Fort McHenry’s Civil War Links

ErnieMac

Colonel
Forum Host
Retired Moderator
Joined
May 3, 2013
Location
Pennsylvania
Perhaps not a 'Forgotten' Fort, but one whose connections to the Civil War are not well known.
Yesterday I continued my Civil War history tour of the Baltimore area with a trip to Fort McHenry. When you mention Fort McHenry first thoughts snap to the War of 1812 and the Star Spangled Banner, but it has links to Civil War history as well. Some of those links relate directly to its earlier heritage, while others relate strictly to the Civil War. I will post a number over the next several days.
20140322_122943.jpg


Major George Armistead
The name of Major George Armistead is not widely known and even those who recognize him as the commander of Fort McHenry during the British bombardment know little else about him. Prior to visiting the fort I was aware that before the bombardment Armistead was probably the only person that knew that Fort McHenry’s bombproof magazine wasn’t. I also knew that he was the uncle of Brigadier General Lewis Armistead of Pickett’s Charge fame.

Major Armistead’s assignment to the command that defined his life was a matter of chance. One of five brothers, George had enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1799 and gradually rose to the rank of Major. He distinguished himself in the Battle of Fort George on the Niagara Frontier in May, 1813 and as a result was rewarded by being designated to carry the captured British battle flags back to Washington. Upon his arrival President Madison assigned him command of Fort McHenry as the British Navy had already begun operations inside Chesapeake Bay and men qualified to command defenses were in short supply.

Upon arriving in Baltimore in June, 1813, Armistead took up residence in the commanding officer’s quarters inside the fort and immediately began preparing it for the attack that would come. Among his preparations was the acquisition of "a flag so large that the British would have no difficulty seeing it from a distance". Lack of privacy and small stuffy attic bedrooms were not suitable for his wife, Louisa, and young daughter, Mary, so the family found other living arrangements in town. She must have visited occasionally as she was expecting a second child by the spring of 1814.
20140322_125855.jpg

Armistead's Quarters were on the first floor of the building shown. In 1814 it was only one story high and the bedrooms were in the attic.

The story of the British bombardment on September 13 -14, 1814 and the writing of The Star Spangled Banner is well known so I won’t repeat it here. Major Armistead, the hero of the day, was brevetted Lieutenant Colonel and presented with a silver bowl in the pattern of a bomb shell with accompanying goblets and salver. He was also permitted to keep the flag that flew over the fort. It remained in the family for years until it was donated to the Smithsonian. It was not George Armistead’s fate to live long and proper. Weakened from his strenuous efforts on the frontier and in preparing Fort McHenry for battle, he never recovered his strength and died at the age of 38 on April 25, 1818. He is buried in Old Saint Paul’s Cemetery in Baltimore beside Louisa, who lived into 1861.

How, you may ask, does this tie in too the Civil War? General Lewis Armistead is the first and obvious answer. Following his death in the Battle of Gettysburg Armistead’s body was brought to Baltimore and buried in the family plot at Old Saint Paul’s where it remains today. The second tie-in is Louisa Armistead. Louisa was entering the final stages of her pregnancy as the British rampaged about the Chesapeake, seized and burned Washington City and threatened Baltimore. The family decided to send Louisa and Mary inland to find a place of safety until the danger had passed. The place they chose was Gettysburg, Pennsylvania where George and Louisa’s second daughter, Margaret was born on September 15, 1814, as the British fleet was sailing away from Baltimore.
20140322_133809.jpg
 
Last edited:
Perhaps not a 'Forgotten' Fort, but one whose connections to the Civil War are not well known.
Yesterday I continued my Civil War history tour of the Baltimore area with a trip to Fort McHenry. When you mention Fort McHenry first thoughts snap to the War of 1812 and the Star Spangled Banner, but it has links to Civil War history as well. Some of those links relate directly to its earlier heritage, while others relate strictly to the Civil War. I will post a number over the next several days.
View attachment 32908

Major George Armistead
The name of Major George Armistead is not widely known and even those who recognize him as the commander of Fort McHenry during the British bombardment know little else about him. Prior to visiting the fort I was aware that before the bombardment Armistead was probably the only person that knew that Fort McHenry’s bombproof magazine wasn’t. I also knew that he was the uncle of Brigadier General Lewis Armistead of Pickett’s Charge fame.

Major Armistead’s assignment to the command that defined his life was a matter of chance. One of five brothers, George had enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1799 and gradually rose to the rank of Major. He distinguished himself in the Battle of Fort George on the Niagara Frontier in May, 1813 and as a result was rewarded by being designated to carry the captured British battle flags back to Washington. Upon his arrival President Madison assigned him command of Fort McHenry as the British Navy had already begun operations inside Chesapeake Bay and men qualified to command defenses were in short supply.

Upon arriving in Baltimore in June, 1813, Armistead took up residence in the commanding officer’s quarters inside the fort and immediately began preparing it for the attack that would come. Among his preparations was the acquisition of "a flag so large that the British would have no difficulty seeing it from a distance". Lack of privacy and small stuffy attic bedrooms were not suitable for his wife, Louisa, and young daughter, Mary, so the family found other living arrangements in town. She must have visited occasionally as she was expecting a second child by the spring of 1814.
View attachment 32911
Armistead's Quarters were on the first floor of the building shown. In 1814 it was only one story high and the bedrooms were in the attic.

The story of the British bombardment on September 13 -14, 1814 and the writing of The Star Spangled Banner is well known so I won’t repeat it here. Major Armistead, the hero of the day, was brevetted Lieutenant Colonel and presented with a silver bowl in the pattern of a bomb shell with accompanying goblets and salver. He was also permitted to keep the flag that flew over the fort. It remained in the family for years until it was donated to the Smithsonian. It was not George Armistead’s fate to live long and proper. Weakened from his strenuous efforts on the frontier and in preparing Fort McHenry for battle, he never recovered his strength and died at the age of 38 on April 25, 1818. He is buried in Old Saint Paul’s Cemetery in Baltimore beside Louisa, who lived into 1861.

How, you may ask, does this tie in too the Civil War? General Lewis Armistead is the first and obvious answer. Following his death in the Battle of Gettysburg Armistead’s body was brought to Baltimore and buried in the family plot at Old Saint Paul’s where it remains today. The second tie-in is Louisa Armistead. Louisa was entering the final stages of her pregnancy as the British rampaged about the Chesapeake, seized and burned Washington City and threatened Baltimore. The family decided to send Louisa and Mary inland to find a place of safety until the danger had passed. The place they chose was Gettysburg, Pennsylvania where George and Louisa’s second daughter, Margaret was born on September 15, 1814, as the British fleet was sailing away from Baltimore.
View attachment 32910

Great Post, I grew up in South Baltimore & as a kid my parents often took us to the fort for picnics. It's a fascinating place. I've always loved the movie that they show the visitor center. And at the end of the movie a huge curtain pulls back to reveal a wonderful view of the fort & the flag flying over it, as a Star-Spangled Banner plays. It never fails to send a chill at my spine. By Presidential order the flag has flown there 24/7, 365 days a year. Visitors to the Fort are allowed to bring down the huge replica flag (a much smaller flag is flown on windy days) and put up the night flag. I remember doing this multiple times as a child & was able to enjoy seeing my son participate as well. I have a couple photos of my family at the fort which I will add, as they provide an alternative view of the Fort and a chance for a proud daddy to display his kids... um... Even if a couple boys were being grumpy in one of the pictures.

image.jpg

image.jpg
image.jpg
 
Fantastic post! A couple of additions - the remains of George's nephew, General Lewis Addison Armistead, were brought to Baltimore after the Battle of Gettysburg and interred at St. Paul's next to his uncle George's. They rest in peace side by side to this day.

Major Armistead's first act of cockiness, presenting the British flags captured at Fort George to President Madison, is probably what earned him the assignment at Ft. McHenry - his wife, Louisa, was from the prominent Baltimore Hughes family.
 
The story of the British bombardment on September 13 -14, 1814 and the writing of The Star Spangled Banner is well known so I won’t repeat it here.

I forgot to add and I think I've posted it before, but Major Armistead's successful lobbying of his bosses for a new garrison flag, "...so large that the British would have no trouble seeing it from a distance," was produced by Mary Pickersgill, a Baltimore widow engaged in the business of signal flag manufacture for the merchant fleet at the time. She made herself very wealthy and engaged in philanthropy.

She didn't give sums to institutions, as some do, but set her sites on the neediest. She provided school tuition for Baltimore's poorest children (there were no public schools in her day) and funded housing for the indigent elderly. There is to this day a Pickersgill retirement home in Baltimore County, MD, named for her. Good stuff!
 
I forgot to add and I think I've posted it before, but Major Armistead's successful lobbying of his bosses for a new garrison flag, "...so large that the British would have no trouble seeing it from a distance," was produced by Mary Pickersgill, a Baltimore widow engaged in the business of signal flag...

With ErineMac's permission, I'll add a couple of photo's of the historic Mary Pinkersgill House where the Star Spangled Banner was made.

image.jpg

image.jpg


Pinkersgill had employees helping her and her daughter make the flag including a free African-American female.
 
The Pinkersgill house is built in one of the oldest parts of Baltimore. Adjacent to Little Italy & not far from historic Fells Point.

image.jpg

Mary Pinkersgill

This was the part of the city for which Fort McHenry was built to protect. Fells point was the ship building Mecca of the East Coast at that time. Here was the advent of the famous Baltimore clipper ships.

The clippers were the fastest ships on the water and made for perfect privateers. These ships wrecked havoc on the British merchant fleet & thus brought British vengeance on Baltimore! "That nest of pirates", as they called it. The clippers were so successful that many local fortunes were made.

While the war was disastrous for the country it was quite profitable for the city of Baltimore. So the British played hell on the Chesapeake Bay, but they couldn't touch Baltimore because of Fort McHenry.

By the way, this is the bicentennial of the defense of Fort McHenry.
 
The fast Baltimore clippers were also popular as slavers once the trade was made illegal.

The "Baltimore clipper" was usually schooner rigged, but the concept gave rise to the larger "clipper ship" which as the name implies was ship or bark rigged. The Ann McKim, also built at Baltimore, is usually credited as the first clipper ship.
 
From the (Worcester) Massachusetts Spy, 1 July 1861:

"Headquarters Third Battalion Rifles
"Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Md., June 26, 1861​

“When we arrived here (on 3 May) but a few of the guns were mounted, everything was in a sort of harmonious confusion, covered with the rubbish and dust of many years' peace. Wherever you looked you could see evidence that the old maxim: Si vis pacem, para bellum, (if you want peace, prepare for war) had been forgotten. Fort McHenry could have been taken at that time with but little sacrifice of human life, if secession treason had been organized in the state of Maryland. This organization, fortunately prevented, would have taken place had the government slept much longer in belief that peace would be restored within ninety days.”

“Ever since we came here we have worked day by day mounting gun carriages and guns, loading, unloading, and piling cannon balls, and, in short, doing everything within the scope of garrison life. All this manual labor we have to perform besides our drilling, which amounts to four hours on very hot days, and five to six hours on cooler days. Much of this labor could have been done in a simpler way if draught animals could be used in moving the heavy guns. This work is called in military parlance “fatigue duty,” and there is really meant by it what it expresses. The men work hard and accomplish more in one day than the “regulars” can dream of in two. The latter seem to be exempted from almost all fatigue duty, at least I have seen them occupied but twice in mounting cannon as long as we have been here. I presume the commander of the post, Major Morris, wishes to give the Massachusetts volunteers an opportunity to earn all the laurels. He has repeatedly spoken I praise of their energy, skill, and willingness as laborers and mechanics.

“Many of our battalion are also detailed for “special duty” as mechanics. These are exempted from other duties, and receive 40 cents a day extra, in payment for working 10 hours a day. Yet, however hard the fatigue party may have worked, however exhausted they may feel, if they get back to their quarters and find a stout meal, they are all right again. I wish you could cast a glance on one of Uncle Henry's meals; if you are ever so tired, he will conquer the weakness of your muscle. Invigorate your system by his delicious soup, and prepare you for the duties to come. I believe that a good kitchen alone will conquer half of the enemy. Let the soldiers therefore not suffer in this respect! – L.W.”
 
Brigadier General Benjamin Butler, Part 1.

In the years following the War of 1812 Fort McHenry maintained its place as the primary defense of Baltimore Harbor. Upgrades and improvements brought it pretty much to the configuration it has today. This included construction of the casements adjacent to the sally port, a new powder magazine and reconfiguration of the water batteries. The size of the military reservation the fort sits on was increased and a number of outbuildings, including horse stables, added. In the late 1840’s the defenses of Baltimore were further augmented by the construction of Fort Carroll located on a manmade island about four miles down the Patapsco from Fort McHenry (just beyond the present Key Bridge).

Despite the improvements the fort had faced no real threat since the British bombardment and Fort McHenry less than well prepared at the outbreak of the Civil War. The Secession Crisis and the firing on Fort Sumter in early 1861 found the fort with a garrison of 60 men commanded by Captain (later Brigadier General) John C. Robinson of the 5th U.S. Infantry. Fort Carroll was not garrisoned at all. The subsequent attack on Union troops in Baltimore and disruption of railroad service to Washington through Maryland by Confederate sympathizers on April 19th and 20th highlighted the danger.

The Union, however, was up to the challenge. Brigadier General Benjamin Butler at the head of the 8th Massachusetts and the 7th New York Militia regiments landed at Annapolis on April 22nd. On the same day a detachment of the Fort McHenry garrison took control of Fort Carroll. By the 24th four more northern regiments had arrived at Annapolis. Using a patched up derelict engine and repairing tracks and bridges as they went the 7th New York and 8th Massachusetts began advancing up the rail line from Annapolis to the junction with the B&O Railroad at Annapolis Junction. At the same time Colonel Charles Stone, having seized control of railroad property in DC began advancing along the B&O toward that same junction. The two forces united on the morning of April 25th and by noon the 7th New York arrived in the capital.

As troops now began to arrive in and secure Washington City President Lincoln and General Winfield Scott began to deal with administrative manners. A new military command, the Department of Annapolis consisting of that portion of Maryland within 20 miles of either side of the rail lines running between Annapolis and the border of the District of Columbia would be commanded by General Butler. In a decision that would impact Fort McHenry for the next four years the President wrote General Scott “If at any point on or in the vicinity of the military line which is now or which shall be used between the City of Philadelphia and the City of Washington, via Perryville, Annapolis City, and Annapolis Junction, you find resistance which renders it necessary to suspend the writ of Habeas Corpus for the public safety, you, personally or through the officer in command at the point where the at which resistance occurs, are authorized to suspend that writ.”
april27map.jpg
 

Attachments

  • fomc_sheet51_14.pdf
    351.7 KB · Views: 241
Brigadier General Benjamin Butler, Part 2.
Baltimore was now squarely in the crosshairs of Major General Winfield Scott and Secretary of War Simon Cameron. The April 19th rioting and subsequent destruction of the rail bridges outside the city had stopped transport of troops through Baltimore. Troops had started moving into Washington City, but the water based routes they were taking were longer and more expensive than using the rails through Baltimore. To secure Washington and start preparing for war against the South, control of Baltimore was a necessity.

As early as April 28th Scott shared his ideas with Major General Robert Patterson, the commander of the troops organizing in Pennsylvania there formed a large part of the plan. Scott wrote “The next step will be by force to occupy Baltimore and reopen regular communications between Washington and Philadelphia by rail and wires. The plan that has occurred to me is, 1st, to advance a column from this place via the Relay House to the Washington depot; 2nd, another column by the road from York; 3rd, the same from Have de Grace, if destruction of bridges be not an insuperable obstacle; and, 4th, to move the principal force by water from Annapolis, and to make the four attacks simultaneously.” He also wrote “Nothing shall prevent the occupation of Baltimore by a competent force but the voluntary reopening of free communications by rail and wires through Baltimore and Maryland before our preparations are ready.”

The first steps went smoothly. By May 1st Fort McHenry had been reinforced but its new commander, Major William W. Morris was not pleased. In a report dated May 2 he outlined the deficiencies. The top of the walls could be easily reached with ordinary ladders. There were not enough carriages to mount all the guns and even if there were grape and canister were in short supply. The men were raw recruits and certainly not up to countering a night attack. At least two companies of regulars were needed. On May 5th Butler, in accordance with orders from Scott, occupied Relay House only 9 miles from the city and secured the Thomas Viaduct crossing the Patapsco River and the rail junction connecting Baltimore with Confederate occupied Harpers Ferry to the west.

The response from Patterson had not been heartening. He responded by indicating shortages of arms, ordnance and camp equipage and poor quality of those arms that they did have made movement in the near future impractical. Correspondence flew back and forth between Washington and Philadelphia, but the troops stayed put. Gradually the log jam broke as Patterson reported the first units of his command had left Perryville on May 9. The troops would provide security for rail crews repairing the bridges as they advanced along the rail line.

In the meantime Butler was left to his own devices at Relay House. At first he merely observed, noting on May 6th the passage of men and supplies along the B&O west toward Harpers Ferry and the Confederates. Butler also reported the activity of pro-Southern militia units in the Baltimore area. Scott responded with orders through his adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel E. D. Townsend, that Butler had the authority to detain contraband supplies and “that in regard to the arresting of persons who commit acts of hostility to the Government you are clothed with the same authority which has been conferred upon him, and he has confidence in your discreet exercise of it.” Volunteers headed south were not to be detained.

Winfield Scott was about to discover what could happen when Benjamin Butler on his own.
 
Love this thread! I lived for many years at the foot of Federal Hill, only minutes away from Ft McHenry which the family visited frequently as our neighborhood park.
At the top of the steps, I communed with the monuments to Samuel Smith, General of the Maryland Militias, Major George Armistead, Uncle of Confederate General Lew Armistead, and the "Our Father's Saved Sundial" dedicated to Union casualties and the GAR. From the top of the hill you can look across the harbor to the Civil War Museum at President Street Station and the USS Constellation, a Civil War era sloop-of-war. There is an incredible amount of American history packed into a very small area. I considered starting a walking tour for visitors before I moved to sunny Florida,
 
Brigadier General Benjamin Butler, Part 2.
Baltimore was now squarely in the crosshairs of Major General Winfield Scott and Secretary of War Simon Cameron. The April 19th rioting and subsequent destruction of the rail bridges outside the city had stopped transport of troops through Baltimore. Troops had started moving into Washington City, but the water based routes they were taking were longer and more expensive than using the rails through Baltimore. To secure Washington and start preparing for war against the South, control of Baltimore was a necessity.

As early as April 28th Scott shared his ideas with Major General Robert Patterson, the commander of the troops organizing in Pennsylvania there formed a large part of the plan. Scott wrote “The next step will be by force to occupy Baltimore and reopen regular communications between Washington and Philadelphia by rail and wires. The plan that has occurred to me is, 1st, to advance a column from this place via the Relay House to the Washington depot; 2nd, another column by the road from York; 3rd, the same from Have de Grace, if destruction of bridges be not an insuperable obstacle; and, 4th, to move the principal force by water from Annapolis, and to make the four attacks simultaneously.” He also wrote “Nothing shall prevent the occupation of Baltimore by a competent force but the voluntary reopening of free communications by rail and wires through Baltimore and Maryland before our preparations are ready.”

The first steps went smoothly. By May 1st Fort McHenry had been reinforced but its new commander, Major William W. Morris was not pleased. In a report dated May 2 he outlined the deficiencies. The top of the walls could be easily reached with ordinary ladders. There were not enough carriages to mount all the guns and even if there were grape and canister were in short supply. The men were raw recruits and certainly not up to countering a night attack. At least two companies of regulars were needed. On May 5th Butler, in accordance with orders from Scott, occupied Relay House only 9 miles from the city and secured the Thomas Viaduct crossing the Patapsco River and the rail junction connecting Baltimore with Confederate occupied Harpers Ferry to the west.

The response from Patterson had not been heartening. He responded by indicating shortages of arms, ordnance and camp equipage and poor quality of those arms that they did have made movement in the near future impractical. Correspondence flew back and forth between Washington and Philadelphia, but the troops stayed put. Gradually the log jam broke as Patterson reported the first units of his command had left Perryville on May 9. The troops would provide security for rail crews repairing the bridges as they advanced along the rail line.

In the meantime Butler was left to his own devices at Relay House. At first he merely observed, noting on May 6th the passage of men and supplies along the B&O west toward Harpers Ferry and the Confederates. Butler also reported the activity of pro-Southern militia units in the Baltimore area. Scott responded with orders through his adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel E. D. Townsend, that Butler had the authority to detain contraband supplies and “that in regard to the arresting of persons who commit acts of hostility to the Government you are clothed with the same authority which has been conferred upon him, and he has confidence in your discreet exercise of it.” Volunteers headed south were not to be detained.

Winfield Scott was about to discover what could happen when Benjamin Butler on his own.

The following comes from a really great link & article on the Historic Thomas Viaduct near Relay MD. "Ole Beastie" Ben Butler moved from here to Baltimore during the cover of a thunderstorm & Occupied Federal Hill.

image.jpg


image.jpg


"Cook's Boston Light Artillery at the edge of the hill overlooking the
Thomas Viaduct and the Patapsco River on the Relay side of the
bridge in 1861.
The B&O Railroad was the only railroad into Washington DC until after the Civil War, thus it was an essential supply train route for the Union during that time. To prevent Confederate attack or sabotage of the Thomas Viaduct and the Washington Junction, the Eighth New York and the Sixth Massachusetts regiments as well as Cook's Boston Artillery Battery took control of the railroad junction, the Relay House train station and the Thomas Viaduct on May 5th, 1861.The Relay House itself became the occupying Union Army headquarters.
Cook's artillery was set up on a hill known as Elkridge Heights on the Elkridge side of the Patapsco River. Two cannons overlooked the bridge and river valley facing north towards Relay and was known as Camp Essex.
A Union fort known as Fort Dix was built in Relay on top of the hill behind the Relay House overlooking the viaduct and Patapsco river valley and was named after General John A. Dix.. The Engineers who were in charge of building the fortifications for Federal Hill in Baltimore built an earthen-type fort which included a substantial timber block-house and a magazine sunk deep into the ground which was covered with a high mound of earth. In front of the magazine entrance was another mound of earth to protect it from incoming enemy shells. An artillery battery was set up on the bluff overlooking the Thomas Viaduct with 7 twelve pound cannons, 1 thirty-four pounder and one heavy Howitzer. There was also a sandbag artillery battery with 2 twelve-pounders set up at the tracks on the Old Main Line about 150 yards past the junction, facing northwest.
To prevent the smuggling of arms and supplies by railway to the Confederate southern states, both freight trains and passenger trains passing through Relay were stopped and searched at the Relay House station by Union troops. Passengers had their trunks and even their food baskets searched. Everything from picnic baskets full of brass buttons destined for Confederate uniforms to thousands of percussion caps for rifles and pistols hidden in trunks were found and confiscated.
There were eventually over 2,000 troops stationed around the Thomas Viaduct in Relay, Elkridge, and the fields across the tracks from Relay that would later become the village of St. Denis. The entire area became a military occupation for the duration of the war, much to the dismay of the local residents. People's homes and buildings were occupied. Some of the soldiers not satisfied with their camp grub would forage around the countryside for something better; often robbing chicken coops, meat houses, dairies, etc.. If the soldiers at any of the camps wanted wood, hay or straw, they usually took it without the permission of the owner.
Soldiers caught stealing chickens were often forced to march up and down the Relay House platforms all day wearing a wooden barrel with the top and bottom knocked out of it. A sign saying "Chicken Thief" was hung from it so that everybody passing by could see what they had done. Another popular form of punishment was having the offender march up and down the platforms wearing a knapsack full of rocks.
There was one recorded incident of a group of soldiers under the command of a non-commissioned officer that began taking straw from a stack without the owner's permission. The farmer only mildly protested because he didn't want to get into trouble but his wife didn't share his fears. She demanded to see a quartermaster's order for the straw. The non-com replied that he didn't need one and told his soldiers to continue loading up the straw. She drew a pistol from under her apron and told them that she would shoot the first man that put a fork in their straw without an order. The soldiers left the farm and the non-commissioned officer returned later with the requested quartermaster's order. She then let them take the straw knowing that the government would pay her for its value.
The areas of Relay and Elkridge were under martial law for four years so there was little to no advancement or improvements made there until the end of the war in 1865. Relay remained only a small hamlet until after the war was over."

http://thomas-viaduct-relay-marylan...thomas-viaduct-history-historic_4490.html?m=1

image.jpg

Union troops posing at Relay House.
 
Love this thread! I lived for many years at the foot of Federal Hill, only minutes away from Ft McHenry which the family visited frequently as our neighborhood park.
At the top of the steps, I communed with the monuments to Samuel Smith, General of the Maryland Militias, Major George Armistead, Uncle of Confederate General Lew Armistead, and the "Our Father's Saved Sundial" dedicated to Union casualties and the GAR. From the top of the hill you can look across the harbor to the Civil War Museum at President Street Station and the USS Constellation, a Civil War era sloop-of-war. There is an incredible amount of American history packed into a very small area. I considered starting a walking tour for visitors before I moved to sunny Florida,

I went to Southern High School on Covington St. & our Football team had to do sprints up those darn steps. :stomp:Still makes my legs feel like jelly just thinking about it! :cold:

When I was a little kid they were renovating the Federal Hill neighborhood. The story goes that those houses were sold for $1. Now they are worth about a million! What an awesome investment those people made!
I have very fond memories of watching fire works on federal hill & sleigh riding. Also loved Fort McHenry & Riverside Park. At least 5 generations of my family lived in South Baltimore. A sister still lives on East Clement St. :thumbsup:
 
the President wrote General Scott “If at any point on or in the vicinity of the military line which is now or which shall be used between the City of Philadelphia and the City of Washington, via Perryville, Annapolis City, and Annapolis Junction, you find resistance which renders it necessary to suspend the writ of Habeas Corpus for the public safety, you, personally or through the officer in command at the point where the at which resistance occurs, are authorized to suspend that writ.”

This is a great thread! But, I've been told in others that President Lincoln never suspended the Writ of Habeas Corpus. I love the history of Ft. McHenry but find myself really confused with this order.
 
"Soldiers caught stealing chickens were often forced to march up and down the Relay House platforms all day wearing a wooden barrel with the top and bottom knocked out of it. A sign saying "Chicken Thief" was hung from it so that everybody passing by could see what they had done."

Reminded me of this exhibit we saw at Pamplin Park.

image.jpg
 
Back
Top