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 57
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Early in 1862, Bishop Whittingham had or- dered a prayer of thanksgiving for a Federal vic- tory to oe said in the churches. When Dr. Ker- foot read this prayer in the College Chapel, cigh teen of the young men rose and left the chapel in a body. Dr. Kerfoot met the crisis with con- sumate act, making a brief address to the boys that day at dinner, which produced a letter from them disclaiming any disrespect to him or the college . authorites. Thereupon Dr. Kerfoot wrote to Bishop Whittinghanı, urging that no more prayers should be required which the congregations could not or would not use.
On July 9, 1862 the last public commencement at the College was held. All through the summer there were alarıns and on Sunday, September 14, the sounds of the battle of South Mountain reach- ed the College. The next day Confederate Artil- lerymen formed across the Boonsboro road a mile southeast of the College ; and about 2,500 or 3,000 passed through the College grounds from the bat- tlefield. Mrs. Kerfoot and others stood all day on the front steps of the College, supplying cold water, food and bandages to the wounded soldiers who passed by. This fact illustrates the spirit of humanity in these Northern people. On Tues- day, the second day after the battle, Dr. Kerfoot and one of his assistants, the Rev. Dr. Falk, in
company with the Rev. Henry Edwards, Rector of St. John's Parish, Hagerstown, went to South Mountain, carrying quantities of biscuits, spirits, bandages and tobacco. As they went, there was sound of firing, and they encountered Confederate pickets a mile from Keedysville. At Boonsboro' they found four hospitals full of Confederate wounded. Among the occupants of these hospit- als the clergymen distributed their supplies, ar- ranged a committee of supplies of both political parties, and then went to the crest of the moun- tain the scene of Sunday's battle. There their eyes were greeted with fearful sights. The Con- federate dead were lying unburied. A cabin was crowded with fearfully wounded men and outside and around were forty more, with scores of dead bodies. Among the dead bodies they discovered that of Col. J. B. Strange of Virginia and it was pointed out to a Confederate chaplain, who was searching for it.
The next day, Wednesday, September 17, 1862, came the sounds of the battle of Antietam. A party went to the roof of the College, watching the smoke of thic battle and heard more than a hundred peals of artillery a minute. Dr. Kerfoot and Dr. Falk went in the afternoon with more supplies for the wounded which they distributed to the inmates of the hospitals three miles nortlı of Sharpsburg near the Smoketown road, and then continued up almost to the batteries and amidst the deafening roar of cannon, and watched the havoc of actual war. Again the next day these two good men carried provisions to the wounded, and this time saw the death and desolation of the great battle. The field was still strewn thick with corpses, but the sight did not impress Dr. Kerfoot as being as horrible as what he saw at South Mountain. The slaughter was vastly greater, but the dead were scattered over a wider space. The next Sunday, September 24, Dr. Kerfoot visited the headquarters of Major Gen. Fitz John Porter, a mile southwest of Sharpsburg where he read the service and preached. Then he went to Gen. Mc- Clellan's headquarters, at that time three miles south of Sharpsburg, and read evening prayers and preached. Of Gen. McClellan Dr. Kerfoot wrote at the time: "Saw much of Gen. MeClellan. He is a deeply devout, believing man."
On November 12, the College re-opened for the twenty-first year, with twenty-four boys, which number increased to thirty-nine before Christmas. All through the fall and winter, Dr. Kerfoot con-
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tinued his visits to the Smoketown hospital and held occasional services in a chapel made of several tents opening into each other.
The first movement toward gathering the Federal dead from the temporary graves in which they had been placed immediately after the battle, was started in the Maryland Senate, eighteen months after the battle by Lewis P. Fiery the Sen- ator from Washington County. At the session of 1864, he introduced a resolution to appoint a coni- mittee "to inquire into the expediency of pur- chasing on behalf of the State a portion of the battle-field at Antietam, not exceeding twenty acres, for the purpose of a State and National cemetery, in which the bodies of our heroes who fell in that great struggle and are now bleaching in the upturned furrows may be gathered for a decent burial, and their memories embalmed in some suitable memorial." On that committee were Governor Bradford, Robert Fowler, the Treasurer of the State, Gen. Ed. Shriver and Col. Harwood. They acted promptly ; visited the field and secured an option on ten acres at $100 an acre. On March 10, 1864, the General Assembly appropriated $5,- 000 for buying the land and enclosing it. It was provided that a portion of the lot should be sct aside for the burial of Southern soldiers who fell at Antietam. But there was a defect in the title, „ and nothing more was done until the next session, that of 1865, when another act was passed incor- porating the Cemetery Company. Dr. Augustine A. Biggs of Sharpsburg, Thomas A. Boullt, of Hagerstown, Edward Shriver, of Frederick, and Charles C. Fulton, of Baltimore, were named trus- tees on behalf of Maryland and they were to hold the property in trust for Maryland and the otlier States contributing to the cemetery.
Maryland contributed in all $15,000, and con- tributions were made by other States to the amount of $47,229.77. The States contributing this sum were New York, Indiana, Vermont, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hamp- shire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan. The work of enclosure and improve- ment was done largely under the direction of Dr. Biggs. The plan of having both the Federal and Confederate dead buried in the same enclosure was abandoned, and the bones of the latter were excluded. In 1870, the legislature approprialed $5,000 to provide a burial place for these and
they were afterwards gathered into Rose Hill Cem- etery at Hagerstown.
In the act incorporating Antietam Cemetery it was provided that there should be buried thercin the remains of all soldiers who fell at the battle of Antietam, or at any other points north of the Potomac during the invasion of 1862. Later, this was modified so as to provide for the burial at Antietam of all soldiers who fell and had been buried in the counties of Frederick, Washington and Allegany. The work of removing the re- mains to Antietam began in October, 1866, and was done by the United States Burial Corps do- tailed by the United States under command of Lieut. John W. Sherer. All the work had been completed by September 1867, just five years after the battle. The whole number of soldiers resting in this beautiful and commanding field is 4,667, most of whom were identified and have their namncs and commands upon the gravestones above them which were furnished by the Federal Government.
The dedication of the cemetery took place September 17, 1867 the fifth anniversary of tlie battle and on that occasion, the corner stone for the beautiful monument which now stands in the centre of the lot was laid with Masonic rites. There was a great assemblage to witness the cere- monies. Andrew Johnson, the President of the United States, was there with the members of his cabinet. The representatives at Washington of half the countries of Europe and of Mexico and some of the South American republics, were also there. Thomas Swann, Governor of Maryland, the Mayor of Baltimore and a great number of dis- tinguished soldiers were in the assemblage.
The monument upon the corner stone laid that day was unveiled on September 17, 1880. This monument is of granite 54 feet and 7 inches in height. It is the figure of a private soldier, stand- ing at parade rest; he seems to be keeping guard over the bodies of dead comrades. It is indeed a magnificent and impressive work of art. The in- scription is brief and simple: "Not for themselves but for their Country-Sept. 17, 1862." The fig- urc is 21 feet 6 inches high and the pedestal 33 feet 1 inch. The figure was on exhibition in Phil- adelphia at the Centennial Exposition in 1876. The artist was James G. Batterson of Hartford, Connecticut, and the entire cost was $35,000.
In 1877 the cemetery was transferred to the United States. C'apt. W. A. Donaldson was the first
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
superintendent. There were many notable gather- ings in the cemetery and many distinguished men have visited it upon various occasions. On Dec- oration day May 1885, Gen. George B. Mcclellan was the orator of the day, and made a great speech, full of the spirit of peace and reunion. He was the guest, while in Washington County of Gen. Henry Kyd Douglas, a Confederate veteran.
After passing into the hands of the Federal government the cemetery was greatly beautified. Louis E. McComas, representative in Congress for the district, secured an appropriation for con- structing a fine road from Antietam Station on the Norfolk & Western railroad; and the office of su- perintendent of the battlefield was created, and filled by Charles W. Adams. A battlefield con- mission, consisting of officers of both sides, was appointed; and to them was committed the work of designating the positions on the field of the various organizations. These have all been marked by iron plates, moulded with the proper inscrip- tions, and painted. Roads have been made through the field and the scene of the great battle is now studded with monuments erected by various States and regiments which took part in the fight. Some of these are costly and of great artistie merit; some ponderous and substantial.
In 1898, the General Assembly of Maryland enacted a law, Chapter 294 of the Acts of that year, appropriating $12,500 for a monument on the field of Antietam to the Maryland soldiers of both armies who fell there. The Governor was authorized to appoint a commission of nine persons, six of whom served in the Union Army at All- tietam battle and three in the Confederate ariny. It was made the duty of this commission to co-oper- ate with the Antietam Battlefield Board in aseer- taining and marking the positions of Maryland troops in the battle. Under authority of this aet, Governor Lloyd Lowndes appointed the following commission :
Col. B. F. Taylor, of Baltimore County, Pres- ident ; William H. Parker, Osmund Latrobe, Jos- eph M. Sudsburg; George R. Graham, of Baltimore City; William Gibson, of Washington; Henry Kyd Douglas, of Washington County, and Theo- dore J. Vanneman, of Cecil.
The monument was dedicated on Decoration Day, 1900. President MeKinley, the Secretary of War, Elihu Root and other Cabinet Officers, the Governor of Maryland, Gen. James Longstreet, Gen. Joseph Wheeler, officers of the United States
Army and Navy, the Maryland National Guard and the Battlefield Commission, besides an ini- mense gathering of citizens, were present. Gen. Henry Kyd Douglas of the Battlefield Commission presided. Speeches were made by the President, who won his commission at the battle; by Gover- nor Smith, by Gen. Longstreet, Gen. Wheeler, Sen- ator Daniel, of Virginia ; Gen. Douglas and others. The monument is in the form of a temple, and stands at the intersection of the Sharpsburg pike and the Smoketown road, opposite the Dunkard Church.
The purpose of having the dead of both ar- mies buried in the Antietam Cemetery having been defeated the bones of the Confederate dead lay neg- lected in the furrows where they had been hastily covered up on the day of the battle, for ten years, until it became a publie shame. All identification was lost and from time to time, skeletons were turned up by the plow. In 1870, the first session of the Legislature after the final decision to ex- elude them from the Antietam Cemetery, the mat- ter was taken up and provision made for the decent burial of the bones of these dead soldiers, inany of whom were sons of Maryland.
The sum of $5,000 was appropriated and the Governor was authorized to appoint trustees lo have custody of the money and have the work done. Governor Bowie named Henry Kyd Douglas and George Freaner of Washington County and James H. Gambrill of Frederick. Sums were contributed by the States of Virginia and West Virginia. The trustees went promptly to work and purchased a portion of Rose Hill Cemetery at Hagerstown, which they ornamented with a fine monument, and called their reservation, "Washington Cemetery." In September 1872 the work of removing the bones of the Confederate soldiers to the cemetery began. All that had been temporarily interred at Antietam and South Mountain were speedily gathered and reinterred in Washington Cemetery which was dedicated on the 15th of June 1877.
At this dedication there was a great gathering of people and Gen. Fitzhugh Lee of the Confeder- ate Army was the orator of the day. The monu- ment which stands facing the mounds under which the dead are buried is a marble figure of Hope leaning upon an anchor, and is placed upon a lofty pedestal of Scotch granite. The inscription upon the front is as follows: "The State of Maryland "has provided this cemetery and erected this monu- ment lo perpetuate the memory of the Confedrate
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OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, MARYLAND.
dead who fell in the battles of Antietam and South Mountain." On the right side is inseribed, "The State of Virginia has contributed toward the bur- ial of her dead within this cemetery." On the left side, "The State of West Virginia has eontrib- uted to the burial of her dead within this eeme-
tery." On Confederate Decoration day, in June, each year, the good people of Hagerstown strew flowers upon these mounds. The names of those whose dust reposes beneath are not recorded. But their valor and devotion live in history.
CHAPTER XXIII
A T THE beginning of 1863 Hooker's Army was lying securely situated between the Rappahannock and the Potomac, threat- ening Richmond and defending Washing- ton. It was Lee's plan of campaign to maneuver him out of his strong position and to bring him to battle in Franklin or Adams County, Pennsyl- vania, transferring the seat of war into the enemy's country and carrying his own army where subsist- ence could be obtained in abundance without dis- tressing his own people. A victory in Pennsyl- vania, he believed would cause the evacuation of Washington and would end Grant's operations on the Mississippi. Accordingly at the beginning of June there was a general movement towards the Potomac. Lee's Army at that time consisted of about 60,000 men, well equipped and flushed with victory. It was such an army as deemed itself unconquerable. Its discipiline was of the highest order and its equipment better perhaps than the army of Northern Virginia possessed before or af- terwards. On June 3, Longstreet was ordered to move toward Culpepper. Ewell followed at the head of Jackson's old troops. A. P. Hill was left with one corps between Hooker and Richmond. Ewell went forward to drive Milroy out of the valley. On the 14th of June he encountered him at Winchester and captured a large number of prisoners, Milroy retiring towards Harper's Ferry and leaving the valley free from Northern troops. On the 16th of June a brigade of Confederate cav- alry under Gen. Jenkins reached Chambersburg having crossed at Williamsport the day before; Ewell next crossed the Potomac, Longstreet follow- ed and Hill joined in the movement after the Ar-
my of the Potomac had moved northward. By the 17th of June the Confederate line of march extended from Culpepper County, Virginia, all the way to Chambersburg, Pa. Ewell had crossed the Potomac near Shepherdstown. One of his divis- ions had reached Hagerstown and was encamped there. Another division was bivouacked near Sharpsburg and the third was approaching Shep- herdstown from the South. Hill crossed at Shep- herdstown on the 18th and Longstreet crossed on June 25th at Williamsport. Stuart's Cavalry of 6,000 men was hovering along the wings of Hook- er's army which was moving northward on a line parallel with Lee, crossing the Potomac east of the Blue Ridge into Frederick County. By the 27th Stuart had gotten to the east of the Federal army and crossed the Potomac at Seneca creek between Hooker and Washington. On June 28 four corps of the Army of the Potomac had con- centrated at Frederick and three were at Middle- town. At this time Hooker received an order from Washington relieving him from the command and putting Gen. George Meade at the head of the great army now charged with the work of de- fending the North from the invaders. And so it came to pass that in June 1863 the whole of Washington County was within the Confederate lines. In this forward movement the discipline of Lee's army was admirable, there were no dep- redations upon private property and any individual outrages were severely punished. Indeed when Lee reached Chambersburg on June 27 he issued a general order from that town which containcd the following: "It must be remembered that we make war only upon armed men and we cannot
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
take vengeance for the wrongs our people have suffered without lowering ourselves in the eyes of all whose abhorrence has been exeited by the atroe- ities of our enemies and offending against Him to Whom vengeance belongeth, without Whose favor and support our efforts must all prove vain."
The passage of the Confederate Army through Hagerstown was a marvelous sight. They came through, a terrible army with banners. First came eavalry regiments from the Williamsport pike, then the artillery and infantry up the Sharpsburg pike, then more from Williamsport and large num- bers up the Boonsboro pike, eonverging at Hagers- town and marehing in an almost endless procession straight up the turnpikes leading towards Pennsyl- vania. Thousands upon thousands were marehing to death, never again to see their sunny Southern land. Their banners were flying in the wind and band after band eame along playing "Dixie," some "Maryland My Maryland," some the "Bonnie Blue Flag" and many more "The Girl I Left Behind Me." Sixty thousand men with their supply trains, and two hundred cannon each drawn by a number of horses made a great procession and the rumble of the great wagons, the artillery and the eeaseless tramp-tramp of men and horses on the stone roads, resounded in the ears of the awe struek people of Hagerstown for days. For nearly two days Lee paused while his army was gathering in Hagerstown. His headquarters were on the Williamsport road near Halfway and here he planned, consulted with liis generals and gathered information about the roads leading across the mountain to Adams County or straight towards Chambersburg. Some of the citizens of Hagers- town gave him information but he impressed upon them the danger they would ineur after he with- drew. In all these movements there were no fed- eral troops to make any opposition. Jenkins' Cav- alry encountered none either in Greencastle nor Chambersburg and after gathering a great numher of horses and cattle from the Pennsylvania farin- ers which he paid for in Confederate script, he returned to Hagerstown on the 20th of June and went into eamp to await the general movement of the army. On June 27th Tre had left his head- quarters on the Williamsport road and with his army he was in Chambersburg while detachments had gone as far as ('arlisle and were threatening Harrisburg.
Finally all the invading army left Washington County and there was a period of calin and sus-
pense in Hagerstown. The town had been desert- ed by the most active of the Union people and those of both sides who remained felt that it was no time for petty faetion or personal raneor., The fate of the great Republie was in the balanee and no man knew what would come to pass. A few uneonfirmed rumors eame from time to time front Confederate stragglers but none placed relianee upon them. Finally on the first day of July a eloud appeared to the northeast and the next day there was a heavier eloud. But on July 3rd the eloud was densest of all. It is said that the sound of the guns engaged in the greatest artillery duel the world had ever seen, did not reach Hagers- town although it was heard in places far more dis- tant. Nevertheless the people of Hagerstown as they watched the eloud knew that under it a titanie struggle was in progress and that its issue was to decide whether there were to be two Republies in- stead of one. On July 4 the smoke rolled away but still no news that eould he eredited eame and the town went to sleep that night in suspense and not knowing what had happened.
Before day dawn on July 5, the roar and rum- ble of multitudes of wagons was heard in the streets and the people were startled from their beds. All day long they eame. It was the supply train of Lee's defeated army. The next morning the soldiers eame, sadly redueed in numbers, bring- ing many of their wounded but leaving thousands of their dead buried in hostile soil. Lee's Army had remained confronting Meade all the day after the battle earing for the wounded and burying the dead. Then he started his trains southward and leaving Ewell as a rear guard in front of Gettys- burg, he started on the morning, with his broken army back towards Virginia. Ewell, holding the position he did foreed Meade to follow Lee baek by a more cireuitous ronte on the east of the moun- tain. And so the two armies eame south by par- allel lines just as they had gone north. The army of the Potomae eame down east of South Mountain until Middletown on the great western road was reached. There Meade turned westward, follow- ing the turnpike through Turner's Gap and Boons- boro where Mcclellan had passed along to the battle of Antietam. From Boonsboro a part of the army continued on the turnpike road almost to Hagerstown and a portion crossed the Antietam below Funkstown. Meade arrived in the vicinity of Hagerstown on July 12 and there found his enemy entrenched in an advantageous position eon-
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OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, MARYLAND.
fronting him. The belief at Washington was that Lee had been completely routed and was in dis- orderly retreat. Therefore peremptory orders were sent to Gen. Meade to complete the destruc- tion of the Confederate army and upon no account to permit it to escape across the Potomac. As usual after the great battles of the Civil War copious rains followed quick upon the battle of Gettysburg. The Potomac was swollen so that it could not be crossed. No bridges had been left and the fords were dangerous torrents. Therefore it was be- lieved that the Confederates were trapped-with the impassable river behind them and a superior and victorious army in front. It is likely that Meade received more censure for not capturing the army of Northern Virginia at Hagerstown than he received praise for his victory at Gettys- burg which saved the Union. But Lee had sent his engineers on in advance from Gettysburg to select a new line of battle covering the crossing of the Potomac at Williamsport. And when Meade arrived he had had six days to strengthen his po- sition. At Hagerstown Meade did not have in his army much more than 50,000 or 55,000 effective troops. In addition he had a large force of Penn- sylvania recruits and militiamen. If Lee had come from behind his breast works to give battle it is likely that Meade would have defeated him. But entrenched as the Southerners were it is en- tirely probable that Meade took the wisest course. If he had met defcat the results of the victory at Gettysburg might have been lost.
On July 6 the Confederate Army had begun to arrive upon their retreat. Instead of passing through Hagerstown as they had gone North and as the supply wagons had done in coming South, the soldiers turned to the right as they neared Hagerstown and entrenched themselves in a strong position extending from a point on Frederick Bryan's farm a mile northwest of Hagerstown, all the way to Falling Waters on the Potomac below Williamsport, a distance of 12 miles. Stretched along parallel with the Confederate entrenchments was the Army of the Potomac beginning not far from Funkstown turnpike road near Hagerstown and extending southward almost along the Sharps- burg road. Thus Hagerstown was between the ex- treme right wing of the Federal Army and the ex- treme left of the Confederates and the expected battle if it had occurred would probably have caused the destruction of the town. During the two days from the 12th to midnight of the 13th of July
while the battle was in array there was intense excitement and anxiety among our people, not only in Hagerstown but in all the country south to Falling Waters. Each person expected the de- struction of his home but he did not know where to go for safety. Gen. Meade had his headquarters in a farm house on the Funkstown road a short distance from Hagerstown and there he held his council of war to decide whether Lee should be immediately attacked. The decision was in the negative and the Army of the Potomac went to work to strengthen its position by cutting down trees and throwing up obstruction. The Confed- erates had also, in making their lines, destroyed a great deal of timber and many beautiful forests disappeared in those days. A large body of troops encamped on the fine farm of Dr. Thomas Maddox near Tilghmanton, beating down a luxuriant crop of corn and consuming the wheat which had just been harvested, for forage. Gen. Slocum pitched his tent in the yard and the splendid fertile land was for the time converted into a desert. It took years for the soil to recover from the injury. The house was occupied by a large number of surgeons, prepared for the work which they deemed was inevitable. The family was notified that they would have to leave in a short time but the final notice did not come. During the short occupa- tion everything in the shape of food quickly disap- peared leaving the family destitute and with no horse to bring supplies. This was the experience of many other families during this period of the war as well as before and afterwards. All the country lying between the two armies, as was that upon which the lines were situated were devasta- ted, crops destroyed, fencing burned or removed. Many were reduced to ruin and the renters, not owning the soil lost all they had. That General Lee expected Meade to attack him is shown by the general order which he issued at Hagerstown on July 11 in which he said to his army "once more you are called upon to meet the enemy from whom you won on so many fields, names that will never die."
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