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Adams County Courthouse
111–117 Baltimore Street Gettysburg PA 17325 (717)334-6781 http://www.adamscounty.us/The Adams County Courthouse was occupied by the Confederates prior to the Battle of Gettysburg, and was used as a Union hospital following the battle.
In 1859 the Adams County Courthouse was constructed to replace a smaller building located a block away. During the Gettysburg Campaign, while Confederate Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell was ordered to take two of his divisions to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a third division under Maj. Gen. Jubal Early was directed to advance toward York, Pennsylvania, and to break the railroad running between Baltimore and Harrisburg. On June 26, 1863, Early occupied Gettysburg en route to York and took possession of the Adams County Courthouse from which he made requisition for supplies from the citizenry. The courthouse was occupied overnight by Confederate officers. Anxious to capture York, Early departed the following day without most of the supplies he had demanded. During the Battle of Gettysburg, the Adams County Courthouse served as a Union hospital and continued as such until about July 10, 1863. Fannie Buehler, who lived opposite the courthouse, left vivid recollections of the cries of the wounded, and of the cartloads of amputated limbs that were removed from the building.
The Adams County Courthouse remained in use until 1979. A major restoration of the building took place between 1983 and 1985, and today it is still used for ceremonial purposes.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
https://www.dot7.state.pa.us/ce_imagery/phmc_scans/H001252_01H.pdf
http://www.adamscountylaw.org/courthouse-history.html
Scott L. Mingus, Sr., Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Confederate Expedition to the Susquehanna River, June 1863, 2011.
History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania, 1886.
Other markers:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=19251
Angela Kirkham Davis House
29 West Baltimore Street Funkstown, MD 21734Former home of Angela Kirkham Davis who chronicled her experiences as a Union sympathizer. The house also served as a hospital after the Battles of Antietam and Funkstown.
Angela Kirkham Davis was a Union supporter who cared for wounded soldiers of both sides during the Battle of Antietam in September 1862 and again in 1863 after the Battle of Funkstown. With her husband Joseph Davis, she brought food and water to the battlefield and took a wounded officer into her home to recuperate. Davis recounted her wartime experiences in War Reminiscences: A Letter to my Nieces. This home is a private residence.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter WA-I-554 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Roger Keller, Crossroads of War – Washington County, Maryland in the Civil War (Shippensburg, PA: Burd Street Press, 1997), 3-33.
Historical Marker Database: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2008
Arcadia
Arcadia was occupied by soldiers from both sides during the war, and served as a hospital for Confederate soldiers after the Battle of Monocacy.
Arcadia, built c.1780, was owned by Robert McGill in 1862. In 1863, just prior to the Battle of Gettysburg, Arcadia served as the headquarters of Union General George Meade, then the newly appointed commander of the Army of the Potomac. After the Battle of Monocacy in 1864 wounded Confederate soldiers were taken to the house for treatment. Dr. David McKinney, the surgeon in charge of the Federal hospital across Ballenger Creek, was so impressed by Arcadia that he purchased it from Robert McGill in 1865. Arcadia is now a private residence.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (enter F-1-172 in “Site No.” in “Search by Property” tab)
National Register of Historic Places summary: http://mht.maryland.gov/nr/NRDetail.aspx?HDID=485&COUNTY=Frederick&FROM=NRCountyList.aspx?COUNTY=Frederick
Barbara Fritchie House
154 West Patrick Street Frederick, MD 21701 Contact: The house is privately owned and occasionally opened for tours. Check with the Tourism Council of Frederick County for current information: 301-600-2888, or 800-999-3613This reconstructed house marks the residence of Barbara Fritchie, the heroine of John Greenleaf Whittier’s 1863 poem.
In 1863, John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem about Frederick resident Barbara Fritchie and her courageous act of flying the Union flag from her attic window above of the heads of Confederate soldiers marching out of town during the first invasion of Lee’s troops into Maryland in September 1862. Fritchie was ninety-six years old at the time, and perhaps bedridden. The poem has been controversial ever since, and most people today think the incident never took place (at least not the version described in the poem). Barbara Fritchie’s strong Unionist views were never in doubt, however. She freely expressed her strong and unyielding support for the Union throughout the sectional conflict. It is known that Barbara Fritchie stood outside her home and cheered on McClellan’s forces as they marched through Frederick in September 1862, and an alleged member of Jackson’s Third Brigade relates that the elderly woman once mistakenly waved a Union flag at passing Confederates. True or not, Whittier’s poem became famous, and spawned books, plays, musicals, films, and memorabilia and souvenirs of all types. Fritchie died in December of 1862, and her house was torn down a few years later to widen nearby Carroll Creek. Much of the material from the house was saved, and later used in reconstructing the house in the 1920s. The house is privately owned and occasionally open for tours.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter FHD-0520 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Charles S. Adams, The Civil War in Frederick County, Maryland – A Guide to 49 Historic Points of Interest (Shepherdstown, WV: The Author, 1995), 12
Civil War Trails Historical Marker: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2693
Entler Hotel (Historic Shepherdstown Museum)
129 E. German Street Shepherdstown, WV 25443 Contact: 304-876-0910 http://historicshepherdstown.comThe hotel served as a hospital complex after the Battle of Antietam.
The Entler Hotel began as a set of six adjacent properties, the earliest of which was built in 1786. After the Battle of Antietam in 1862, it was turned into a large hospital; some of the most severely wounded soldiers were brought here and tended by a local doctor, Richard Parran. After the war, it resumed its status as a hotel: in the latter part of the century, it was not uncommon for a veteran of the Civil War to return to spend a night in the room in which he had recuperated. In 1912 the structure became Rumsey Hall, the first men’s dormitory of Shepherd College. After serving as faculty apartments and storage space, it lay abandoned for almost a decade and was threatened with destruction. Today, however, it is the headquarters of the nonprofit organization Historic Shepherdstown, and is operated as the Historic Shepherdstown Museum.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.historicshepherdstown.com/
National Register of Historic Places nomination: http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/jefferson/73001919.pdf
Margaret S. Creighton, The Colors of Courage – Gettysburg’s Forgotten History (NY: Basic Books, 2005), 121-122.
Evangelical Reformed Church
15 West Church Street Frederick, MD 21701 Contact: 301-662-2762Confederate General Stonewall Jackson attended services here on September 7, 1862, during the Confederates’ first foray into Maryland that would end at the Battle of Antietam.
In the Antietam Campaign, the Confederate Army first entered Maryland on September 4, 1862. The CSA soldiers stayed in the Frederick vicinity for several days, until September 12. General Stonewall Jackson, deeply religious, planned to attend Sunday evening church services on September 7 at Frederick’s Presbyterian Church, where the minister, Rev. Dr. John Ross, was a personal friend. But services were not held that evening at the Presbyterian Church, so Jackson and a few fellow officers attended the services of the Evangelical Reformed Church just down the street. The pastor of the Evangelical Reformed Church, Dr. Daniel Zacharias, was a strong Unionist but also had two sons fighting on the Confederate side. Dr. Zacharias was later praised for his courage in offering a prayer for President Abraham Lincoln while Confederate officers were in the congregation, but according to one of Jackson’s aides, the General, as was his custom, promptly fell asleep when the sermon started and never heard the prayer. Henry Kyd Douglas, the aide, later wrote that if Jackson had been awake to hear the prayer, “I’ve no doubt he would have joined in it heartily.” It is unclear whether General Jackson was awake when the hymn, “The Stoutest Rebel must Resign,” was sung.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter FHD-0664 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Kathleen A. Ernst, Too Afraid to Cry – Maryland Civilians in the Antietam Campaign (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1999), 48-49.
John H. Landis, “A Lancaster Girl in History,” in Papers Read Before the Lancaster Historical Society Vol. 23, No. 5 (Lancaster, PA: The New Era Printing Co., 1919), 87.
Ferry Hill Inn
16500 Shepherdstown Pike Sharpsburg MD 21782 (301)582-0813 http://www.nps.gov/choh/planyourvisit/ferry-hill-place.htmFerry Hill was the boyhood home of Confederate officer Henry Kyd Douglas, and the property was occupied by both armies at different times during the Civil War.
In 1765 Thomas Van Swearingen bought property on both sides of the Potomac between Shepherdstown, VA, and Sharpsburg, MD, and began operating a ferry. Through marriage, in 1816 John Blackford acquired the property and the rights to operate the ferry. Between 1812 and 1820, the mansion house was built atop the heights that overlooked the river on the Maryland side, which was called Ferry Hill. The house operated as an inn and tavern, and the land was worked by slaves. With the arrival of the nearby Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in the 1830s, the plantation flourished and the small community of Bridgeport developed as a result of the commercial activity in the area.
At the beginning of the Civil War, Henry Kyd Douglas, a young lawyer not long out of college, lived at Ferry Hill with his parents, Rev. Robert and Helene Douglas. Young Douglas had enlisted in a Confederate regiment and was among those troops that burned the toll bridge across the river opposite his family’s house in June 1861. On September 19–20, 1862, during the Battle of Shepherdstown, Union artillery occupied positions on the high ground around the Douglas property and shelled Confederates who were retreating from the battlefield at Antietam. The house was occupied by Union officers and Douglas’ parents were held captive. During the Gettysburg Campaign, the nearby ford was among those used by the Confederates during the invasion of Maryland, and Maj. Gen. Edward Johnson occupied Ferry Hill en route to Pennsylvania.
The Douglas family owned Ferry Hill until 1903. In 1941 the house was converted into a restaurant. The National Park Service bought the property in 1973. From 1979 until 2001 it served as headquarters for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park. In 2012 Ferry Hill reopened as a National Park Service visitors center with exhibits focusing on the historic property, Henry Kyd Douglas, the Civil War, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.
See these sources and websites for additional information
http://www.nps.gov/choh/planyourvisit/ferry-hill-place.htm
http://www.nps.gov/choh/historyculture/ferryhillplantation.htm
http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/blackford/blackford.htm
http://www.canaltrust.org/discoveries/pdf/FerryHill_Site_Bulletin.pdf
Henry Kyd Douglas, I Rode with Stonewall: Being Chiefly the War Experiences of the Youngest Member of Jackson’s Staff from the John Brown Raid to the hing of Mrs. Surratt, 1940; reprint, n.d.
Thomas A. McGrath, Shepherdstown: Last Clash of the Antietam Campaign, September 19–20, 1862, 2007.
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter WA-II-0035 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Other markers:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=58252
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1971
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1877
Gettysburg Railroad Station
35 Carlisle StreetGettysburg,PA 17325 (800)337-5015 http://www.gettysburg.travel/visitor/member_detail.asp?contact_id=34438
The Gettysburg Railroad Station served as a field hospital following the Battle of Gettysburg, and President Lincoln later passed through it to give the Gettysburg Address.
Construction of the Gettysburg Railroad began in 1856 and was completed in 1858. The line extended for sixteen miles, running between Hanover Junction andGettysburg,Pennsylvania. Construction of the train station was completed in 1859. During the Battle of Gettysburg, the train station was utilized as a field hospital. After the battle, the Union army commandeered the railroad for about six weeks to remove the wounded and forward supplies. About 15,000 wounded soldiers were evacuated from the battlefield over the Gettysburg Railroad. In the days leading up to the dedication of Soldiers’NationalCemetery, about 15,000 dignitaries and guests arrived in town, most of whom traveled over the Gettysburg Railroad and passed through the train station, including President Lincoln on November 18. The next day at the dedication,Lincolndelivered “a few appropriate remarks,” which have become immortalized as the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln departed that evening, again using the Gettysburg Railroad on his party’s return to Washington.
After various changes of ownership due to the sale and mergers of railroads over the decades since the Civil War, in 1998 title to the Gettysburg Railroad station was transferred to the Borough of Gettysburg, which undertook efforts to restore and preserve the building. After $1 million was raised, the building was restored and is now serving as a visitor information center for the Gettysburg Convention and Visitors Bureau.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.gettysburg.travel/visitor/member_detail.asp?contact_id=34438
http://www.hallowedground.org/Explore-the-Journey/Historical-Site/Historic-Gettysburg-Train-Station
http://www.gettysburg.travel/media/news_detail.asp?news_id=408
Gerald Bennett, The Gettysburg Railroad Station, 1999; revised 2008
Hessian Barracks
242 South Market Street Frederick, MD 21701This former barracks and prison served throughout the war as a hospital for the North and the South.
The Hessian Barracks are generally assumed to have been built in 1777, though several local historians contend that they were built earlier, during the French & Indian War. They served as a prison during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, as well as holding French prisoners captured from ships during America’s undeclared war with France at the end of the 18th century. Just prior to the Civil War, the barracks were used as a meeting place for Frederick’s Home Guard. Soon after the war began, the remaining two buildings and the grounds were designated as a Union Military Hospital. As casualties mounted from nearby battles, new buildings were added and the hospital became one of the largest military hospitals in the country. The hospital remained in operation until the end of the war. The hospital was of great importance especially during the Battles of South Mountain and Antietam, caring for wounded soldiers from both the Union and the Confederacy.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
National Register of Historic Places summary: http://mht.maryland.gov/nr/NRDetail.aspx?HDID=46&COUNTY=Frederick&FROM=NRCountyList.aspx?COUNTY=Frederick
Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) documentation: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.md0336
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter FHD-0243 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Charles S. Adams, The Civil War in Frederick County, Maryland – A Guide to 49 Historic Points of Interest (Shepherdstown, WV: The Author, 1995), 14
Civil War Trails Historical Marker: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2806
Historical Marker Database: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2739
IOOF Hall
27 S. Main Street Boonsboro MD 21713
The Boonsboro Odd Fellows Hall was used as a hospital following the battles of South Mountain and Antietam in 1862, and after the Battle of Funkstown in 1863.
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a nineteenth century men’s fraternal organization, built its hall in Boonsboro in 1852. During the September 14, 1862 Battle of South Mountain and the September 17, 1862 Battle of Antietam, the building was used as a hospital. Following the July 10, 1863 Battle of Funkstown, which took place during the Confederate retreat from Gettysburg, the building was again pressed into service as a hospital. After the latter battle, thirty wounded men from the Eighth Illinois Cavalry were placed in the Odd Fellows Hall.
After the Civil War, the Odd Fellows Hall returned to his former use. By the early twentieth century, the Odd Fellows used the second floor of the building, while various businesses used the first floor and basement. During the first quarter of the century, the building was used as an opera house. In 1992 the building was renovated, and it is still in use as a retail shop.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
S. Roger Keller, Events of the Civil War in Washington County, Maryland, 1995.
Abner Hard, History of the Eighth Cavalry Regiment Illinois Volunteers, during the Great Rebellion, 1868.
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter WA-II-0763 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Civil War Trails marker:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1872
Jennie Wade House
548 Baltimore Street Gettysburg, PA 17325 Tour information: (717) 334-4100 http://www.jennie-wade-house.comJennie (or Ginnie) Wade was shot and killed in this house during the Battle of Gettysburg. She was the only civilian casualty of the battle.
Jennie (Ginnie) Wade, a native of Gettysburg, was twenty years old when the Battle of Gettysburg began on July 1, 1863. [Her full name was Mary Virginia Wade, and she was nicknamed "Ginnie." Newspaper reports after the battle mistakenly referred to her as "Jennie."] On the first day of the battle, Ginnie, her mother, and two younger brothers left their house on Breckenridge Street to assist Ginnie’s sister, Georgia Wade McClellan, and her new baby, in the McClellan home on Baltimore Street. On the morning of July 3, while Ginnie was kneading dough for bread, a bullet fired by an unknown soldier tore through the kitchen door and struck Ginnie. She died instantly. Amazingly, Ginnie was the only civilian casualty during the three-day battle. The McClellan house, now called the Jennie Wade House, is a museum and tourist attraction.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.jennie-wade-house.com/
http://www.army.mil/gettysburg/profiles/wade.html
Margaret S. Creighton, The Colors of Courage – Gettysburg’s Forgotten History (NY: Basic Books, 2005), 121-122.
Killiansburg Cave
Mile 75.61 of C&O Canal, roughly 1 mile downriver from Snyder’s Landing Road Sharpsburg, MD 21782Some of Sharpsburg’s civilians took shelter in this cave during the Battle of Antietam.
Before and during the Battle of Antietam, some residents of Sharpsburg took shelter in the caves in the hillsides above the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. One of those caves, the Killiansburg Cave, was shown in a contemporary drawing after the battle. The cave is located near the Potomac River about two miles west of Sharpsburg.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Charles Adams, The Civil War in Washington County, Maryland – A Guide to 66 points of Interest (Shepherdstown, WV: Charles S. Adams, 1996), 22.
Kretzer Homestead
128 E. Main Street (MD 34) Sharpsburg MD 21782During the Battle of Antietam the cellar of the Kretzer Homestead house served as a place of refuge for local residents who remained in Sharpsburg.
In 1842 John Kretzer purchased the stone house and surrounding property that was located on Main Street in Sharpsburg. The house dates to the late-eighteenth century.
During the Battle of Antietam, many Sharpsburg residents who did not leave town prior to the conflict sought shelter in the basement of the Kretzer house. The basement was fed by a spring, was subdivided into three rooms and its thick stone walls offered protection from shelling. A woodcut engraving, which originally appeared in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, depicts an exploding shell shattering a basement window while terrified citizens cower below. Later on the day of the battle, six Confederates soldiers entered the house and joined the citizens in the basement, explaining that they were tired of fighting.
John Kretzer died in 1901, and in 1939 his executor sold the house. Currently the house is a private residence that is again owned by a descendant of the Kretzer family.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://sharpsburgmd.com/history/
Kathleen A. Ernst, Too Afraid to Cry: Maryland Civilians in the Antietam Campaign, 1999; paperback edition, 2007.
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter WA-II-0550 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Landon House
3401 Urbana Pike Urbana, MD 21704Landon House was occupied by Northern and Southern troops during the war, and was the site of a ball hosted by J.E.B. Stuart in September 1862.
Landon House was reportedly constructed in 1754 as a silk mill – in Fredericksburg, Virginia, along the banks of the Rappahannock River. It was moved to its present location in 1846 by Reverend R.H. Phillips, who then turned it into the Shirley Female Seminary by 1850. During the mid-1850s it became the Landon Military Institute, but by the end of the 1850s was once more a girls’ school, the Landon Female Academy. After the Confederate Army invaded Maryland in September 1862, General Longstreet’s soldiers stayed in the house and on the grounds. Many of them inscribed their names and units, as well as derisive comments about the North, on the walls of the house. On September 8th, 1862, Landon House was the site of General J.E.B. Stuart’s “Sabers and Roses” ball. The dance was the idea of several young ladies from the area, and the amiable Stuart agreed that it would give his men a respite from the stresses of military life. Unfortunately, the festivities were marred by a nearby skirmish between a Federal patrol and a Southern outpost. Though the fight was quickly over, the ball ended as the casualties were brought back to Landon, to be nursed by the female attendees.
A little over a week later, on September 16th, Union troops used the recently vacated building as a resting place on their pursuit of the Confederates. Seeing the Southern soldiers’ graffiti, the Union soldiers added their own names, cartoons, and commentaries on the South. (The graffiti is still present on the walls of the house.) After the war, Landon was bought by Colonel Luke Tiernan Brien, a chief of staff to J.E.B. Stuart during the war. It is now privately owned, and occasionally used for special events.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
https://sites.google.com/site/landonhousecom/history
http://www.freewebs.com/landonhouse/index.htm
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (enter F-7-003 in “Site No.” in “Search by Property” tab)
National Register of Historic Places summary: http://mht.maryland.gov/nr/NRDetail.aspx?HDID=283&FROM=NRMapFR.html
Civil War Trails Marker: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1739
Mumma Farmstead
Smoketown Road Sharpsburg MD 21782 http://www.nps.gov/resources/place.htm?id=64During the Battle of Antietam the Mumma Farmstead was the only civilian property that was intentionally damaged
On September 15, 1862, as the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia moved into the Sharpsburg area, Samuel and Elizabeth Mumma took their thirteen children and evacuated their home. They spent several days in a church a few miles north of the battlefield.
About two hours into the Battle of Antietam, Confederate soldiers received orders to burn the buildings on the Mumma property to prevent their use by Union sharpshooters. The house, barn and most outbuildings were subsequently burned. This was the only intentional destruction of civilian property during the battle. A stone springhouse was the only original structure to survive the battle, although the wooden upper story was destroyed.
With the loss of their home, the Mummas spent the winter at the Sherrick farm located near Burnside Bridge. In 1863 they rebuilt their home. After the war the U.S. government compensated local residents for damages committed by Union soldiers, but the Mummas received no compensation since their property had been destroyed by the Confederates. In 1906 a former member of the Third North Carolina Infantry wrote to the postmaster of Sharpsburg, seeking information about how to contact the family whose house members of his regiment had burned. The postmaster was Samuel Mumma, Jr., who replied that although his family had lost everything in the battle, they understood that the soldiers were only obeying orders when they burned the house.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.nps.gov/resources/place.htm?id=64
http://www.nps.gov/anti/forteachers/upload/Mumma%20and%20Roulette%20Farms%20Trail%20Guide.pdf
http://www.nps.gov/anti/forteachers/upload/Contradictions-and-Divided-Loyalties.pd
James V. Murfin, The Gleam of Bayonets: The Battle of Antietam and Robert E. Lee’s Maryland Campaign, September 1862, 1965; reprint, 1982.
Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey:
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/item/md1112/
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.md1654
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter WA-II-0350 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Other markers:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=6981
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=20715
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=6184
Philip Pry House (Pry Farm)
18906 Shepherdstown Pike (MD 34) Keedysville, MD 21756This farm was used by General George McClellan as headquarters during the Battle of Antietam; it was also a hospital and signal station.
The Philip Pry House dates back to July 1844. Standing on a hill, it commands a good view of the Antietam battlefield, leading Union General George McClellan to make his headquarters there during the Battle of Antietam. The location also served as the medical headquarters of Dr. Jonathan Letterman, who put into place influential plans reorganizing the army medical system while here; both the barn and the house were called into service as hospitals. General Israel B. Richardson, “the Union hero of Bloody Lane,” died here on November 3rd, after being visited by President Abraham Lincoln in October. Today, the Pry House is part of Antietam National Battlefield and serves as a field hospital museum for the National Museum of Civil War Medicine.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.civilwarmed.org/VisitUs/PryHouse.aspx
http://www.nps.gov/anti/planyourvisit/pryhouse.htm
Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) documentation: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.md1084; http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.md1083;
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.md1082
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter WA-II-0355 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Charles S. Adams, The Civil War in Washington County, Maryland – A Guide to 66 points of Interest (Shepherdstown, WV: Charles S. Adams, 1996), 12.
Prospect Hall
889 Butterfly Lane Frederick, MD 21703 (301) 662-4210Prospect Hall was the site of the transfer of command of the Army of the Potomac from Union General Joseph Hooker to General George Meade before the Battle of Gettysburg.
Prospect Hall was built during the early 19th century, possibly as early as the late 18th century, with several later additions and alterations to its structure. During the Civil War, it was the home of Colonel William P. Maulsby, the commanding officer of the First Regiment of the Potomac Home Brigade. Stephen Douglass, the Democratic candidate for the 1860 presidential election, is known to have visited here. In 1862, Confederate troops camped at the Hall prior to the Battle of South Mountain. On June 28, 1863, just days before the Battle of Gettysburg, Union General George G. Meade assumed control of the Army of the Potomac on the grounds of Prospect Hall, relieving General Joseph Hooker.
During the winter of 1861-62, Colonel and Mrs. Maulsby hosted a ball at Prospect Hall. One of the guests, Septima Collis, the wife of a Union general, described the event:
The pièce de résistance of the season, in the way of amusement, was a ball given by Colonel and Mrs. Maltby [Maulsby], who lived in the suburbs of the town. The Colonel, if I remember rightly, then commanded a Maryland regiment or brigade. Their very large and well appointed residence was admirably adapted to gratify the desire of our hostess to make the occasion a memorable one; the immense hall served as the ballroom; the staircases afforded ample sitting room for those who did not participate in, or desired to rest from, the merry whirl, while the ante-rooms presented the most bountiful opportunities of quenching thirst or appeasing appetite. I shall never forget one little French lieutenant who divided his time with precise irregularity between the dance and the punch-bowl, and whose dangling sabre, in its revolutions in the waltz, left as many impressions upon friends as it ever did upon foes; yet it had the happy effect of giving the gentleman and his partner full possession of the field, whenever he could prevail upon some enterprising spinster to join him in cutting a swath through the crowd.”
Prospect Hall now houses a private school.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter F-3-061 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Septima M. Collis, A Woman’s War Record 1861 – 1865 (New York: Putnam’s Sons, 1889), 9-10.
Civil War Trails Historical Marker: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2775
Ramsey House
119 Record Street Frederick, MD 21701In October 1862, Abraham Lincoln stopped at this house to visit a Union general recovering from a wound received at the Battle of Antietam.
In October 1862, after the Battle of Antietam the previous month, President Abraham Lincoln made a surprise visit to the site of the battle and to Union General George McClellan, whose army was camped in the vicinity. On his return to Washington, Lincoln traveled to Frederick to take a train back to the capital. He first stopped at the home of Mrs. Ellen Tyler Ramsey, where Union General George Hartsuff was recuperating from a wound he had received at Antietam. President Lincoln was then driven to the train station where he gave a brief impromptu speech before boarding the train. The house is now a private residence.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Charles S. Adams, The Civil War in Frederick County, Maryland – A Guide to 49 Historic Points of Interest (Shepherdstown, WV: The Author, 1995): 15
“The President’s Visit to McClellan’s Army,” Harper’s Weekly, October 25, 1862, 684, 686.
“President Lincoln Stopped Off Here On Way Back From Antietam Battlefield,” Frederick News, September 1, 1961, 19.
Historical Marker Database: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2818
St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church and Cemetery
116 East 2nd Street Frederick, MD 21701 (301) 662-8288The church building was used as a hospital during the war, and the cemetery holds the remains of Roger Brooke Taney and several Civil War soldiers.
St. John’s Catholic Church, dating to 1837, was used as a hospital during the Civil War. The church was used specifically for the care of Confederate wounded, and an unsubstantiated story attributes that to the church’s high windows hindering any escape attempts.
St. John’s Cemetery is one of the rare examples in which the graves of Confederate soldiers, Union white soldiers, and Union African American soldiers co-exist. [There is one grave of an African American soldier, George Washington, who served with the 23rd U.S. Colored Infantry. Before the war, he worked at the nearby Jesuit Novitiate.] Also buried in the cemetery is Roger Brooke Taney, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.stjohn-frederick.org/aboutus.asp
http://www.stjohn-frederick.org/stjohncemetery.asp
Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) documentation: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.md0335
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter FHD-0744 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
18313 Lappans Road Boonsboro, MD 21713 www.stmarkslappans.org (301) 582-0417The church was used as a hospital after the Battle of Antietam.
St. Mark’s Church was constructed and consecrated in July of 1849. During the Civil War, it was a hospital for wounded men, some of whom were later transferred to local farms to recover. The church held no services from mid-September through November 21st, 1862, reportedly because of battle damage.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.stmarks-lappans.ang-md.org/
National Register of Historic Places summary: http://mht.maryland.gov/nr/NRDetail.aspx?HDID=1219&COUNTY=Washington&FROM=NRCountyList.aspx?COUNTY=Washington
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter WA-II-0024 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Winchester Hall
12-14 East Church Street Frederick, MD 21701Following the battles of Antietam and South Mountain, these buildings became part of Frederick’s General Hospital No. 4.
The pair of buildings now known as Winchester Hall was originally founded by Hiram Winchester as a girls’ school, the Frederick Female Seminary. The cornerstone of the east wing was laid in 1843, with the west wing following in 1850. It attracted students not just from Maryland, but from neighboring states as well. During the Civil War, the school was taken over by the Union Army on September 17, 1862 to house soldiers wounded in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam, becoming part of Frederick’s General Hospital No. 4. At first, Winchester attempted to continue the school semester, keeping the soldiers in the west wing and the girls’ classes in the east wing, but the school was soon forced to close under the strain. Winchester’s attempts to regain control of the school from the army were unsuccessful, as the kitchens were being used to feed all of General Hospital No. 4. The soldiers finally departed in January 1863, but because many of the girls’ families were afraid to send them back due to the war, the school did not reopen until 1865. Even after its post-war reopening, many Southern students did not return, and the school fell into financial troubles. The seminary later became Hood College, leaving Winchester Hall in 1915; the buildings now house Frederick County Government offices.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://frederick.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?publish_id=8 (Winchester Hall Documentary)
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (enter FHD-0614 in “Site No.” in “Search by Property” tab)
Zion Lutheran Church
107 West Main Street Middletown, Maryland 21769The Zion Lutheran Church was used as a hospital following the battles of South Mountain and Antietam.
In April of 1860, Lutherans in Middletown celebrated their first service in a new church building. Two and a half years later, following the battles of South Mountain and Antietam, the building was turned into a hospital for wounded soldiers. Pews were removed and replaced by cots, and church services were moved to a nearby hall. In January 1863 the building was returned to the Lutherans, along with $2,395 to pay for damages. The Lutherans returned to the church for worship services in August 1863.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Charles S. Adams, The Civil War in Frederick County, Maryland – A Guide to 49 Historic Points of Interest (Shepherdstown, WV: The Author, 1995):22
http://www.zionmiddletown.org/about/history.htm
Swope’s Place
Corner of 140 West and Harney Road Taneytown, MD 21787After the Battle of Gettysburg, many soldiers were treated in the surrounding towns including here at the home of Dr. Swope.
Doctor Swope was a well-known doctor and treated many wounded soldiers after Gettysburg. Also, on the eve of Gettysburg, Major General Winfield Scott Hancock stayed here.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
‘Roads to Gettysburg’ pamphlet: http://www.carrollcountytourism.org/PDFs/Civil-War-Driving-Tour-2.pdf
Kimmey House (Colgate House)
210 East Main Street (MD 32) Westminster, MD 21157The owner of this house denied clothes to Confederate soldiers during the occupation of Westminster.
After “Corbit’s Charge,” the Confederate army occupied Westminster for a night before moving on to Gettysburg. The soldiers were badly in need of clothing, and an officer asked Nathan Gorsuch, the owner of the Kimmey House from which he ran a small clothing store, for supplies for the troops. Gorsuch declined to provide clothes for the army, explaining that if did he would be badly criticized by the mostly pro-Union Westminster citizens after the army had left. Surprisingly, the Confederates respected Gorsuch’s wish and left his store alone.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Frederic Shriver Klein, Just South of Gettysburg: Carroll County, Maryland in the Civil War (Westminster, MD: Historical Society of Carroll County) 1997, 57
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter CARR-59 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Carroll County Farm Museum
500 South Center Street Westminster, MD 21157 410-386-3880 http://www.carrollcountyfarmmuseum.org/The fields around this former almshouse served as a staging point during the Battle of Gettysburg.
This complex of historic buildings began its existence in 1852 as the Carroll County Almshouse, and served in that capacity until 1965, when it was acquired by the county’s Department of Tourism, and became the Carroll County Farm Museum in 1966. During the week of June 28th-July 4th, 1863, it also served as a “point of entry and service center” for both Union and Confederate troops fighting in the Battle of Gettysburg, who filled the surrounding meadows and fields with men, mules, and wagons. The skirmish between General J.E.B. Stuart and a mixed group of Union troops, known as “Corbit’s Charge,” also took place in the fields behind the almshouse on June 29th, 1863.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.carrollcountyfarmmuseum.org/
National Register of Historic Places Summary:
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter CARR-38 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Trinity Lutheran Church
28 West Baltimore Street Taneytown, MD 21787The Trinity Lutheran Church steeple was used by the Union Army to send signals during the Gettysburg Campaign.
The Union Signal Corps established their headquarters on June 30, 1863, at Trinity Lutheran Church. The signals they passed could be seen at Gettysburg. The Signal Corps used flags by day and flares by night, with each message taking between seven to eleven minutes to send. The steeple has since been extensively remodeled twice.
In the Trinity Lutheran churchyard is the grave of John Buffington, Co. C, 6th Maryland Volunteer Infantry. Buffington was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1908 for bravery in the Battle of Petersburg, VA, on April 2, 1865.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
‘Roads to Gettysburg’ Pamphlet: http://www.carrollcountytourism.org/PDFs/Civil-War-Driving-Tour-2.pdf
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter CARR-1196 in search box to right of “Site No.” Info is on pages 7 and 11.)
John Forney’s Undertaking Shop
15 West Broadway Street Union Bridge, MD 21791This shop prepared and iced the body of Union Major-General John Fulton Reynolds, killed at Gettysburg.
Major-General John Reynolds was killed by a sharpshooter on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1, 1863. His body was taken to Union Bridge where it was iced down and prepared for shipment to Baltimore, as Union Bridge was at the time the western terminus of the Western Maryland Railway. Union Bridge cabinetmaker John Hollenberger made the coffin.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
‘Roads to Gettysburg’ Pamphlet: http://www.carrollcountytourism.org/PDFs/Civil-War-Driving-Tour-2.pdf
Daniel Stouffer House
212 Main Street New Windsor, MD 21776General Bradley T. Johnson made his headquarters here during his raid on New Windsor in July, 1864. Because General Johnson had connections to Mr. Stouffer’s wife, this home was one of the few properties in New Windsor not looted by Confederate soldiers during the raid.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://newwindsoronline.com/content/daniel-stouffer-house-212-main-street
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter CARR-1494 in search box to right of “Site No.” Info is on pages 44-45.)
Westminster Opera House (Odd Fellows Hall)
[CC ID no. 117, MHT no. CARR-382] 140 E. Main Street (MD 32) Westminster, MD, 21157An entertainer was found decapitated outside following a satirical show depicting Federal leaders.
Plans were drawn up for an opera house here, the site of a former tanning yard and shop, by the International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) in 1850, and the new building was complete by 1854, when it was sold to the Odd Fellows for $375. It was very much a community building, both during the Civil War and for many years afterwards. It served as the headquarters for the 17-member, strongly anti-Southern provost guard, Lieutenant Bowman’s 150th New York Infantry. It became the home of the Westminster Library in 1863, and frequently hosted “soirees” on behalf of the local dancing academy, despite the war raging in the background. Sometime during the Reconstruction period after the war, it reportedly held a satirical show portraying Lincoln, Grant, and other Federal leaders; it is said that the next morning an entertainer was found decapitated in the rear stables. An evening that received a much better reception was a speech given by Frederick Douglass in October 1870, who was highly praised by the local paper the next day.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter CARR-382 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Sherman-Fisher-Shellman House
206 East Main Street Westminster, MD 21157Confederate General Bradley T. Johnson and Colonel Harry Gilmor made this house their headquarters for a few hours in July 1864 during their raid through Maryland.
Gen. Bradley Johnson and Col. Harry Gilmor spent a few hours in the house during their raid through Maryland in July 1864. The house was built by Jacob Sherman in 1807 and later inhabited by the Shellman family for eighty years. Mary Bostwick Shellman, who lived in the house as a girl, recalled:
“Soldiers often passed through Westminster during the remaining months of the war but it was not until the summer of 1864 that the Cavalry force, under the command of Genl. Bradley J. Johnson and Major Harry Gilmore made their famous raid extending to the very doors of Baltimore, that we were again visited by the Rebels. Our house was made headquarters during their brief stay, they only remaining a few hours.”
Earlier, in 1863, a fourteen-year-old Shellman had another, perhaps more intimate encounter with a Confederate General. She and other children were out in the streets watching General J.E.B. Stuart and his cavalry ride by, and unable to contain herself, she yelled out ‘Johnny Reb’ at Stuart. Her derision did not fall upon deaf ears.
“Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, noting my antagonism, amidst the pronounced joy of my companions, had shown me unusual courtesy and called me his little captive, and given me the much wished for kiss, and therefore, I was an object of envy and under the ban.”
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Mary Bostwick Shellman, Recollections of “Stuart’s Raid” Through Maryland and Westminster’s Part in the “Battle of Gettysburg” (Historical Society of Carroll County) 2007. Note: Quotes above from this source.
See Carroll County Historical Society for more information: http://hscc.carr.org/property/Shellman.htm
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter CARR-136 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Carroll County Courthouse
Court Street Westminster, MD 21157The Carroll County Courthouse served as a meeting place for Union sympathizers as tensions ran high during the war.
The Courthouse was built in 1838 and is still in use today. A simple but dignified structure, it serves as a good example of ante-bellum Greek architectural style, with its heavy columns and monumental portico. The courthouse with its high-flying Union flag was an important focal point for Carroll County Unionists during the war, making it an attractive target for Confederate forces. To protect the flag while Confederate general J.E.B. Stuart was passing through town on June 29, 1863, Abraham Huber, clerk of the court, took down the flag flying from the courthouse cupola and locked it in the vault in the clerk’s office. Gen. Stuart ordered Capt. John Esten Cooke and some of his men to retrieve the flag. The detail broke into the vault and removed the flag which they presented to Stuart. The flag had been made by 13 local women, organized by Huber’s wife, Mollie, who had signed their names on the stars.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter CARR-558 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Trumbo-Chrest House
297 East Main Street Westminster, MD 21157The Trumbo-Chrest House is located near the center of where the battle known as “Corbit’s Charge” occurred.
On June 29, 1863, two days before the Battle of Gettysburg, the 1st Delaware Cavalry encountered the 4th Virginia Cavalry, led by General J.E.B. Stuart, in downtown Westminster in a skirmish known as “Corbit’s Charge.” The two sides fought briefly in the streets, and there were casualties on each side – two of Corbit’s men were killed and eleven wounded, and two Confederate officers were killed and ten men badly wounded. An untested group of soldiers and greatly outnumbered, the 1st Delaware fought with “an almost suicidal bravery,” but were soon overmatched and driven back to Main Street (Old Baltimore Pike). Despite their quick exit from battle, the 1st Delaware delayed the 4th Virginia enough that Stuart decided to spend an unplanned night in Westminster. This delay was significant because it prevented Stuart, who had critical reconnaissance information for General Robert E. Lee, from arriving at Gettysburg until late on the second day, which possibly influenced the outcome at Gettysburg.
Bullet holes can still be seen in the building, identified by a small sign which reads “struck by gunfire June 29, 1863.”
See these sources and websites for additional information:
“Corbit’s Charge” self-guided tour brochure: http://www.carrollcountytourism.org/PDFs/Corbits-Charge-Tour.pdf
“Roads to Gettysburg” pamphlet: http://www.carrollcountytourism.org/PDFs/Civil-War-Driving-Tour-2.pdf
Cathy Baty, List of Historic Civil War Sites in Carroll County, Historical Society of Carroll County.
Westminster Cemetery
Cemetery Lane Westminster, MD 21158The old Union Meeting House that stood in the center of the cemetery served as a hospital for the wounded from Gettysburg.
The Union Meeting House served as a hospital for the Gettysburg wounded, and the cemetery is an interment site for some soldiers. Five Union veterans are buried in a lot that was owned by Mary Shellman. The meeting house was demolished in 1892; the site is marked at the center of the cemetery. Memories of the meeting house continued to live on, however, after its demolition. Shellman remembered:
“The old ‘Meeting House’ which was used as a hospital, and was built before the Revolutionary War, was torn down a few years ago, but until that time bore on its time stained walls and the wood work of the high pulpit, many autographs and pathetic messages of the soldiers who spent that memorable week under its friendly roof.”
See these sources and websites for additional information:
An article on the soldiers buried at Westminster Cemetery: http://hscc.carr.org/research/yesteryears/cct2007/070520.htm
Mimi Ashcraft and Ned Landis, “Mary Shellman’s Veterans: Finding the Forgotten” Catoctin History (Spring/Summer 2008, Issue #10): 32-41.
John Brooke Boyle House
70 East Main Street Westminster, MD 21157The John Brooke Boyle House, also called “Rosser’s Choice,” is the site where Confederate Colonel Thomas Lafayette Rosser spent a night while leading his cavalry regiment through Westminster in September 1862.
During the Antietam Campaign, Confederate Colonel Thomas Lafayette Rosser and his Fifth Virginia Cavalry spent the night of September 11, 1862, at the John Brooke Boyle House after raiding local Union forces. Rosser and his men remained only one night before continuing on toward Sharpsburg. Before leaving Westminster, Rosser managed to capture the local Union provost marshal and destroy Union enrollment books for the draft.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
“Roads to Gettysburg” Pamphlet: http://www.carrollcountytourism.org/PDFs/Civil-War-Driving-Tour-2.pdf
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter CARR-433 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Pine Grove Chapel
S. Main Street Mount Airy, MD, 21771Pine Grove Chapel was occupied by the Northern army as a barracks for troops guarding the railroad.
Pine Grove Chapel (formerly Ridge Presbyterian Church) was founded in 1846 on land donated by Henry and Eliza Bussard, one of the first families in Mount Airy. The church was constructed by slaves owned by Bussard and two other men. It offered not only church services but also a private school, located in the basement, to the Mount Airy community. Both services were halted during the Civil War when the Northern army took control of the church as a barracks for Company K of the 14th New Jersey Infantry. Company K guarded both the B & O Railroad, a major link in the North’s supply chain, as well as the crossroads in Ridgeville (now incorporated into modern-day Mount Airy). While the officers and men slept on pews in the church building, a mess tent was erected behind the church, in what is now the cemetery. Reportedly, “a sick and delirious soldier who wandered into Ridgeville and died” was the first person to be buried behind the church. Following the war, the church resumed services, though the basement school was then public.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
“Roads to Gettysburg” Pamphlet: http://www.carrollcountytourism.org/PDFs/Civil-War-Driving-Tour-2.pdf
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter CARR-964 in search box to right of “Site No.” Info is on pages 2, 5 and 7.)
Historical Marker Database: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=12493
Ascension Episcopal Church
23 N. Court Street Westminster, MD, 21157 410-876-0736Two Confederate soldiers killed during “Corbit’s Charge” are buried in the cemetery of this church.
“Corbit’s Charge,” a clash between Union forces stationed in Westminster and Confederate forces advancing north from Montgomery County, left two Confederate soldiers dead, as well as eleven wounded. The dead of both sides were initially buried in the Westminster Cemetery on July 1st, 1863. Pierre Gibson and John W. Murray, both lieutenants of the 4th Virginia Cavalry, were later reinterred in the graveyard of the Ascension Episcopal Church (though Gibson’s remains were then moved to Virginia in 1867).
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter CARR-571 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Historical Marker Database: http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=13848
John Brown House
225 E. King Street Chambersburg, PA 17201 (717) 264-1667 http://johnbrownhouse.tripod.com/index.htmlJohn Brown rented a room in this house while preparing for his raid on Harpers Ferry.
Home of the famous abolitionist John Brown from June until mid-October 1859. Working under the pseudonym “”Dr. Issac Smith”" as an iron mine developer and Sunday school teacher, he formulated plans and secured weapons for his ill-fated 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry. Visitors to Brown’s residence included co-conspirators Frederick Douglass, Shields Green, J. Henry Kagi (also operating under the pseudonym of John Henry), and other abolitionist leaders.
The oldest section of this building probably dates to 1820-1840. In 1849, it was purchased by Abram Ritner; following his death in 1851, his widow Mary expanded the building and opened it as a boarding house. Her most famous boarder rented an upstairs bedroom from June to mid-October, 1859. John Brown lived in this house under the alias Dr. Isaac Smith, claiming he was a developer of iron mines. While here, he bought tools from a local business, Lemnos Edge Iron Works, and stored them, along with the weapons he was concurrently stockpiling, in a local warehouse. These were later sent to the Kennedy Farm in Washington County, MD. Brown was visited in Chambersburg by Frederick Douglas, Shields Green, and John Henry Kagi (the latter two members of his raid), as well as other abolitionist leaders. After the failed insurrection at Harpers Ferry, several raiders returned to Chambersburg, asking Mary Ritner to help them. She hid them in a nearby grove, allowing them to escape successfully.
The house evaded damage during the Confederate destruction of Chambersburg, being just outside the downtown area that was torched. Today, the John Brown House is open to the public for tours.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://johnbrownhouse.tripod.com/index.html
http://www.nps.gov/history/NR/travel/underground/pa2.htm
Historical Marker Database: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=8103;
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=18531
Temple Hall
15855 Limestone School Road Leesburg, VA 20176 703-779-9372 http://www.nvrpa.org/parks/templehallTemple Hall was home to a family of ardent Confederate supporters during the war.
Temple Hall was a large farm complex dating from the early 19th century. The main house was built in 1810, and in 1857, it was purchased by Henry Ball. A firm supporter of the Southern cause, he was the only local citizen to take up arms during the 1861 Battle of Ball’s Bluff. His sons took up arms as well, as soldiers in the 6th Virginia Cavalry, and one was mortally wounded at the Battle of Spotsylvania. Ball, who often supplied Confederate soldiers with food and arms at his home, was arrested in 1863 for refusing to take an oath of allegiance to the Union and imprisoned at Fort Delaware. The women of the Ball family were also arrested while trying to smuggle food from Maryland back across the Potomac to Confederate soldiers. During the Monocacy Campaign in 1864, Colonel John Mosby camped nearby and was invited to dinner. While there, he received information about a Federal scouting troop and left quickly to intercept them. Today, the property is Temple Hall Farm Regional Park, a recreational area open to the public. The historic farmhouse still stands, but it is a private residence and not opened to the public.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Temple Hall Farm Regional Park Website: http://www.nvrpa.org/parks/templehall/
Historical Marker Database: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=12954
Village of Lincoln
Purcellville, VA 20132This area of Loudoun County suffered during the Burning Raid of November and December 1864. First community in the post-Civil War South to be named for Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln is a few miles southeast of Purcellville, in the heart of the “Quaker Settlement.” Lincoln is an unincorporated village in Loudoun Valley that was established as the community of Goose Creek in the 1750s by Quaker settlers. Its residents opposed secession and slavery before the Civil War, and attempted to be neutral after hostilities broke out. They eventually confirmed their status as citizens of the Confederacy and willingly obeyed its laws, except those requiring them to bear arms. Some may well have been involved in the Underground Railroad. When Union forces came to Western Loudoun to burn out Mosby’s guerillas in late November 1864, Quaker farms and mills were burned as well. Lincoln became the first community in the post-Civil War South to be named for assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. [Text from http://civilwar.visitloudoun.org]
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Loudoun Convention and Visitors Association “Civil War 150th” website: http://civilwar.visitloudoun.org
Goose Creek Rural Historic District
Lincoln, VA, 20160This area was home to Virginia’s largest settlement of Quakers, vocal abolitionists during the war.
The Goose Creek Monthly Meeting of Friends was established in 1750 along a tributary of the Potomac River. The Friends (Quakers) were devoted pacifists; they refused to fight in the Revolutionary War so consistently that military leaders eventually ordered them left alone and made no further attempts to recruit them. They were vehemently opposed to slavery as well, and set up a manumission society in 1824 to help freed blacks; the Goose Creek Meeting also set up the first school in the area for black children. During the Civil War, most members of Goose Creek were devoted to the Union cause; some young men fought in both armies, however, despite their belief in pacifism. Their area was occupied several times by both Federal and Confederate troops; when General Philip Sheridan raided northern Virginia in 1864, many of the Friends’ barns and much of their personal property was spared. During the war, their strong Union sentiment led to the changing of the district’s name, from “Goose Creek” to “Lincoln,” under which name it remains today.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.nps.gov/history/nR/travel/journey/goo.htm
Historical Marker Database: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=3933
Goose Creek Meeting House Complex
18204 Lincoln Road Lincoln, VA, 20160 540-751-0323The Goose Creek Meeting began the area’s first school for black children, just after the Civil War.
The Goose Creek Meeting House Complex is made up of three structures: the original stone meeting house, built in 1765; the brick meeting house, built in 1817 to replace the older, smaller building and still in use today; and the Oak Dale School, built in 1815, the first public school in the county. The Goose Creek Meeting also established the first school in the area for the education of black children, just after the Civil War.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Goose Creek Friends Website: http://goosecreekfriends.pbworks.com/
Historical Marker Database:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=3930; http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=3950; http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=3949;
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=3948
Women’s Memorial-Evergreen Cemetery
(Monument located 50 feet southwest of the cemetery gatehouse) 799 Baltimore Street Gettysburg, PA 17325The Gettysburg Women’s Memorial is a tribute to the women of Gettysburg who served and suffered because of the battle.
The Gettysburg Women’s Memorial is a tribute to the women of Gettysburg who served and suffered because of the battle. The woman depicted is Elizabeth Thorn, the wife of the caretaker of Evergreen Cemetery, who was away serving with the 138th Pennsylvania Infantry during the Battle of Gettysburg. At the time, Thorn was six months pregnant and was caring for her three sons and elderly parents. She and her family were forced to flee their home in the gatehouse during the battle, and when they returned they found their food and possessions either strewn everywhere or stolen, and dead bodies lying unburied. As caretaker of the cemetery, Thorn was ordered to begin burying the bodies along with a detail of men. The men slipped away from their duty and only Thorn was left having to finish burying the 91 bodies herself. She gave birth to a daughter soon after, but the girl was never healthy and died at the age of 14. Thorn was convinced that the stress of the battle and of burying its victims affected her unborn daughter. Thorn’s husband returned safely after Appomattox, and the couple stayed at the cemetery until 1874.
The monument was created by Ron Tunison and was dedicated in 2002. Tunison created several other monuments at Gettsyburg and also the bas reliefs on the Irish Brigade monument at Antietam
See these sources and sites for additional information
Stone Sentinels website: http://www.gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/Other/Women.php
Evergreen Cemetery website: http://www.evergreencemetery.org/womens.htm
Town of Sharpsburg
Sharpsburg MD 21782 (301)432-4428 http://sharpsburgmd.com/Sharpsburg, Maryland, suffered damage during the Battle of Antietam, and many of its buildings were used as hospitals after the battle.
In 1763 Joseph Chapline laid out the town of Sharpsburg, which was named to honor Maryland Colonial Governor Horatio Sharpe. At the time of the Civil War the town’s population was 1,300. At the September 17, 1862 Battle of Antietam, or the Battle of Sharpsburg, the town was behind Confederate lines. The armies incurred over 23,000 casualties during the battle and a number of the town’s buildings suffered damage. More damage was inflicted to the town after the battle when many of its building were used as hospitals.
Following the war, Antietam National Cemetery was established in Sharpsburg. It was dedicated on September 17, 1867, the fifth anniversary of the Battle of Antietam. In the decades that followed, Sharpsburg was often a destination for veterans and others arriving to tour the battlefield and visit the cemetery.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://sharpsburgmd.com/history/
http://www.nps.gov/anti/historyculture/antietam-national-cemetery.htm
Kathleen A. Ernst, Too Afraid to Cry: Maryland Civilians in the Antietam Campaign, 1999; paperback edition, 2007.
Vernell Doyle and Tim Doyle, Sharpsburg, Images of America Series, 2009.
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter WA-II-0723 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Civil War Trails marker: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1970
Other markers:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1968 http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=6293 http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=5903 http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=6268
