October 7, 1863 - Skirmish at White House Farm

October 7, 1863

Skirmish at White House Farm

Summit Point, WV, Jefferson County

Col. Benjamin L. Simpson (9th MD Infantry) > Capt. George Dent Summers (2nd MD Potomac Home Brigade Infantry)

vs.

Gilmore's Raiders (7th VA Cavalry at this point)

* It's one thing to run across an unexpected historical marker while driving to another one. However, not only was this surprise marker about the Civil War, it also featured my arch-nemesis, Harry Gilmor, being a bastard as usual. What a find! 

* Gilmore's already been arrested once in Baltimore at this point, spent 5 months in jail, and will be captured and released again before really making trouble in Maryland in 1864. Later still, he gets caught yet again and is held in Boston until after Appomattox, but after the war continues to hassle the good people of Baltimore as their police chief, including famously firing upon some railroad union protesters. 

* Someone said the oldest surviving barn in WV is here but IDK

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=14355

In 1740, Dr. John McCormick, a Scots (Scotch)-Irish immigrant bought 395 acres from Jost Hite and established White House Farm. Stone barn built by McCormick is the oldest standing in West Virginia. House served as a tavern and inn in early 1800s. In 1863, Major Harry Gilmor, 7th Va. Cavalry, CSA, shot and killed Captain George Somers, US Army in skirmish here. In 1979, listed in National Register.

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=173642

The History of White House Farm

1730 John and Isaac Van Meter, sons of Dutch immigrant Jobst Jansen Van Masteren, obtained grants for 40,000 acres in then Berkeley County, VA. from Virginia Lt. Gov. Gooch.

1731 Jost Hite, a German immigrant, purchased this land from Van Meters and it came to be known as "Hite's Grant".

1740 Dr. John McCormick, an Irish-Scots immigrant, purchased 395 acres from Jost Hite and constructed a two-room home for his family, which consisted of his wife Anne, and their eight children. These room now make up the right side of the house.

1752 George Washington surveyed the farm for Dr. McCormick. (1)

1768 Dr. McCormick died, leaving the farm to his youngest son Andrew who, with his wife Nancy, provided food, lodging, and horses to Washington's troops during the Revolutionary War. After the war, they operated an ordinary on the farm, offering travelers food and lodging on the road between Winchester and Harpers Ferry.

1807 Andrew McCormick sold the farm to John Locke, but preserved 1/4 acre in the southwest corner for the McCormick family graveyard. John Locke's brother George continued to manage the ordinary, which was known as the White House Tavern.

1863 The springhouse (2) and farmhouse (3) owned by Eleanor Locke Morrow and her husband and Joseph Morrow were sketched by James E. Taylor. The spring, one of the source of Bullskin Run, provided water to both Union and Confederate troops. Morrow's blacksmith shop was located across the lane from the springhouse. Remains of the foundation of the stone wall shown next to the shop (3) can be seen just outside the rail fence. Although access to the spring remains on White House Farm property, the spring itself was deeded to Jefferson County in 1975. Not recommended for human consumption, the water is still used for agricultural purposes.

1863 "I had reached the "White House," owned by Mr. Morrow two miles from Summit Point; had halted to let the men dismount and get water from the large spring about fifty yards off; and was the only mounted man left on the road. I had ridden up the yard fence, and was talking to the ladies, when I heard a voice exclaim, "Here they are, boys, by God, we've got them now!" At the same instant a bullet whistled through a lilac bush between the ladies and myself." So begins Major Harry Gilmore's (CSA) account of the fatal encounter between his Confederate troops and Union forces led by Captain Somers which occurred between this springhouse and the farmhouse during the Civil War (in Four Years in the Saddle, recorded by Burternut and Blue, Baltimore, MD) and depicted in the James E. Taylor Sketchbook. (4)

1929 The concrete springhouse floor was inscribed "May 30th, 192, l.n" (5). The farm's owners at the time were Luther and Lillian Naylor.

1930's-50's (6) The farm supported a dairy herd and milk was stored in their springhouse to await pickup by the wagons and trucks.

1979 The farmhouse, springhouse, and 3 other structures of this now 40 acre farm were added to the National Register of Historic Places

Springhouse Restoration, April - July 2001

After many years in decline (7), the springhouse was restored, funded in part by a historic preservation development grant from the West Virginia State Historic Preservation Office and the National Park Service, and completed through the outstanding efforts of the following individuals:

• Fred Brewster, stonemason (8), Berryville, VA

• Michael F. Taylor, general contractor, Shepherdstown, WV

• Gene Bichner and David Lutman, Roof Construction (9)

• Charles Deeds, carpenter (10) , Middleway, WV

• Pamela Brooks, WV State Historic Preservation Office

• Summit Point citizens who signed 80 letters of support for the grant

The sign doesn't offer a specific date. When I asked Gemini (Nov. 2024) it said, "There is no record of Harry Gilmor shooting George Sommers. Harry Gilmor was a Confederate cavalry officer during the American Civil War, and George Sommers was a Union soldier. While their paths may have crossed during the war, there is no evidence of a personal conflict or shooting incident between them," which is demonstrably wrong. Kudos to this WordPress personal blog for having the actual date gleaned from primary documents; that page has a great deal more details about this incident, though it is mostly from Gilmor's heavily biased perspective in his book.   

The police like Gilmor.

And these guys, who hilariously live 15-minutes from me, might have a copy of Gilmor's book. Or they did in 2016 when the webpage was last updated. Good luck finding a copy of Taylor's Sketchbook though!