Existing comment:
Civil War 1861 to 1865:
Protection of the Patapsco Valley Industries and the Railroad:
On May 5, 1861, Brigadier General Benjamin F. Butler, under orders from Lieutenant General Winfield Scott, occupied Relay with the 6th Massachusetts and 8th New York Regiments (2,080 men) and Major Cook's battery of Boston Light Artillery. Cannons were immediately placed on hills overlooking the Thomas Viaduct and the B&O Railroad junction. The cannon emplacements on the Baltimore County side were named "Fort Dix" and the emplacements on the Howard County side were "Camp Essex." The support base was "Camp Relay."
General Butler's mission was to stop the supply line from Confederate sympathizers in Baltimore to the southern troops at Harpers Ferry. Butler was also to provide a first line of defense against attempts to attack Baltimore or Washington. The Thomas Viaduct and the railroad junction at Relay were strategic points along the B&O Railroad. They provided the only direct rail connection to the north and a main link to Harpers Ferry and points west. Relay was also a gateway to the Patapsco Valley, which contained many mills that were manufacturing equipment and textiles vital to the Union war effort. If the Confederates destroyed the Thomas Viaduct, rail traffic to the nation's capital would have been cut off from the north. |