Monday, March 25, 2019

Gen. Lew Wallace and his retreating troops in 1864 drawn by 11 year old Edwin Abbey


Edwin Abbey (1852-1911), who would gain fame painting large murals while living in England, visited his father’s sister and her husband Dr. Isaac J. Martin in Ellicott City during summers. In July 1864 the Union army lost the Battle of Monocacy, near Frederick. Troops under Lew Wallace marched down Main St. followed by the three officers, walking leading their horses.

Lew Wallace (1827-1905) held several posts after he resigned from the Army, including Governor of New Mexico Territory and then US Minister to Turkey (Ottoman Empire).  But his fame is from the book he wrote - Ben-Hur, published in 1880, and the epic film in 1959.

Monday, March 18, 2019

Elkridge lodging house - McCorys in 1815

Harriott (Pinckney) Horry (1748-1830) took an overland trip north from her plantation "Hampton" near Charleston SC when she was 67 years old.  After leaving the burned DC they stayed at McCorys, a new lodging house with new beds and mattresses.

Map - Avalon (iron works) at Elkridge

Monday, March 11, 2019

B & O Railroad 1832 - barracks

Charles Joseph Latrobe (1801-1875) an English traveler and future Governor of Australia described sites in Maryland - point of rocks, and "gigantic undertakings" like the railroad.

Monday, March 4, 2019

Elkridge Hunt Club

The club was officially organized in 1878 had moved to Baltimore in 1870.

"The Howard County Hounds can be traced back as far as 1814, when the Duke of Leeds gave two Irish foxhounds, Mountain and Muse, to a visiting guest, Bolton Jackson. This famous pair of hounds changed hands several times before going to Charles Carroll at his Homewood estate. Nimrod Gosnell bred July, a famous hound tracing back to Captain, a descendant of Mountain and Muse"