Currently viewing the tag: "American Civil War"

Maryland on Stamps…

By On · Add Comment · In Featured Articles

Antietam,2012
Richard D. L. Fulton

Such a storm of balls I never conceived it possible for men to live through. Shot and shell shrieking and crashing, canister and bullets whistling and hissing most fiend-like through the air until you could almost see them…

                                          – Lt. Col A.S. Pendleton, CSA

On April 24, 2012, the United States Postal Service issued a Forever Stamp commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the September 17, 1862, Battle of Antietam, which occurred among the fields and hills around Sharpsburg during the American Civil War.

The stamps were issued as part of a series of stamps commemorating the 150th anniversary of the 1861-1865 Civil War. 

The Antietam stamp was issued along with the stamp commemorating the 1862 Battle of New Orleans. A sheet of stamps consisted of four Antietam and four New Orleans stamps (issuing different stamps attached to each other in a single sheet is referred to as se-tenant).

Antietam First Day of Issue covers can be found postmarked by the New Orleans Post Office (by virtue of being issued at the same time as the se-tenant New Orleans stamps) and by the Sharpsburg Post Office.

Confederate Maryland

Amid the secession of the Southern states as the nation stood on the brink of a civil war, a significant number of Marylanders had launched an effort to join the rapidly assimilating Confederate States of America.

It’s probably safe to state that the population of Maryland was deeply divided on the issue, with perhaps a third of the populace supporting the secession movement, a third rabidly against secession, and a third that wanted nothing whatsoever to do with either side, and simply desired to remain neutral.

Sensing the possibility that Maryland legislature might vote to join the Confederacy, President Abraham Lincoln dispatched agents into Maryland to track down and arrest any legislators who were found to be considering voting for secession.

In addition, the President sent federal troops to occupy Baltimore and Annapolis.  Due to the federal occupation of the Maryland capital, the legislature was relocated to Frederick, resulting in Frederick having become the capitol of Maryland until the pro-secession legislators rescinded the effort to secede.

Although the secession effort failed, more than 20,000 Marylanders left the state and joined the Confederate Army.

The Road to Antietam

Confederate General Robert E. Lee, who commanded the Army of Northern Virginia, led his army north, beginning on September 4, 1862, ultimately colliding with the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by General George B. McClellan, in and around Sharpsburg on September 17.

The Army of Northern Virginia consisted of more than 100,000 troops, while the Army of the Potomac consisted of some 50,000 troops (13,000 Union troops had already been captured in Harper’s Ferry two days before the engagement at Sharpsburg),

So why did Lee march into Maryland?

One of the primary reasons given was to take the war into the north in the hopes of convincing the Northern population of the futility of continuing the war. But another motive was inspired by the 20,000 Marylanders who had already joined the Confederate Army—that being the possibility that if the Confederates crossed into Maryland, countless additional Marylanders might have joined their numbers.

On September 17, the two opposing Armies collided around Sharpsburg, resulting in the bloodiest one-day battle of the “War of Rebellion.” 

Before the September 18 withdrawal of the Confederate forces, the Confederates had suffered more than 28,000 casualties (of which 2,783 were killed), and the Union Army had sustained more than 16,000 casualties (of which more than 3,800 were killed).”

Although the battle ended Lee’s first invasion of the north, the outcome of the battle by most writers was/is considered as having been a tactical draw. 

Some “historians” have claimed it was a Union victory, but Lincoln himself simply called the battle the “closest thing to a victory” that the Union Army had thus far experienced.

Lee also did not see any significant increase in Maryland recruits as having been a direct result of the Maryland campaign.

Sept. 12, 2012 Antietam First Day of Issue cover.

Great Maryland Gold Rush

By On · Add Comment · In Featured Articles

Richard D. L. Fulton

The “Great Maryland Gold Rush,” which raged from the 1860s into the 1920s, petering out by 1940, was triggered by pure happenstance when gold was discovered there during the American Civil War.

Gold was reportedly discovered on a farm belonging to Samuel Ellicott, located near Brookville, Montgomery County, Maryland, during 1849; although, it apparently attracted little attention and was left largely unexplored.

One of the earliest newspaper reports of the find appeared in the January 31, 1849, edition of The Rockville Journal, in which it was stated, “Gold has been found on Mr. Ellicott’s farm in this county. It is thought there is an abundance of the metal there. A specimen was sent to the Philadelphia mint, which was pronounced genuine.” The story was reprinted in the February 2, 1849, edition of The (Boston) Liberator.

The sample submitted was more than likely a specimen mentioned in an article published in a February issue of the Howard Gazette, and reprinted in the February 5, 1849, edition of The (Baltimore) Sun, in which the Gazette stated “that a rock had been found on the farm which contained “a hundred dollars’ worth of gold.” 

In today’s monetary evaluation, $100 would equate to $3,777, without taking the valuation of today’s value of gold per ounce into account. In the 1840s, gold was trading at about $18 per ounce. Today, gold can fetch $2,374 per ounce. 

However, the actual amount of gold contained within the aforementioned rock was not given. But if the value of gold in the 1840s was at $18 per ounce, it would suggest by the $100 claim that the sample could have contained around 5.5 ounces. That 5.5 ounces of gold today could bring more than $13,000.

The rise in the interest in Maryland gold has generally been attributed to having been spurred by the discovery of gold at Great Falls, Montgomery County, Maryland, in 1861, a discovery directly tied to the advent of the American Civil War.

When Union troops were stationed at Great Falls on The Potomac River in 1861, Private McCleary (or McCarey) of the 71st Pennsylvania Regiment (or “1st California Volunteers”) was scrubbing skillets in the water for the camp cooks, when he recognized gold in the skillets, according to the C&O Canal Trust.

“After the war, he returned to the area, bought some farmland, and started mining for gold in Montgomery County,” C&O Canal Trust noted on its website. A particular Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park wayside states that McCleary and some of his friends had only recovered around 11 ounces for their effort, which would have amounted to more than $26,000 in value.

McCleary’s find prompted a flurry in the establishment of gold mines, as investors sought to strike it rich in Maryland gold… leading to the first mine shaft sunk into Maryland soil in 1880.

By 1890, The (Baltimore) Sun reported in its February 24 issue, “The development of the mining industry in Montgomery County has made remarkable progress within the last six months, and there are no less than six mines being actively operated.” The newspaper identified the owners of the half-dozen mines as the Huddlestone mine, the Potomac Mining Company, the Iowa Mining Company, and by a number of private individuals.”

In 1900, the Maryland Gold Mining Company was formed, and the Great Falls Gold Mining Company was created in 1903 or 1904, according to the United States Geological Survey (Bulletin 1286). The Maryland Gold Mining Company folded in 1908.  Following the closure of the Maryland Gold Mining Company, the site was reopened and operated under several guises, the last of which was called the Maryland Mining Company.

By 1910, gold recovery increased in interest, but The Sun reported that the layers containing the gold could be elusive and “unevenly distributed,” to the degree that profits had not lived up to expectations. “The value of the output of gold in Maryland is very variable,” the newspaper reported, adding, “It has reached as much as $25,000 annually, while in other years none has been produced.”

Most of the gold mines at this point in time, The Sun reported, were located “near the southern edge of Montgomery County near the Great Falls of the Potomac.”

By the 1930s, the quest for gold continued to decline in productivity.  The Sun reported on August 4, 1935, “The annual production of gold in Maryland has been $71,583, virtually all of which was produced prior to 1906.”

By 1935, gold finds were reported all the way into Frederick County near Frederick City and in Braddock Heights. Six gold mines (actually, multi-commodity mines, of which one commodity included gold) were established in Frederick County. All told, gold was eventually reported in half a dozen Maryland counties.  However, many of these reported finds did not result in the development of mines. 

By 1940—when the last commercial gold mining company ceased operation—more than 45 gold mines had been dug in Maryland. In the course of less than 100 years, the total gold production of all the mines combined amounted to some 5,000 ounces. On today’s market, that would only have amounted to about $1,000,000.

The Sun, in 1935, almost forecasted the causations of the end of commercial gold mining operations in the state when it reported that the gold production business had sustained increasing costs of recovery, the result of the spotty occurrence of the gold and the hardness of the host rocks, which increased wear-and-tear on the equipment.

So where did the gold come from? According to the United States Geological Survey, mined gold in Maryland came from the Wissahickon Formation, basically layers of 750-million-year-old schists, gneisses, metagraywackes, and metaconglomerates (for the uninitiated, these are [metamorphic] rocks that were formed from other types of rocks as the result of re-crystallization from excessive heat and pressure exerted [normally] as a by-product of continental collisions).

In these “reformed” rocks, gold tends to occur in veins, usually in quartz veins, which was injected into the various altered rocks when the quartz was still in liquid form.

Free gold (obtained by other means, such as “panning” for gold) occurs as grains, flakes, or nuggets.  Most frequently, they are encountered in rivers or streams, where they eroded out of gold veins or from mine tailings (debris from former gold mines).

Basic equipment needed for panning for gold would be a pan; it can even be plastic. Steel is not recommended because it can rust.  A small plastic see-through vial or bottle will also be needed to keep any gold or suspected gold in as one finds it. Other equipment one might need includes a shovel, pick, trowel, bucket, screen, and suction tweezers.  Panning kits are also available online, which would include almost all of the essential tools.

Next, you would need a geological map in order to locate where any metamorphic rocks are located.

For those possibly interested in searching for gold in Maryland, according to the Maryland Geological Survey (Gold in Maryland, by Karen R. Kuff, 1987), Maryland has strict property rights laws, and panning and prospecting must be done with permission from the property owner.

Collecting of rocks is prohibited on state- and federal-owned lands unless permission is obtained from the appropriate agencies.

For additional information on panning for gold, recommended is the Maryland Geological Survey website at mgs.md.gov/geology/gold_resources.html.

Ruins of Maryland’s abandoned gold mine.

Large multi-inch vein gold from Maryland mine.

National Guard Veteran Addresses Memorial Day

By On · Add Comment · In Columns

Richard D. L. Fulton

The multi-decade Veteran of the Maryland Army Reserve National Guard (MDARNG) addressed the attendees at the Monocacy Valley Memorial Post 6918-07, Harney, on May 28, concerning the significance of Memorial Day.

First Sergeant (retired) William Rosier told the individuals attending the Veterans of Foreign War Memorial Day Observance that millions of men and women have “given all” in the line of duty in service of their country since the American Revolution—up to and including the ongoing Global War on Terrorism.

Rosier noted that the first Memorial Day was held in the wake of the American Civil War in the South only a month after the end of that war.  Similar commemorations began to be held in other states as well. 

The special day received its first official name of Decoration Day, as ordered by the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) General John A. Logan in 1869, because it had been a day when, traditionally, individuals placed wreaths and flags upon the graves of those who had died in the service of their country.  The GAR was an organization of former Union soldiers and sailors. The day was not officially known as Memorial Day until 1967 and became widely celebrated by that name in 1968.

Rosier also discussed the meaning of coins, often seen having been left on the headstones of Veterans. The first sergeant noted that the pennies seen were left by general visitors who stop by the graves. Nickels are left by Veterans who had trained in the same boot camp as the deceased. Dimes are left by Veterans who had served together with the deceased in some capacity. Quarters are left by those who were present when the deceased was killed.

In closing, Rosier said the number of those who have died in the service of their country is not just a number, “each one of those numbers was a person, a husband or wife, a son or daughter, a brother or sister, an uncle or an aunt, a friend or a neighbor,” adding, “They all had their dreams and hopes for a future never to be realized.”

Rosier, a Veteran of the Global War on Terrorism (having been assigned to Iraq), served in the Navy from 1970 through 1972. After a five-year break in service, he entered the MDARNG, Battery “A,” 2nd 110th Field Artillery, in 1977. He subsequently retired in 2010.

Post Commander Larry Harris presided over the observance services.  Opening and closing prayers were presented by Pastor Peter Naschke. Wreaths were subsequently posted at the Memorial Monument. The Post Honor Guard then fired a 21-gun salute, and bugler Kate Irwin played Taps.

KODAK Digital Still Camera

Harney Post Commander Larry Harris (left) and First Sergeant (retired) William Rosier (right) at the recent Memorial Day event at the Monocacy Valley Memorial Post 6918-07.

Photo by Richard D.L. Fulton