows north of Culp's Hill to confluence just upstream of island	39.822117°N 77.217504°W
Survey line	1893 Warren survey line for Gettysburg Battlefield crossed creek
Benner Run	Flows southeast of Benner's Hill artillery location ("Ladys Run" in 1886)	39.819645°N 77.213974°W
Ford	between Spangler Spring and farm (Z. Tawney during the battle)[7]
Spangler Spring Run[5]	Drainage southward from Stevens Knoll	39.814124°N 77.215079°W
Guinn Run[5]		39°48′39″N 77°12′52″W
	Former site of McAllister's Mill dam (destroyed by 1870 flood)
Run	(Depicted on battlefield map at right)
Ford	1889 road downstream of McAllister's Mill
Baltimore Pike	1802 turnpike bridge[11] (north of PA 97 terminus)	39°48′18″N 77°12′41″W
Run	Flows under Baltimore Pike	39.802645°N 77.210825°W
Run		39.798701°N 77.207869°W
Run		39.794015°N 77.209296°W
US 15	Near site of Battle of Gettysburg field hospital at George Bushman Farm:39°47′27″N 77°12′54″W
White Run	Drainage from Lake Heritage, Pennsylvania	39.784651°N 77.205552°W
Run	Drainage from Weikert Hill and Round Top, Pennsylvania	39.781234°N 77.211699°W
Wright Avenue Run[5]	from Big Round Top[7]
Sachs Road	1891 bridge[12]	39°46.950′N 77°12.387′W
Little's Run	"Two Taverns Run" in 1901 when bridge was built at Little's Tavern[13] headpoint near White Hall:39.79027°N 77.112651°W[3]	39.77928°N 77.212579°W
Soloman Road	1895 steel Burr arch bridge "Lott's Bridge" at "Lott's fording"[14] & 1977[15] ("Lott's Bridge") near Pine Bank Cemetery	39°46.339′N 77°12.532′W
Run		39.771634°N 77.212029°W
Rock Creek Ford	Former ford just upstream of bend in creek with overhanging cliff[16]	39.771504°N 77.219124°W
Distributary	Former headpoint of millrace	39.758325°N 77.225368°W
Dam ruins	Former 1798 Black's/Horner's Mill dam to provide head for millrace (rebuilt 1937)[16]^:150	39.771504°N 77.219124°W
Plum Run	Named "Rock" Run in 1821[13]	39.758969°N 77.226806°W
PA 134	Taneytown Rd at Barlow: 1841 covered bridge, c. 1872 replacement,[17] 1923 & 1989 concrete bridges	39°45′24″N 77°13′53″W
Run	Flow from southwest of Big Round Top	39.754449°N 77.232642°W
Run		39.754152°N 77.232771°W
Cromer's Ford	Former ford for Chapel Road route south to Taneytown Rd[16] (horse team, wagon, & driver swept away in 1875)[18]	39.75402°N 77.232599°W
Run	Upstream of site of former ford at Benner Rd	39.745606°N 77.232385°W
Run	Near former intersection of Taneytown Rd & Basehoar-Roth Rd, and upstream of former Swetland Rd ford	39.740095°N 77.218995°W
Mason-Dixon Rd	("Rock Creek Rd") site of 192-foot, single-span 1890 Burr arch bridge (east span collapsed January 5, 1946)[19]	39°43.800′N 77°13.819′W
Lousy Run	Near The Links	39.723445°N 77.228887°W
Mouth	Confluence with Marsh Creek ("The Points")[20]	39°43′12.7″N 77°13′3.7″W[1]

Rock Creek
The confluence of Rock and Marsh Creek is north of the Pennsylvania/Maryland border by 12.7 arcseconds[1] (c. 1907 map).
On July 2, 1863, "Wiedrich's battery [of] six rifled cannon also exchanged fire with one of Jones's batteries on the opposite side of Rock Creek", and snipers from a home on the East side fired on positions on the West side of the creek (on July 3, Confederates retreated across Rock Creek.)
Location
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
Region	Adams County
Townships	West: Cumberland, East: Mount Joy & Straban
Cities	Gettysburg, PA, Barlow, PA
Physical characteristics
Source	Susquehanna drainage divide
Mouth	Monocacy River
Basin size	65 sq mi (170 km^2)[2]
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	coordinates shown right-justified
• right	coordinates shown left-justified
Namesakes	Civil War: Rock Creek Rangers

Tributaries

• Blocher's Run is a stream which flows from Oak Ridge (triple watershed point at 39.858792°N 77.24483°W) on the Gettysburg Battlefield eastward to the Rock Creek (39.847665°N 77.225797°W) through and near areas of the Battle of Gettysburg, First Day.[21][22][23] During the Battle of Gettysburg Confederate soldiers took cover behind the trees that lined the stream.[24]

• Guinn Run is a stream flowing southeastward from Cemetery Hill past the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center to Rock Creek. The stream was bridged by the 1809 Gettysburg and Petersburg Turnpike Company and in the commemorative era by the United States War Department when Hunt and Slocum Avenues were built. A dam was built on Guinn Run to form a pond for Fantasyland, Pennsylvania, through the 1960s and 1970s.
• Spangler Spring Run[5] is a stream which flows from near Culp's Hill to the Rock Creek through Gettysburg Battlefield areas of the Battle of Gettysburg, Second Day, to Rock Creek at 39.814124°N 77.215079°W.
• Stevens Run[25] (Stevens Creek,[26] Tiber) is a 2.2-mile-long (3.5 km)[3] stream which is a tributary of Rock Creek flowing over the Gettysburg Battlefield and through the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Within the borough the stream is in a concrete channel, including a covered portion. From 1884 to 1942, the run was spanned by three bridges of the Round Top Branch railroad.[7] Samuel Gettys' Tavern was located on the south side on the uphill slope of the now-named Stevens Run, and Rock Creek Church was approximately on the north bank of the now-named Carlisle Street and Stevens Run.[27] In 1902, a new bridge was built over the Tiber on Chambersburg Street.
• Winebrenner Run is a stream in Gettysburg, flowing eastward to Rock Creek originally from a Gettys-Black Divide triple point (with Stevens Run & Guinn Run) near Zeigler's Grove. The Confederate military line along the stream was the starting point for the battle of East Cemetery Hill on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, and most of the upstream portion of the run was engineered c. 1961 into underground drainage to open flow at the school complex near the Culp Farm at East Confederate Avenue.
• White Run is a stream which flows along East Cavalry Field and is an eponym of the Rock Creek-White Run hospital complex. The run's mouth is at Rock Creek near the Trostle Farm along the Sachs Road, site of a hospital east of Round Top, Pennsylvania.[28]

See also

• List of rivers of Pennsylvania

References

1. Garmin 530HCx user (2009-11-16), GPS Measurement at confluence point (Rock Creek west bank and Marsh Creek north bank) at water level & at base of 8 foot embankment)
2. Watershed Alliance of Adams County. Gettysburg, PA. "Watershed Profile: Rock Creek Watershed." Accessed 2010-08-21.
3. "The National Map" (NHD Viewer). National Hydrography Dataset. NationalMap.gov (USGS). Retrieved 2011-07-21.
4. Nasby, Dolly (2005). Gettysburg (Google Books). Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-3651-2. Retrieved 2011-03-11. McAllister's Old Grist Mill … housed an Underground Railroad hideout.
5. Perles; et al. (September 2006). Vegetation Classification and Mapping at Gettysburg National Military Park and Eisenhower National Historic Site (PDF) (Report). Northeast Region, National Park Service. Technical Report NPS/NER/NRTR--2006/058. Retrieved 2011-06-07.
6. "Local History: The Wooden Bridges Built by Adams County" (Google News Archive). Gettysburg Compiler. March 22, 1872. p. 2 (col 6). Retrieved 2011-04-26. 1841.--Contract with John Camp, for a covered bridge of two spans of 60 feet each, across Rock creek, at Horner's mill, on the Taneytown road--dated January 4, 1841; price $2,000. Commissioners, Daniel Diehl, Joseph J. Kuhn and William Douglass. This bridge was swept away by a flood about a year ago, and has since been replaced by another of the same character, on foundations several feet higher. |chapter= ignored (help)
7. Map of the Battle Field of Gettysburg (Map). Cartography by Gettysburg National Park Commission: Nicholson, John P; Cope, Emmor; Hammond, Schuyler A. New York: Julius Bien & Co. Lith. 1904. Retrieved 2011-06-07.
8. McPherson, James M. Atlas of the Civil War.
9. tbd (Map). Library of Congress, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: John T. Palmer Co. 1916.
10. "Local History: The Wooden Bridges Built by Adams County, Chapter III". Adams County Historical Society "Bridges" file: Gettysburg Compiler. March 15, 1872.
11. "Commissioners Office". Adams County Historical Society "Bridges" file: Adams Sentinel. November 15, 1802.
12. "Court Proceedings" (Google News Archive). New Oxford Item. August 21, 1891. Retrieved 2011-09-11. The report of viewers to view bridge site over Rock creek at the place where the public highway leading from the Gettysburg and Taneytown road to the Baltimore pike, crosses said creek on the line of the townships of Cumberland and Mountjoy, was confirmed nisi. The report was favorable to a bridge. (column 4)
13. Map of York & Adams Counties (Map). Cartography by D. Small. W. Wagner. 1821. Retrieved 2011-05-28. External link in |publisher= (help)
14. "To Bridge Builders" (Google News Archive). Gettysburg Compiler. April 30, 1895. Retrieved 2011-09-11.
15. "County Plans New Rock Creek Bridge" (Google News Archive). Gettysburg Times. November 16, 1976. Retrieved 2011-09-11.
16. Geiselman (née Plank), John Henry (1996). Cleveland, Linda K (ed.). Reflections. Preface: Sanders, Audrey J. Columbus GA: Brentwood Christian Press. pp. 26–7. Retrieved 2008-03-19. in the spring of 1923 they tore down the old covered bridge [and] erected a temporary bridge, up the creek… Mrs Heintzelman was in the [former miller] house busy baking. …carried her up to the…store… the cat was on the sewing machine and the dog on the table. …the oven door open and now the pies were floating around in the kitchen. … The flooding…broke up the temporary bridge. …formed a dam [into] the new bridge construction
17. "Will Ask For Two County Bridges" (Google News Archive). Gettysburg Times. Times and News Publishing Company. April 4, 1923. Retrieved 2011-04-28. The present structure at Barlow is a girder bridge of two fifty-five foot spans. It was built more than 70 years ago, according to the Commissioners. At one time 52 years ago, the structure was washed away from its moorings and carried on a much-swollen Rock Creek for a distance of half a mile. It was brought back; a few additions were made and only slight repairs have been made since that time. The bridge now has a roadway 16 feet wide. This is to be increased to 20 feet and all abutments and piles are to be reinforced with concrete
18. "Out Of The Past: 150 ears [sic] ago" (Google News Archive). Gettysburg Times. December 22, 1975. Retrieved 2011-09-11.
19. "Half Of Longest Bridge In County Collapses As Ice Breaks Pole Props". Gettysburg Compiler. January 5, 1946. The breakup of ice on the creek had carried away 10 telephone pole props the highway department had used to bolster the 96 foot section. ... Twenty or more years ago...a concrete pier was built in the middle of the span
20. Stewart, Jon (August 17, 2008). "Straddling the Mason-Dixon line". Frederick News Post. Archived from the original (FrederickNewsPost.com webpage) on July 11, 2011. Retrieved 2011-02-09.
21. Harry Wilcox Pfanz (2001-07-01). Gettysburg--the first day. Univ of North Carolina Press. pp. 217, 238, 254. ISBN 978-0-8078-2624-9. Retrieved 2012-01-19.
22. Andrew B. Suhrer (2008). The Flying Dutchmen. Author House. p. 174. ISBN 978-1-4343-8630-4. Retrieved 2012-01-19.
23. Janet Hewett (1995). Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies: Reports (v. 1-12, serial 1-12). Broadfoot Publishing. p. 95. ISBN 978-1-56837-275-4. Retrieved 2012-01-19.
24. Charles Teague (2001). "Barlow's Knoll Revisited". Military History Online. Retrieved 2012-01-22. Blocher’s Knoll had a distinct disadvantage. Though the swollen Rock Creek itself was a barrier of sorts, the trees along that stream as well as Blocher’s Run would give cover to advancing soldiers. Barlow sought to balance that by sending four companies of the 17th Connecticut across the bridge to the Josiah Benner homestead on the far side of Rock Creek. They were there as skirmishers to blunt the advance of Gordon’s troops and alert their comrades.
25. "Stevens Run (1188630)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
26. Balch, William Ralston; Butler, John M. (1885). The Battle of Gettysburg: An Historical Account (Google Books). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Lane S. Hart. Retrieved 2011-06-09.
27. "[Alexander Dobbin article]". The Gettysburg Experience. Archived from the original on 2010-11-28. Retrieved 2011-12-04. Rock Creek Church…located one mile north of the future town of Gettysburg (located near the junction of Carlisle Street and the Mummasburg Road)
28. "Public Sale of Real Estate" (Google News Archives). Gettysburg Compiler. June 27, 1899. Retrieved 2011-04-26.