BGuthrie Photos: MD -- Hagerstown

MD -- Hagerstown:

Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.

Recognize anyone? If you recognize specific folks (or other stuff) and I haven't labeled them, please identify them for the world. Click the little pencil icon

underneath the file name (just above the picture). Spammers need not apply.

Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

Accessing as Spider: The system has identified your IP as being a spider.
IP Address: 18.191.211.66 -- Domain: Amazon Technologies
I love well-behaved spiders! They are, in fact, how most people find my site. Unfortunately, my network has a limited bandwidth and pictures take up bandwidth. Spiders ask for lots and lots of pages and chew up lots and lots of bandwidth which slows things down considerably for regular folk. To counter this, you'll see all the text on the page but the images are being suppressed. Also, some system options like merges are being blocked for you.
Note: Permission is NOT granted for spiders, robots, etc to use the site for AI-generation purposes. I'm sure you're thrilled by your ability to make revenue from my work but there's nothing in that for my human users or for me.
If you are in fact human, please email me at guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can check if your designation was made in error. Given your number of hits, that's unlikely but what the hell.

Help? The Medium (Email) links are for screen viewing and emailing. You'll want bigger sizes for printing. [Click here for additional help]

Share: Facebook Twitter Digg
[1] HAGER_160604_003.JPG	[2] HAGER_160604_004.JPG	[3] HAGER_160604_015.JPG
[4] HAGER_160604_018.JPG	[5] HAGER_160604_021.JPG	[6] HAGER_160604_025.JPG
[7] HAGER_160604_032.JPG	[8] HAGER_160604_035.JPG	[9] HAGER_160604_038.JPG
[10] HAGER_160604_041.JPG	[11] HAGER_160604_047.JPG	[12] HAGER_160604_050.JPG
[13] HAGER_160604_053.JPG	[14] HAGER_160604_056.JPG	[15] HAGER_160604_060.JPG
[16] HAGER_160604_062.JPG	[17] HAGER_160604_069.JPG	[18] HAGER_160604_070.JPG
[19] HAGER_160604_072.JPG	[20] HAGER_160604_074.JPG	[21] HAGER_160604_082.JPG
[22] HAGER_160604_088.JPG	[23] HAGER_160604_094.JPG	[24] HAGER_160604_097.JPG
[25] HAGER_160604_103.JPG	[26] HAGER_160604_107.JPG	[27] HAGER_160604_113.JPG
[28] HAGER_160604_116.JPG	[29] HAGER_160604_121.JPG	[30] HAGER_160604_130.JPG
[31] HAGER_160604_136.JPG	[32] HAGER_160604_140.JPG	[33] HAGER_160604_141.JPG
[34] HAGER_160604_143.JPG	[35] HAGER_160613_001.JPG	[36] HAGER_160613_005.JPG
[37] HAGER_160613_013.JPG	[38] HAGER_160613_018.JPG	[39] HAGER_160613_024.JPG
[40] HAGER_160613_028.JPG	[41] HAGER_160613_031.JPG	[42] HAGER_160613_034.JPG
[43] HAGER_160613_039.JPG	[44] HAGER_160613_042.JPG	[45] HAGER_160613_049.JPG
[46] HAGER_160613_054.JPG	[47] HAGER_160613_060.JPG	[48] HAGER_160613_066.JPG
[49] HAGER_160613_068.JPG	[50] HAGER_160613_074.JPG	[51] HAGER_160613_077.JPG
[52] HAGER_160613_080.JPG	[53] HAGER_160613_083.JPG	[54] HAGER_160613_087.JPG
[55] HAGER_160613_094.JPG	[56] HAGER_160613_099.JPG	[57] HAGER_160613_104.JPG
[58] HAGER_160613_110.JPG	[59] HAGER_160613_113.JPG	[60] HAGER_160613_119.JPG
[61] HAGER_160613_124.JPG	[62] HAGER_160613_129.JPG	[63] HAGER_160613_134.JPG
[64] HAGER_160613_140.JPG	[65] HAGER_160613_146.JPG	[66] HAGER_160613_152.JPG
[67] HAGER_160613_156.JPG	[68] HAGER_160613_158.JPG	[69] HAGER_160613_164.JPG
[70] HAGER_160613_169.JPG	[71] HAGER_160613_171.JPG	[72] HAGER_160613_174.JPG
[73] HAGER_160613_177.JPG	[74] HAGER_160613_184.JPG	[75] HAGER_160613_188.JPG
[76] HAGER_160613_191.JPG	[77] HAGER_160613_194.JPG	[78] HAGER_160613_199.JPG
[79] HAGER_160613_203.JPG	[80] HAGER_160613_205.JPG	[81] HAGER_160613_209.JPG
[82] HAGER_160613_212.JPG	[83] HAGER_160613_216.JPG	[84] HAGER_160613_219.JPG
[85] HAGER_160613_226.JPG	[86] HAGER_160613_229.JPG	[87] HAGER_160613_235.JPG
[88] HAGER_160613_241.JPG	[89] HAGER_160613_245.JPG	[90] HAGER_160613_248.JPG
[91] HAGER_160613_251.JPG	[92] HAGER_160613_255.JPG	[93] HAGER_160613_259.JPG
[94] HAGER_160613_263.JPG	[95] HAGER_160613_265.JPG	[96] HAGER_160613_268.JPG
[97] HAGER_160613_271.JPG	[98] HAGER_160613_283.JPG	[99] HAGER_160613_285.JPG
[100] HAGER_160613_287.JPG	[101] HAGER_160613_294.JPG	[102] HAGER_160613_295.JPG
[103] HAGER_160613_301.JPG	[104] HAGER_160613_305.JPG	[105] HAGER_160613_308.JPG
[106] HAGER_160613_311.JPG	[107] HAGER_160613_323.JPG	[108] HAGER_160613_326.JPG
[109] HAGER_160613_336.JPG	[110] HAGER_160613_339.JPG	[111] HAGER_160613_349.JPG
[112] HAGER_160613_353.JPG	[113] HAGER_160613_357.JPG	[114] HAGER_160613_359.JPG
[115] HAGER_160613_363.JPG	[116] HAGER_160613_368.JPG	[117] HAGER_160613_373.JPG
[118] HAGER_160613_379.JPG	[119] HAGER_160613_384.JPG	[120] HAGER_160613_386.JPG
[121] HAGER_160613_392.JPG	[122] HAGER_160613_397.JPG	[123] HAGER_160613_400.JPG
[124] HAGER_160613_406.JPG	[125] HAGER_160613_409.JPG	[126] HAGER_160613_411.JPG
[127] HAGER_160613_417.JPG	[128] HAGER_160613_421.JPG	[129] HAGER_160613_426.JPG
[130] HAGER_160613_430.JPG	[131] HAGER_160613_432.JPG	[132] HAGER_160613_439.JPG
[133] HAGER_160613_441.JPG	[134] HAGER_160613_449.JPG	[135] HAGER_160613_452.JPG
[136] HAGER_160613_460.JPG	[137] HAGER_160613_464.JPG	[138] HAGER_160613_467.JPG
[139] HAGER_160613_469.JPG	[140] HAGER_160613_472.JPG	[141] HAGER_160613_478.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. HAGER_160604_004.JPG: 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 Hagerstwon. 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.
2. HAGER_160604_015.JPG: MacGill House The MacGills lived just north of Antietam Street on South Potomac Street.
3. HAGER_160604_035.JPG: Be the change you wish to see in the world
4. HAGER_160604_041.JPG: The Last Confederate Incursion North of the Potomac River On July 29, 1864, elements of Cole's Maryland Cavalry (Union) battled Brigadier General John C. Vaughn's cavalry brigade of Early's command for three hours in the streets of Hagerstown. By late afternoon, the Marylanders retreated north to Greencastle. That evening, the Confederates struck the Franklin Railroad Yards in Hagerstown's West End, broke into the shops, looted and burned the warehouses and captured and destroyed a train filled with supplies intended for the Union forces. These actions on July 29th were diversionary movements directed by Early to cover General John McCausland's raid on Chambersburg. Confederate diversions continued for the next week. On August 5, 1864, elements of General Early's command occupied Washington County and Hagerstown in what was the last substantial Confederate incursion north of the Potomac River.
5. HAGER_160604_062.JPG: 200 Years of the Arts and Humanities: Gruber's Printing Shop and "Almanack": John Gruber (1768-1857) maintained a printing shop at this location from about 1795 until about 1855. In 1797, he began printing an "almanack". The Hagerstown Town and Country Almanack has been published continuously by his descendants. It was still in production as of the installation of this marker in 2014, making it the second oldest almanac in the United States and the oldest still operated by descendants of the founders. In the fall of 1814, Gruber published National Songster or A Collection of the Most Admired Patriotic Songs on the Brilliant Victories Achieved by the Naval and Military Heroes of the United States of America. Within this book was Francis Scott Key's poem "Defense of Fort McHenry," set to the tune "Anacreon in Heaven." This was the first time what would become the "Star Spangled Banner" -- our National Anthem -- was published in a music book. The book was released only a few weeks after the poem was written as Key watched to see if "the flag was still there." The Maryland Theatre: The Maryland Theatre was designed by Harry E. Yessler of Hagerstown and the renowned New York theater architect Thomas W. Lamb. Theatre doors opened on May 10, 1915. The first sell-out audience was treated to music by a live orchestra and a five-real feature film, The Commuters. The first talking picture shown in the Maryland Theatre was The Jazz Singer in June 1928. The theater was damaged by a fire in 1974 which destroyed the front section of the building. The building fell into disrepair until 1976 when Gerald N. Minnich purchased it just before it was to be sold for the value of the building materials. Led by the efforts of local businessman, Jack Garrott and "Citizens to Save the Maryland Theatre," its Neo-Classical and Art Deco interior was restored and the theater reopened in 1978. Performers who have headlined at the Maryland Theatre include Bob Hope, Mickey Rooney, George Burns and Gracie Allen, George Carlin, BB King, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles and Bill Cosby.
6. HAGER_160604_070.JPG: Ideas come from curiosity -- Walt Disney
7. HAGER_160604_072.JPG: All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. -- Walt Disney
8. HAGER_160604_097.JPG: Hagerstown Ransomed On July 6th, 1864, Confederate Cavalry General John McCausland and his 1,500 troops demanded a ransom of $20,000 from Hagerstown, or the town would be burned. Three local banks gave up the money, underwritten by the town council. After the war, a tax repaid the banks.
9. HAGER_160604_103.JPG: A City Divided The Hagerstown Mail offices were located on the second floor of this building during the Civil War. Due to the newspaper's pro-Southern columns, the Mail's editor and co-owner, Daniel Dechert, was arrested in 1862 and sent to Old Capitol Prison in Washington DC, and held until he took the "Oath of Allegiance". Following the defeat of Federal Maryland troops by Maryland Confederates in the Battle of Front Royal, Virginia, Dechert's newspaper was sacked and burned by a Unionist mob. John Wagoner's barber shop was located in this corner of Public Square during the Civil War. Wagoner, a free black, operated a popular establishment, catering mostly to white customers. In November 1861, the ship was looted by a mob of Union soldiers. Grocery stores and other businesses, owned by men whose sons joined the Confederacy, also were targets from time to time. The Ransom of Hagerstown: On July 6, 1864, General John McCausland's Confederate cavalry demanded a ransom of $20,000 under penalty of destruction by fire. It was within this building that General McCausland first met City Councilman Matthew Barber to make his ransom demands.
10. HAGER_160604_107.JPG: Public Square shortly after the Civil War looking westward along Washington Street
11. HAGER_160604_116.JPG: Fire Hose Company: The First Hagerstown Hose Company dates to 1815. Its hand pumper was originally housed in a shed located on the north side of St. John's Lutheran Church, one block to your left. In 1881, the First Hose Company purchased this site and in July, broke ground for a new fire station. Constructed by contractor Jacob Dayhoff for $15,310, the new First Hose Company building was known as the "Hose Opera House." A social hall was located in the upper part of the building which was used for fairs, shows, meetings, conventions and other assembly type uses. Displayed in this building is "Pet," an 1823 John Rogers Company end-stroke hand-pumper manufactured in Baltimore. It is the oldest fire apparatus known to exist that served in Hagerstown.
12. HAGER_160604_141.JPG: Demonstrating the fire pole
13. HAGER_160613_005.JPG: Ransom of Hagerstown This courthouse was built in 1873, replacing the courthouse that stood at this site during the Civil War. In 1864, Confederate General John McCausland met with town officials and the directors of the Hagerstown Bank in the court clerk's office to finalize payment of a $20,000 ransom levied in retaliation for Union destruction in the Shenandoah Valley. The former courthouse, constructed in 1785, was used as a hospital in the weeks after the Battle of Antietam in 1862. Colonel Henry Kyd Douglas, youngest officer on the staff of Confederate General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, practiced law from his office on West Washington Street following the Civil War and later served as a judge of the Circuit Court.
14. HAGER_160613_013.JPG: Crossroads of History: Route 40 & 11 Cross at this Point: In the court house that stood on this site, Confederate Gen. John McCausland was given $20,000 in cash and all of the suits, hats, shoes, boots, shirts and socks that could be found as ransom upon his threat to burn Hagerstown in July of 1864. Over the Old National Trail in front of this court house passed thousands of settlers on the way west by wagon, horse, and foot in the first half of the 19th century before the building of railroads across the mountains. The street to the west was once an Indian trail. The armies of the Union and the Confederacy used it as the tide of the Civil War ebbed back and forth across the Potomac.
15. HAGER_160613_024.JPG: For God and Country In loving memory of those who gave their lives in the world wars 1917-1918 1941-1945 May they rest in peace Erected by Morris Frock Post No. 42 November 11, 1946
16. HAGER_160613_042.JPG: Hagerstonians in the Civil War Chief Surgeon Augustine S. Mason, CSA 1834-1911 Dr. Augustine Smith Mason was raised near Fredericksburg, Virginia. In 1861, he established the first Confederate military hospital in Fredericksburg and was commissioned a surgeon in the Confederate Army. Many family members joined the Confederate military. Three of his brothers were Confederate officers as was his sister's husband, General Edward Porter Alexander. His brother-in-law, Dr. Talcott Eliason, served as medical director of General J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry division. In 1863, Dr. Mason was made the Chief Surgeon of the Military Department of Richmond. He had the immense task of coordinating the care of thousands of sick and wounded Confederate soldiers and Union prisoners of war. Dozens of hospitals were created in and around Richmond to treat the sick and wounded, but medical supplies were very hard to come by due to the Union blockade of southern ports, Dr. Mason held his position until the fall of Richmond and the end of the War in 1865. In 1867, Dr. Mason moved his family to Hagerstown and established a medical practice on South Jonathan Street (Summit Avenue). Later, he moved his home and practice to this location. Dr. Mason was one of the most respected physicians in Hagerstown in the late 19th Century. He tended to patients until shortly before he passed away in 1911. Fascinating Fact: In 1901, Dr. Mason's 40-year-old daughter, Mary Landon Mason, created a stir when she married former Confederate General Edward P. Alexander, pictured here second man from left, in Hagerstown. General Alexander was her uncle by marriage and 26 years her senior. Their marriage lasted 9 years until his death in 1910. Her parents objected to their daughter's decision and their displeasure relfected here in their appearance in her wedding photo. During their marriage, "The General" (as she called him) wrote "Military Memoirs of a Confederate," which is one of the most cited first-person accounts of the War. In her declining years, she resided at the Womens' Club on South Prospect Street. When she died in 1946, she was one of the last surviving widows of a Confederate general.
17. HAGER_160613_054.JPG: Hagerstonians in the Civil War Congressman James Dixon Roman 1809-1867 This building was Congressman Roman's home from the time he purchased it in 1845 until his death in 1867. A prominent member of the Whig Party, Roman was elected to the House of Representatives during the 30th Congress (1847-1849). He declined nomination for election to a second term. One of the more influential members of the House, he regularly associated with many senators, including Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, He was a presidential elector in 1849 for the Taylor/Fillmore ticket, and again in 1857 for Buchannan/Breckinridge ticket. In the Spring of 1861, Roman served as a Maryland representative to a "Peace Convention" that was assembled at Washington's Willard Hotel in the hopes of avoiding the coming Civil War through a negotiated settlement. While strongly pro Union, he was against forcing seceding states to stay in the Union. In July, 1864, as President of the Hagerstown Bank, Roman was asked by the City to coordinate efforts to collect and pay the $20,000 ransom levied on the City by Confederate General McCausland. Seriously ill at the time, Roman walked to the Courthouse (one-half block east) and settled the payment with the Confederate leaders to save the city from threatened destruction. Among Giants - Roman and the 30th Congress: The 30th Congress (1847-49) was one of the more contentious and important conducted in the nation's history. Great issues regarding the westward expansion of the territories, how slavery would be treated in those territories, and the controversial Mexican-American War were the primary issues of the time. At this time, the House of Representatives had its "old lions", but it also served as an incubator for young leaders who would one day lead the north and south through the Civil War. Other members included: * Rep.Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia - Vice President of the Confederacy * Rep. Howell Cobb of Georgia - Speaker of the Provisional Confederate Congress and Major General in the Confederate Army * Rep. John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts - formerly 6th President of the United States * Rep. Robert Barnwell Rhett of South Carolina - Prominent Leader of South Carolina Secession Convention * Rep. Abraham Lincoln of Illinois - future 16th President of the United States * Rep. Horace Greeley of New York - Abolitionist and Editor of the New York Tribune
18. HAGER_160613_080.JPG: Treatment of the Wounded 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.
19. HAGER_160613_083.JPG: Hagerstonians In The Civil War Brevet Brigadier General George Bell, USA 1828 - 1907 George Bell was the son of William Duffield Bell, developer of South Prospect Street and editor of the Hagerstown Torchlight newspaper. He grew up in this neighborhood. An 1853 graduate of West Point, Bell served at several posts in Texas and the east coast, including Fort McHenry. His accomplishments include: 1861 - Courier for General-Chief Winfield Scott, carrying secret dispatches to Texas. He was then assigned to the field artillery, but soon was transferred to the Commissary Department. 1861 - As a lieutenant and commissary officer, he arranged to provide food for General McDowell's army during the First Manassas Campaign. 1861 - 1865 - Stationed at the Annapolis, Alexandria and Washington DC depots as the regional commissary officer. Arranged for the purchase, preparation and distribution of the food necessary to daily feed tens of thousands of soldiers and prisoners of war held in the region. Promoted several times. [Picture included] 1865 - Breveted (honorary) promotion to brigadier general for meritorious service. 1892 - Retired with rank of colonel. When he died his remains were returned to Hagerstown and interred in Rose Hill Cemetery. Fascinating Fact: As an example of how the Civil War was a war of "brother against brother", George's brother Henry C. Bell served as a private in the 1st Maryland Cavalry Battalion in the Confederate Army.
20. HAGER_160613_087.JPG: Mount Prospect: Nathanial Rochester House This is the original site of "Mount Prospect," also known as "The Rochester House." Nathanial Rochester built the house in 1789 on ground which once belonged to Jonathan Hager, the founder of Hagerstown. The home was used as a "way station" during the Civil War for battlefield casualties from both the North and South. One of the wounded soldiers treated there was Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who fought at the Battle of Antietam. He later became a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Rochester, formerly a colonel in the Continental Army, was the owner of a nail and lock factory, the first president of the Hagerstown Bank, a member of the state legislature, a postmaster, a sheriff, and a Judge of the Washington County Court. In 1810, he left Hagerstown leading a caravan of settlers to the Genesse Valley where he founded Rochester, New York.
21. HAGER_160613_134.JPG: Baltimore & Ohio Railroad: Hagerstown was bypassed in the great race westward between the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The City was left without a rail connection to the south or west. The "Washington County Railroad" was chartered in 1864 for the purpose of connecting Hagerstown by rail to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at Weverton, near Harpers Ferry. The line was completed in late 1867 and was soon absorbed by the Baltimore and Ohio. A two-story brick structure, constructed at an angle to the streets, stood here from around 1870, until it was replaced by a stone passenger terminal around 1890. The stone building was torn down after World War II and the site was used for a gas station, and later because the home of the Herald-Mail newspaper.
22. HAGER_160613_140.JPG: Hagerstown residents seeing off the local company of the Maryland National Guard as they depart for service on the Mexican border in 1916. Antietam Fire Hall is in the background.
23. HAGER_160613_177.JPG: Retreat from Gettysburg 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.
24. HAGER_160613_184.JPG: View of Hagerstown, circa 1870, looking north up Potomac Street, taken from the St. John's bell tower.
25. HAGER_160613_251.JPG: A City Divided The Hagerstown Mail offices were located on the second floor of this building during the Civil War. Due to the newspaper's pro-Southern columns, the Mail's editor and co-owner, Daniel Dechert, was arrested in 1862 and sent to Old Capitol Prison in Washington DC, and held until he took the "Oath of Allegiance". Following the defeat of Federal Maryland troops by Maryland Confederates in the Battle of Front Royal, Virginia, Dechert's newspaper was sacked and burned by a Unionist mob. John Wagoner's barber shop was located in this corner of Public Square during the Civil War. Wagoner, a free black, operated a popular establishment, catering mostly to white customers. In November 1861, the ship was looted by a mob of Union soldiers. Grocery stores and other businesses, owned by men whose sons joined the Confederacy, also were targets from time to time. The Ransom of Hagerstown: On July 6, 1864, General John McCausland's Confederate cavalry demanded a ransom of $20,000 under penalty of destruction by fire. It was within this building that General McCausland first met City Councilman Matthew Barber to make his ransom demands.
26. HAGER_160613_255.JPG: Public Square shortly after the Civil War along Washington Street
27. HAGER_160613_259.JPG: City Councilman Matthew Barber
28. HAGER_160613_271.JPG: Gettysburg Campaign Invasion & Retreat After stunning victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, Virginia, early in May 1863, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee carried the war through Maryland, across the Mason and Dixon Line and into Pennsylvania. His infantry marched north through the Shenandoah Valley and western Maryland as his cavalry, led by Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, harassed Union supply lines to the east. Union Gen. Joseph Hooker, replaced on June 28 by Gen. George G. Meade, led the Army of the Potomac from the Washington defenses in pursuit. The Federals collided with Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on July 1, starting a battle neither side had intended to fight there. Three days later, the defeated Confederates began retreating through Maryland, retracing their steps to the Potomac River and crossing into Virginia on July 14. To follow in their footsteps and to discover their stories, stop by any Welcome Center or local Visitor Center to pick up a Gettysburg: Invasion & Retreat Civil War Trail map-guide. Please drive carefully as you enjoy the history and beauty of Maryland Civil War Trails.
29. HAGER_160613_283.JPG: Treatment of the Wounded 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.
30. HAGER_160613_287.JPG: 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 Hagertown'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
31. HAGER_160613_295.JPG: Second Battle of Hagerstown Custer Captures the Town -- Gettysburg Campaign -- Six days had passed since the Federals had failed in their first attempt to seize Hagerstown as they pursued Gen. Robert E. Lee's Confederate army retreating to Virginia after the Battle of Gettysburg. On Sunday morning, July 12, 1863, a decisive event occurred - the Union army determined to secure its northern flank. The mission to capture Hagerstown was assigned to Gen. George Armstrong Custer and his Michigan cavalry brigade. Custer's Wolverines rode into town from the east, scattering and capturing stunned Confederates, seizing almost 100 prisoners, and setting free nearly 40 Federal soldiers, missing after the fighting of July 6. Local citizens sympathetic to the Union cause has been sheltering these men. After the victorious Custer led his column through town, doffing his hat to handkerchief-waving ladies, XI Corps commander Gen. Oliver O. Howard climbed into a church steeple and for the first time viewed the extensive Confederate fortifications located west and south of town. Difficult days remained ahead. "[Hagerstown was] a hornet's nest of sharpshooters armed with telescopic rifles, who could pick a man's ear off half a mile away. The bullets from their guns had a peculiar sound, something like the buzz of a bumble bee, and the troopers' horses would stop, prick up their ears and gaze in the direction whence the hum of those invisible messengers could be heard." - Capt. James Kidd, Custer's Michigan Cavalry Brigade. Tuesday, July 14: "Sunday (July 12) was a day of intense anxiety. The Yankees came and took possession of the town. The Rebels had all gone. Yesterday all the streets were crowded with horse and no one could go near the door as the street was used as a stable. ... It is reported that the Rebels have crossed the river but we know nothing. Oh this dreadful suspense. ... I fear we've seen the very last of the Rebels." Louise Kealhofer diary
32. HAGER_160613_311.JPG: Ransom of Hagerstown The existing City Hall was constructed in 1939, replacing the 1818 City Hall on this location. Town Treasurer and City Councilman Matthew Barber negotiated with Confederate General John McCausland regarding the ransom of Hagerstown in 1864. Retreat From Gettysburg: On July 6, 1863, Captain Ulrich Dahlgren was wounded in his right leg at this location while leading a detachment of dismounted troopers from the 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry, as they advanced up North Potomac Street. The leg was amputated at a field hospital in Boonsboro, and later he returned to duty only to be killed leading a raid on the Confederate capital of Richmond on March 1, 1864.
33. HAGER_160613_339.JPG: Military Occupation The Independent Junior Fire Company was formed in 1842. Their firehouse was constructed in 1852 and altered in 1881. During the Civil War, the Juniors' firehouse was used by the U.S. Army for various purposes and served as a field hospital to treat the wounded. The Juniors remained at this location until November 21, 1993 when the Company was moved to its new home on Eastern Boulevard.
34. HAGER_160613_349.JPG: The firehouse as it appeared in 1894
35. HAGER_160613_368.JPG: Retreat from Gettysburg Zion Reformed Church was a stronghold for the Confederates on their retreat from Gettysburg on July 6, 1863. General Robert E. Lee passed through Hagerstown during the Confederate occupation following the Battle of Gettysburg. General George Armstrong Custer observed Confederate movements from the church's bell tower on July 12th, after his Michigan cavalry brigade forced the occupying Confederates to the western edge of town. A Confederate sniper fired at Custer in the bell tower, but missed him and hit one of the tower's bells.
36. HAGER_160613_373.JPG: Zion Church as it appeared during the Civil War. One of Zion's Church Bell.
37. HAGER_160613_379.JPG: Jonathan Hager 1714 1775 Founder of Hagerstown. Co-founder of this church. Buried west of main building.
38. HAGER_160613_386.JPG: Washington County Jail Fugitive Slaves Detained at the County Jail An African American Heritage Report prepared by the Heritage Resources Group for the City of Hagerstown in 2002 identified the following historical incidents which suggest that the Washington County Jail was a significant site of activity along the Underground Railroad in pre-Civil War era times: A local petition was sent to the Maryland General Assembly in 1819 asking that the slave trade be halted in Washington County included a complaint that the Washington County Jail was being used to hold enslaved persons which was not the purpose of the public jail. The County Grand Jury for 1825 complained that the County's jailer was holding enslaved persons in special cells and selling them to their owners for "unreasonably high prices." This 1825 report also stated that the jailer participated in catching slaves. The Grand Jury requested that the sheriff remove the jailer from his position. (Williams 1992:251) In 1847, a group of freedmen attacked the Washington County Jail on Jonathan Street in an effort to free a number of fugitive salves. The raid was unsuccessful and the freedmen were jailed. (Brugger 1988:267 & Bridner 1971:33)"This exhibit was made possible by the African-American Historical Association of Western Maryland which works tirelessly to preserve African-American history in Hagerstown. It is important that this history, no matter what feelings it may conjure up, be preserved for future generations that may not be aware of what African-Americans endured during earlier period of Hagerstown's history and so that we may learn from our mistakes and create more positive conditions for our future generations."
39. HAGER_160613_392.JPG: Washington County Jail The first building used as the Washington Country Jail was a log house at 26-28 E. Franklin Street in Hagerstown. In 1818, the state legislature authorized the county to spend $12,000 to build a new jail. The new jail was built on this site on Jonathan Street. It was a one-story jai built of limestone, rough-casted outside, and enclosed with a wall on the north, west and south. The original entrance to the jail was through a house facing on Jonathan Street which was used as a residence for the sheriff and his family. The new jail started taking prisoners in 1826-1827. One of the first prisoners to occupy the jail was Sheriff George Swearingen who was elected sheriff in 1827 and convicted of murdering his wife in 1828. The jail was destroyed by fire in 1857 and rebuilt in 1858. The last major renovation to the jail occurred in 1888 when a brick second floor was added placing steel cages over the old arched cells. The last hanging in Washington County was held at the jail in 1916. In 1984, the prisoners were moved out of the old jail and into the new Washington County Detention Center on Western Maryland Parkway. The old jail was demolished in 1985. Mr. Bill Mason was the first black police officer in Washington County and worked for the Sheriff's Department for 16 years, the last five serving as Captain. Washington County Sheriff Seventy-eight different men have served as the Sheriff of Washington County between the time the office was created in 1777 and 2004. The Washington County Sheriff's Office is responsible for three main functions: operation of the County detention center, security at the Circuit Court House and civil process for the Circuit and District Courts, and law enforcement in areas of the County not served by a municipal police department.
40. HAGER_160613_400.JPG: Washington County Sheriff Seventy-eight different men have served as the Sheriff of Washington County between the time the office was created in 1777 and 2004. The Washington County Sheriff's Office is responsible for three main functions: operation of the County detention center, security at the Circuit Court House and civil process for the Circuit and District Courts, and law enforcement in areas of the County not served by a municipal police department.
41. HAGER_160613_411.JPG: A City Divided The Lyceum, a public debating hall constructed circa 1848, stood on this site during the Civil War. Heated debates took place here prior to the Civil War on the state of the Union. Following the Battles of Antietam and Gettysburg, the Lyceum was used as a hospital for wounded troops of both armies.
42. HAGER_160613_417.JPG: On July 29, 1863, the New York Times published a list of the wounded confined at the Lyceum Hospital. Most were wounded in the fighting around Hagerstown or fell ill on the campaign.
43. HAGER_160613_421.JPG: Hagerstonians in the Civil War Margaret Greenawalt, 1824-1911 Catharine Bonebrake Bowman, 1821-1902 Many communities in this region boast of stories similar to Frederick's Barbara Fritchie or Middletown's Nancy Crouse, who defied the Confederates during their invasions of Maryland. Hagerstown is no exception. Although the specific date of the event is lost to history, according to narratives written on the backs of these portraits, Margaret Greenawalt stood on the second floor porch of a building at this location "as the Confederates retreated through Hagerstown." As the rebels passed, she waived a Union flag at the troops, taunting them as traitors. Her sister, Catharine Bowman was afraid for her sister's safety. Catharine struggled with Margaret, trying to get her to come back inside the building. Imploring her sister to stop, she begged "Get back in here Maggie, they'll shoot you. They'll shoot you they will!" The story was written on the backs of these photos by Myra L. McDade, who grew up on Broadway where Catharine and Margaret lived late in life. Myra explained that on several occasions Catharine related the story of Margaret's heroism to her and other neighborhood children. Fascinating Fact: Catharine's husband, local baker and confectioner George Bowman (1820-1892) was an avid astronomer, and maintained his own telescope and observatory on the roof of his business. His distributed these tokens in the community to permit the interested and curious to experience his hobby. It is not clear whether he charged admission, or distributed them for free as a means of driving business to his store.
44. HAGER_160613_430.JPG: The Bowman Confectionery can be seen in this circa 1862 photo of West Washington Street. Bowman's property was the building pictures in the far right of this photo, painted in a checkerboard pattern.
45. HAGER_160613_432.JPG: John Brown 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. The Washington House Hotel burned in 1879.
46. HAGER_160613_441.JPG: I. Smith + Sons
47. HAGER_160613_460.JPG: The Ransom of Hagerstown The Hagerstown Bank stood at this site until it was demolished in the mid-1930s. The current Hagerstown Trust Bank is a direct descendant of the Hagerstown Bank. The bank's Board of Directors, led by President James Dixon Rodman, took the lead in gathering the ransom money to spare the town from being burned by the Confederates in 1864.
Wikipedia Description: Hagerstown, Maryland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hagerstown is the county seat of Washington County, Maryland, United States. The population of the city proper as of a 2006 estimate by the United States Census Bureau is 39,008 , and the total 2000 urban population is 120,326 (~80,000 in MD). It is Western Maryland's largest city. Hagerstown is also Maryland's sixth largest city, but if the urban area was incorporated, it would be Maryland's second-most populous city.

Hagerstown is on the northwestern edge of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. The city also has its own metropolitan area: Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV MSA. The population of the Metropolitan Statistical Area in 2000 was 222,771 and the 2006 estimate is 257,619 (U.S. Rank 169). Hagerstown is the fastest growing metropolitan area in the State of Maryland and among the fastest growing in the United States.

Hagerstown, due to the large number of roads and other transit that cross in the city, is known as the "Hub City." The nickname may also be applied to Hagerstown's status as the commercial and industrial hub for the Tri-State Area which includes much of Western Maryland, South Central Pennsylvania, and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.

History:

Founding:

Hagerstown was founded in 1762 by Jonathan Hager, a volunteer Captain of Scouts during the French and Indian War. Hager has been called the "Father of Washington County" due to his having laid the groundwork for its separation from Frederick County, Maryland in 1776 and the subsequent creation of Hagerstown as the county seat.

Civil War:

Hagerstown's strategic location at the border between the North and the South made the city a primary staging area and supply center for four major campaigns during the Civil War.

In 1861, General Robert Patterson’s troops used Hagerstown as a base to attack Virginia Rebels in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign.

In the Maryland Campaign of 1862, General James Longstreet’s command occupied the town while en route to the Battle of South Mountain and Antietam.

In 1863, the city was the site of several military incursions and engagements as General Lee’s army invaded and retreated at the Gettysburg Campaign.

In 1864, Hagerstown was invaded by the Confederate Army under General Jubal Early. On Wednesday, July 6, Early sent 1,500 cavalry, commanded by Brigadier-General John McCausland, into Hagerstown to levy a ransom for $200,000 and a large amount of clothing, in retribution for Federal destruction of farms, feed and cattle in the Shenandoah Valley. McCausland misread the amount, and instead only collected $20,000. This is in contrast to neighboring Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, which McCausland razed on July 30 when the borough failed to supply the requested ransom of $500,000 in U.S. currency, or $100,000 in gold.

Throughout the Civil War, private physicians and citizens of Hagerstown took care of men from both the North and South in a number of locations including the Franklin Hotel, Washington House, Lyceum, Hagerstown Male Academy, Key-Mar College, and a number of private residences.

The spread of smallpox from returning soldiers to their families and friends was a substantial problem during the war. The Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church volunteered the use of its church as a smallpox hospital when an epidemic spread throughout the town.

Following the war in 1872, Maryland and Virginia cooperated to re-enter Southern Confederate dead from their impromptu graves to cemeteries in Hagerstown, Frederick and Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Roughly 60% however, remained unidentified. In 1877, 15 years after the Battle of Antietam, also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, approximately 2,800 Confederate dead from that battle were re-entered in Washington Confederate Cemetery and in Rosehill Cemetery in Hagerstown.

Railroads:

Hagerstown's nickname of the "Hub City" came from the large number of railroads (and roads) that served the city. Hagerstown was the center of the Western Maryland Railway and an important city on the Pennsylvania, Norfolk and Western, Baltimore and Ohio, and Hagerstown and Frederick Railroads. Currently, the city is a vital location on CSX, Norfolk Southern, and the Winchester and Western Railroads.

Hagerstown was formerly served by the Hagerstown & Frederick Railway, an interurban trolley system, from 1896 to 1947.

Little Heiskell:

One of the most recognizable symbols of the city of Hagerstown is the weathervane known as "Little Heiskell." Named after the German tinsmith who crafted it in 1796, it stood atop the Market House first and City Hall second for a combined 166 years. It was moved from the Market House to City Hall in 1824.

During the American Civil War era, the weathervane gained its characteristic bullet hole from a Confederate sharpshooter.

Finally in 1935, the original was retired to the Museum of the Washington County Historical Society, later to be moved to its present display in the Jonathan Hager House. An exact replica has replaced it atop City Hall.

The weathervane has also been depicted in the city's annual Mummers Day Parade by Mr. Charles Harry Rittenhouse, Sr. sporting all of the necessary accoutrements of a German Mercenary Soldier.

Aviation heritage:

From 1931 to 1984, Fairchild Aircraft was based in Hagerstown, Maryland and was by far the area's most prominent employer. The importance of the company to the city and the country as a whole earned Hagerstown its former nickname "Home of the Flying Boxcar."

Fairchild moved to Hagerstown in 1931 after Sherman Fairchild purchased a majority stock interest in Kreider-Reisner Aircraft Company of Hagerstown in 1929. Among Fairchild's products during World War II were PT-19/PT-23/PT-26 (Cornell) and AT-21 trainers, C-82 "Packet" cargo planes and missiles. At its height in World War II, Fairchild employed directly and indirectly up to 80% of Hagerstown's workforce or roughly 10,000 people.

In the postwar era, Fairchild continued to produce aircraft in Hagerstown such as C-123 Provider, Fairchild F-27 and Fairchild Hiller FH-227, FH-1100, C-26 Metroliner, UC-26 Metroliner, Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, and the T-46 jet trainer. However, all production ceased in Hagerstown in 1984 and the company moved elsewhere. Presently, the company is based in San Antonio, Texas and after a series of mergers and buyouts, is known as M7 Aerospace.

The Hagerstown Aviation Museum shows many of these original aircraft. Among the ones on display are: 1939 F24/UC-61C, 1945 C-82A, 1943 PT-19A, and the 1953 C-119. The museum is located near Hagerstown Regional Airport in the airport's former terminal.

Hagerstown is also the birthplace of Salisbury, Maryland-based Piedmont Airlines which started out as Henson Aviation. It was founded by Richard A. Henson in 1931. Today, Hagerstown Regional Airport-Richard A. Henson Field is named as such in honor of the airlines' founder.

Today, only small to mid-size aviation companies remain in the area. Two notable names include Northrop Grumman California Microwaves, which manufactures airline equipment in its Hagerstown facility, and Sierra Nevada Corporation, a defense electronics engineering and manufacturing contractor.
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.) I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
Connection Not Secure messages? Those warnings you get from your browser about this site not having secure connections worry some people. This means this site does not have SSL installed (the link is http:, not https:). That's bad if you're entering credit card numbers, passwords, or other personal information. But this site doesn't collect any personal information so SSL is not necessary. Life's good!
Photo Contact: [Email Bruce Guthrie].