Welcome to Calvert Historical Society blog!

Originally Posted: September 9, 2009

The Calvert County Historical Society, Inc. was founded in 1953 by a small group of concerned Calvert County residents. Our purpose is to collect and preserve historical data, records and other materials that concerned with Calvert County, MD. With in the pages and postings of this blog you will be able to read some of our findings and read past articles that we have included in our monthly newsletters, brown bag series and much more.

3/27/13: Our website has been updated.  This will cause the deletion of pages and post.  At this time we will no longer be sharing articles from our past monthly newsletters.  ~Thank you!

Visit our new & approve website!!
www.calverthistory.org

New Website Look

Over the weekend our web masters have been working hard to update our website.  This includes but not limited to updating the look and events page.  Unfortunately with some of the new updates it meant that we no longer needed a temporary web address and our website won’t be search engine searchable for a few weeks or month(s).

Our temporary address http://blog.calverthistory.us; no longer exist, but you’re still able to view our website via “www.calverthistory.org“.   If you have any question or concerns please email our webmaster(s) directly at “webmaster@calverthistory.com“

Civil War 150 yrs Later

Originally from: Letters from Linden
by Fred Dellinger, CCHS Member
Date: November 2011

THE CIVIL WAR AND SOUTHERN MARYLAND – 150 YEARS LATER
Contributed by CCHS Member Fred Dellinger

Last month in this Civil War feature we discussed the rather bizarre “French Lady” incident in the nearby Chesapeake Bay watershed. This month, with our worldwide economic situation being somewhat perilous, it is appropriate to discuss the perilous financial situations faced by both the Union and the Confederate governments as they struggled to fund the Civil War.

“Southern presses (at first aided by the National Bank Note Company of New York) ground out more than two billion dollars’ worth of currency during the war – and this was perhaps matched by the endless issues of states, counties, cities, railroads, merchants, and business houses of all kinds. Counterfeits and ‘souvenir bills’ added to the storm.

“A feature of the last formal meeting of the Confederate Cabinet on March 18, 1865, was a veto of the Eighth Issue of Confederate currency to the tune of eighty million dollars. [Confederate] President Davis said that approval of the issue ‘would be accepted as a proof that there is no limit to the issue of Treasury notes.’  “When Confederate ‘blue backs’ appeared in 1861, they were valued at ninety-five cents on the dollar, in gold, and though they were never accepted as legal tender, their theoretical backing with Southern cotton gave them temporarily high standing.

“These bank notes began life with a promise that within a year they would be redeemed, with interest of a cent per day on each hundred dollars. [Approximately 3.6 % APR interest if held for one year!] A following issue offered payment within two years after a treaty of peace with the North – and a third, just after the victory at First Manassas, or Bull Run, cut this time to six months.  Interest also rose later, to two cents daily.  “The rapid deterioration of Confederate money provided a classic pattern for inflation in a nation waging an unsuccessful war.

“By 1863 the notes were worth thirty-three cents on the dollar. By the time of Appomattox, the value was 1.6 cents to the dollar. On May 1, 1865, the last known date of active trading, these notes were handled in bales – 1,200 for one dollar.  “(The Federal Government, driven to issue paper money for the first time since days of the Revolution with its ‘greenbacks’ originating in 1861, had brief difficulties, but the low point of the greenback’s value was thirty-nine cents on the dollar in July, 1864.)

“The first notes of the Confederacy were called The Montgomery Issue, after the first capital of the new nation, and were printed in New York and smuggled South.  These denominations were $50, $100, $500 and $1,000.  In 1960, several sets of these bills, one of each included, had sold to collectors for more that $2,000.

“From the start Southern financiers and engravers placed patriotism second, and used Yankee scenes and figures on their bills. The first $500 note featured a farm landscape with cattle and a train crossing (complete even as to the railroad sign: ‘Look out for bell rings.’) The design was stolen from a one-dollar note issued by the North Western Bank of Warren, Pennsylvania.…  “One amusing design was that of a ten-dollar bill copied from a prewar note of the Mechanics Savings Bank of Savannah, Georgia, which bore the portrait of the bank president, John E. Ward, a strong Union man, who had left the South early in the war.…

“The printers and engravers who turned out the flood of money significantly insisted upon being paid for their work in gold.…

“The South seized three U.S. mints within her borders, but for lack of bullion did not get coins into circulation. The two coins that were struck have caused much confusion. As late as the 1950’s these were still coming out of hiding, and the numbers of the pieces cannot be stated with accuracy.” (pages 189-192)  So … no matter how bad you think things are economically today here in Maryland, just try to imagine paying for either the Confederate costs of the Civil War or the Federal costs of the Civil War by investing in the “notes” discussed above. Dare I say that during this time period the rural farm/plantation nature of Calvert County continued using tobacco and other crops as “money” and the economic health of the county probably remained rather constant with few of our county citizens investing in these “war notes.” If you know otherwise…let us know!!

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SOURCE: Davis, Burke. The Civil War: Strange & Fascinating Facts. New York:The Fairfax Press, 1982.

Civil Rights

Originally from: Letters from Linden
Date: November 2011

CIVIL RIGHTS, 1866

On November 14th, 1866, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton forwarded his annual report to President Andrew Johnson. It was a comprehensive one, covering numbers of troops, status of the various districts and the implementation of the Emancipation Proclamation. The Secretary included incidents that occurred in Calvert County. Following are excerpts of the report’s discussion of Agents and of “Courts, Legal Disabilities of Freedmen, Etc.”

“The frequent complaints of outrages against freedmen and disregard of their rights from the counties of Maryland included in this district [District of Columbia including Alexandria, Fairfax, and Loudon Counties, Virginia, and that part of Maryland embraced in the Military Department of Washington], and from Fairfax and Loudon counties, Virginia, induced an application for more officers soon after the assignment of the present assistant commissioner; and as soon as the detail could be made a competent officer was assigned to each county….  The legal disabilities of freedmen in that part of Maryland embraced in this district are still practically great.

“Apprenticeship. – There are many complaints of abuses under the apprenticeship law. Colored children have generally been bound without the consent of their parents. A report from the bureau agent regarding Calvert and Anne Arundel counties says that within a few days after the emancipation constitution went into effect, it was the practice to take the children on a farm before the orphans’ court and have them apprenticed to the former owner. Instances are mentioned where the children were hired out, the former owner receiving the wages. In another case the children, after being brought into court on habeas corpus, and delivered to their parents, were hired out by the parents, thus clearly showing they were not likely to become a county charge; but they were afterwards replevined by the master; thus diverting their earnings from their parents to him. The report further estimates that there are six hundred cases of unjust apprenticing in Calvert county, and almost as many more in Anne Arundel, and the same practice has prevailed to some extent in other counties.

“The agents of this bureau have given attention to this subject, and some apprentices have been released by habeas corpus. But each case of unlawful apprenticeship must be brought separately before the court, no decision having yet been made, or State law enacted, which operates generally for the release of parties unjustly and illegally apprenticed. No children are known to have been thus apprenticed since the enactment of the civil rights law.

“Civil Rights act. – In May last a case of brutal and unprovoked assault upon Hilliary Powell, (colored,) by Dr. A. H. Somers, (white,) in Montgomery county, Maryland, was reported by the bureau agent. This case finally came before Judge Bowie, chief justice Maryland court of appeals, and the constitutionality of the civil rights law was questioned and argued by counsel. Judge Bowie rendered a decision July 2, 1866, favoring the competency of colored witnesses, and sustaining the constitutionality of the civil rights law as far as relates to
this point.

“Since that decision some magistrates have unhesitatingly issued warrants of the testimony of colored witnesses. But another practical difficulty arises from refusal of constables to make arrests where freedmen are involved, and to serve subpoenas for colored witnesses; still another from the bias of the men composing the jury, who have not been wont to give due weight to testimony of colored persons. As an instance of the latter, the case of William Shannon, of Calvert county, may be given. As reported by the agent of this bureau, said Shannon (colored) was attacked by a mob of white men, led by a constable, while at church; he ran and was pursued, and several shots fired at him, one wounding him in the hip; he then turned, fired at his assailants, shooting one of them dead. He was finally overtaken, carried before a magistrate, who advised his captors to take him to the woods and hang him; but he was taken to jail and afterwards indicted for murder. At the trial, which was concluded September 8, 1866, five witnesses were sworn for the prosecution, all of them parties to the assault.

Twelve colored witnesses were sworn for the defence [sic], all testifying to a state of facts directly contrary to the witnesses for the prosecution. The jury, rejecting the testimony of the colored men, rendered a verdict of manslaughter. This verdict was a compromise, two jurors being in favor of a verdict of willful murder.

“Shannon has been sent to State prison for five years.  The assistant commissioner of this bureau has laid the case before the governor, with recommendation of executive clemency.” (pages 725 – 727)

———————–
SOURCE: Message of the President of the United States, and Accompanying Documents, to the Two Houses of Congress, at the Commencement of the Second Session of The Thirty-Ninth Congress. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1866. http://books.google.com

Civil War 150 YRS Later

Originally from: Letters from Linden
by Fred Dellinger, CCHS Member
Date: October 2011

THE CIVIL WAR AND SOUTHERN MARYLAND – 150 YEARS LATER
Contributed & annotated by CCHS Member, Fred Dellinger

Last month in this Civil War feature we discussed the increasing control of Southern Maryland, and indeed most of the entire state of Maryland, by Federal Military Forces using Martial Law as defined by the Commander in Chief – President Abraham Lincoln. Meanwhile some individuals were resourceful enough to involve themselves in “attacks” on the Union. Harold Manakee in his 1961 book Maryland in the Civil War, describes a rather bizarre event that became popularly known as the “French Lady” incident.

“An early incident in the war began on the afternoon of June 28, 1861, when the bay steamboat St. Nicholas left Baltimore on her regular run down the Chesapeake Bay [most likely stopping at one or more wharfs in Calvert County] and up the Potomac River to Georgetown, District of Columbia. Shortly after midnight the vessel touched at Point Lookout, where the Chesapeake and Potomac join, and several men engaged passage to Washington. Soon after the steamer started up the Potomac, a ‘French lady’ who had boarded the vessel in Baltimore retired to her cabin. About 25 men, including several who had come aboard at Point Lookout, remained on deck.

“Suddenly the door to the ‘French lady’s’ cabin burst open, and out dashed a Zouave-uniformed [very colorful] Confederate officer with a revolver in one hand and a cutlass in the other. The men who had been lounging on deck rushed into the cabin, snatched weapons from the ‘French lady’s’ large trunks and scattered to overpower the crew. Within a few minutes they won full control of the steamboat, and announced that it was now under Confederate command. Then, at full speed and with all lights out, they headed the St. Nicholas for the Coan River Landing on the Virginia shore of the Potomac.

“The ‘French lady’ actually was Richard Thomas,* also known as Colonel Zarvona, an adventurous Marylander. An older man, who had boarded the steamer at Point Lookout, turned out to be Commander, later Commodore, George N. Hollins of the Confederate States Navy. The men were members of Zarvona’s Zouaves, a military company being enlisted in Maryland for Confederate service.

“About 3:30 a.m. on June 29, the Confederates put ashore the passengers and crew and took aboard reinforcements. For the daring Zarvona also intended to capture the U.S.S. Pawnee, a federal warship patrolling the lower bay and the Potomac. Pretending that the St. Nicholas was still a federal vessel, it would go alongside the Pawnee as if to deliver supplies, which it often did.  Then, in a swift surprise attack, the raiders would overpower the Pawnee’s crew, capture the vessel and add it to the Confederate navy. However, the raiders were compelled to abandon their plan when they learned that the Pawnee had left her patrol station and gone upriver to Washington.

“The St. Nicholas then steamed for Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock River in Virginia. En route her crew made several captures – first, the brig Monticello, carrying 3,500 bags of coffee from Brazil to Baltimore; second, the schooner Mary Pierce, carrying 260 tons of ice from Boston to Washington, D.C.; and third, the schooner Margaret, carrying 270 tons of coal from Alexandria, Virginia, to Boston. At Fredericksburg Confederate authorities honored the raiding party, and Governor John Letcher of Virginia commissioned Zarvona a colonel in the forces of the state….

“The scene then changed to the Western Shore of the Chesapeake, at Fair Haven, Anne Arundel County [in July]. Here Lieutenant Thomas H. Carmichael and Patrolman John Horner, of the Baltimore police force, were searching for a man charged with taking part in the Pratt Street disturbance [Baltimore Riot] of April 19 [1861].  After finding and arresting the man, they boarded the steamer Mary Washington to return their prisoner to Baltimore. As the vessel steamed up the Patapsco, loose talk among the passengers hinted that Zarvona was aboard. Carmichael immediately ordered the steamer’s captain to steer for Fort McHenry instead of its usual pier.  There Union troops boarded the steamer and soon captured several of Zarvona’s men. An hour and a half later they finally found the colonel hiding in a large bureau in the ladies’ cabin.

“For almost two years Zarvona was imprisoned, first at Fort McHenry and then at Fort Lafayette [in New York Harbor]. Repeatedly he asked for release on parole because of poor health. After much consideration federal authorities freed him in April, 1863, on condition that he leave the country and not return to either the United States or the Confederate States during the war. Following a long stay in Paris, he returned to Southern Maryland, where, in March, 1875, he died.

“Zarvona’s capture of the St. Nicholas was of little practical help to the Confederacy, but it attracted much attention as one of the first deeds of individual daring in the war.”

“* Thomas was born in St. Mary’s County, October 27, 1833. He was educated at Charlotte Hall and Oxford, Maryland, and briefly at the United States Military Academy. At first as a surveyor and later as a soldier of fortune, he spent years on the western frontier and in fighting river pirates in China. He also fought with Garibaldi in Italy. There he adopted the title and name of ‘Colonel Richard Thomas Zarvona’, by which he called himself thereafter.”

——————-
SOURCE: Manakee, Harold R. Maryland in the Civil War. Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 1961. (pp 62 – 64). You can find the book in the CCHS Archives.

Southern Maryland and Civil War

Originally from: Letters from Linden
by Fred Dellinger, CCHS Member
Date: September 2011

THE CIVIL WAR AND SOUTHERN MARYLAND – 150 YEARS LATER
Contributed & annotated by CCHS Member, Fred Dellinger

Last month in this Civil War feature we discussed the detailed development of the Tennessee River Plan as formulated by Anna Ella Carroll during the fall of 1861. Meanwhile here in Maryland in the fall of 1861 the Union Military was increasingly taking control of the border state and its citizens. In 1961, Harold Manakee, then the Assistant Director of the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore, and under their imprimatur, published a book that includes a chapter regarding the impact of this increasing Union Military Control.

Mr. Manakee states in his book, “Throughout the state railroad bridges and canal locks were under permanent Union guard. Gunboats prowled the Chesapeake Bay. Every bridge and ford across the Potomac River – almost all of the Maryland shore, in fact – was constantly watched. Pickets patrolled vital turnpike points. The huge concentration of troops in Washington spilled over the District of Columbia line into many camps and forts in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties. A train of heavy wagons, numbering about 100, shuttled between Baltimore and Washington, supplementing the facilities of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, already carrying more freight than any railroad on any occasion.

“Camp Parole, a large installation for training and for prisoner of war exchanges was built west of Annapolis [this camp was located near the current intersection of Maryland Route 2 and Route 665 … a location I am sure you have been to many times]. The grounds of St. Johns College and of the Naval School (the naval training facilities were removed to Rhode Island for the war) served as hospitals. Benedict, in Charles County, became the site of a large training camp for colored troops, enlisted toward the war’s end [this camp became known as Camp Stanton … and this camp will be discussed in later editions of this Civil War Series]. Strong detachments of soldiers were quartered throughout Southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore….

“In spite of the large number of Union soldiers guarding important points throughout the state, the Eastern Shore and Southern Maryland never were completely under federal control. Confederate sympathizers in those areas set up definite lines of communication between North and South…. From one friendly hand to another letters passed along. Occasional recruits for the Confederate forces found their way south. Shipments of small, but highly important, supplies, such as drugs, medicines and percussion caps [the sparking devices used to ignite gun powder in most single shot rifles], reached Confederate hands. Secret agents traveled in both directions. Some Maryland Confederates are known to have visited their homes while on leave.… Today [these visits] live principally as romantic family legends….

“Throughout the state, however, the rule by military arrest continued [as was urged by Anna Ella Carroll in her “War Powers of the General Government”, a 24-page pamphlet, first drafted in the summer of 1861]. Early in September [1861] authorities began strict enforcement of the decree forbidding the display or sale of Confederate flags, badges, songs, photographs or music….

“As the November [1861] election for certain [Maryland] state and local officials neared, military authorities determined that only those loyal to the Union should have the right to vote [again, a decision likely based upon the Presidential War Powers to suppress the insurrection!]. The former names of political parties disappeared. Those citizens, most of them Republicans [Lincoln’s Party], who favored continuing the war now called themselves the Union Party. Southern sympathizers, those believing in states’ rights and others organized the Peace Party.

“To make sure that the Union Party would receive a large majority, military officials gave furloughs to the First, Second, and Third Regiments of Infantry, Maryland Volunteers, so that they could return home and vote.  Prominently displayed at every polling place were copies of a proclamation signed by the commander of the Maryland military district. It requested all persons to report to the police anyone trying to vote who had engaged in hostile acts against the United States, or who had helped those in arms against the government. Any citizen so accused was required to swear an oath of allegiance before voting. Armed troops patrolled the polls and a number of soldiers who were not Marylanders were allowed to vote in Annapolis and Baltimore. The election set the pattern for all others during the war.

“Pointing to the constitutional provision that state governments should manage elections, members of the Peace Party strongly protested these actions. Military officials ignored the protests, the Union Party won a sweeping Victory, and Augustus W. Bradford, a strong supporter of the federal government, became Governor” from 1862-1866.

Please see your November, 2009, edition of Letters From Linden, or call CCHS at 410-535-2452 to request a copy, wherein you will find an excellent article about a Union Military Venture into Calvert County in November, 1861, (election time) which resulted in the temporary arrests of several citizens, especially in Prince Frederick!

————————
SOURCE: Manakee, Harold R. Maryland in the Civil War. Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 1961; pages 54-56.  This book is available in the CCHS Archives.

Four Days in the Woods

Originally from: Letters from Linden
Date: September 2011

“FOUR DAYS IN THE WOODS” REVISITED, 1905
Contributed by CCHS Member, Joseph Manning

Referring to our August newsletter, Joe wrote that “I read with great interest the article, ‘Four Days in the Woods,’ about the lost girl, Myrtle Rousby. I did some quick research, and here is what I found. In the 1910 census, she was living with her grandmother, Annie R. (probably Rebecca) Rousby, in Election District 1. Annie had three other grandchildren living with her: Sedonia Rousby (girl), Ruben Rousby (boy), and Annie Lipscomb.

The only female in the 1920 census in Calvert County who matched the description of Myrtle was Myrtle Plater, who lived with husband Warren Plater in Chesapeake Beach. In the 1930 census, they were living in Election District 3. They had two children: Calvin (7) and Wilfred (9). Myrtle Plater died August 8, 1962, and is buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery in Sunderland. Warren died February 1979, in Sunderland. Son Calvin died June 13, 1998.  Both are also buried at Mt. Hope.

There were 20 Platers listed in the phone directory in Sunderland. So I called several of them, until I talked to a man who is Myrtle’s grandson. Alas, he told me that his grandmother’s maiden name was Jones, not Rousby, so I guessed wrong. So all we have now is what I found in the 1910 census.

So Myrtle is lost again, not in the forest this time, but in the vast annals of history. Does anyone know what happened to her?”

A Beautiful Country + Noble River Pt3

Originally from: Letters from Linden
Date: September 2011

“A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY AND A NOBLE RIVER”
A Steamboat Journey on the Patuxent, 1879

This elevation is crowned with comfortable mansions, some of them very old, built when this was the centre of
the wealth and civilization of the State, or rather Province.

The most interesting of these is — THE OLD TANEY ESTATE, — the birthplace of the Chief Justice. If I am not mistaken, the house in which Judge Taney was born is the one now occupied by Mr. Benj. Hance, who owns one part of the plantation. The estate lies on Battle creek and is one of the richest and most beautiful farms in Maryland. The steamer went into the mouth of Battle creek to a wharf where many hundred boxes of peaches were waiting for us. There I found several old friends, among them Captain Duke Bond, for many years president of the Board of School Commissioners of his county.

Captain Bond has all the traditions of his county at his fingers[‘] ends, and while the freight was being carried on the boat he told me why the water we were in was called ‘Battle creek.’ There are two supposed origins for this name. The first [is] that the original settlers named it after the town of Battel, in England, and the other is that it was so named from the numerous battles that took place on its banks between the Taneys and the Brooks, who lived on opposite sides of the creek. There was a deadly feud between these two families, and whenever Mr. Taney would paddle his canoe down the creek Mr. Brook would be lying in ambush to shoot at him, like sportsmen point shooting for ducks. Taney, on his part, would take occasion to pop away at Brook whenever an opportunity presented itself.

This feud terminated in — A CELEBRATED TRAGEDY. — Mr. Taney was a widower, somewhat advanced in years and had three grown up sons, the second of whom was afterwards the Chief Justice of the United States. The father was in love with a young lady who rejected him and accepted Mr. Brook, who was a much younger man.

One day Mr. Brook and the lady were both at a party at Mr. Taney’s house, and the latter called Brook to his stable and there stabbed him and the dead body was found by the horrified guests. Taney rode off at full speed, and the tradition is that he was never heard of afterwards, until his dead body was brought back to the old homestead to be buried. It is said that Brook’s two brothers used every effort to detect his hiding place, and when he was buried they disinterred the body to satisfy themselves that their enemy was really dead, and that they were not being imposed upon by a sham funeral.

— St. LEONARD’S CREEK, — near the southern extremity of Calvert, was the next point of great interest as we proceeded on our journey. We got into it through a narrow mouth and found ourselves in an expansive sheet of water, like a lake, and although it was by this time getting dark, I could still see that it is a place of wonderful beauty. Six miles from its mouth, which is as far as steamboats can go, is the village of St. Leonard’s.  Next [to] this point is the graveyard attached to the Episcopal Church, which is one of the oldest buildings in Maryland, lies buried Thomas Johnson, the Revolutionary Governor of Maryland, a man of national reputation and an intimate personal friend of General Washington. To him belongs the honor of having proposed the name of that great man for Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. This honor has been claimed by the New Englanders for one of their own Members in Congress.

That, however, was to be expected. Near one of the wharves, where we stopped on the basin I have referred, was the scene of — A LAUGHABLE INCIDENT — in former days. The story is told by Mr. James Hungerford in one of his books, and is as follows: — Col. Wm.  Fitzhugh, whose family is well known in this county and has now many representatives of it living in Hagerstown, was a leading democrat in the neighborhood of St. Leonard’s and a great wag. At a political meeting, where there was to be a joint discussion, a friend of Col. Fitzhugh was to make the speech on the Federalists’ side, and was absent. The Col. took the stand with great gravity, and delivered a furious tirade against the Democratic party. He concluded by saying that he had not spoken his own sentiments, but those of his friend, who was absent.  A young fire eating democrat, who was present, was so much offended at the speech that he incontinently sent Col. Fitzhugh a challenge.

The challenge was accepted, and when he was asked what weapons he would cho[o]se he replied that that would be announced on the ground at the time for the duel. When the challenger came to the appointed place of  meeting, the spot I have indicated, to his amazement he beheld Col. Fitzhugh surrounded by a group of gentlemen standing near a fire over which hung a large iron pot, filled with a boiling liquid, which proved to be bean soup. He demanded the meaning of the ‘contemptible joke,’ and Col. Fitzhugh took two squirts from his pocket and handed one to the young man saying that those were the weapons he had selected and that if his antagonist would stand for a few minutes he would satisfy him that there was very little joke about it.

The night had set in when we again got back into the river, and a storm was coming up. As we passed through — DRUM POINT HARBOUR, — which is the mouth of the Patuxent, and one of the best harbours on the Atlantic coast, I observed the lights from numerous vessels which had taken refuge from the storm which had set in, looking like the lights of a town. This harbour is almost landlocked, and has great depth of water and capacity to accommodate an indefinite amount of shipping.

Directly the boat got out of the mouth of the river she encountered heavy waves and a high northeast wind. It was heavily laden and we only reached Baltimore in time for me to take the 8 o’clock train for Hagerstown. I would like to write more on this subject and tell the readers of the MAIL how our brethren in the lower counties live and how they farm. I think that it would be a good idea for persons who emigrate from this county to see that country before going west. Land is wonderfully cheap, and I think that farms can be rented in almost any neighborhood. I am satisfied that money can be made at farming in these counties. The farmers there seem to be in debt and discouraged. They farm too much as they did in slave times and pay too little attention to domestic matters. If they raised as many vegetables, as much fruit, meat &c, as our farmers do, I think they could get along well – especially as it takes so little capital to buy a farm.”

———————
SOURCE: “A Trip to the Patuxent River – Historic Scenes – Steamboat Travel – A Beautiful Country and a Noble
River.” 5 Sep 1879. The Hagerstown Mail (Hagerstown, Maryland). http://www.newsarchives.com