USA > Maryland > Washington County > Hagerstown > A history of Washington County, Maryland from the earliest settlements to the present time, including a history of Hagerstown > Part 52
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OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, MARYLAND.
tioned, James Breathed the son of John W. Breath- ed, who then lived at the College of St. James, who became one of the most brilliant and dashing ar- tillery officers in the war, and Henry Kyd Douglas, the son of the Rev. Robert Douglas, who distin- guished himself as a member of the staff of Stone- wall Jackson. During the latter part of May the armies became active. On Sunday evening the 20th, 1000 Virginians encamped on the Potomac opposite Williamsnort. That town was occupied by the Union Guards which kept sentinels at Lem- en's Ferry to prevent the passage of provisions or information to the Southern troops. On the first of June some of the Confederate soldiers look the Ferry boat and were fired upon by the Union Guards. The fire was returned and a brisk fusil- lade ensued but as both parties were under cover no damage was done. The news of the affair spread by those who had only heard the sound of the guns and exaggerated accordingly, quickly brought reinforcements to the Williamsport com- panies. Captain Cook brought his company from Sharpsburg, the Home Guards of Clearspring eame and a body of twenty young men of Hagers- town lastened to the scene of action, but the next day the Confederates departed for Martinsburg. At Williamsport were now massed a hundred boats loaded with coal which could not pass Harper's Ferry. While these movements were going on in Washington County, heavy bodies of troops were centering in Chambersburg, amounting in a short time to nearly twenty thousand men. It was an- nouneed that these would soon be in Hagerstown en route to carry out Gen. Scott's plan of cam- paign, which it was said, was to occupy Harper's Ferry, marching thence to Richmond and Norfolk, which eities he designed to occupy before the fourth of July.
The first tragedy growing out of the sectional strife in the County occurred in Williamsport on the 5th of June. That day young De Witt Clin- ton Rentch was mobbed and killed. Young Rentch was the son of Andrew Rentch the wealth- iest . farmer of the County, living near Mt. Moriah Church in the Tilghmanton distriet. His mother was the sister of William Price the lawyer. IIe had ridden into Williamsport to transact some bus- iness for his father at the store of Gruber and Schnebly. After doing so he accepted an invita- tion to take tea with one of those merchants. As. he walked baek to the store after tea, he was ae- costed by a number of young men and ordered to
leave the town. The reason for this was Renteli's well known sympathy for the South of which lie never hesitated to give very free expression. It was also believed that it was his intention to join the Southern army. He took no further notice of the encounter on the street than to ask one of the store keepers whether he thought the men really intended to harm him. Receiving a negative reply he took his seat in the store and smoked a cigar. In a short time the crowd on the street, now con- siderably augmented, moved up to the store door leading Rentehe's horse and told him to leave at once. He was advised by his friends in the store to do so. After mounting his horse hot words - passed between him and the crowd. He drew a pistol and it was charged that he fired at the man who held the bridle to keep him from riding off. It is not certain, however, who fired the first shot. But he defied the mob and as he rode off he was struck on the head with a stone and almost sim- ultaneously a bullet fired by a man in the mob pierced his heart and he expired immediately. Clinton Renteh was at the time of his death twenty-four years of age. He was a graduate of Franklin and Marshal College and was studying law with his uncle William Priee. His temper was quick and impulsive, his disposition generous. His death created a deep impression and for a time the destruction of Williamsport by the Con- federates was imminent in consequence of it. Just about the same time an occurrence of peeu- liar horror, in the same line as the Williamsport tragedy, took place in Chambersburg which se- verely tried the faith of the loyal people and especially of the abolitionists of Southern Penn- sylvania. The negroes of Maryland and Northern Virgina had hailed the coming of the Federal Army as the captive Jews had the messengers of Cyrus when they sang "how beautiful upon the Mountains are the feet of them that bring good tidings." Many had taken refuge in the camps. But it was President Lincoln's assurance that he in no wise intended to interfere with slavery and so the unfortunate refugees were promptly return- ed to their owners. Some of them received rough and cruel treatment from the soldiers. In Cham- bersburg there was a respectable, well-to-do colored man named Frank Jones. His next neighbour had been in the habit of selling whiskey to the soldiers who got drunk and created mueh disturb- ance around his door. Jones informed on the man and had the sale of whiskey stopped. This
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greatly incensed the soldiers who mobbed his house. Jones stoutly defended his family and his home and in doing so wounded one of the soldiers and drove them off. They soon, returned, however and Jones seeing he would be overpowered fled and being hotly pursued took refuge in the house of George Eyster the State's Attorney, and there hid in the chimney place. The soldiers came up and demanded him, telling Mrs. Eyster that he was to go to jail. They dragged him into the street and deliberately butchered him in the most hor- rible and brutal manner. All these affairs were a fitting introduction to the wrinkled front of grim visaged war.
Another outcome of the condition of war was the sudden disappearance of gold and silver in June 1861. The fractional paper currency had not yet been issued. The silver "change" was gone and no one could tell where. The newspa- pers remonstrated with the people for hoarding it but to no purpose. It had all gone into old stock- ings or other hiding places there to remain for many years. It was a matter of serious inconve- nience which was felt at every transaction in the stores. A saddler on Washington street under- took to stimulate trade by advertising that he would sell his wares for Virginia money and doubtless he was as successful in his design as the New Netherlanders when they offered to sell their goods for wampum. In a short time the Virginia money was of no more value than wampum. But for a time there was a great deal of it in the town brought over by the refugees. From the begin- ning of the war to its close there was a large number of fugitives from Virginia in Washington County and some of them became permanent citi- zens and are with us until now. They were Union people and had fled from the hostility of their secession neighbors or from the conscription. Many who were farmers brought their horses with them and earned money by plowing the land of those farmers whose horses had been taken from them by the armies. The price paid them for the day's work of a man and two horses was five dollars.
It was now that people were left to their own discretion as to whether or not they would pay their debts. A stay law had been enacted which suspended the execution of judgments for twelve months and exempted property to the value of $100 from debts. This latter feature was retain- ed after the stay law was repealed. In conse-
quence of this stay law the newspapers discontinued all subscriptions which were in arrears, and the Herald and Torch Light, which had always enjoy- ed a large patronage south of the Potomac, now lost it all.
On Saturday morning the fifteenth of June the Northern army began to pour into Hagerstown, and until Monday evening the heavy tramp of the soldiers, the beating of drums and the martial music of the military bands, the sound of the heavy baggage wagons and the trains of artillery did not cease. Here was the army with banners, the pomp and circumstance of war in the streets of Hagerstown. People left their usual avocations to gaze upon the unusual sight. The streets were filled with long lines of bristling bayonets; at every corner guards were stationed; companies paraded the streets. The brightness of the arms of the men had not yet been dulled nor their gay uniforms soiled by active service and the scene was very inspiring. All day long on Sunday the clangor of military movements continued and the roll of the drum mingled in confused sound with the peals of the church going bells. The congre- gations who attended church that day were small and inattentive. The army occupied all minds Some considered merely the glittering show of the hour, others saw with prophetic sight the coming havoc now that the dogs of war were unloosed. Many fearfully anticipated that havoc in our midst because Maryland was a border state and it seemed probable that the hostile forces would meet right here. The troops were well received by the people. The Union people were loud in thir ex- pression of loyalty whilst the secessionists gener- ally kept discreetly silent. They had nothing to fear, it was said, unless they should venture to think too loud. On Sunday Governor Hicks with Secretary of State Grayson Eichelberger arrived in town and visited the different camps and re- viewed the troops. Governor Hicks was received with the greatest enthusiasm by the loyal people.
The first troops to enter Hagerstown on Sat- urday were the 1sth Pennsylvania under Col. Yhoe, 1000 strong. They marched through the town with drums heating and flags flying, out the Baltimore pike and encamped on Ranney Hun- ter's farm below Funkstown. The 2nd Pennsyl- vania soon followed. In quick succession came the 7th under Col. Irwin, the 8th under Col. Emly accompanied by General Williams and his staff and the 10th under Col. Meredith. The
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Scott legion under Col. Gray passed down Poto- mac street to the College of St. James. The next day two more regiments, the 3rd and 24th Penn- sylvania under Cols. Neanier and Owens, went to Hunter's Camp. On Sunday morning the 14th and 15th Pennsylvania regiments under Cols. Johnson and Oaksford accompanied by General Nagle arrived and went into camp on Jonathan Hager's field on the Baltimore pike a mile and a half from Hagerstown. Later in the day a splen- didly equipped Wisconsin regiment, another Penn- sylvania and a Connecticut regiment joined the same camp. During the same time heavy bodies of troops under Gen. Cadwallader were passing down the Greencastle road through the town and out to Williamsport. Among these were Capt. Doubleday with his famous company which had been in Fort Sumter and Governor Sprague with his Rhode Island men. These last marched across the river to the sound of martial music through water which came up in places breast high. When they reached the Virginia shore they planted a flag pole in the soil of the "Old Dominion" and as the Stars and Stripes waved in the breeze the shouts of the host rent the air. The column moved to- wards Martinsburg but the order to advance was soon countermanded and large bodies returned to Hagerstown and some remained in camp at Wil- liamsport.
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The troops which went down the Sharpsburg pike to the College of St. James on Saturday the 15th consisted of 4,000 Pennsylvanians under Gen. Williams. The College was at that time a flour- ishing school filled with boys, the greater number of whom were from the South. The matron of the College, a lady of accomplishments, engaging manners and a lovely disposition, was Mrs. Porter, the mother of Major General Fitz John Porter. Fortunately for the College that distinguished of- ficer in the capacity of Adjutant General, was with the troops which encamped in the field south of the College and extending up to the great spring. To him Dr. Kerfoot naturally appealed and through his kind offices Generals Patterson and Williams were soon upon most friendly terms with the officers of the school. Indeed there was no reason why they should not be, for Dr. Ker- foot and most of his faculty were Northern inen and ardently in favor of the Union. One of the instructors, Lucius P. Waddell, was a nephew of Gen. Porter. But it was a time of deepest anxiety for Dr. Kerfoot. That excellent gentleman felt
a personal responsibility and almost a parents' interest in each student. Most of these were from the South and separated now from their homes by a hostile army. When the approach of the soldiers was announced Dr. Kerfoot went out to the camp, which was in the field adjoining the College grounds, and appealed to General Wil- liams and was received by him with great consid- eration. The whole of the grounds on the south of the buildings around the spring was soon over- run with soldiers although the "line" had been drawn across the grounds just below the spring- crossing the streams at the little bridge. The boys, of course, mixed with the soldiers, and al- though there was no immediate trouble the Rector was satisfied that it would result from the careless talk of excited Southern boys, so this intermingling was ended. One of the officers was a member of the Rev. Mr. Swope's congregation in Pittsburg. Mr. Swope had been a Hagerstown boy .who had graduated at the College and been ordained for the ministry in the College Chapel. This officer brought a letter from his pastor to Dr. Kerfoot and greatly assisted the Rector in the trials of the invasion.
Meantime Hagerstown continued to be a mil- itary camp and the sight of passing armies, the presence of soldiers, the great trains of wagons and the sound of martial music in the streets be- came familiar enough to the people.
Captain Abner Doubleday with his Fort Sumter men were encamped on the Franklin railroad in the suburbs of the town. This camp was the center of curious throngs of visitors and sight seers all of whom the captain received with great affability. Upon their part the citizens treated the military most cordially. Many of then invited the soldiers into their homes where they were hospitably entertained with the best that could be provided. Soon after leaving Hagers- town Captain Doubleday was promoted to the rank of Major and Lieut. George Bell of the regular army stationed for a short time in Hagerstown was made Captain. Capt. Bell was a son of Wil- liam D. Bell of the Torch Light. He had been appointed to West Point by Congressman Dixon Roman.
On Monday after the first arrival of the troops the roads leading to the town were throng- ed with vehicles and men on horseback and afoot going to see the strange sights of the camps. 'The Court House was now taken for a guard room, the
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
Market House and Town Hall for the storage of the army supplies. Major General Patterson with his staff occupied the Female Seminary for their headquarters. Fitz John Porter was assist- ant Adjutant General under Patterson and was a great deal in Hagerstown where he was a great favorite with the people. One of the officers, Col. W. H. Irwin of the Seventh Pennsylvania received a strange present whilst in Hagerstown. Andrew II. Hager equipped his negro boy Daniel Fox, and presented him to Col. Irwin as a body servant and the present was accepted without unnecessary scru- ples. Indeed the Northern troops seemed to have the idea that it was their duty to fight for the Union and did not concern themselves at all about slavery. Many of the negroes thought they had come to set them free, but this belief was soon dispelled. A slave belonging to Jacob Strite fled and took refuge in the camp but he was promptly returned to his master. Later on orders came from Washington that no fugitive slave should be harbored by the army. The people now found that the dogs of war had not only been let loose but that Havoc had begun.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was an ar- tery of trade of the greatest value to the Union. Upon it depended largely the supply of coal for the navy yard and vessels at Washington and con- sequently it was an object of attack by the Con- federates. The Clearspring Guards had stationed themselves for the protection -of Dam No. 5 and there engaged in target practice with the Virgin- ians on the opposite bank of the river. Both par- ties were well out of harm's way. The canal had also been attacked and blockaded at Harper's Ferry and Mr. Alfred Spates the President pro- ceeded to that point to remonstrate with the Vir- ginian3. When he reached Dam No. 4 he found a body of men on each side of the river shooting at each other. He went across under a white flag and begged the Confederates to desist, but General Johnson who was in command informed him that his order- were imperative to destroy all property which could be of benefit to the United States authorities. He did what damage he could but it was not very serious. By the 17th of July it had all been repaired and navigation had been resum- ed. The Government lent active aid and made a contract with the company to use all the coal the canal could deliver. Nor were the attacks confined to the canal. The Baltimore and Ohio railroad was much more important to the Govern-
ment and all through the war there was a con- stant effort by the Confederates to cripple it. Bridges were destroyed so frequently that the com- pany found it necessary to keep duplicates of all in the exposed territory and by the aid of these and by the wonderfully active and vigorous man- agement of the company damages were repaired in an incredibly short time. The Confederates aban- doned Harper's Ferry but that vitally important place was left exposed and on the 21st of June a party of four hundred Confederates returned, burnt the bridge over the Shenandoah, destroyed sonne of the Government property, cut the rail- road and threw a locomotive into the river. After arresting a few of the citizens who were hostile to the Southern cause they departed unmolested.
It is hard to explain why, with a large army idle within a few miles, the Harper's Ferry Arsen- al should have been left a prey to a small squad of Confederates. Indeed Major Doubleday was at the very time near the town. On the 19th he had left Hagerstown with a battery which he planted on a hill which overlooked the Virginia side for a long distance and with which he prac- ticed upon the Confederates but it did not give them much concern. During the week from the 22d to the 29th of June, General Patterson re- mained in the County with two divisions contain- ing twenty thousand men. C'ol. Burnside with his Rhode Island regiment and Col. Miles with the 2nd and 3rd U. S. Cavalry had gone to Washing- ton, but the remainder of the 1st Division occupied the banks of the Potomac at Williamsport. The 2nd Division was in camp at Ranney Hunter's, be- low Funkstown. After the news of the Confeder- ate raid upon Harper's Ferry was received three regiments from the 2nd Division moved down to occupy Maryland Heights. Previously this high eminence had been occupied by a company of Kentucky Confederates under Blanton Dun- can, along with a party of Marylanders under Bradley T. Johnson. They had erected rude cabins without roofs-and had entrenched them- selves behind a stockade of chestnut pickets made after the manner of the forts built in the West for protection against Indians.
The presence of the army in and around Ha- ger-town made it a very stirring place. The ordi- nary force of clerks at the post office were soon overwhelmed by the increased volume of business and extra clerks were engaged and kept occupied day and night. The merchants also were doing
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an active business and the pay of the soldiers went largely into their tills. The wheat and hay crop of the County that year was the largest for a long time and all of the products of the farms com- manded a ready sale at high prices. Paper money had not very greatly depreciated and wheat was bringing $1.15 per bushel. At one time 1500 Government mules were pastured near Hagerstown at 3 cents a day each. Hay was in great demand.
The field of Michael Hammond adjacent to town was one great wagon yard filled with Govern- ment wagons, teams and teamsters. It was a remarkable bustling place and attracted large num- bers of sight seers. At one time fifty thousand bushels of oats were stored in the Market House. But it was not long before the exhileration of ac- tive business began to give place to serious fears. The weather in the middle of June had turned very hot. The soldiers from the North were un- accustomed to such a temperature and the irreg- ularities of camp life. In a short time the hos- pitals began to fill up. The Academy building and the Court Hall were occupied by the sick and rapidly became overcrowded. Then no medicines were supplied by the Government and the sur- geons had to depend upon the people of the town for such supplies as were absolutely needed. The ladies of Hagerstown and the surrounding County were unremitting in their attention to the sick. Dr. Hammond the Surgeon General recognized their valuable services by writing a letter in which he publicly thanked them in behalf of the Govern- ment. By the middle of July the number of sick in the hospitals was greatly augmented by the wounded who were gathered from the various skir- mishes along the Potomac and in Virginia as well as by those who became victims of the hot weath- er and camp life. Hospital tents had to be erec- ted in the Academy grounds. The constant suc- cession 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 meas- ures for the prevention of an epidemic. Several bad accidents also occurred about this time. At Williamsport Hamilton Downs was severely wounded by a soldier. The trouble arose from a misunderstanding of a pass word. Then Silas Hines, a citizen of Rohrersville was shot down and killed by a Federal picket near Keedysville. The whole lower part of the County at that time was picketted. Hines passed one of these and either
did not hear liis challenge or did not hecd it and the picket killed him.
During the last week in June there was a general movement of the troops cncamped in and around Hagerstown. It was believed that a bat- tle would take place on the road between Williams- port and Winchester. Patterson's forces tried to cross the Potomac at Dam No. 4, but found the water too deep to ford and then they went to Williamsport and there crossed and proceeded -to- wards Martinsburg. Near Falling Waters a por- tion of his troops encountered a small body of Confederates and a skirmish took place. By the tenth of July the only troops left in Hagerstown were a portion of a Connecticut regiment en- camped on the Fair Grounds. In August the mil- itary depots and hospitals were all removed to Frederick.
But whilst the great excitement of an import- ant military station had ceased, the town was not left in absolute peace and quiet. On the 1Sti and 14th of July four regiments from Western New York arrived and two days earlier a Boston reg- iment spent a day, occupying the Lutheran and Methodist churches. On the 17th Col. Kenly encamped and remained several days near Downsville and then proceeded to Virginia. On the 20th another body of troops came from the North under Col. J. Nagle. And then large bod- ies of men whose terms of enlistment had expired began to pass through going home to the North. July 20, the 9th and 13tl Pennsylvania passed through going home. General Patterson's army was almost disintegrated. With the enemy in front of them the three months for which they had enlisted expired, and they refused to remain any longer. In vain did Patterson expostulate. Nineteen regiments threw down their arms and departed. But in a short time troops who had enlisted for three years began moving to the front.
Whilst these military movements greatly oc- cupied the minds of the people, other things were not entirely excluded from the public attention. In August the first direct tax by the general gov- ernment for a number of years, went into effect and gave great dissatisfaction to many of the peo- ple and more especially to those who considered the war wrong and unnecessary-the "Peace" party as they called themselves. A tax was laid upon carriages, gold watches and an excise tax of
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five cents a gallon on whiskey. This latter tax was considered very onerous by many people. Non- payment of these taxes was punished by imprison- ment. The total sum which Washington Coun- ty would be compelled by this act to contribute to the prosecution of the war, was estimated by the friends of the Union at twenty-two cents on the $100 of the assessed property of the County. This taxation could be easily paid, the Union people argued, without being felt and the way to do it was to decrease the County levy sixteen cents and go back to the old school law which required a tuition fee of four dollars a year for each pu- pil and this would save six cents more. But these suggestions were not adopted and the people grad- ually became accustomed to bear with equanimity much heavier burdens than this first increase in taxation. Indeed they soon looked baek upon it as a time of comparative freedom from public burdens.
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