A British barrister, Henry Lantham (c1828-1871) kept a journal during his three month trip around the US in 1866. He spent Christmas Eve in Ellicott Mills, where egg-nogging was common when visiting, and guns were fired every 10 minutes "giving one the idea that the war had not ended yet at Ellicott's Mills." Egg nog was made cold and served cold, made from egg yolks, brandy, cream, milk mixed then topped with whipped egg whites. Sugar-plums were given.
Phila to Baltimore train ride
By rail [from Philadelphia] to Baltimore, ninety-eight miles. A flat
dreary country; the land dismally doing penance in a white sheet of snow, and the waters covered with ice; possibly a
pleasant country enough in summer, when the banks of its great rivers are
green. As far as Wilmington, some thirty miles, we skirted the right bank of
the estuary of the Delaware. Ten miles further, and we passed into Maryland,
crossed the Susquehanna, and kept along the right bank of the Chesapeake Bay
until we approached Baltimore. Outside the town we passed some large redoubts,
thrown up partly to protect the town and partly to overawe the citizens—the
first sign of the civil war which we have seen.
Train
into Baltimore, horse drawn
When an American train reaches a town it does not dream of pulling up
short in a suburb, but advances slowly through the streets; the driver on the
engine rings a large bell, and a man on horseback rides in front to clear the
way. Thus we entered Baltimore, arrived
at the terminus and uncoupled the engine; and then, still sitting in the
railway-car, were drawn by a team of horses along the street-rails to the
terminus of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway on the other side of the town.
The axles of the wheels of these huge railway-cars turn like the front-wheels of
a carriage, so that they are able to go round moderately sharp corners in a
most surprising manner, and are got through the streets with much less
difficulty than ladies' trunks are carried through the passages of hotels. On
our way we were drawn along Price's Street, where at the beginning of the war
the Federal troops were fired upon as they were passing through the town in the
cars.
Country
houses
At the terminus of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway we found our friends
the H s, and travelled in their company to Ellicott's Mills—a station some
fifteen miles from the town. One Ellicott, whose family has already perished
from the place, dammed up the Patapsco, a noisy brawling river, and built
grain-mills there; but the country round being hilly and cool, the place now thrives by the building of
country-houses for the citizens of Baltimore, and has a pleasant little
society. The Swedish ambassador [Baron
Nils Erik Wilhelm af Wetterstedt (1815-1887)] has a house there, and doubtless finds it much more economical than
living in Washington.
Christmas - guns fired; egg-nogging
Christmas festivities had begun; every ten minutes or oftener a gun or a squib was fired off, giving
one the idea that the war had not ended yet at Ellicott's Mills. Christmas is
not properly observed unless you brew 'egg-nog' for all comers; everybody calls
upon everybody else; and each call is
celebrated by a solemn egg-nogging.
Egg-nog is made in this wise: our egg-nog was made so, and was decided
after a good deal of nogging around, to be the brew in Ellicott's Mills :— ‘Beat up the yolks of twelve eggs with
powdered sugar, then beat up with them a pint of brandy, a quart of cream, and
a quart of milk; lastly beat up the whites of your twelve eggs, and add them as
a head and crown to your syllabub.' It is made cold, and is drunk cold, and
is to be commended.
Sugar-plums,
stockings
We had brought a store of sugar-plums, as the children all expect
presents at this time. They hang up their stockings on Christmas Eve, and in
the morning find them filled with goodies. At
New York this is done by Criskindle (Christ kinde) and at Baltimore by Santa
Claus (San Nicolas)."
Latham, Henry. Black and White:
A Journal of a Three Months' Tour in the United States. London: 1867©2016 Patricia Bixler Reber
Forgotten history of Ellicott City & Howard County MD
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