The Hagerstown Pike with the
Cornfield on the left
Courtesy
of Antietam National Battlefield
THE CIVIL
WAR IN
HAGERSTOWN AND WASHINGTON COUNTY MARYLAND
The Setting
Hagerstown
is located near the crossroads of fragments of two major historic travel
routes, the National Pike (present-day U.S. Route 40) moving from east to west
and the route moving from north to south from Pennsylvania
to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia (The
Great Wagon Road). The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
ran along the Maryland side of the Potomac
River from Georgetown, DC
to Cumberland, Maryland. The canal passed by the towns of
Sharpsburg and Williamsport in Washington County with Williamsport being only
six miles south west of Hagerstown. The
coal transported on the canal was used by the Federals at the Washington Navy
Yard for its ships. As a result, the
Confederates were drawn to the area to attempt to destroy or at least interrupt
traffic on the canal. Union soldiers were stationed in the area to provide
protection resulting in soldiers of both armies firing at each other across the
Potomac River.
The
roads in the county were transportation conduits for both armies as well as for
farm produce. Washington
County was an agricultural
community growing grain and fruit and raising livestock. The transportation
links, agricultural produce and proximity to both Pennsylvania
and Virginia meant that Hagerstown could provide a good staging area
for the army throughout the war years. The market house in Hagerstown was used by the Federal army to
store supplies and food, much of which was provided through government
contracts with the local farmers. For
months after the war ended, government wagon trains continued to travel through
Hagerstown heading to Kentucky and other mid-western locations.
The Strife
Local historian and newspaper editor,
Thomas J. C. Williams dynamically described in 1906 the political and economic
climate of the county during the war.
The excitements of
the war were more lively and the feelings of animosity were necessarily much
more bitter here than elsewhere. This
County was a battlefield. Both armies
overran it. Vast quantities of property
were destroyed. The population were
divided in sentiment and each portion ascribed to the other the losses and
indignities they suffered. It was
literal fratricidal strife and a fratricidal strife is always the most
embittered...There was strife and division within the family circle. In some instances the father would sympathize
with one side, the mother with the other.
Some of the sons would join the Northern army and some the Southern or
it might be that the father would be armed against his sons and not
infrequently would brothers be brought into direct conflict in opposing forces.
Those who
sympathized with the suffered loss during the Southern occupancy and
inconvenienced all the time and they felt that their nearest neighbors might be
aiding and abetting those who were despoiling them. Those who sympathized with the South...were
oppressed and insulted and some of them taken from their homes and families to
be imprisoned in Northern forts.
In the North people
were growing rich on the war, patriotism was profitable, but in Washington County
the country was overrun by armies and farmers frequently saw the results of a
year’s hard labor swept away or trod under foot in an hour. Crops would be sowed, the ground ploughed
with hired horses and the work done at enormous expense and as the crops would
be white [sic] for the harvest an army would encamp in the field. Or at a critical time every horse from a farm
would be carried off leaving the farmer paralyzed. Miles of fencing which had cost almost as
much as the land it enclosed was swept away and burnt up for firewood in a
day. For this condition each side
considered the friends of the other side responsible.
The man did not
doubt that the secessionists, by attempting to break up the and by firing on
the flag, were responsible for the war.
The Secessionist did not doubt that the Southern States had a
constitutional right to terminate a compact with those who had violated its
terms and that the North, by invading the South was alone responsible for the
conflict. Then, too, the successive
occupancy of the County by the troops of the two sides gave rise to much
feeling. If, during the occupation of the Northern army the man under that protection, treated his
Secession neighbor with arrogance, it might be expected that the latter would
take his revenge when the Northern army had given place to the Southern. This then was the feeling which prevailed
during the progress of the war.
THE
ISSUES
Maryland shared the distinction of being a border-state
with Delaware, Kentucky
and Missouri.
Marylanders, in general, did not
identify themselves exclusively with either the Northern or Southern geographic
area of the nation. Some Marylanders considered themselves part of the South
while others did not. Those who did not consider themselves southerners
included businessmen, newer immigrants, and the 75,000 free blacks in the state
by 1850. Slavery in Maryland was more
predominant on the Eastern Shore and in the southern parts of the state rather
than in central and western Maryland.
This was due to the tobacco economy in those regions. [4] The different emphasis on slave labor led to
changes in the state constitution in 1850 to safeguard the master-slave
relationship.[5]
Washington County was invaded and occupied three separate times by
the Confederate Army, in 1862, 1863 and again in 1864. Its citizens were divided over the issues that led
to war and they experienced dissension and hardship as the two opposing armies
moved back and forth through their streets, alleys, and yards. Hagerstown
changed hands several times during the conflict and first one and then the
other faction held the upper hand.
Citizens were required to take a loyalty oath to the Union, and those who
refused were arrested and taken to prison at Fort
McHenry in Baltimore or other places.
In
Washington County
as elsewhere in the state, the dissension surrounding the war occurred over a
state’s right to withdraw from the United States. The two major political parties with any
presence in Maryland
were the Democrats and Unionists. The Democrats believed that it was their
constitutional right to leave the Union, while
the Union Party did not. Neither party
approved of federal government intervention with the institution of slavery.
However by 1863 and Lincoln’s Emancipation
Proclamation freeing the slaves in the areas in rebellion, the institution of
slavery began to break down in Maryland.
A combination of slaves fleeing the Confederate south, the Antietam and Gettysburg campaigns and
other military movements in the region resulted in the declining value of
slaves.
Further,
in July 1863 the War Department began recruiting free African Americans for
army service. The non-slaveholders in Maryland were concerned
that the labor market would be adversely affected and advocated the recruitment
of both free and enslaved African Americans. They felt that the recruitment of
only free African Americans in Maryland
would result in increasing the value of slaves due to the loss of free
African-American labor, something the non-slaveholders did not want to
happen. At the same time, free labor was
already reluctant to come into the state because of the use of slave labor. The
slaveholders were against the enlistment of slaves but were already losing their
slaves to military commanders in the area who were not strictly enforcing the
fugitive slave laws. Military law and state law required that military
commanders not only avoid interference with slavery and not entice slaves to
runaway but return runaway slaves to their masters.
By
the final months of 1863, slaves were allowed to enlist with the permission of
their masters; the slave was emancipated and if the master was loyal to the Union he would be given compensation for the loss of his
slave. African-American recruitment would count toward the quota for state
enlistments. By 1864 slave values in Maryland
had collapsed. In Frederick in 1862, a group of slaves sold for
$2,500. By 1864 the group would have
sold for only $400. In Hagerstown in 1864 slaves were selling for
$5.00 each. The writing was on the wall,
and in October of 1864 the new Maryland Constitution freeing the slaves was
ratified.
THE
BEGINNING
According to Williams, the first
appearance of troops in Hagerstown
was a group of 50 Federal regulars from Harper’s Ferry on 9 April 1861. Thus began a flood of people of all kinds
through Hagerstown
not seen since the stagecoach days.
Armies were on both borders of the county with 4,000 Federal troops in
Chambersburg and 4,000 Virginia
troops at Harper’s Ferry. “It was a strange circumstance that on Sundays many
Southern sympathizers of Hagerstown made the
journey to Harper’s Ferry to see their Southern friends, whilst people went to
Chambersburg to view the army there...Confederates from Harper’s Ferry came
freely over to the Maryland side of the Potomac and by their presence obstructed canal
navigation....”
Early in the war Federal troops were camped in Washington County
to guard the government stores, ammunition, mules, and wagons at Hagerstown and Williamsport. In June of 1861 Major General Robert Patterson with
about ten thousand Federal troops occupied Hagerstown
with his headquarters in the Hagerstown Female Seminary (site of the current Washington County Hospital. The July 24, 1861 issue of the Herald and Torch suggested that the
troops would not be permanent. It was
thought that Federal troops at Harpers Ferry would be able to guard
transportation on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the Chesapeake
and Ohio Canal.
However, in December of 1861, Confederate General
Thomas Jonathan Jackson and his men tried to disrupt traffic on the canal by
dismantling Dam No 5 on the Virginia side of
the Potomac River causing damage to surrounding property on the Maryland side. With the
Union defending the dam and the Maryland
shore, cannon and rifle fire also caused damage on the Virginia shore. The Herald
&Torch for 11 December 1861 reported the damage Jackson’s
men caused on the Maryland
side of Dam No. 5. Unable to destroy the
dam “they commenced throwing shot and shell across the river at the houses and
barns within reach…setting fire to the barn of Mrs. Jacob Reitzell” which was
being rented by Samuel Stabling. The
barn was “entirely consumed, together with a thousand bushels of corn, a
quantity of wheat, hay and other property, inflicting a heavy loss upon both
the owner of the barn and the tenant.”
When
Union General Nathaniel P. Banks was forced to withdraw from Winchester,
Virginia in May 1862, his troops crossed the
Potomac River into Washington County, entered Hagerstown
and destroyed the press, type, materials, and building of the pro-southern Hagerstown Mail and other business
enterprises. When they learned that the
building belonged to a Union man the Federals raised money to pay him for his
loss.
When
General Robert E. Lee’s army passed through Hagerstown
on the Confederates’ first invasion of the Union
in September of 1862, a Confederate correspondent wrote that “some few young
men openly avowed their Southern feeling and joined us, but the greater number
stood as if thinking...I must sacrifice principle and secure my home.” The
Union supporters including farmers, merchants and the editors of the Herald of Freedom and Torch Light fled
across the border into Pennsylvania.
Author Kathleen Ernst states in her book Too
Afraid to Cry, that during the 1862 campaign, “the vocal minority of Hagerstown civilians who
were secessionists made the Southerners feel welcome.” Memoirs of the time speak of Hagerstown
providing more of a welcome to the Southern army than did the citizens of Frederick. Soldiers were fed, clothed, and housed. Many of the merchants opened their stores to
the Confederates. Generally, Ernst states, the Confederate occupation was
orderly and the men enjoyed their stay.
ANTIETAM
The battle in the Southern part of Washington County left the area devastated. Crops
were ruined, wells dry or polluted, livestock gone, and there was virtually no
food to be had. The farmers lost all of their fences. When farmers reacquired
livestock, they did not have the means to rebuild fences, only to lose them
once again. Hospitals were set up in homes and barns throughout that part of
the county as well as in Hagerstown. Clara Barton came to Washington
County after the battle and set up
nursing at the Poffenberger Farm north of Sharpsburg.
For the newspaper accounts of the Battle of Antietam and the devastation in the
county see the Herald of Freedom and
Torch Light accounts for September 24, 1862 and October 1, 1862.
Herald of Freedom and
Torch Light
“By the middle of July [1862]the number of sick in the hospitals was
greatly augmented by the wounded who were gathered from the various skirmishes
along the Potomac and in Virginia as well as by those who became victims of the
hot weather and camp life. Hospital
tents had to be erected in the Male
Academy grounds on South Prospect Street. The constant succession of military funerals
had a most depressing effect upon the public and men began to talk about the
general health of the town and suggest measures for the prevention of an epidemic.” The Academy building, the Female Seminary (Washington County Hospital
site), and the Court Hall (Washington County Court House) were also in use as
hospitals. The ladies of Hagerstown and the
surrounding area of the county gathered supplies, clothing, and foodstuffs and
helped tend the sick and wounded.
GETTYSBURG
In June of 1863 General Lee led his army
northward once again through Maryland. The Confederate army was preceded by
displaced persons, mainly African Americans, from the Shenandoah
Valley along with their families and possessions. Farmers, merchants and other Union
sympathizers south of the Potomac River also sought refuge in Pennsylvania bringing their horses,
merchandise and other moveable possessions in hopes of keeping them from
falling into the hands of the Confederates.
After
the battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863)
General Lee’s retreating army clashed with cavalry in Smithsburg, Boonsboro,
Funkstown, and Williamsport and through the
streets of Hagerstown. In his diary, Hugh St. Clair, a member of the
18th Pennsylvania Cavalry described the pitched battle that took
place on 6 July 1863 in the alleys, streets and churchyards of Hagerstown.
He tells of finding a good position by Mr. Levi’s storehouse on the East
corner of the Public Square and
how the rebels were streaming into the Square from the direction of the
Washington House, one block away from the Square on West Washington Street. Being blocked in by the rebel line, St. Clair
had to run through people’s gardens and jump fences to get around the
Confederate line while listening to a woman crying over her dead loved one.
Again, the nightmare of war was brought to the doorsteps and gardens of the
people of Hagerstown and Washington County.
GENERAL
MCCAUSLAND AND THE THREAT OF THE TORCH
Amid many rumors on 1 July 1864 the
Confederates again swept through Hagerstown and Washington County.
They came from the south up the Sharpsburg
Pike and occupied Hagerstown
once again. Under orders from Brigadier
General John McCausland, $20,000 and 1,500 suits of clothing were demanded from
the citizens of Hagerstown
under threat that the town would be torched. After
much negotiation on the part of the town fathers, the ransom was paid and the
town spared. If anyone doubted the
sincerity of the rebel threat, there was no doubt left when Chambersburg
was set on fire on 30 July after refusing to pay the ransom demanded of
them. Again, as in September of 1862
when the Confederates invaded Washington County resulting in the battle at
Antietam Creek, the Herald and Torch
Light newspaper staff fled with other businesses and farmers to safety in
Franklin County Pennsylvania. Herald and Torch Light account
War
Weary
Over time, a toll was taken on the
citizens of Washington
County. The mere rumor of the Confederates coming
into the county was enough to put fear in the hearts of all Unionist citizens.
Repeated removals of animals and merchandise to safety in the north wearied the
people and caused loss of business profits.
Those Confederates who attempted to pay for goods did so in worthless
Confederate script. Union soldiers left government IOUs to be claimed later by
the unfortunate citizen. Claims for
damages and loss of goods were so numerous and difficult to retrieve that
claims agents ran ads soliciting business.
The
Herald of Freedom and Torch Light and
the Herald and Torch Light reported
the rampant crime during those years and the months after the war ended. Horse theft rings were operating in the county
due to the scarcity and high value of horses. The number of robberies and murders increased
no doubt due to the presence of displaced persons, strangers and military
personnel. One high profile murder took
place in 1864 near Leitersburg. A young
Pennsylvanian bringing horses belonging to a military friend back to Hanover was accosted and
murdered by four soldiers. The men were
tried in Washington
County court in 1865.
Shout
the Glad Tidings-The War is Over
Amid all the chaos of those years, life
did go on in Hagerstown and Washington County.
This was apparent by the ads, stories, poems and legal notices printed by the
newspapers side by side with the glorious stories of battles, marriage and
death announcements, accounts of devastation by the armies, and editorials
about politics and politicians. Unlike
in the south and even the Shenandoah Valley,
goods of all kind were available to the residents of the area. Merchants
continued to go to the cities, mainly Baltimore
and Philadelphia,
to renew their supplies of merchandise whether food stuffs, clothing, fabric or
fancy goods.
Poor
families in the community were provided for through fund raising events put on
by prominent women from the area. This was especially important to the widows
of soldiers who had lost their means of support. This benevolence extended beyond the home
front to raising funds for soldiers through the Christian and Sanitary
Commissions.
When
General Lee surrendered to General Grant in April of 1865 the soldiers trickled
home to Washington
County over a period of
months as their units were discharged. However, not all of the veterans were
welcomed back. The loyal soldiers were
hailed as heroes and given a magnificent festival in July 1865. However, those who had chosen to fight for
the Confederates were imprisoned or asked to leave by the vigilance committee
which monitored the actions of these Confederate sympathizers. Further, the north-south dispute continued to
be hotly debated, whether in street brawls and assaults or in the editorials
disputing the federal government’s leniency towards those who fought for the
Confederacy.