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Frederick's status as a major crossroads
put the town at the center of the Maryland campaigns of the Civil War, during
which both Union and Confederate troops marched through the city. General
Stonewall Jackson led his light infantry division through Frederick on his way
to the battles of Crampton's, Fox's and Turner's Gaps on South Mountain and
Antietam near Sharpsburg, Maryland in September 1862. An incident with
Pennsylvania Dutch resident Barbara Fritchie was commemorated in the poem of
the same name by John Greenleaf Whittier. Union Major General Jesse L. Reno's
IX Corps followed Jackson's men through the city a few days later on the way to
the Battle of South Mountain, where Reno was killed. In July 1864, in the third
Southern invasion, Confederate troops led by Lieutenant General Jubal Early
fought through Frederick towards Washington DC via Monocacy or Frederick
Junction. Union troops under Major General Lew Wallace awaited the Confederate
advancement at Monocacy Junction which led to the Battle of Monocacy Junction.
Slaves escaped from Frederick and the area (since Maryland was still a
"slave state" although an unseeded border state) to join the Union
forces, work against the Confederacy and seek freedom.
Sites of historical interest
Several historic Civil War landmarks are
located in and around Frederick. It was the site of a Civil War succinct speech
given by President Abraham Lincoln, on his way to visit Gen. George McClellan
after the Battle of Antietam and South Mountain which he gave at what was then
the B. & O. Railroad depot at the current intersection of East All Saints
and South Market Streets. A plaque commemorates the speech at what is today the
Frederick Community Action Agency, a community Social Services office).
At the
