| Monocacy River | |
|---|---|
 Monocacy River near Frederick, Maryland in 2007 | |
 The Monocacy River watershed | |
| Native name | Monnockkesey (Shawnee) |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Maryland |
| County | Frederick Carroll |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Harney, Carroll County, Maryland, United States |
| • coordinates | 39°43′11″N 77°13′03″W / 39.71972°N 77.21750°W |
| • elevation | 400 ft (120 m) |
| Mouth | Potomac River |
• location | Dickerson, Maryland, United States |
• coordinates | 39°13′22″N 77°27′15″W / 39.22278°N 77.45417°W |
• elevation | 200 ft (61 m) |
| Length | 58 mi (93 km) |
| Basin size | 970 sq mi (2,500 km2) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Frederick |
| • average | 1,550 cu ft/s (44 m3/s) |
| • minimum | 573 cu ft/s (16.2 m3/s) |
| • maximum | 3,060 cu ft/s (87 m3/s) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Bridgeport, Frederick County, Maryland |
| • average | 400 cu ft/s (11 m3/s) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Piney Creek, Double Pipe Creek, Israel Creek, Linganore Creek, Furnace Branch |
| • right | Toms Creek, Tuscarora Creek, Carroll Creek, Ballenger Creek |
The Monocacy River (/məˈnɒkəsi/) is a free-flowing left tributary to the Potomac River, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean via the Chesapeake Bay. The river is 58.5 miles (94.1 km) long,[1] with a drainage area of about 970 square miles (2,500 km2).[2] It is the largest Maryland tributary to the Potomac.
The name "Monocacy" comes from the Shawnee name for the river Monnockkesey, which translates to "river with many bends." (However, another local tradition asserts that "Monocacy" means "well-fenced garden" in an Indian language.)
The Monocacy National Battlefield lies alongside part of the river, marking an 1864 engagement during the American Civil War, the Battle of Monocacy Junction. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal crosses over the river at the Monocacy Aqueduct, the largest of the 11 aqueducts on the canal.
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Confluence of Monocacy and Potomac Rivers by the Monocacy Aqueduct
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 15, 2011
- ^ "Chapter 3. The Physical Environment". Monocacy Scenic River Management Plan (Report). Frederick, MD: Frederick County Council. 2019.