To Cross The River

Brigadier General Frederick Lander

A part of the Romney Campaign, the Battle of Hancock was fought 5 January 1862.

Confederate General Thomas J Jackson moved his troops from Winchester, Virginia to Bath in order to block the movement of supplies on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.  Upon reaching the Potomac River across from the town of Hancock, Maryland the Confederate soldiers skirmished with the Union soldiers garrisoned in the town on 5 January 1862.  Jackson ordered artillery set up on Orrick’s Hill, and had it fire on the town.  The artillery caused only minor damage.

Union commander Brigadier General Frederick W Lander would not surrender.  Jackson had the artillery continue to bombard the town for two day while he looked for a place to cross the river.

On 7 January 1862, Jackson had his troop withdraw, and they moved on to Romney, West Virginia.  There were an estimated 25 casualties reported.

An Outburst Of Applause

Two hundred people gathered at Four Locks, Maryland January 31^st 1861 to raise a “Union Pole, and listen to speeches made by local dignitaries.

Four Locks, Maryland was a small community located in Washington County and lying along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.  The town was on a peninsula known as Prather’s Neck.  The locks which gave the town its name were built between 1836 and 1838 to avoid a four mile long loop in the Potomac River.  As it was located about half way between Cumberland, Maryland and Washington, DC and was a frequent stop for canal boats.

With southern states moving toward secession, parts of Maryland held fast to the Union.  A pro-Union meeting was held in Four Locks, Maryland January 31^st 1861.  About 200 people there put up a 113 foot tall “Union Pole” with a banner on the top reading “The Union Forever”.  There many speaker including Lewis P Firey; a member of the Constitutional Union Party, whose speech caused “the wildest outburst of applause”.

That summer many of the residents enlisted in units that formed in the nearby town of Clear Spring, Maryland.  Four Locks was also located on the path of Confederate cavalry on their way to raid Chambersburg, Pennsylvania in 1864.  The Confederate burnt several buildings on their way through.