Emmitsburg Area In the Civil War
Wayde
Chrismer Part
1 of 4
Overview
Mention the Civil War
and most Americans will think first of the Battle of
Gettysburg. Probably not one in a million, however,
knows that but for the grace of God and the ifs and
accidents of all military campaigns, the most famous
battle in American history would have been The Battle of
Emmitsburg, and Gettysburg merely an obscure town to the
north from which Lee’s Confederates descended upon
Emmitsburg-based Yanks in an inexorable step towards
Baltimore and Washington, primary objectives in their
1863 invasion of the North. It’s an historical fact,
however, to be spelled out in detail later.
The most controversial
phase of American history is its Civil War. More words
have been written about it than all other eras put
together. The most difficult state about which to
determine the true picture is Maryland. For twenty years
this writer has researched that particular subject
without reaching a provable conclusion as to whether the
state was pro-North or pro-South. "Facts" are
available about nearly every Maryland aspect. But turn
another page. read another book, pamphlet, newspaper,
contemporary letter, diary or post-war memoir, and you
find those ‘‘facts’’ contradicted, or at least
disputed, by a source equally as reliable as the first.
But where can you find out much that is worthwhile and
reliable al)out Emmitsburg? Rarely were the voluminous
records on the war broken down even to counties; to
towns, never. No newspaper existed in Emmitsburg; nobody
seems to have kept anything remotely resembling a diary;
not a single letter by a resident Emmitsburgian during
the war has been found. A few are recorded in The Story
of the Mountain. Helman’s History of Emmitsburg
appears to be based largely on hearsay, and occasionally
the town is mentioned in the Official Records or some
soldier’s unreliable post-war memoirs.
The only newspapers one
can use are Frederick ones, of which there were three
during the period. The writer is fortunate in possessing
a complete file of The Frederick Examiner for the years
1844 into 1863 (a gift of the late Charles Arthur
Elder). Of the other two. The Republican Citizen
(actually Democrat as to politics) and The Maryland
Union (a mixed political breed) only occasional
scattered issues apparently exist not enough to be any
more than troublesome. Williams in his History of
Frederick County describes them well, saying "the
papers were filled with editorials of a most intensely
partisan character . . . . The subscriber to The
Republican Citizen was almost sure to be a Democrat, and
the circulation of The Examiner was confined practically
to the Whigs" [later it would support the
"Americans" (or Know-Nothings) and eventually
the "Unconditional Unionists" (or
Republicans).]
Williams went on:
"Each subscriber believed what his paper stated,
absolutely refusing credence to the paper of opposite
politics. If there was a great political meeting, the
editor was there in person to report it, that is if it
was of his own party. If it was of the opposite party,
it would be dismissed with a few contemptuous
lines." The papers, for instance, would not even
publish the names of candidates of the opposition
parties until the results of elections were announced.
Add to this the fact that Emmitsburg was the most remote
county town from Frederick and was rarely mentioned; the
papers had no "reporters" except friends who
dropped in to "report" what they knew the
editor wanted to hear few of them being from faraway
Emmitsburg, and you can appreciate an Emmitsburg
historian’s problems.
Slavery in Emmitsburg
The historian must
sometimes reluctantly make dubious presumptions from
related facts available from nearby areas or from larger
communities which embrace the town. We cannot for
instance tell you how many slaves or free blacks there
were in the Emmitsburg area or how many slave-owners,
what the slaves were worth or even for that matter what
was the Emmitsburg area. A fire May 8, 1861, made
"a mass of ruins in less than an hour" of the
Frederick Courthouse. Contemporary published accounts
say that "all official papers were saved" but
Courthouse authorities, while this article was being
prepared, said the records "had been destroyed’
‘either then or later.
The national census for
1860 shows Frederick County’s total population as
46,591—38,391 being whites, 4,957 free colored, and
3,243 slaves. This meant one slave to every 13 whites in
Frederick County; in adjacent Carroll County the ratio
was one slave to every 28 whites; in Washington County
it was one slave to every 20 whites. Why did Frederick
County, by comparison with similarly situated and
similarly composed neighbors, harbor so many slaves?
Statistics for the town are unavailable so, as for
Emmitsburg, one can merely speculate that its percentage
was the same as that of the county.
How did Emmitsburgians
feel about slavery? Again, a presumption must be
resorted to, though some certainty can be reached from
physical evidence in the writer’s possession. Williams
wrote of slaves that "they were treated with
mildness and humanity . . . and when old age came were
cared for until the end of their days." This last
proves nothing, of course, for owners were compelled by
law to care for all blacks in their possession until
their deaths. Helman says "It was only by the
kindest treatment that they could be kept" adding
that "Felix Tawney and Dr. James Shorb each had
quite a number to run away." A post-war writer in
The Story of the Mountain, says that "The College
had years before freed its last bondsmen" (without
saying whether it was voluntarily or when it was forced
upon the institution by the statewide abolition of
slavery in 1864). The quotation adds that "even
after their emancipation [the slaves] showed the noblest
consideration for their unfortunate owners." It
goes on to say that "Most of the Negroes around
Emmitsburg were and are Catholics, and exemplary
children of the Church." Another historian felt
that "Frederick Contains considered Negro slavery
to be legally and morally just . . . a constitutional
right . . . a form of property to be handled as the
owner wished.’
These arguments would
undoubtedly have been challenged by Maryland’s two
most famous Blacks: Frederick Douglass, whom the
short-lived Liberty Party wished to run for the office
of American President: and Harriet Tubman, an Eastern
Shore Negroes, the best known operator of Maryland’s
"Underground Railway" which helped slaves
escape to freedom in the northern states. Harriet
Beecher Stowe, who found in Josiah Henson the original
of her "Uncle Tom" on a Maryland plantation,
would also have been in disagreement.
Probably,
Emmitsburgians favored the spread of slavery for it
meant a larger market for the slaves whom Marylanders
were selling off by the thousands when their use in the
State became impracticable and unprofitable. But
certainly no stigma seems to have been attached here to
slave ownership, and most of the better families
appeared to have had them as house servants. Wealthier
farmers also used them as unskilled laborers, but there
was no large-scale use on such plantations as those in
Southern Maryland and the lower Eastern Shore. Whether
this was still the case as the Civil War approached,
cannot be substantiated but was doubtless so. It was
certainly the case at the close of the 18th century. A
manuscript inventory of the goods and chattels of this
writer’s great-great-great grandfather George
Hockensmith showed, in 1799, that he died possessed of
two slaves Negro Jack appraised at $240.00 and Negro
Amoss at $186.66. That such possessions were commonplace
then and so treated is suggested by the fact that they
were in-discriminatively inventoried between an
"Apple Mill, $12.00" and "One Grey Horse,
$16.00."
The appraisers of the
document, John M. Bayard and John Troxell, probably had
slaves of their own and knew slave values. The heirs,
Jacob and George Hockensmith, doubtless felt no
compunction about accepting them as part of their
inheritance, presuming they were not sold to allay the
claims of the listed creditors, John Buchanan and Robert
L. Annan of Emmitsburg. Who most likely would have been
glad to accept them in settlement of my ancestors debts.
Soldiers’ Views of
the Emmitsburg Area
One Yankee officer
passing through the area during the Gettysburg campaign,
saw people like this: "It is not always easy to
discern the political sentiments of these Maryland
gentry from conversation as a Federal soldier with them.
They are ‘all things to all men’ though not in the
sense meant by the apostle. Adhesion to the South would
involve a charge of disloyalty to the government of the
North, if it were known, and consequently they refrain
from advocating Southern predilections when the forces
of the Union are in their vicinity; yet there have been
. . . instances where farmers of this area, professing
Union sentiments, have with heart and hand, assisted the
Rebels as often as opportunity offered.
Another Yankee officer
saw our ancestors like this: Lt. M. Moore of New York,
in command of a company of eighty men, found the people
in this area a bunch of hypocrites. Writing to his
"Esteemed Uncle" in 1863 he said he found
"the people in this part very ignorant of the
condition of our country. ‘ He added: "I have
talked with many of them and they are not able to
explain what the South are fighting for . . . The most
of them are (quite wealthy and about all they think of
is money and slaves." He "often wonders
whether it was worthwhile to leave my little family to
go fight for such people as these in Maryland who are so
greedy for their own possessions yet wont go fight for
them themselves ... They ought to be hung for they are
traitors and secessionist at heart. Their actions prove
it, their conduct speaks it. I appeal to any sensible
Union man if those Northern Secessionist are not worse
than a Rebel in arms in front of us they are cowards,
they are scoundrels, and I hope they will meet their
justice in time and that in a hemp collar! The country
demands them to be hung (for their hands are stained
with the blood of good soldiers,"
Other Yankees were much
more sympathetic of Emmitsburg’s plight. A
Pennsylvania officer writes: ‘‘Two miles from
Emmitsburg we passed Mount Saint Mary’s and taking
advantage of a moment’s halt a party of three or four
rode up to the main entrance. We were cordially received
by the president [Rev. John McCaffrey] and with
characteristic hospitality a collation was in
preparation for us.’’ But see what The Story of the
Mountain says about the school’s reception of
Confederates: "The Confederate forces invading
Pennsylvania passed along in front of the College, and
many a veteran will tell how he stopped there for a bit
and how they treated him." It adds that, during a
Confederate raid past the Mount, "the
Vice-President, Rev. John McCloskey rode for quite a
distance along side the commander, General J. E. B.
Stuart. As for Dr. McCaffrey himself, it says this:
"Dr. McCaffrey used to say that if he met General
Lee he could give him valuable information."
Stuart himself wrote in
his official report following the 1862 Chambersburg
Raid: "We crossed to Emmitsburg, where, as we
passed, we were hailed by the inhabitants with the most
enthusiastic demonstration of joy.’’ One of Stuart’s
officers saw Emmitsburg like this: "the first place
we came to (after crossing the Maryland-Pennsylvania
line] was the little town of Emmitsburg . . . If we had
fallen from the clouds, the people could not have been
more astonished . . . and their demonstrations of
delight at seeing us were unbounded. The people here
seemed to be intensely Southern in their sympathies and
omitted no opportunity of showing us attention during
the short half hour we passed among them.
A definite pro-Yankee
attitude was shown a Massachusetts’ musician who
visited here. He writes that "An old man brought
cakes and bread into Camp to give them to the soldiers.
He would take no pay." He also says: Burditt and I
went over to a house and got supper for which they would
not let us pay." Further, he adds: "We got
well acquainted with Maryland bread, huge loaves baked
in ovens outside the house, and tasting to us like manna
in the wilderness." This was on the way to
Gettysburg. Of events following the battle, he says:
"Started after the Rebels at last. Passed through
Emmitsburg and near there got a splendid dinner is of
green peas, etc. At the College of St. Mary’s, dinners
and good dinners, too were furnished at 10 cents
each." Concerning events a year or less earlier, in
1862, a Confederate writes of d Emmitsburg: "We
passed through Emmitsburg just at night. I have never in
all my life witnessed such enthusiasm as greeted us at
this place. It were a vain task to attempt a description
of the outpourings of the Southern heart on that
memorable night. The richest bounties of the town things
that delight the soldier’s heart or that could in any
wise minister to our personal comforts were lavishly
bestowed upon us all, while our ears heard naught but
blessing upon blessing for the South, for Jeff Davis and
our cause, from those bound down people, who now beheld
for the first time in their lives flags and officers and
men representing the cause which lax nearest their
hearts.’’
It must be remembered
that in 1862, the Confederates were invading Maryland
for the first time and under the misguided impression
that the State would rise to join its forces. Lee and
President Davis had formed this opinion largely on
information given them by two Frederick Counties then
resident in Richmond. They were Ex-Gov. Enoch Louis Lowe
and Col. (later General) Bradley Tyler Johnson. Lowe had
promised to join Lee in Maryland and add his political
influence in raising as many as ten thousand recruits
for the Rebel army but he never showed up. Johnson was
made Recruiting Officer by Lee, but from the best
published accounts, was able to raise fewer than 100
men, six of whom, at least, are reputed to have come
from The Mount. The disillusioned Confederate soldiers
by the scores wrote then and later that they would never
again believe one word of the song, "Maryland My
Maryland" with its boasts of hatred for Yankee
oppression and its love for the South. Back in Richmond,
a lady was writing in derision in her diary: "When
a bill passed [the Confederate] Congress including
straggling Marylanders [who had sought the safety of
Richmond] in the conscription, the beautiful and
patriotic words of ‘My Maryland’ were amusingly
travestied as follows:
‘Conscribers’
heels are at thy do or, Maryland!
My Maryland!
So off to Baltimore we’ll go, Maryland! My Maryland!
We can’t stay here to meet the foe;
We might get shot and killed, you know, But when we’re
safe we’ll bras and blow, Maryland!
My Maryland!’.
Other Yankees were to
find enthusiasm in Emmitsburg besides those quoted above
(which have been deliberately mixed up amongst the
Confederates to show the confused opinions about the
community.) Another Pennsylvanian recorded: "Our
reception was extremely enthusiastic. Ladies and young
girls distributed beautiful bouquets to the officers and
soldiers; groups of fair damsels bewitchingly posted in
conspicuous places sang patriotic airs as the ‘boys in
blue’ passed by and . . . the citizens turned out en
masse. Long after tattoo, groups of ladies and gentlemen
promenaded through our camps, actuated by a curiosity to
see how soldiers really lived in the tented field"
This was while the Yankees were on their way to
Gettysburg in 1863.
Much other evidence
exists as to the divided opinions of the people of
Emmitsburg and will be given later. Even families were
divided. We know definitely of one only: the Annans. Dr.
Andrew Annan, a 56-year-old physician when war broke
out, was an Anti-Slavery (i.e.: Unionist) delegate to
the State Constitutional Congress which abolished
slavery in 1864. His half-brother, Dr. Samuel Annan,
aged 64 in 1861, "was a surgeon in the Confederate
Army, 1861-64." Another relative, Robert Lewis
Annan, aged 30 when the conflict began, who had
practiced in Emmitsburg, must have been caught on the
horns of this domestic dilemma, but we have no
information as to his military affiliations or political
sentiments.
There was, apparently,
no outright guerrilla warfare between the people here as
occurred in divided Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri
only vicious tattling. Only one Emmitsburgian and one
Mountaineer are reported to have incurred the legal and
military wrath of the Federalists for alleged
pro-Southern sentiments. One was a man identified only
as "Elder" who was reported upon during the
Gettysburg campaign by "some of his malicious
neighbors, in consequence of which his place was almost
destroyed." According to a Mount student in an 1862
letter to his sister: "Bart Shorb [is] just out of
Fort McHenry [where political prisoners were
incarcerated] on parole." But "even the little
children had imbibed the spirit of their parents; and .
. . it was no uncommon thing to hear a tot, perched on
the top of a fence, shout as if he would split a ‘Hurrah
for Jeff’ or a ‘Hurrah for Abe’."
Scores of grand jury
indictments were brought against Frederick Counties for
efforts to aid the enemy, but whether they were
Emmitsburgians or not cannot be told from original
manuscript indictments in this author’s possession.
Robert Annan of Emmitsburg was foreman of the October
Term 1862 Grand Jury, but the actual indictments in his
own hand and signed by him merely declare, for instance,
that So-and-So, "late of said county", on
such-and-such day and such-and-such month did
"conspire or combine with others to levy war
against this State giving aid and comfort to the enemies
thereof." Whether these men (and in some cases,
women! ) were from Emmitsburg or Middletown or Frederick
or wherever, is never stated.
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