See The Sites
Battlefields / Military
Antietam National Battlefield
5831 Dunker Church Road Sharpsburg, MD 21782 http://www.nps.gov/anti/ (301) 432-5124
A pivotal battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Antietam was fought on September 17, 1862, and was the bloodiest single day of combat ever on American soil.
After the General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate incursion into Maryland in early September 1862, the Union Army under General George B. McClellan pursued Lee with uncharacteristic speed thanks to the finding of the famous “Lost Orders 191” that detailed Lee’s movements. Lee had divided his army to accomplish various objectives, but once McClellan began pursuit, Lee quickly tried to reconsolidate his forces. A delaying action at South Mountain on September 14 slowed the Union troops long enough for Lee to establish a defensive line at Sharpsburg, MD. The resulting battle on September 17 was a pivotal battle of the war. Although McClellan’s troops outnumbered the Confederates, the day long battle was virtually a stalemate. The intense fighting was brutal, however, and the Battle of Antietam became the single bloodiest day of fighting, in terms of casualties, during the war. The only skirmishes on the 18th came as Lee withdrew his troops across the nearby Potomac River back to Virginia.
While it was no clear victory for either side, Union soldiers did manage to halt the Southern advance into the north, and Lee’s expulsion from Maryland was touted as a victory. Lincoln used it as a chance to issue the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 23rd, which changed the objective of the war from restoring the Union to also include the elimination of slavery. The Confederates’ inability to win a decisive victory on Northern soil and the altered objectives of the war also influenced England and France to not recognize the Confederate States of America as a sovereign nation, a critical development that helped the North win the war.
The battlefield was established as a national park in 1890, and was administered by the War Department until 1933, when it was turned over to the National Park Service. The park includes many historic structures and monuments, and the Visitor Center includes exhibits, a theater and a bookstore.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Antietam National Battlefield website: http://www.nps.gov/anti/
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/hh/31/index.htm (National Park Service’s Antietam Historical Handbook)
National Register of Historic Places summary: http://www.marylandhistoricaltrust.net/NR/NRDBDetail.aspx?HDID=12
Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) documentation: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.md1073
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter WA-II-0477 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Civil War Sites Advisory Commission’s Battle Summary for Antietam:http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/md003.htm
Civil War Trust: http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/antietam.html
Susan Cooke Soderberg, A Guide to Civil War Sites in Maryland – Blue and Gray in a Border State(Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Books, 1998): 107-111
Save Historic Antietam Foundation: http://shaf.org/
Battle of Shepherdstown
Shepherdstown, WV 25443The Battle of Shepherdstown occurred in September 1862 when Union forces crossed the Potomac to attack the rear of the Confederate Army as it retreated from the Antietam battlefield.
The Battle of Shepherdstown began in the afternoon of September 19, 1862 when an artillery exchange began across Boteler’s Ford. The number of Union guns nearly doubled those on the Confederate side and, supported by infantry who were protected by the embankment of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, they disabled four southern field pieces. In the evening Union infantry crossed the river, causing the Confederates to withdraw much of their remaining artillery and its infantry support. The Union infantry was withdrawn after dark.
Early on September 20 Union infantry was again pushed across the river, some of whom retrieved the four disabled Confederate guns and brought them to the Maryland side. Ultimately, three Union brigades crossed the river and established positions on the heights overlooking the Potomac River in Virginia. Learning of the threat to the rear of his retreating army, Confederate General Robert E. Lee ordered Corps commander Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson to send three divisions back toward the ford. A. P. Hill’s Light Division led the way and confronted the Union forces in the late morning. Outnumbered 2 to 1, the Union forces began to retreat back across the ford and over the top of the nearby mill dam, which spanned the river just above the ford. The 118th Pennsylvania Infantry, known as the Corn Exchange Regiment because of its sponsorship by the Philadelphia Corn Exchange, and which was seeing its first combat, experienced a delay retreating from the bluffs because the order was not received through proper channels. The last to cross the river, it experienced heavy casualties that amounted to 40% of its strength.
The battle involved about 8,000 to 9,000 men and it lasted about four hours. Casualties on both sides amounted to almost 700 men. The Battle of Shepherdstown convinced both opposing generals that a further large-scale engagement was a risky endeavor. General Lee reconsidered plans he had made to re-cross the river at Williamsport, while Union General George B. McClellan broke off his pursuit and began to prepare for a lengthy campaign in Virginia.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.battleofshepherdstown.org/
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-0034 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Civil War Sites Advisory Commission’ Battle Summary:
http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/wv016.htm
Civil War Trust:
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/shepherdstown.html
Other markers:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1953
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=1954
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=6983
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=1950
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=1959
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=1951
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=1952
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=1960
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=1961
Battle of Monterey Pass
Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214 http://www.montereypassbattlefield.org/
In the July 4, 1863 Battle of Monterey Pass, Confederate cavalry attempted to hold off Union cavalry that sought to attack the Southern wagon train retreating from Gettysburg.
On the morning ofJuly 4, 1863the Union cavalry division commanded by Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick was ordered to attack a Confederate wagon train retreating fromGettysburgon the road running betweenFairfieldandWaynesboro,Pennsylvania. Informed by local citizens that the Confederates were crossing atMontereyPass, a gap inSouthMountain, Brig. Gen. George Armstrong Custer’s cavalry brigade reached the base of the gap at about sundown. In rain and darkness, Custer’sMichiganhorsemen attacked the Confederates defending the pass. In the chaotic fighting that followed, other Union troops advanced up the mountain, threatening to outflank the Confederates, who withdrew further up the summit. A charge by the First West Virginia Cavalry gained the mountain summit and resulted in the capture of a Confederate artillery piece.
In wild confusion, a number of wagon teams bolted down the western slope of the pass and crashed into ravines or ran off of cliffs. Union cavalry took over 1,500 prisoners and captured dozens of wagons, many of which were subsequently burned, as the fight spilled over the Mason-Dixon Line. About 10,000 soldiers were involved in the Battle of Monterey Pass, which makes it the second largest battle fought onPennsylvaniasoil, following only the Battle of Gettysburg.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.montereypassbattlefield.org/
http://www.montereypassbattlefield.org/contents/history_of_the_battle.htm
Eric J. Wittenberg, J. David Petruzzi and Michael F. Nugent, One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, July 4–14, 1863, 2008.
Kent Masterson Brown, Retreat from Gettysburg: Lee, Logistics, and the Pennsylvania Campaign, 2005.
Civil War Trails marker:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=30968
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=31046
Other markers:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=31047
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=30981
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=31034
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=8512
Blackford’s Ford (Boteler’s Ford)
Miller’s Saw Mill Road Sharpsburg MD 21782The ford near Shepherdstown,West Virginia, was a major crossing point on the Potomac Riverduring the Civil War, and was the scene of the 1862 Battle of Shepherdstown.
The ford near Shepherdstown, West Virginia—call Blackford’s, Boteler’s, Packhorse or Shepherdstown Ford—was originally used by Native Americans. It played an important role in colonialAmericaas a crossing point for early settlers, particularly in the Eighteenth Century. Swearingen’s Ferry, which was established in the mid-Eighteenth Century and which was acquired by John Blackford in the early Nineteenth Century, helped diminish the importance of the ford. The construction of a nearby covered turnpike bridge in 1849 put the ferry out of business.
With the arrival of the Civil War, turnpike bridges were destroyed and most ferries went out of operation for the duration of the war, which brought fords back into prominence. Botelor’s Ford was one of only four fords on the Potomac that could accommodate infantry, cavalry, artillery, and wagon trains. It was heavily used by the Confederates during their invasions of, and retreats from, Maryland. The Confederates retreated from Maryland at this ford following the Battle of Antietam in September 1862, and invaded Maryland at this point during the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign (in addition to crossing at Williamsport) and the 1864 Monocacy Campaign. FromSeptember 19–20, 1862the Battle of Shepherdstown, or Boteler’s Ford, was fought at this location. To end Union pursuit of its retreating columns, the Confederates sent a division back toward the Potomac, which swept Federal infantry across the ford and nearby mill dam to Maryland, which ended the battle. See “Battle of Shepherdstown” for details about this engagement.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.battleofshepherdstown.org/
Thomas A. McGrath, Shepherdstown: Last Clash of the Antietam Campaign, September 19–20, 1862, 2007.
MarylandInventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter WA-II-0034 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Civil War Sites Advisory Commission’BattleSummary:
http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/wv016.htm
Civil War Trust:
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/shepherdstown.html
Other markers:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1953
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=1954
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=6983
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=1950
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=1959
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=1951
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=1952
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=1960
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=1961
Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park
Park Headquarters 1850 Dual Highway, Suite 100 Hagerstown, MD 21740 http://www.nps.gov/CHOH (301) 739-4200The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal was an important supply line for the Union, and was often a target of Confederate troops.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was built between 1828 and 1850, running 184.5 miles from Georgetown to Cumberland, Maryland; it operated until 1924. During the war, it was an important supply line for the Union, and was sabotaged by the Confederates several times, most notably as they were retreating from Harpers Ferry in 1862. The Confederates were able to successfully occupy Harpers Ferry on September 15, 1862, partly because of the lack of Union fortifications at nearby Fort Duncan. After the town and garrison were re-occupied by the Union army in October 1862, Maryland Heights, overlooking the canal and Harpers Ferry, and Loudoun Heights, across the Potomac River in Virginia, were heavily fortified.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
National Register of Historic Places summary: http://mht.maryland.gov/nr/NRDetail.aspx?HDID=14&COUNTY=Frederick&FROM=NRCountyList.aspx?COUNTY=Frederick
Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) documentation: many reports on various Chesapeake and Ohio Canal structures; go to http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/habs_haer/index.html and enter “Chesapeake and Ohio Canal” in search box.
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter F-2-011 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Doubleday Hill
S. Commerce and W. Salisbury Streets Williamsport MD 21795 (301)223-7711 http://www.williamsportmd.gov/doubleday_hill.htmlDoubleday Hill was the site of an early Union battery that was established atWilliamsport,Marylandon a hill that overlooked a prominent ford on thePotomac River.
Capt. Abner Doubleday, aWest Pointgraduate, commanded a battery atFortSumterand fired the first Union reply to the Confederate bombardment. Assigned to Maj. Gen. Robert Patterson’s Department of Pennsylvania, onJune 18, 1861Doubleday brought a three-gun “heavy battery” toWilliamsport, consisting of artillery pieces that fired twenty- and thirty-pound projectiles. He established his battery on a hill that overlooked a prominent ford over thePotomac River, which became known as “Battery Hill” or “Doubleday Hill.” The battery helped protect Patterson’s army when it crossed the river on July 2 and engaged Confederate forces in the Battle of Falling Waters.
Owned by the town ofWilliamsport, in 1897 three iron cannon were placed on the hill, and a flag pole was later installed, to commemorate the site’s importance. In 2012 the town ofWilliamsportreceived a grant to, in part, restore Doubleday Hill to its appearance in 1861.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.williamsportmd.gov/doubleday_hill.html
http://www.herald-mail.com/news/local/hm-williamsport-town-council-briefs-20120813,0,5502791.story
S. Roger Keller, Events of the Civil War in Washington County, Maryland, 1995.
Robert Patterson, A Narrative of the Campaign in the Valley of the Shenandoah, in 1861, 1865.
MarylandInventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter WA-WIL-381 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Other markers:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=51872&Result=1
Dunker Church
5831 Dunker Church Road Sharpsburg, MD 21782This small church was the central point of a number of Union attacks on the Confederate left flank during the Battle of Antietam.
The Dunker church was originally built in 1852, on land donated by local farmer Samuel Mumma. It was the site of General Stonewall Jackson’s stand against the Union I and XII Corps, and the focal point of several Union attacks against the Confederate left flank. Though it was nearly destroyed during the intense fighting that surrounded it on the morning of September 17th, it was used as a temporary medical aid station after the battle, and was the site of a truce called on September 18th in order to exchange wounded soldiers and bury the dead. It may have been used as an embalming station by the Union Army. Tradition also holds that it was visited by President Lincoln on his tour of the battlefield in October 1862. It was rebuilt after the devastation of the war only to be destroyed by a windstorm in 1921; many of the pews and bricks were saved, and it was reconstructed in 1961 according to the original plans and using some original materials. One of its attractions is its Mumma Bible, the pulpit bible that was carried off during the war by a member of the 107th New York Regiment and returned years later.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.nps.gov/anti/historyculture/dunkerchurch.htm
Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) documentation: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.md0588
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter WA-II-0352 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), 3
Historical Marker Database: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=20593
Gettysburg National Military Park
1195 Baltimore Pike Gettysburg, PA 17325 Contact: (717) 334-1124 ext. 8023 http://www.nps.gov/gettThe park, created in 1894, preserves and commemorates the Battle of Gettysburg, fought July 1-3, 1863.
The Battle of Gettysburg, fought July 1-3, 1863, was a turning point in the Civil War. The battle is often referred to as the “high-water mark of the Confederacy,” since this was the final large-scale push into Northern territory during the war. Although more men died during the three days of the battle than in any battle fought before or since on North American soil, the Union victory did much to boost the morale of northern soldiers and civilians alike.
Efforts at commemorating the Battle of Gettysburg began almost immediately, as the citizens of Gettysburg were forced to cope with the slaughter that had taken place on their farms and in their streets. Burial ceremonies led to the creation of a cemetery there, the Soldiers’ National Cemetery, which became part of the larger national cemetery system in 1872. As early as 1863, the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association was established and began attempting to purchase land and preserve the battlefield. The Association’s original aim was to preserve only the Union battle lines, with very little effort at commemorating the Confederate positions until 1892. These efforts eventually led to the creation of a National Military Park in 1894; it, like the cemetery, was administered by the War Department from the time of its creation until 1933, when the National Park Service took over.
An estimated 9,600 acres comprise the Battle of Gettysburg’s primary area of action. Monuments and markers are scattered across the battlefield, and the park includes a Museum and Visitors Center.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Civil War Sites Advisory Commission’s Battle Summary: http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp/battles/pa002.htm
Civil War Trust: http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg.html
Harpers Ferry National Historic Park
171 Shoreline Drive Harpers Ferry, WV 25425 Contact: (304) 535-6029 http://www.nps.gov/hafeThe site of John Brown’s raid in 1859, Harpers Ferry was also strategically important during the war years, and changed hands several times.
Harpers Ferry played a significant role in the Civil War, from John Brown’s raid before the war, to the U.S. Arsenal located in town, and to the numerous times the town changed hands during the course of the war. Harpers Ferry was strategically important because of the Arsenal and the town’s railroad, highway, and canal transportation links. John Brown chose Harpers Ferry as his first objective in his infamous 1859 raid because of its stores of weapons and its location near the mountains; his plan was to establish a sheltered base from which to free slaves and attack slaveholders. Brown launched his raid on October 16th, 1859. However, he did not draw the support he expected from local slaves, and he was pinned down by the local militia until U.S. Marines under the command of Colonel Robert E. Lee arrived, capturing or killing Brown and his men. Brown was taken to nearby Charles Town, where he was tried and executed.
Brown’s raid is widely credited with helping fan the flames of the impending conflict. The Civil War reached Harpers Ferry on April 18th, 1861, when Union forces burned the arsenals located there to deny access to the “strong and hostile Virginia State forces” reported to be approaching. The Confederates in their turn burned more buildings and looted others in June 1861. Harpers Ferry was regained and occupied by Federal forces from February-September 1862, but their defenses were weak. Confederates under the command of Stonewall Jackson were able to take the town in an astonishingly short amount of time as part of Lee’s Maryland campaign, on September 15th, 1862, taking 12,000 Union prisoners in the process.
Union forces once again won back Harpers Ferry in October, and immediately began strengthening its defenses, building fortifications until June 1863. In 1864, the rifle trench along Bolivar Heights was extended so that the town was virtually impregnable, provided the defenders also held Loudoun Heights and Maryland Heights (site of Federal campgrounds from 1862-1865 and seven fortifications, only one of which is still intact today). From August 1864 to February 1865, Harpers Ferry was the main base of operations for Union General Philip Sheridan’s army while they destroyed Confederate General Jubal Early’s forces and took control of the Shenandoah Valley. In 1864, Federal forces destroyed several more buildings around the area, this time to clear the way for a U.S. Military railroad to help supply Sheridan’s army.
After the Civil War, Harpers Ferry was the site of Storer College, one of the earliest institutions for black education after Emancipation.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
National Register of Historic Places summary: http://www.marylandhistoricaltrust.net/NR/NRDBDetail.aspx?HDID=18
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter WA-III-072 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Hitt Bridge (Upper Bridge)
Keedysville Road over Antietam Creek Keedysville, MD 21756Hitt Bridge is one of three stone arch bridges significant in the Battle of Antietam.
The Hitt Bridge (sometimes called the Upper Bridge) was named for local landholder Samuel Hitt, and was completed in 1830 by Silas Harry. Its distinguishing feature is its unusually high center arch. The bridge was the main artery for Union troops on their way to engage the Confederates at Sharpsburg, and was briefly the campsite of General Joseph Mansfield’s Union XII Corps.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) documentation: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.md1128
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter WA-II-0122 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Historical Marker Database: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=3201
Monocacy National Battlefield
5201 Urbana Pike Frederick, MD 21704 (301) 662-3515 http://www.nps.gov/monoUnion and Confederate forces clashed here on July 9, 1864, in the “Battle that Saved Washington.”
In the summer of 1864, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia was pinned down in Petersburg, VA by Union forces. In hopes of relieving pressure by diverting part of the Union army, General Robert E. Lee sent General Jubal Early up the Shenandoah Valley and into Maryland. Early entered Maryland through Washington County and continued east towards Washington, DC. After demanding ransom from the towns of Hagerstown and Middletown, Early’s forces reached Frederick on July 8. On July 9, the city of Frederick was also ransomed, and Early moved westward towards the Monocacy River. He was met there by a force of Union soldiers, led by General Lew Wallace, perhaps half the size of the Confederate army. Wallace, not sure whether Early was aiming for Baltimore or Washington, was forced to guard three miles of the Monocacy River against either outcome. The ensuing battle ended in a Union retreat, but it delayed Early long enough to allow for additional Union forces to arrive to protect Washington.
The park includes several historic residences and other structures, and there are five historic monuments on the battlefield.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Monocacy National Battlefield website: http://www.nps.gov/mono
Monocacy National Battlefield Staff, The Battle of Monocacy, July 9, 1964 [Handbook] 2010.
Brett W. Spaulding, Last Chance for Victory: Jubal Early’s 1864 Maryland Invasion, 2010.
National Historic Landmarks summary: http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=687&ResourceType
National Register of Historic Places summary: http://mht.maryland.gov/nr/NRDetail.aspx?HDID=208&FROM=NRMapFR.html
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter F-3-42 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Civil War Sites Advisory Commission’s Battle Summary for Monocacy: http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/md007.htm
Civil War Trust: http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/monocacy.html
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.
South Mountain State Battlefield
6620 Zittlestown RoadMiddletown MD 21769 http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/western/southmountainbattlefield.asp 301-791-4767
South Mountain State Battlefield preserves and commemorates the various sites associated with the Battle of South Mountain, fought on September 14, 1862.
The Battle of South Mountain was the first major Civil War battle in Maryland. The Confederate Army under General Robert E. Lee crossed the Potomac River in early September 1862. Lee established a base in Frederick, and when the Union Army under General George McClellan advanced from the east, Lee devised a bold but risky plan to divide his army and move westward. In one of the oddest breaks in military history, a Union soldier found a discarded copy of Lee’s orders (the famous Special Orders 191) and the usually overly-cautious McClellan led his army in pursuit. Caught off-guard by McClellan’s movement, the Confederates were forced to fight a delaying action on the top of South Mountain to give the divided army time to regroup. The battle, on October 24, 1862, was actually fought in three places – Turner’s and Fox’s Gaps between Middletown and Boonsboro, and Crampton’s Gap to the west of Burkittsville. The battle was a Union victory, but not before Confederate General Stonewall Jackson had captured Harpers Ferry and 12,000 Union soldiers, and the Confederate Army had reconsolidated itself in preparation for what would become the Battle of Antietam.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/western/southmountainbattlefield.asp
Civil War Sites Advisory Commission’s Battle Summary for South Mountain: http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/md002.htm
Civil War Trust: http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/south-mountain.html
Washington Monument
6620 Zittlestown Road Middletown, MD 21769 (301)791-4767 http://dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/western/washington.aspWashington Monument was used as a Union signal station before and during the Battle of Antietam, and during the Confederate retreat from Gettysburg.
Although other monuments to the memory of George Washington were begun at an earlier date, this monument was the first to be completed. The monument was begun on July 4, 1827 by the citizens of Boonsboro, Maryland and the surrounding region. When it was completed in September, the monument stood thirty feet high on a fifty-four foot circular base.
By the time of the Civil War, however, vandals and mischievous boys had tossed eight to ten feet of stone from the monument down the mountainside. OnSeptember 15, 1862, following the Army of thePotomac’s seizure of the passes throughSouthMountain, aUnionsignal station was established onWashingtonMonument. Signal officers there detected the Confederate army passing along the road fromSharpsburgto Shepherdstown and the beginnings of a thin battle line beyond Antietam Creek. During the September 17BattleofAntietam, the signal officer atWashingtonMonumentwas ordered to watch for enemy movements fromPleasantValleyor thePotomac. OnJuly 8, 1863, during the Gettysburg Campaign, a Union signal station was again established atopWashingtonMonumentand reported Confederate movements during the Battle of Boonsboro, which took place that day.
In 1882, through the efforts of theSouthMountainencampment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Madeleine Dahlgren, who lived at the Mountain House at Turner’s Gap, and who was the widow of Civil War naval officer John A. Dahlgren, a fund was established to rebuild the monument. Repairs were made and for the first time a carriage road was constructed to the monument. Within twenty years, however, a fissure had opened in the monument and it soon fell into ruins. In 1922 the monument and one acre of surrounding land were purchased by the Washington County Historical Society. From 1934 to 1936, the Civilian Conservation Corps, a Depression-era agency created to alleviate national unemployment, rebuilt the monument. The property was donated to the state ofMarylandin 1934 and is presently a state park.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/western/washington.asp
J. Willard Brown, The Signal Corps, U.S.A., in the War of the Rebellion, 1896.
MarylandInventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter WA-II-0501 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Civil War Trails marker:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1161
Other markers:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1908
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.)
Western Maryland College (McDaniel College)
West Main Street and Uniontown Road Westminster, MD 21158 http://www.mcdaniel.edu/index.shtmlDuring the war, the land was used to bivouac troops and place guns to protect arriving artillery.
Western Maryland College was chartered by an “act of Maryland Legislative” in 1864, though it was not opened until September 1867. Part of the land acquired for it included a lot formerly known as the “Old Commons.” Though privately owned, the Old Commons was a common site used by the citizens of Westminster as a meeting and picnicking area, and for public activities such as 4th of July celebrations and political rallies. During the Civil War, it was utilized by the Army of the Potomac to bivouac troops; guns were also placed there to protect the daily arrival of artillery on the nearby Western Maryland Railroad. For a few days preceding the battle of Gettysburg, men from the 1st Delaware Cavalry made it their headquarters, as it had “a commanding view of the surrounding countryside.”
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.mcdaniel.edu/index.shtml
National Register of Historic Places Summary: http://mht.maryland.gov/nr/NRDetail.aspx?HDID=364&COUNTY=Carroll&FROM=NRCountyList.aspx?COUNTY=Carroll
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter CARR-21 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Village of Waterford
Waterford, VA 20132Loudoun Independent Rangers, the only Union force from Virginia, was raised here in 1862 by Samuel Means, a Waterford miller.
Virginia’s only Union army was created in 1862 when Samuel C. Means, a Quaker and miller from Waterford, was offered a commission to raise an independent cavalry company. Despite the pacifism of their religion, some Quakers from Waterford and Lovettsville took up the fight and enlisted in the newly formed Loudoun Independent Rangers. On the night of August 26th, 1862, the Unionist Loudoun Rangers made their camp at Waterford, with most bivouacked for the evening in the Waterford Baptist Church. Early on the morning of the 27th, they were under Confederate attack. A few hours later, there was one dead on each side, but many lay wounded inside the church. Nineteen Union soldiers and officers surrendered that morning. The capture of White’s nemesis, Capt. Means, however, eluded him because Means had spent the night at a family house and escaped. The fight in Waterford is remembered for literally pitting brother against brother. Capt. Elijah V. White’s 35th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, known as White’s Comanches, was made up of men from the same area of Loudoun as the Rangers. When the Rangers surrendered outside the church, they surrendered to their former friends, neighbors, and relatives. In fact, two brothers fought on opposing sides in this battle. Later in the war, during Gen. Sheridan’s “Burning Raid” of 1864, Union soldiers burned Waterford barns to deny food for the Confederates and their horses. The village is a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [Information 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
Fort Evans
Leesburg, VAOne of three forts built around Leesburg in 1861.
As a border county in the Civil War, Loudoun was in a dangerous position of having to defend its shoreline from Union invasion along the Potomac River, from Harpers Ferry to Dranesville. Three forts were built around Leesburg to keep watch over the town’s approaches. In 1861 troops built Fort Johnson (later renamed Fort Geary), Fort Beauregard, and Fort Evans. Fort Evans is a 1.5-acre rectangular earthen fort located on high ground two miles east of downtown Leesburg, overlooking Edwards Ferry. Named for Col. Nathan “Shanks” Evans, the local Confederate commander, it protected the eastern approaches to Leesburg. Fort Evans was abandoned when the Confederates left the area in March 1862. Fort Evans is located on private property, and access is limited. A Virginia Civil War Trails marker provides interpretation on the site. [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
Historical Marker Database: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=27839
White’s Ford
On the Potomac River, near Lock 2 of the C&O Canal National Historical Park Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority: 703-352-5900Whites’ Ford is located about 3 miles north of White’s Ferry, near Lock 2 on the C&O Canal on the Maryland side of the Potomac River. White’s Ford was used in several major troop movements over the Potomac River in the Maryland and Antietam Campaigns. In September 1862, as Gen. Lee began moving his army from Virginia through Loudoun on his way north for the Maryland campaign, he had Col. Tom Munford and the 2nd Virginia Cavalry cross White’s Ford to get to Poolesville, Maryland. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart made White’s Ford famous again as a crossing for the armies during the Antietam Campaign in October 1862. In June 1864, Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early defeated Union forces at Monocacy, Maryland, and made his way toward Washington, D.C. but retreated when he heard Gen. Grant’s much larger army was arriving in the city. Maj. Gen. Early crossed into Loudoun County at White’s Ford and paused in Leesburg while Union forces began to converge. The ford is named for Capt. Elijah V. White, a Confederate cavalry officer whose farm was on the Virginia side of the ford. A regional park to commemorate the area’s wartime significance is in the planning stages. [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
Historical Marker Database: http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=10145;
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=812
White’s Ferry
24801 White’s Ferry Road Dickerson, MD 20842This ferry was a crossing point during the Civil War, used on many occasions by Confederate forces during raids and campaigns in Maryland.
The ferry at Dickerson was originally known as Conrad’s Ferry. It began operating sometime before the Civil War, though the exact decade is uncertain; some accounts claim it was begun as early as 1782 under owner Conrad Myer, by an act of the Maryland General Assembly, while others date its founding to 1833 by Ernest Conrad. During the Civil War, White’s Ferry and nearby White’s Ford (three miles above the ferry at Lock 25 of the C&O canal) were repeatedly used as crossing points by Confederate troops. General Stonewall Jackson and three thousand of his men crossed here in September of 1862 during the Antietam campaign. Later, General Jubal A. Early’s men returned to Virginia after their 1864 raid on Washington at this point; the cavalry crossed at the ford, while the infantry took the ferry. After the war, the ferry operation was bought by Colonel Elijah Veirs White, a local Confederate officer who had distinguished himself early on in the war at the battle of Ball’s Bluff at Leesburg, only several miles downstream. White’s Ferry still operates today, carrying the cars of tourists and commuters alike across the Potomac to Loudoun County, Virginia, on the barge Gen. Jubal A. Early.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Susan Cooke Soderberg, A Guide to Civil War Sites in Maryland – Blue and Gray in a Border State (Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Books, 1998): 68
Historic Marker Database: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=807
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=741
Edward’s Ferry
Edward’s Ferry Road Poolesville, MD 20837Controlled by Union forces, this was an important Potomac River crossing site during several campaigns.
Edward’s Ferry, at Lock 25 of the C&O Canal, was controlled by Union troops for the duration of the Civil War. Federal forces passed through during the Battle of Ball’s Bluff (though they did not participate in the fighting), and again in large numbers during the Gettysburg campaign. Confederates also passed through, raiding the site in 1863, 1864, and 1865, damaging the canal and Union equipment. From December 1862 until March 1863, it was the base for Thaddeus Lowe’s balloon operations. Lowe, appointed Chief of Army Aeronautics in 1861 by President Lincoln, used his balloons to observe nearby Confederate forces from overhead, recording their positions and movements.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Susan Cooke Soderberg, A Guide to Civil War Sites in Maryland – Blue and Gray in a Border State (Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Books, 1998): 67.
Historic Marker Database: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=33741
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=1686
Jacob Rudy House
504 West Main Street Middletown, MD 21769The Jacob Rudy House in Middletown was where future U.S. president Rutherford B. Hayes was taken for care following a wound to his arm at the Battle of South Mountain.
At Turner’s Gap during the Battle of South Mountain, Lt. Col. Rutherford B. Hayes of the 23rd Ohio Infantry, a future U.S. president, was struck in the left arm just below the elbow. After his wound was dressed at a field hospital, he was taken to Middletown where local merchant Jacob Rudy agreed to let Hayes recuperate in his home. Hayes’ wife, Lucy, arrived in Middletown on September 23. She tended to her husband and visited other wounded soldiers. On October 5, Hayes and his wife left Middletown to further recuperate at their home in Ohio.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center:
http://www.rbhayes.org/hayes/civilwar/display.asp?id=311&subj=civilwar
Historical Marker Database: http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=21911
James H. Gambrill (Araby) Mill
Urbana Pike Frederick, MD 21704 (301) 662-3515 http://www.nps.gov/monoAt or near the Gambrill (or Araby) Mill, several Union soldiers were killed and wounded by the first firing at the Battle of Monocacy. The mill also served as a Union hospital during the battle.
The Araby Mill, located in Frederick County, was established in 1830 by Colonel J. Pearson. James H. Gambrill bought the farm and mill in 1856, enlarging the latter. At the July 9, 1864 Battle of Monocacy, the mill was located to the right and rear of Union lines. As the battle opened, several soldiers from the 87th Pennsylvania, who were stationed at or near the mill, were killed or wounded by the day’s first fire. James H. Gambrill, who sent his family to a neighbor’s house where they sought shelter in the cellar, stayed at the mill during the battle with three friends, hiding under the waterwheel. The mill was used as a Union hospital during the battle.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Monocacy National Battlefield website: http://www.nps.gov/mono
Historical American Buildings Survey/Historical American Engineering Record: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.md1279
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter F-7-058 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Historical Marker Database: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=3262
George Rizer Farm House
211 S. Jefferson Street Frederick, MD 21701The George Rizer farmstead was a campground for Union troops during the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign and the scene of a skirmish during the 1864 Monocacy Campaign.
George Rizer bought the property that would bear his name onJune 8, 1853. It is believed that the farm house was built about 1840, perhaps earlier, and that Rizer made several major additions to the structure in the years that followed.
In 1863, during the Gettysburg Campaign, the Rizer farm was used as a bivouac for about 7,000 Union troops commanded by Maj. Gen. William H. French. French’s command had been ordered from Harpers Ferry to Frederick to prevent the Confederates from moving against Washington if the Union Army of the Potomac was unable engage them. OnJune 28, 1863, General Joseph Hooker, commander of the Army of the Potomac, was relieved of command while encamped at the farm next to the Rizer farm.
On July 7, 1864, during the Monocacy Campaign, a skirmish took place on the Rizer farm between dismounted Confederate Virginia cavalry, commanded by Frederick native Gen. Bradley T. Johnson, and dismounted Union cavalry from the 8th Illinois Cavalry, commanded by David Clendenin. Following a cannonade, the skirmishing began at4:00 p.m. and concluded at about 8:00 p.m. Frederick diarist Jacob Englebrecht, who witnessed the action, later visited the Rizer farm and described dead livestock and the barn riddled with shell and mini balls. This battle was the last of the Civil War to be fought in Frederick
See these sources and websites for additional information:
Jacob Engelbrecht, The Diary of Jacob Engelbrecht [CD ROM], William R. Quynn, ed. (Frederick: Historical Society of Frederick County, 2001), entry forJuly 8, 1864.
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter F-3-067 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Crampton’s Gap
Gapland Road & Mountain Church Road Burkittsville, MD 21718Crampton’s Gap was the scene of one of a series of battles for control of the mountain passes in the Battle of South Mountain during the Maryland Campaign of 1862.
The Battle of Crampton’s Gap took place on September 14, 1862, when the Union VI Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin, attacked a smaller force of Confederates holding the eastern base of the mountain gap. The Confederates’ primary defensive position was established behind a stone wall along the east side ofMountain Church Road. As the Confederates began to give way, reinforcements under Gen. Howell Cobb arrived to slow the Union onslaught. The Confederates were soon surrounded on three sides and were forced to retreat up the mountain to the gap. The Union pursuit encountered and overcame a two-gun section of artillery planted in the road. The Confederates’ last stand was made behind a stone wall on the western side of the mountain, which was soon overwhelmed. The Federals captured more than 400 prisoners and took possession of one artillery piece that had been disabled. Having captured the summit,Franklinordered a halt to the Union advance. The Confederates, meanwhile, formed a defensive line across Pleasant Valley to slow the Union Army’s attempt to relieve the threatened Union garrison at Harpers Ferry.
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-4-017-A in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Historical Marker Database: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2020; http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1909; http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=3901; http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2068; http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2159
Fox’s Gap
Reno Monument Road Burkittsville, MD 21718Fox’s Gap was the scene of one of series of battles for control of the mountain passes in the Battle of South Mountain during the Maryland Campaign of 1862.
The Battle of Fox’s Gap started at 9:00 a.m. on September 14, 1862 when the Union IX Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Jesse L. Reno, attempted to dislodge the Confederates, led by Brig. Gen. Samuel Garland, who defended the mountain pass. The Union Kanawha Division, led by Brig. Gen. Jacob D. Cox, ascended the Old Sharpsburg Road and attacked the Confederate right flank. Its assault broke the Confederate line, which was formed behind a stone wall on the crest of the mountain. Garland was mortally wounded. Cox withdrew to await reinforcements, however, rather than pursue the Confederates. The engagement was resumed in the early evening when the entire IX Corps attacked the Confederate position, which had been strengthened in the meantime. The Union army gained control of Fox’s Gap by 5:30 p.m. As night descended Union General Reno was killed while he examined the Confederate position. At about 10:00 p.m. General Lee ordered the Confederates to withdraw toward Sharpsburg. During the battle Lt. Col. Rutherford B. Hayes, future president of the United States, was wounded in the arm.
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-4-017-B in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Historical Marker Database: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=5412;
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=455;
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=454;
Turner’s Gap
Alt. US 40, Dahlgren Road & Frostown Road Burkittsville, MD 21718Turner’s Gap was the scene of one of a series of battles for control of the mountain passes in the Battle of South Mountain during the Maryland Campaign of 1862.
The Battle of Turner’s Gap began at about noon on September 14, 1862 when the Union I Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, attempted to dislodge Confederate forces from the mountain pass. At about 4:00 p.m. two Union brigades attacked the extreme left flank of the Confederate position located atop two high knolls about a mile above the gap. A third brigade, commanded by Brig. Gen. John Gibbon, attacked a Confederate brigade, commanded by Alfred Colquitt, who defended the gap from behind a stone wall. The Union assault forced the Confederates from the knolls north of the gap, but as darkness fell the southerners maintained possession of Turner’s Gap with Gibbon bivouacked in their front. At about 10:00 p.m. Confederate General Lee ordered the soldiers defending the gap to retire toward Sharpsburg.
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-4-017-C in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Historical Marker Database: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1594; http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1595
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=1598
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=1599
First Battle of Falling Waters (Battle of Hoke’s Run; Battle of Hainesville)
Falling Waters, WV 25419At the July 2, 1861 First Battle of Falling Waters, Union Maj. Gen. Robert Patterson’s army defeated a smaller Confederate army near Hainesville, Virginia (now WV).
On July 2, 1861 Union Maj. Gen. Robert Patterson’s 11,000-man army forded the Potomac River at Williamsport,Maryland. Col. Thomas J. Jackson, who commanded the Confederate force, ordered the Fifth Virginia Infantry and a four-gun battery to advance and meet the enemy. Union brigades commanded by Col. John J. Abercrombie and Col. George H. Thomas engaged the Confederates near Hainesville, Virginia (WV). In the half hour battle, the advance of Thomas’s brigade threatened to outflank the smaller Confederate force.Jackson, under orders to withdraw in the face of superior numbers, did so, retreating to Big Spring below Martinsburg. During the battle, Confederate cavalry commanded by Col. J.E.B. Stuart captured nearly fifty Union soldiers who mistook him for a Union officer because he still wore his pre-war U.S. Army blue uniform.
Because Jackson gave up the field to Patterson, the First Battle of Falling Waters was a minor Union victory. Casualties on both sides were light, however.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.battleoffallingwaters.com/newbattle.ht
Robert Patterson, A Narrative of the Campaign in the Valley of the Shenandoah in 1861, 1865
Civil War Sites Advisory Commission’s Battle Summary:
http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/wv002.htm
Civil War Trails markers:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=45605
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=58080
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=58078
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=45596
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=58083
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=41631
Other markers:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=45769
Ball’s Bluff Road Leesburg,VA20176 (703)737-7800 https://www.nvrpa.org/park/ball_s_bluffAt the October 21, 1861 Battle of Ball’s Bluff, the Confederate force routed the Union force on the heights overlooking the Potomac River in Loudoun County,Virginia.
On October 20, 1861 Union Brig. Gen. Charles P. Stone sent a small force across the river to reconnoiter toward Leesburg,Virginia. Due to delays, the scouting party did not depart until after dark, and it returned with information that it had located a Confederate camp near Leesburg. Stone ordered a second force to cross the river and destroy the camp. The second party crossed and ascended the heights, but failed to find the camp. Early the next day it engaged Confederate skirmishers, however, and using discretion that Stone had given it, the party decided to stay on the Virginia side until reinforced. Stone ordered Col. Edward D. Baker (a sitting U.S. Senator from California and a close friend of President Abraham Lincoln) to take command of the force on Ball’s Bluff. In a subsequent Confederate attack, the southern forces routed the Union troopers and Baker suffered a mortal wound. The Union soldiers fled down the precipitous bluff to the river, only to find that some of their boats were missing, while another became overloaded with men and overturned in the river. Some tried to swim to safety only to drown in the swollen Potomac. The Union side suffered over 500 casualties and an equal number who were captured.
While not of great military significance, the Confederate victory resulted in the formation of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, which was formed in the U.S. Congress to determine why the war effort was floundering. Controlled by Radical Republicans, the committee made Stone the scapegoat for the debacle at Ball’s Bluff, even though he was not on the field, questioning his loyalty to theUnion. Stone was eventually arrested and held in confinement for just over six months, although no charges were brought against him. When he was released and given a field assignment, rumor and suspicion followed him until he resigned from the army in 1864.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
https://www.nvrpa.org/park/ball_s_bluff
James A. Morgan, III, A Little Short of Boats: The Fights at Ball’s Bluff and Edwards Ferry, October 21–22, 1861, 2004.
Civil War Sites Advisory Commission’s Battle Summary:
http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/va006.htm
Civil War Trust:
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/ballsbluff.html
Civil War Trails marker:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1517
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1491
Other markers:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=27839
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2238
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2223
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2234
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2233
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2230
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2229
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2231
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2211
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2203
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2236
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2235
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2829
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=985
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2252
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=27590
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2213
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2205
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2241
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2224
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2237
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2112
Battle of Bolivar Heights
Bolivar, WV 25425At the October 16, 1861 Battle of Bolivar Heights, Confederate Col. Turner Ashby unsuccessfully attacked a Union force commanded by Col. John W. Geary.
In October 1861 Abraham Herr, a Unionist who operated a mill on Virginius Island at Harpers Ferry, gave Union Col. John W. Geary 20,000 bushels of wheat from his mill. When Confederate Col. Turner Ashby learned of Herr’s intentions, on October 16, 1861he attacked Geary’s defensive line on Bolivar Heights, which overlooked Harpers Ferry from the west. Although the Confederates drove the Union defenders back into the town of Bolivar, Geary forwarded reinforcements, which counterattacked. In the six-hour battle, Geary’s force beat back the assault, ultimately sending Ashby’s force into full retreat after it attacked the Confederate left flank. About 600 men were engaged on the Union side, 500 on the Confederate side.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.nps.gov/hafe/upload/Batof-BH61-schedule-of-eventsprogram.pdf
Dennis E. Frye, Harpers Ferry Under Fire – A Border Town in the American Civil War (2012
Joseph Barry, The Strange Story of Harper’s Ferry, with Legends of the Surrounding Country, 1903; reprint 1994.
Historical Marker Database:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=5319
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=5367
Battle of Antietam
Sharpsburg, MD 21782 (301)432-5124 http://www.nps.gov/ancm/index.htmThe September 17, 1862 Battle of Antietam was the bloodiest single day in American military history, stopping the Confederates’ first drive north of the Potomac River and leading to the issuance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
The Battle of Antietam began at dawn on September 17, 1862 when Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s First Corps attacked the Confederate left flank, commanded by Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson. Heavy fighting took place in Miller’s Cornfield, the East Woods and the West Woods, near which sat the Dunker Church. Confederate lines withstood the series of attacks. In the late morning the battle shifted to the Confederate center where units from Union Maj. Gen. Edwin Summer’s Second Corps attacked the Sunken Road, which afterwards became known as Bloody Lane. Repeated Union assaults broke Confederate lines at the Sunken Road, but Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan failed to exploit the breakthrough. In the afternoon, the action moved to the Confederate right flank. Union forces commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside had spent 3 hours trying to storm the Lower or Rohrbach Bridge, now known as Burnside Bridge, before finally succeeding at about1:00 p.m.Rather than advance and roll up the Confederate flank, it took Burnside two hours to cross his corps and then reorganize it for an advance. The delay allowed time for Confederate Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill’s Light Division to arrive on the field of Harpers Ferry, which checked Burnside’s advance. The following day the opposing sides remained in position, but neither took the offensive. That evening Lee began to withdraw to Virginia.
Although the battle was a tactical draw, McClellan had thwarted Lee’s invasion of the North. President Lincoln considered this enough of a victory to issue the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which decreed that on January 1, 1863 slaves residing in those states in rebellion would be free. Of the approximately 110,000 troops on both sides during the battle, over 23,000 become casualties, which made the Battle of Antietam the bloodiest single day in American military history.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.nps.gov/ancm/index.htm
Ted Alexander, Battle of Antietam: The Bloodiest Day, 2011.
James M. McPherson, Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam, 2002.
James V. Murfin, The Gleam of Bayonets: The Battle of Antietam and Robert E. Lee’s Maryland Campaign, September 1862, 1965; reprint, 1982.
Stephen Sears, Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam, 1993.
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter WA-II-0477 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Civil War Sites Advisory Commission’s Battle Summary:
http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/md003.htm
Civil War Trust:
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/antietam.html
Other markers:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=20624
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=20755
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=20714
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=22643
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=37716
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=20742
Battle of Gettysburg
Gettysburg,PA (717)338-1243 http://www.nps.gov/gett/index.htmThe three-day Battle of Gettysburg, a Union victory, was the single bloodiest battle during the Civil War, and stopped the furthest Confederate advance into Union territory.
The Battle of Gettysburg began unexpectedly on July 1 when Union cavalry commanded by Brig Gen. John Buford encountered Confederate troops heading into Gettysburg. The fighting began in mid-morning along the ridges west of the town as both sides sent reinforcements forward. Successful Confederate assaults pushed the Union force off of Seminary Ridge. Union troops rallied on Cemetery Hill south of town and were later extended onto Culp’s Hill to the southeast of the town, and onto Little Round Top and Big Round Top south of Cemetery Ridge. The result of the first day’s fighting was a southern victory.
In the afternoon of July 2, units from Confederate Maj. Gen. Longstreet’s corps attacked the Round Tops. Although inadequately defended at first, additional troops were shuttled to the south and repulsed the Confederate assaults.Col.Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain of the Twentieth Maine would later win the Congressional Medal of Honor for his defense of Little Round Top. Severe fighting also took place at the Peach Orchard, the Wheat Field, and Devil’s Den, places in a “salient” created by Union Maj. Gen. Daniel Sickles when he advanced his Third Corps without orders. Sickles was driven back to Cemetery Ridge with heavy losses. At the northern end of the line, Confederate Lt. Gen. Richard Ewell’s corps unsuccessfully attacked Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Ridge.
At mid-day on July 3 the Confederates began an artillery bombardment of the Union positions on Cemetery Ridge. Just before 2:00 p.m.ten infantry brigades, about 15,000 men, from Longstreet’s corps advanced over open fields against the Union center in a movement that has become known as Pickett’s Charge. Moving toward a clump of trees near a part of the line called “the Angle,” the Confederate assault advanced the last several hundred yards under heavy fire from Union infantry and canister rounds. The Confederate left began to collapse under the fire, and hand-to-hand combat broke out in “the Angle” where Union lines were momentarily breached. Additional Union units were forwarded to help beat back the Confederate assault, which is often referred to as the “High Tide” of the Confederacy. The Confederate force then began to retreat back toward Seminary Ridge. The next day the Army of Northern Virginia began to withdraw toward the Potomac.
With about 51,000 casualties over three days, the Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle during the Civil War. The Confederate defeat at Gettysburg, coupled with a nearly simultaneous Confederate surrender at Vicksburg,Mississippi, is seen by many as the beginning of the end for the Confederacy. Following the battle, on November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln came to Gettysburg to give “a few appropriate remarks” at a dedication of a cemetery for those who died at the Battle of Gettysburg, which has become known as the Gettysburg Address.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.nps.gov/gett/index.htm
Stephen W. Sears, Gettysburg, 2004.
Carol Reardon, Pickett’s Charge in History and Memory, 1997.
Edwin B. Coddington, The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command, 1997.
Civil War Sites Advisory Commission’s Battle Summary:
http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/pa002.htm
Civil War Trust:
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg.html
Other markers:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=15095
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=13319
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=13321
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=13523
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=14074
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=12961
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=21257
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=14934
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=15500
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=17036
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=14119
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=14921
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=17444
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=14987
Corbit’s Charge (Battle of Westminster)
Westminster, MD 21157During Corbit’s Charge, Union Captain Charles Corbit led a spirited charge against Confederate Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart’s cavalry division at Westminster,Maryland.
On June 28, 1863 two companies from the First Delaware Cavalry arrived in Westminster, Maryland to guard the depot of the Western Maryland Railroad. Meanwhile, three brigades of Confederate Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart’s cavalry division had crossed the Potomac River on June 27 and were heading north to Pennsylvania. In the late afternoon of June 29 Union Captain Charles Corbit received notice that Confederate cavalry was approaching town. Unaware of the size of the force, Corbit led about sixty horsemen on a charge through the streets of town. Corbit initially drove the Confederates back and a fierce fight ensued with both pistol and saber. Additional Confederate cavalry came forward and quickly overwhelmed the small Union force. Corbit and another Union officer were taken prisoner. Two Delawareans died and eleven were wounded. On the Confederate side, two men died and ten were wounded. The wounded of both sides were tended by local citizens. After the battle, Stuart and his cavalry spent the night in and around Westminster.
The cavalry clash in Westminster is one of many factors that delayed the arrival of Stuart’s cavalry until late in the second day during the Battle of Gettysburg. Critics contend that Stuart’s tardiness may have contributed to the Confederate defeat in Pennsylvania
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.westgov.com/explore/explore_preserve_events.html
http://www.carrollcountytourism.org/PDFs/Corbits-Charge-Tour.pdf
G. Thomas LeGore, “‘Corbit’s Charge’: The Battle of Westminster,” Catoctin History, Issue #7: 19-25.
Frederic Shriver Klein, ed., Just South of Gettysburg, Carroll County, Maryland in the Civil War: Personal Accounts and Descriptions of a Maryland Border County, 1861-1865, 1963.
Civil War Trails marker:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=13832
Other markers:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=3024
Battle of Harpers Ferry
Harpers Ferry,WV (304)535-6029 http://www.nps.gov/hafe/index.htmDuring the Battle of Harpers Ferry, three separate Confederate commands surrounded the town and recorded the single largest capture of Union troops during the war.
During the Maryland Campaign of 1862, Confederate commander General Robert E. Lee had expected the Union troops garrisoning Harpers Ferry and Martinsburg, Virginia to be withdrawn. When he realized that neither town had been evacuated, on September 9 Lee devised Special Orders 191. The orders divided the Confederate army into a number of separate parts, three of which were directed to surround Harpers Ferry. Under the overall command of Maj. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, on September 10 the three columns got underway. The command under Brig. Gen. John G. Walker occupied Loudoun Heights to the southeast of Harpers Ferry. The column led by Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws approached Harpers Ferry from the north and ascended Maryland Heights. Jackson moved toward Harpers Ferry from the west after first capturing Martinsburg. The Union troops holding Martinsburg, commanded by Brig. Gen. Julius White, withdrew to Harpers Ferry. By September 14 the Confederates were in position on the high ground that surrounded Harpers Ferry, and artillery fire was exchanged. Jackson directed Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill to move his forces along the Shenandoah River so as to flank the Union position on Bolivar Heights. Hill was able to place them within 1,000 yard of the Union left flank. During the night, however, 1,500 Union cavalrymen made a successful escape from the town.
On the morning of September 15, Confederate artillery opened fire on Harpers Ferry. Following a two hour bombardment, the Union garrison surrendered. After the white flag had been raised, Union commander Col. Dixon Miles was struck by a shell fragment, one of the last rounds that had been fired during the battle, and died. Jackson captured 12,700 Union soldiers, which was the largest single capture of Union troops during the war. He also captured 13,000 arms and 47 pieces of artillery.
See these sources and websites for additional information:
http://www.nps.gov/hafe/index.htm
http://www.nps.gov/hafe/historyculture/1862-battle-of-harpers-ferry.htm
James V. Murfin, The Gleam of Bayonets: The Battle of Antietam and Robert E. Lee’s Maryland Campaign, September 1862, 1965; reprint, 1982.
Civil War Sites Advisory Commission’ Battle Summary:
http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/wv010.htm
Civil War Trust:
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/harpers-ferry.html
Other markers:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=5350
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=23320
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=20532
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=5395
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=5351
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=5322
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=5391
Battle of Monocacy
Frederick, MD 21704 (301)662-3515 http://www.nps.gov/mono/index.htmThe Battle of Monocacy, often called “The Battle that Saved Washington,” delayed the Confederate army’s march on Washington,D.C.until after Union reinforcements arrived.
Hoping to alleviate pressure upon the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia at Petersburg, Virginia, General Robert E. Lee ordered Lt. Gen. Jubal Early to lead his 15,000-man corps across the Potomac and to threaten Washington, D.C. Early began to cross the Potomac on July 4 near Shepherdstown, West Virginia and reached Frederick, Maryland on July 8.
Union Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace, who commanded the Middle Department, Eighth Army Corps, with headquarters in Baltimore, organized a scratch force of less than 7,000 men to confront Early and advanced with them to Monocacy Junction. On July 9 the battle began. After some early morning skirmishing at Monocacy Junction, at around 10:00 a.m.Confederate cavalry forded the Monocacy River below the Junction and forced Union cavalry to retreat. The Confederates clashed with Union infantry commanded by Brig. Gen. James Ricketts. Another Confederate attack was made at Monocacy Junction in the late morning, prompting Wallace to order the covered bridge over the river burned, which stranded the Union force west of the Monocacy River. In the late afternoon the Confederates made a series of attacks on Rickett’s battle line. After an attack on the weakened Union right flank, Wallace ordered his force, also low on ammunition, to retreat. They made their way toward Gambrill Mills and then to Baltimore. Early’s exhausted men camped on the battlefield.
The Battle of Monocacy was the only Confederate military victory in the North. The stubborn defense put up by Wallace’s outnumbered force, however, delayed Early’s advance against Washington,D.C.It gave additional time for Union reinforcements to arrive at Washington and swell the city’s defenses. Early advanced to the outskirts of the capital and probed for weaknesses, but chose not to risk an attack against the string of reinforced forts that surrounded it.
See these sources and websites for additional information
http://www.nps.gov/mono/index.htm
Monocacy National Battlefield Staff, The Battle of Monocacy, July 9, 1964 [Handbook] 2010.
Brett W. Spaulding, Last Chance for Victory: Jubal Early’s 1864 Maryland Invasion, 2010.
National Historical Landmarks summary:
http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=687&ResourceType=Site
Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties: http://www.mdihp.net/ (Select “Search by Property” tab, and enter F-3-042 in search box to right of “Site No.”)
Civil War Sites Advisory Commission’s Battle Summary:
http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/md007.htm
Civil War Trust: http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/monocacy.html
Other markers:
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=3218
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=41915
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=41916
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=3270
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=3271
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=3247
http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=324
