Existing comment:
This is the Thomas farm, also known as Araby. In 1860, C Keefer Thomas moved his family from Baltimore to here because he was sure that Baltimore was going to erupt in fighting. During the battle here, they were forced to hide in the basement. A quote from Thomas is on one of the markers there: "There was not a moment for four years when there were not from 4,000 to 14,000 soldiers camped on or neat my farm. At the end of the war, I had hardly a fence on my place, but I was glad to get a little of the quiet for which I had left the city." In 1862, Winfield Hancock, a Union general, had used this house as his headquarters on the way to Antietam. In 1864, a month after the Monocacy battle, Grant and Sheridan met here to discuss how Sheridan would destroy Early's troops once and for all. |