The last several weeks have been busy in Carroll County, and one of the busiest was during the June 27-29 events surrounding the commemoration of the 145th anniversary of Corbit's Charge.

Hats off to the Westminster officials, shopkeepers and the Pipe Creek Civil War Roundtable for offering another informative glimpse at Westminster history from 1863.

Much attention is given to the events leading up to and during Corbit's Charge (June 29, 1863), and the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863). But some historians consider Westminster's involvement in the Gettysburg Campaign as lasting from around June 28, 1863, to after July 11, 1863.

Civil War historian Tom LeGore notes that Westminster, during the American Civil War, was a divided community.

Neither side of this divide wanted the war, and both sides hoped our community might avoid being involved.

To that end, the only mention of the American Civil War in the minutes of the Westminster Common Council was a notation for July 6 and 7, 1863 that, "Army Wagons were in town."

LeGore further says that Westminster, at the time, was a community of only 1,900 citizens. Juxtapose this with the fact that on June 30, 1863, some 24,000 Union Troops passed through town -- on Westminster's Main Street -- on their way to Gettysburg.

According to an account of Carroll County's Civil War experience, "Just South of Gettysburg," by Frederick Shriver Klein, Harold Redcay and LeGore a study of the records indicates that "5,000 wagons, 30,000 mules and 10,000 men, with at least 20 regiments guarding the trains" were in Westminster at that time.

On June 29-30, 1863, General John Sedgwick's Sixth Army Corps moved 18,000 troops from New Windsor to Manchester and later on to Gettysburg in "one of the longest and fastest marches in Civil War History." The Sixth Corps stretched 10 miles long -- through a Westminster community that was less than 2 miles long in June of 1863.

At the time, the Sixth Corps "was in itself a larger army than was ever marshaled on American soil prior to 1861."

In one of the many ironies of Westminster's involvement in the Gettysburg Campaign, Brigadier-General D. McM. Gregg's 2nd Cavalry Division (Union) moved 8,000 troops through Westminster on June 30 to later arrive in Gettysburg on July 2, 1863.

"This unit of cavalry played an extremely important part in the battle of Gettysburg on July 3, when they intercepted J.E.B. Stuart as he was planning to support Pickett's charge by attacking the Union lines from the rear. One of the greatest cavalry battles of the war took place, and Stuart was forced to leave the field without accomplishing his objective."

During and after the Battle of Gettysburg, Westminster was a major freight and supply terminus for the Union effort.

LeGore indicates that right after the Battle of Gettysburg, the infield of Fairground Hill in Westminster was turned into a prison camp in which 7,000 Confederate soldiers were held.

Despite of the horrific dynamics of war just visited upon Westminster in June and July 1863, the community came together to form the Westminster Library, just months later, in September of 1863.

This occurred, according to Nancy Warner's "History of Carroll County 1837-1976," in, of all places, the Odd Fellow's Hall, the site where many of the Civil War militias were formed at the beginning of the war.

Mayor may not

The history of Carroll County just over 60 years ago was the subject of last week's Sunday Carroll Eagle history trivia quiz: "Who were the three Carroll County commissioners in 1947?"

Apparently the question was as hard as I thought. I only heard from Mary Babylon (who missed the correct answer by one name) and Ruth Anderson, who answered correctly: Emory A. Berwager, Norman R. Hess and Walter V. Bennett.

Thus, Anderson adds another Sunday Carroll Eagle coffee mug to her collection.

I'll bet several Corbit's Charge history buffs knows the answer to this week's quiz:

Who was the mayor of Westminster on June 29, 1863?

Think you know? Send me an e-mail with Sunday Carroll Eagle included in the subject line.

When he is not watching the History Channel, Kevin Dayhoff can be reached at kdayhoff@carr.org.

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