July 6, 1863 -Battle of Hagerstown
July 6, 1863
The Battle of Hagerstown - AKA The Battle of Williamsport, or Falling Waters (Again), but really those are three different things, and all conflated with the retreat after Gettysburg. This is sometimes called "the First" Battle of Hagerstown, and that actually makes some sense. Neither Wikipedia nor even the American Battlefield Trust will deign to give this important battle its own page :(
Hagerstown, MD (Washington County)
Meade (Brig. Gen Judson Kilpatrick [why is he sometimes listed as Hugh Kilpatrick? Same guy?]; Capt. Ulric Dahlgren*; 18th PA Cavalry)
vs
Lee (Col. John Chambliss's 9th VA Cavalry come in south of town, while the 10th formed a barricade in the streets; Capt. Frank Bond; Hammond Dorsey @ Public Square; NC Cavalry under Gen Beverly Robertson; JEB Stuart shows up late)
* Intense urban warfare, in a rainstorm: flipped the wagons for barricades at the intersection of what is now/still Baltimore and South Potomac Streets in downtown Hagerstown. Thus: "probably the largest mounted urban cavalry battle of the Civil War"
* Dorsey's Rampage: Confederate Sargent Hammond Dorsey kills several Union soldiers with his sword at Public Square, but is stopped by a Union bugler who used his instrument to blunt Dorsey's saber strikes.
* Dahlgren - not the guy who invented the gun and whose wife built that peace chapel on South Mountain; that was Ulric's dad (his uncle was a Confederate General). And later during the siege of Richmond: "Confederate forces found documents on Dahlgren with orders to free Union prisoners from Belle Isle, burn the city of Richmond[,] and assassinate Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet. The documents were published in the Richmond newspapers and caused outrage in the South with accusations that the orders came from President Lincoln. Union newspapers claimed the papers were forged and reports of mistreatment of Dahlgren's corpse inflamed public opinion in the North. The controversy became known as the Dahlgren Affair."
In early July 1863, the Union gets word that the defeated Confederates from Gettysburg are streaming through Hagerstown on the way back to Virginia - and they eventually decide to do something about it. It's raining - the flooded Potomac has blocked retreat. Calvary from both sides end up fighting it out in the streets, house-to-house and alley-to-alley. It comes to swords in the Town Square, and there's that story of the bugle boy using his horn to stop the murderous slashing of some mad Rebel with a saber. Union Gen. Kilpatrick is doing a good job of running the Rebs out of town until Jeb Stewart's Calvary shows up to turn the tide. Ultimately, the Union pulls out of town, deciding that attacking the retreating wagons isn't worth the engagement of a full cavalry battle; a bunch of Union soldiers are left behind in the streets after the retreat, but luckily they are in Maryland: patriotic local citizens hid about 40 soldiers from the Rebels. Ya boy George Custer and his Michigan brigade comes back for them later and he takes a memorably victory lap around town, waving his handkerchief to the ladies. Enjoy your fame while it lasts, George.
Few extant sites remain, but Hagerstown's Civil War Walking Tour ties all the historical markers together nicely and gives a good feel for the way the urban battle unfolded. I also visited the spot where the hotel that John Brown stayed while scoping out places to attack Harper's Ferry once stood; it's a downtown police station. It took multiple visits to find all the historical markers and some are probably still missing, but here are the current results of my visits to Hagerstown, MD. Let's start with the second visit (Summer 2024), when I had a better understanding of what transpired here, then return for previously seen sites.
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Gen. Robert E. Lee with Longstreet’s Corps entered Hagerstown Sept. 11, 1862 to make it a base for operations in Pennsylvania. On Sept. 14, 1862 this force hastened to the battle of South Mountain and then to the battlefield of Antietam.
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| Heading into Hagerstown... |
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Hager Mill was constructed in 1790 by Daniel Stull and Colonel Nathaniel Rochester and the nearby miller's house has a date stone inscribed 1791. Prior to the Civil War, it was owned by the Hager Family. During the war, Andrew Hager operated this mill and a store on Public Square. Hager was a slave owner loyal to the Union. In 1864, his mill was raided by Confederate soldiers who provided receipts for all supplies taken, which he entered into his ledger “to be paid when the devil dies” knowing full well he would never receive payment from the Confederate government.
The City purchased the mill in 1917 and unsuccessfully attempted to run it. The mill was sold to John A. Forsythe in 1928, but 5 acres were retained by the City for a public park.
Fascinating Fact:
After the Battle of Hagerstown on July 6, 1861, exhausted troopers from Company D, 11th Virginia Cavalry approached a mill on the southeast edge of Hagerstown (believed to be this mill). They found a teenage girl in the doorway wearing an apron in the configuration of a Confederate flag. The girl and her apron were robustly cheered by the men, looking for any sign of hospitality after their campaign in Pennsylvania. Captain Edward McDonald asked the teenager for a piece of the apron, to which she responded that he could have all of it. She presented the apron to the Captain and Private Henry. Madison Watkins moved forward and asked to carry it as a flag. The captain agreed and the apron was tied to a staff Private Watkins carried it for the rest of the day until he wounded by artillery fire near Jones Crossroads, south of the city. Found on the field, he had hidden the apron in his uniform to prevent its capture: Watkins was taken back to Hagerstown where his leg was amputated, but he soon died and was buried in the almshouse graveyard. The “young color bearer” likely lies in an unknown grave in Washington Confederate Cemetery. In the post-war years, Captain McDonald displayed “the apron flag” at Confederate veterans' bazaars, and a popular poem about it gained some notoriety[!?]. Around that time, Col. Henry Kyd Douglas, a local Confederate Veteran, attempted to track down the young girl who donated the apron, but her identity was never discovered.
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The Hagerstown Female seminary, a women’s college founded by the Evangelical Lutheran Church, opened its doors in 1853. Its name was changed in the 1890s to Kee Mar College, and operated at this location until 1911 when the campus was sold to the Washington County Hospital. Hospital operations moved to this site in 1912 and functioned here for nearly 100 years, until moving to new facilities on Robinwood Drive in 2010-11.
The Campus was frequently occupied by Union and Confederate forces throughout the War. After the Antietam and Gettysburg campaigns of 1862 and 1863, the campus was used as a military hospital for both Federals and Confederates. During the Battle of Hagerstown on July 1863, Battery E, 4th U.S. Artillery deployed here and exchanged cannon fire with Chew’s Battery (Confederate) which was posted near Zion Reformed Church on North Potomac Street.
Col. Samuel Lumpkin, CSA (1833-18 63) commanded the 44th Georgia Infantry when severely wounded in the leg at Gettysburg. The leg was amputated in a field hospital and Lumpkin was transported in a wagon train of wounded to Hagerstown, where he fell into Union hands. Confined at the Hagerstown Female Seminary Hospital, he contracted typhoid fever and died on September 18, 1863. Initially buried in the Presbyterian Church Cemetery on South Potomac Street, he was reinterred 50 years later in Washington Confederate Cemetery.
Steven Stoteforyer
1st. Lt. Samuel Sherer Elder, USA (1826-1885), commanding officer, Battery E, 4th United States Artillery
Library of Congress
Surgeon John M. Gaines, CSA (1837-1915) served in the 8th Virginia Infantry when he was captured while tending to the wounded after the Battle of South Mountain. He was later exchanged, only to be captured again at Williamsport in the retreat from Gettysburg. He was temporarily assigned by his captors to tend to his wounded and ill Confederate prisoners at the Hagerstown Female Seminary Hospital. Exchanged a second time, he served in the rest of the war as a medical officer in the 18th Virginia Infantry. After the war he settled in Boonsboro and in retirement, lived on North Potomac Street in Hagerstown.
Doug Beer
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St. John's Lutheran Church was erected in 1795. During the Civil War on July 6, 1863, cavalry of both armies clashed in the streets of Hagerstown from noon until dark. Observers recorded that the streets were full of dead and wounded soldiers and dead horses and the buildings were pock-marked with bullet holes.
Confederate troops occupied the town until July 12, when driven out by Union forces including General George Armstrong Custer's Michigan cavalry brigade, which forced the Confederates out to the western edge of town. Federal General Oliver O. Howard (later a founder and early president of Howard University) observed Confederate positions south of town from the St. John's church bell tower.
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| W. Baltimore St. @ Potomac St. - the intersection of some of the fiercest street fighting. |
Hagerstown
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Hagerstonians in the Civil War
The Rebels MacGill
A local doctor and father of 11, Charles MacGill (1806-1881) was a co-founder of the Hagerstown Herald and was a major general in the Maryland Militia.
On September 30, 1861, Union troops came to his home to arrest him “on the authority of the Secretary of State”. Believing it a violation of his Constitutional rights, he pushed two Federal soldiers down the first steps of his home and his daughter attacked the soldiers with a buggy whip. A scuffle ensued in which his son was wounded by a saber cut to the neck.
MacGill was sent as a political prisoner to Fort Warren in Boston. There he befriended Confederate Major (later Brigadier General) Hiram Granbury, and arranged to have Granbury's young cancer-stricken wife transported to Hagerstown. In July, 1863, he opened a hospital for sick and wounded Confederate soldiers that arrived in the Gettysburg Campaign. He left with the Confederate army and served in the Confederate Medical Corps through the end of the War.
Four of his sons also served in the Confederate army: William, James and Davidge served as privates in Company C, of the 1st Maryland Cavalry. His son Charles G.W. (1833-1907) was commissioned surgeon of the 2nd Virginia Infantry Regiment (Stonewall Brigade). MacGill returned to Hagerstown after the War, but then moved to Richmond, Virginia to be nearer some of his children. The younger Dr. MacGill settled in Catonsville, outside Baltimore. James MacGill (1844-1923) settled in Virginia where he married Lucy Lee Hill; daughter of General A.P. Hill. He became a prominent leader in the Virginia organization of the United Confederate Veterans.
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Local Physician, Dr. Norman Bruce Scott, attended to Confederate and Federal wounded in the Franklin Hotel, which stood at this site during the Civil War.
After the Battles of Antietam and Gettysburg, the military treated the wounded in private homes and commercial buildings such as the Franklin Hotel, Washington House on West Washington Street, the Hagerstown Male Academy on South Prospect Street, and at the Key-Mar College on King Street.
First Battle of Hagerstown
Vicious Fighting in the Streets
— Gettysburg Campaign —
Combat raged here in the town square and in adjoining city blocks for six hours on Monday, July 6, 1863. Holding Hagerstown was crucial to Gen. Robert E. Lee's retreat to Virginia after the Battle of Gettysburg. If the Confederates lost this crossroads town, Lee's access to the Potomac River would be seriously hampered. The Federals recognized Hagerstown's importance, and just before noon Gen. H. Judson Kilpatrick's cavalry division galloped north on Potomac Street. It charged into three Virginia brigades, and each side fed reinforcements into what became a wild melee of mounted charges and dismounted duels.
The fighting lurched from street corner to street corner, and ultimately into dismounted assaults from house to house, yard to yard, doorway to doorway, churchyard to churchyard, and gravestone to gravestone. The arrival of Confederate infantry - Gen. Alfred Iverson's North Carolina brigade - finally compelled the Federals to abandon their effort to seize Hagerstown.
Monday, July 6: "Afternoon. At this moment fighting is going on in our very own town and the balls are whizzing through the streets. … Oh God, of Heaven, have mercy upon us and deliver us from this terrible war." - Louise Kealhofer diary
"The cutting and slashing was beyond description; here right before and underneath us the deadly conflict was waged in a hand to hand combat, with the steel blades circling, waving, parrying, thrusting, and cutting, some reflecting the bright sunlight, others crimsoned with human gore; while the discharge of pistols and carbines was terrific, and the smoke through which we now gazed down through and on the scene below, the screams and yells of the wounded and dying, mingled with cheers and commands, the crashing together of the horses and fiery flashes of small arms presented a scene such as words cannot portray."
-W.W. Jacobs, civilian eyewitness
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Fighting House to House, Yard to Yard
Several others who were hidden in houses escaped by donning citizen’s clothing, and Private Anitpas H. Curtis (Company D), while so dressed, had the distinction of saluting General Lee in person.” George G. Benedict in “Vermont in the Civil War”, 1888.
When Sheriff Edward Mobley marched off to war in 1862, he moved his family from the jailer’s house on Jonathan Street to East Washington Street to be near his parents who lived here.
On July 6, 1863 Union cavalrymen entering the City from Funkstown encountered Confederate cavalry and infantry descending through the town from the north. A pitched battle in the streets ensued, blue and gray horsemen clashing in the streets, fighting from yard to yard and alley to alley. Union General Kilpatrick’s cavalry pushed the Confederates back as far as Church Street before the rebels were reinforced and counterattacked, driving the Union cavalry toward Williamsport.
During the counterattack, a detachment of troopers from the 1st Vermont Cavalry were cut off from the rest of their regiment while fighting through these yards. The Mobleys and their neighbors called the men into their homes and hid them for several days until the town was re-occupied by Union forces on July 13th. Some of the Vermonters were even loaned civilian clothes which allowed them to go out and mingle among the Confederate occupiers who assumed they were Hagerstown residents.
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Hagerstonians in the Civil War
Colonel Henry Kyd Douglas, CSA 1838-1903
Douglas was raised at Ferry Hill Place, on the Maryland side of the Potomac River at Shepherdstown [See June 18, 1863]. In 1861, he enlisted in the 2nd Virginia Infantry and fought in the Battle of First Manassas. From April to October, 1862, Douglas was the youngest officer to serve on the staff of Gen. “Stonewall” Jackson. Through the rest of the War he served as a general staff officer and infantry officer and was wounded and captured at Gettysburg. Swapped in a prisoner exchange in 1864, he commanded an infantry brigade in the Appomattox Campaign up to Lee's surrender.
When peace came, Douglas resumed his law practice and eventually moved to Hagerstown. Governor Oden Bowie appointed him to serve on a commission which created the Washington Confederate Cemetery on South Potomac Street (9 blocks south of here) and re-buried over 2000 Confederate war dead. Active in the Maryland National Guard, Douglas was promoted to Major General and served as the Adjutant General from 1892 to 1896. When America went to war with Spain in 1898, Douglas was one of several former Confederate officers who were considered for the rank of general in the U.S. Army as a means of securing southern support for the war. Dissatisfied with a post offered by President McKinley that carried only the rank of major in the United States Volunteers, he declined the appointment.
Douglas lived here from about 1879 until his death in 1903. After his death, his wartime diary was published under the title I Rode With Stonewall, which is considered a major first-person account of service written by a Confederate staff officer.
Subsequent owners modified the house to its current appearance.
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| Henry Kyd Douglas' impressive garage BTW |
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Bloom Park was one of the very first monuments erected in the United States to honor the veterans of the Spanish-American War (1898-99). It was dedicated on July 4, 1900. The keynote speaker at the ceremony was Henry Kyd Douglas a former Adjutant General of the Maryland National Guard who was a Confederate officer during the Civil War. The monument was unveiled by two small boys, one of whom was William P. Lane, Jr., who grew up to serve as Governor of Maryland (1947-51). The cannon, a relic captured from Fort Morro at Santiago, Cuba was obtained from the War Department through the efforts of Senator Louis McComas. The land for this memorial was donated by S. Martin Bloom (Mayor, 1884-86), who lived across North Potomac Street. Mayor Bloom also absorbed all of the cost of transporting the cannon to Hagerstown and the expense of grading the park and constructing the base. In 2002 the Mayor and City Council officially named this site “Bloom Park” in recognition of Mayor Bloom's generosity.
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This bronze cannon was made at Douai France in 1751, by Berenger the great gun manufacturer, for the House of the Bourbons. After many travels and vicissitudes, it was discovered mounted in defence of Fort Morro Santiago, Cuba. Upon the surrender of Santiago, it passed into the possession of the United States and was taken to Governors Island N.Y. It was assigned by the Secretary of War to Hagerstown and has been mounted here to commemorate the patriotism and courage of all the volunteers from Washington County who entered the Army and Navy of the U.S. in the American - Spanish War, 1897-1898.
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In memory of the the men from Washington County Maryland who served in the Armed Forces of the United States of America during the war with Spain, the China Relief Expedition and the Philippine Insurrection.
Corporal William Othello Wilson
United States Army Medal of Honor Recipient and Buffalo Soldier
William Othello Wilson, a native of Hagerstown, Maryland, enlisted in the U.S. Army on August 21, 1889, at age 22 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
He was subsequently assigned to the 9th Cavalry, I Troop in the western frontier during the Indian Wars. Soldiers in the 9th and 10th Cavalry regiments were among the first black soldiers in the history of the United States Army.
Cheyenne warriors who later fought these cavalrymen gave them the name "Buffalo Soldiers." On December 30, 1890, during the Pine Ridge Campaign in South Dakota, William Wilson made history.
As the 1890's drew to a close, the Indian way of life among all tribes had been virtually eliminated. Many tribes were assigned to various reservations throughout the West. At the same time, the Ghost Dance theology spread through the Indian culture. The Ghost Dance rekindled pride and promised restoration of the Indian way of life.
By December 30, 1890, the atmosphere at the Pine Ridge Reservation had become tense due in part to the Ghost Dance theology. Major Guy V. Henry was given orders to return to Pine Ridge immediately to help calm the situation. Henry's supply train, under the command of Captain John S. Loud, was left behind in order for him to make better time. Indians in the Cheyenne Creek area then attacked and isolated the wagon train.
Captain John S. Loud prepared a message to Major John Henry for help. When scouts refused to carry the message, William Wilson volunteered and said "Lt., I will carry that dispatch." With Indians in pursuit, Corporal Wilson made the gallant ride to summon assistance at the pine Ridge Agency which was about two miles away.
Later Major Henry declared, "Corporal William O. Wilson, Troop I, 9th Cavalry, volunteer for the above duty and, though pursued by Indians, succeeded. Such examples of soldier-like conduct are worthy of imitation and reflect credit not only upon Corporal Wilson but the 9th Cavalry."
William Wilson's Medal of Honor was issued on September 17, 1891. Corporal Wilson was the last African American to qualify for the Medal of Honor in the West and the last one to earn it on American soil. On May 30, 1998, a ceremony was held at Rose Hill Cemetery to formally commemorate William Wilson's act of bravery.
His original home is located approximately one block south of this exhibit on West North Avenue. Exhibits regarding William Wilson's saga are on display at the office of Brothers United Who Dare to Care, Incorporated, at 131 West North Avenue.
His grave site is located in Rose Hill Cemetery, 600 South Potomac Street, here in Hagerstown.
The William Othello Wilson story is told in Frank N. Schubert's book, "Black Valor."
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About 200,000 African-Americans served in the Civil War. When the army reorganized at the end of the war, it established six regiments in the regular army to be composed of African-American recruits. The 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments and four infantry regiments were authorized in 1866. The four infantry regiments were reorganized into the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments in 1869. These four regiments were the nucleus around which most African-American soldiers coalesced in the Army until it was integrated by President Truman in 1948.
The earliest and best documented account of the origin of the term "buffalo soldiers" — which would become synonymous with all African-Americans in the army — comes from an 1871 reference quoting Comanche Indians, as a comparison of the soldiers' dark, curly hair. There are also accounts that the name came from the buffalo hide coats the soldiers would be issued for winter campaigning. Still another attributes the name to Cheyanne warriors in 1877. African-American soldiers wore the name with pride.
The Buffalo Soldiers served in the frontier campaigns versus Native American tribes, protected the Mexican border from "bandits" such as Pancho Villa, fought in the Spanish-American War (including Roosevelt's assault on San Juan Hill), and the Philippine Insurrection. Buffalo Soldiers were also among America's first national park rangers, patrolling America's national parks years prior to the 1916 creation of the National Park Service.
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African Americans and the Medal of Honor
The first act of valor by an African-American serviceman to earn the Medal of Honor occurred on July 18, 1863, during the Civil War. Sergeant William H. Carney of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment took his place in history in the Battle of Fort Wagner, South Carolina. His Medal of Honor citation reads; "When the color sergeant was shot down, this soldier grasped the flag, led the way to the parapet, and planted the colors thereon. When the troops fell back he brought off the flag, under a fierce fire in which he was twice severely wounded." He was later quoted as saying "Boys! he old flag never touched the ground!"
From the inception of the Medal in 1861 until 2020, Medals of Honor have been awarded 90 times to African-American servicemen. The majority of these Medals of Honor were earned for acts of bravery in the Civil War, the various conflicts with Native-American tribes in the West and in the Viet Nam War. As of 2020, the most recent award was presented in 2014 by President Barack Obama to Staff Sergeant Melvin Morris; one of the original "Green Berets." At Chi Lang, Viet Nam on September 17, 1969, Sergeant Morris neutralized four enemy bunkers, rescued several wounded comrades and recovered the remains of a deceased platoon commander. He was wounded three times in the engagement.
Of these 90 awards to African-American recipients, eight are credited to servicemen from Maryland.
Also, these organ works were in Hagerstown (let it go).
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Hagerstonians in the Civil War
Dr. John Absalom Wroe, 1817-1874
This home was constructed around 1838. During the Civil War, it was the home of Dr. John Absalom Wroe and his family. A native of Virginia, Wroe helped to treat wounded Confederate and union soldiers who were left in the City when the rebel army evacuated Hagerstown in July, 1863. Family lore states the Wroes hosted General Robert E. Lee and his staff for dinner during the Confederate occupation of the town. The Wroe children pranked the Confederate officers by hiding their side arms, which they removed for dinner, in a barn in the backyard. The Wroe family opened their home to Major Henry D McDaniel of the l1th Georgia Infantry after he was wounded at the Battle of Funkstown in the retreat from Gettysburg. They cared for him until he was sent to a prisoner of war facility. Major McDaniel later served as Governor of Georgia.
In 1923 the Women's club of Hagerstown purchased the property. A service club that was created during World War 1, the Women's Club converted the home for use as a boarding home for ladies, containing 21 guest rooms, a dining hall and a small auditorium.
In 1901, Hagerstown resilient Mary Landon Mason married the aged former Confederate General Edward Porter Alexander. In her old age, Mrs. Alexander lived here at the Women's Club until her passing in 1946. She was one of the last surviving widows of a Confederate general.
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Third dwelling was built by Jonathan Hager, founder of Hagerstown Maryland, 1762; Captain of Scouts, French and Indian War, 1755–1763; member of the Non-Importation Association and of the Committees of Safety and of Observation, 1775; member of the General Assembly, Annapolis, 1771–1775.
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In the early 19th Century, this area was owned by the Heyser family and was known as “Heyser's Woods”. The mansion house was constructed by John H. Heyser between 1843 and 1846. “Heyser's Woods” became a popular local picnic grounds, and when the Hagerstown Fair Association formed in 1854, Mr. Heyser allowed the fair to be held on his property. The fair was suspended during the Civil War years. The fair buildings were destroyed by Union and Confederate soldiers who regularly camped here in their campaigns. General Robert E. Lee camped here in 1863 during the Gettysburg Campaign.
Mr. Heyser moved to Florida in 1882 and soon died there. In 1884, his estate sold the property to William H. Armstrong, who lived in the house. In 1890, the West End Improvement Company formed and Armstrong transferred his holdings to the company. In 1915 the City of Hagerstown purchased this land from the West End Improvement Company for $40,000 to be used as a public park. Samuel Detrow was appointed park superintendent, and nationally-known landscape architect. George Burnap was retained to create a master plan for the park.
For a century, City Park has served as one of the principal social and recreational facilities for Hagerstown residents and enjoys a reputation as one of the finest urban parks on the east coast.
Just a reminder, that these pages are organized chronologically, not geographically. This too happened in Hagerstown- and we will take about it later (or earlier).
Born in Pennsylvania in 1824, Margaret Greenawalt was raised in the Greencastle area. By the Civil War, she lived with her sister and brother-in-law, George and Catharine Bowman, in Hagerstown. The Bowmans operated a confectionary (bakery and candy story) on West Washington Street between Public Square and the Courthouse.
Margaret Greenawalt, ca. 1900 Catharine Bowman, ca. 1900 In 2009, these portraits of Margaret and Catharine were found in the archives of the Washington County Historical Society. They were donated to the Society in 1955 by Myra McDade. Myra knew Margaret and Catharine when she was a child. Before donating the photos she wrote the following story on the back of Margaret's portrait: "Miss Margaret Greenawalt waived the flag over retreating Confederate soldiers and was roundly cursed as they sped up West Washington Street while her sister Mrs. Bowman pulled at her skirt and begged her to come in saying "They'll shoot you Maggie! They'll shoot you!" Miss Margaret was standing on the iron balcony...waiving the flag to the soldiers in blue just coming through the square below." She added the following to the back of Catharine's photo: "Mrs. George Bowman- told me the story of her sister several times when I was 12 year old- Myra L. McDade."
Based on the description, it appears that this event occurred during the Confederate retreat from Gettysburg in July, 1863. Without this small donation to the Historical Society, the heroic act of one Hagerstown woman in our Nation's time of greatest peril would have been lot to history.
Margaret and the Bowmans retired to a home on Broadway (just north of here). After Catharine died in 1902, Margaret lived with a nephew in Lowerre (Yonkers), Westchester County, New York. Margaret passed away in 1911. Her funeral was held at Otterbein Church (one block south of here). She was interred in the Bowman family plot at Rose Hill Cemetery.
In 2012, the Mayor and the City Council of Hagerstown named this park in honor of Hagerstown's unsung Civil War heroine.
Fascinating Fact
Who was Myra McDade? Myra Lillian McDade (1877-1955) was a heroine in her own right. She was born in Hagerstown and grew up on Broadway where her family came to know Margaret and the Bowmans for many years. Myra graduated from Goucher College in Baltimore and became a prominent missionary teacher in the Methodist Church. She served 20 years in China between 1919 and her retirement in 1939. Guerillas raided the town here she was stationed and she showed great courage in protecting her students, one of whom was the daughter if a high government official. Publicly called before the local royal court, she was presented with several gifts and officially recognized for her heroism. [picture and caption] The Bowman Confectionery (far right) as it appeared when taken by Hagerstown photographer Elias Recher in 1862. Courtesy of the Washington County Historical Society
And now we bounce back to my earlier visit to Hagerstown, when I was less strict with my record-keeping.
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[Not Pictured]
"The Washington House Hotel was a major stop on the National Pike and served as a hospital at times throughout the Civil War. Prior to organizing his raid on the Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, John Brown registered under the assumed name of "I. Smith" at the Washington House on June 30, 1859. With him were his sons Owen and Oliver, and Jeremiah G. Anderson, all of whom were principal leaders of the raid. Anderson and Oliver Brown died in the raid."
I learned a lot about Mount Prospect, Mr. Rochester's home before he moved to NY and founded a new town bearing his name; his home was a big house, so, like every other large building in town, it served as a hospital before, after, and during Gettysburg and Antietam; then I visited the parking lot that has taken Mount Prospect's place, but at least there was a mural. Among those treated at the hospital were one Capt. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., of the 20th MA Infantry; he fights at Fort Stevens outside DC, is wounded at Antietam, and later becomes a Justice of the Supreme Court.
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=20852
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=20853 https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=44835 https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=20852 The Rochester House stood on this site until its demolition in the mid-1950s. During the Civil War, it was the home of Mrs. Frances Howell Kennedy, widow of Dr. Howard Kennedy. From the beginning of the War, Mrs. Kennedy provided food and comfort to all wounded soldiers in local hospitals. She also opened her home to the care of many Federal soldiers, including Captain Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. of the 20th Massachusetts Infantry, who went on to become an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Holmes was wounded at the Battle of Antietam. |
On the way to Rose Hill Cemetery, there's a memorial to famous people from Hagerstown. Mobley was a good guy. Don't get him confused with Confederate cavalry commander John S. Moby, AKA the Gray Ghost, who survives the war and turns Republican, supporting his former enemy's commander, Grant. Jackson's boy Douglas was from here too and also gets a plaque (not pictured). Thomas Kennedy gets a plaque here too for being a "civil rights figure"; he helped make it OK for Jews to run for office, and he gets his own statue beside.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=107262 https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=107553 And there's also this pocket-park, dedicated to a founder a religious tolerance! Don't get him confused with John Pendleton Kennedy; that's a different guy about 50 years later.  Thomas Kennedy 1776-1832 Maryland State House of Delegates Served 1817-1823, 1825-1826 Maryland State Senator Served 1826-1831 Co-founder Hagerstown Mail Newspaper - Hagerstown, Maryland Writer and Poet Thomas Kennedy was born in Paisley, Scotland in 1776. In 1795 he sailed to Georgetown, Maryland. In 1802, he married Rosamond Thomas from Frederick, Maryland and signed a lease for mill land on the Conococheague. Two years later, he built a home for himself and his family in the village of Williamsport, Maryland. Kennedy was first elected to the House of Delegates in 1817, representing Hagerstown. At the time Maryland excluded Jews and other non-Christians from holding public office. From the very beginning of his legislative career, as his granddaughter later noted, he "took an active part in politics largely....because of his interest in religious freedom." Indeed, one year after his election, he joined in the house committee considering removing the political disability of the Jews." In that legislative session Kennedy introduced the Jew Bill to allow Jews to hold public office. Because the Jew Bill did not pass on his first introduction, Kennedy persisted with its introduction in successive sessions of the legislature. It was not until 1826 that the Jew Bill finally became law, and the religious ban was removed. Along with his legislative career, Thomas Kennedy also helped to establish the Hagerstown Mail, of which he later became editor. He also served in the Senate, but found that he preferred the lower house and so returned to that body. Thomas Kennedy died from asiatic cholera in October 1832. For his success, he has been called the Maryland father of religious anti-discrimination. Thomas Kennedy's courageous stance against anti-semitism and religious discrimination is a legacy that lives on today. Confirmation of the Greenawalt story! (Although, technically the source is the same) | Thomas Kenn | Maryland State House of Delegates Served 1817-1823, 1825-1826 | Maryland State Senator Served 1826-1831 | Co-founder Hagerstown Mail Newspaper - Hagerstown, Maryland | Writer and Poet | Thomas Kennedy was born in Paisley, Scotland in 1776. In 1795 he sailed to Georgetown, Maryland. In 1802, he married Rosamond Thomas from Frederick, Maryland and signed a lease for mill land on the Conococheague. Two years later, he built a home for himself and his family in the village of Williamsport, Maryland. Kennedy was first elected to the House of Delegates in 1817, representing Hagerstown. At the time Maryland excluded Jews and other non-Christians from holding public office. From the very beginning of his legislative career, as his granddaughter later noted, he "took an active part in politics largely....because of his interest in religious freedom." Indeed, one year after his election, he joined in the house committee considering removing the political disability of the Jews." In that legislative session Kennedy introduced the Jew Bill to allow Jews to hold public office. | 1776-1832 |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=107235 |
Frederick has Barbara Fritchie, and Hagerstown has Margaret Greenawalt (yep, that's how she spelled it). I imagine every little Maryland town that saw action has a similar story--and I am here for it.
"On July 6, Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick's cavalry division drove two Confederate cavalry brigades through Hagerstown before being forced to retire by the arrival of the rest of Stuart's command. Lee's infantry reached the rain-swollen Potomac River but could not cross, the pontoon bridge having been destroyed by a cavalry raid."
"About 100 Union soldiers were stranded in town when Kilpatrick pulled out. A few were able to escape and rejoin their units, while the rest were hidden by residents who were sympathetic to the Union cause. One such case was Antipas Curtis, a trooper who served with the 1st Vermont Cavalry. Curtis was given civilian clothes by his hosts. He actually went out and walked about town among the Confederate soldiers who occupied the town. The Confederates just see him as a civilian. They don’t think anything of it. Legend has it that Curtis was standing on the street and saluted Gen. Robert E. Lee when the Confederate commander rode past on his horse. The lore in the 1st Vermont Cavalry is he was the only man in the regiment who saluted Robert E. Lee.”
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Margaret Greenawalt, Congressman Roman, the widow owner of Rochester House, Governor Hamilton and a host of other famous Marylanders are all buried at Hagerstown's Rose Hill cemetery, establish in 1866. So we are going to talk about THIS today too.
Washington Confederate Cemetery
Immediately after the Civil War, Union casualties in the Frederick-Washington County areas were re-interred at a new National Cemetery at Sharpsburg. Yet no provisions were made to provide decent burial for thousands of hastily-buried Confederates. To address this problem, the State of Maryland chartered the Washington Confederate Cemetery in 1870 and authorized funds to collect and bury the Confederates in one place. In 1872, the Board of Trustees of the Cemetery, led by Hagerstonian and former Confederate officer Colonel Henry Kyd Douglas purchased 2.75 acres from Rose Hill Cemetery and took the next three years to collect the rebel soldiers.These grounds are hallowed with the remains of approximately 346 identified and 2,122 unknown Confederate servicemen who perished in the Antietam, Gettysburg and Monocacy campaigns.
The Cemetery was formally dedicated on June 15, 1877. The keynote speaker was former Confederate General Fitzhugh Lee.
In September, 1961, former President Dwight D. Eisenhower and General Ulysses S. Grant III rededicated Washington Confederate Cemetery in a large ceremony commemorating the centennial anniversary of the Civil War.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=153412 |
That's it; that's the Confederate cemetery. Not those tombstones; the blank field of grass between the gateway and the other grave makers. 2,468 dead Confederates are there. This stone (below) is the only identifying mark, which basically says which battle they died in (Antietam, Gettysburg, South Mountain, and Monocacy are all represented).
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=153191 |
A statue of Hope overlooking the field of Confederate dead, and I guess I don't really have a problem with that. But what are they hoping for, eh?!
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=12203 |
Jacob Wheaton, the first black guy to vote in Maryland, is also buried here! I mean, there's lots of important Marylanders, but this guy's grave was on my way to the Confederates. Notably, just outside their area, of course. He did also manage a smallpox hospital for the city in 1863.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=107361 |
That's all.
Check out this excellent local story that I've quoted extensively from that was published 10+ years ago celebrating the battle of Hagerstown's 150th Anniversary:
https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/story/news/2013/07/04/remembering-the-battle-of-hagerstown-150-years-later/46157815/
More sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulric_Dahlgren
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=20846
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Williamsport
See ya at Second Hagerstown and again in '64!
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