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Cape Canaveral Lighthouse

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Florida, Brevard County, near Cape Canaveral
On May 21, 1838, Florida territorial delegate Charles Downing requested a lighthouse be built on Cape Canaveral. The first lighthouse completed in Jan. 1848 stood 65-feet tall, had a 55-foot tower and a 10-foot lantern room equipped with 15 lamps on 21-inch reflectors. The brick tower and keeper's home cost under $13,300. Nathaniel Scobie oversaw construction and appointed the first keeper. With the advent of the Civil War, S. Mallory, Confederate Navy Secretary, ordered Florida east coast lighthouses "extinguished." Keeper Mills Burnham removed the lamp and buried it in his orange grove. A state-of-the-art, 151 foot iron tower was erected in 1868 and topped with a 1st Order Fresnel lens. The tower's living quarters were used for storage and a weather station. In 1871 a storm surge washed over the lighthouse area spoiling lamp oil and drinking water. This and shoreline erosion caused the lighthouse to be moved. From Oct. 1893 to Jul. 1894 the tower was dismantled, moved by tram one mile inland and re-erected, along with a 1st and 2nd assistant's and keeper's homes, to its present location. In 1939 the Coast Guard took ownership. In 2000 stewardship was transferred to the 45th Space Wing, Patrick Air Force Base.

A Florida Heritage site

(Waterways & Vessels) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Complex 14

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Florida, Brevard County, near Cape Canaveral
Vc = Ro SQRT(g/Ro+h)

"… one of the most complex tasks ever presented to man in this country -- the achievement of manned flight in orbit around the earth." - John F. Kenedy Thirty-Fifth President of the United States

This marker commemorates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Project Mercury, which first put free men into space. The four manned orbital capsules were boosted into space by Atlas rockets, which were launched by the United States Air Force from Complex 14, located 2200 feet east of here at 28° 29' 27.1426" North Latitude and 80° 32' 49.6107" West Longitude. Contained in a capsule heron to be opened in the year 2464 A.D., are technical reports of these flights.

Dedicated 1964 A. D., to the thousands of men and women of the free world who contributed to the success of Project Mercury.

"Si Monumentum Requiris Circumspice" Anon.

Erected as a public service by General Dynamics Corporation

(Air & Space) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

John Bethune

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North Carolina, Moore County, near Robbins
Early pastor for Scots in N.C.; chaplain for Loyalists at Battle of Moores Creek Bridge, 1776. First Presbyterian minister in Ontario. Lived 4 mi. S.

(Churches, Etc. • War, US Revolutionary) Includes location, directions, 1 photo, GPS coordinates, map.

The Block House/River Port - Fort - Ferry

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Alabama, Dale County, near Midland City
(Front):
The Block House
1814

The first public structure in what later became Dale County was erected one mile east of this marker at the confluence of the East and West Choctawhatchee Rivers. Called the Block House, it was built of logs by a contingent of Jackson’s Army in 1814. This post was not fortified, it provided shelter for militia and settlers driven into it by fear of Indians. The site of a ferry across the river, it was occupied as a store and was designated a Post Office from 1833 to 1841. First postmaster was John Whitehurst.

(Back):
River Port – Fort – Ferry
The Block House was the center of a settlement which included Thomas Obadiah Dick, ferry operator, and John Beverett who purchased the site in 1836. In 1823 this area was surveyed by Robert D. Harris of the Spatz Land Office, Headquarters of the Conecuh Land District. In 1824 Elisha Matthews taught school in the home of William Mills for which he was paid $10.00 per month and board. In 1827 Seaborn Ledbetter, local merchant, launched a “pole” boat named the “Choctawhatchee Hornet”. Nearby John Huccaby operated the first grist mill.

(Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Cowarts Baptist Church/Cowarts School

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Alabama, Houston County, Cowarts
(Front):
Cowarts Baptist Church
Cowarts Baptist Church was founded in 1885 when dissension arose in the Congregation of Smyrna. Originally located beside the cemetery, the church was destroyed by fire during the 1890s. It was rebuilt and dedicated on this site May 1, 1903 in front of the existing Cowarts School. A cyclone destroyed both the church and school on Friday, January 10, 1918 about 2 p.m. Beginning in March 1918, Cowarts Baptist Church was rebuilt and has remained on the site.

(Back):
Cowarts School
In January 1894, the Cowarts School moved from its original location beside the cemetery and relocated to this site. School was in session Friday, January 10, 1918 when a cyclone struck about 2 p.m. destroying the school and killing seven children and their professor. The twister cut a 13-mile path through the eastern side of the county leaving a total of 12 dead with an estimated 120 injured.

(Churches, Etc. • Disasters • Education) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Incorporation of Ashford/Ashford - a Unique Name

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Alabama, Houston County, Ashford
(Front):
Incorporation of Ashford
Wishing to incorporate their small town of “Pine-Woods,” a group of men set off to Abbeville, Alabama to go before Probate Judge Dan Gordon on May 11, 1891. A petition was signed on that day, recorded and filed eight days later, and an election set for June 15th. Out of the 300-400 residents of the town, only 47 voted. The results indicated the vote was 100 percent in favor of the incorporation and Judge Gordon recorded that the town, now called Ashford, was invested in all rights of incorporation on June 22, 1891. He ordered that there be an election for one mayor and five councilmen. Although not officially recorded, a man by the name of R. R. (Bob) Adams was said to be the first mayor. There continues to be some dispute over whether or not he actually was the mayor or if a man named Mr. Watson accompanied him in the position of mayor of part of the town.

(Back):
Ashford – A Unique Name
Many have wondered how the town of Ashford received its name and many still ponder this question today. Two versions have been told with the most popular being that Captain John T. Davis, who married the daughter of Dr. Ashford of Columbus, Georgia, named the town for his wife’s family. Captain Davis owned a substantial amount of land and deeded many lots to the railroad system, The second story, recorded by the late W. E. Pate, stated that the town received its name because of the fords on the creeks where the wagons had to cross. There was a large ash tree by one of the fords where farmers placed a log across the creek, west of Ashford. When travelers would pass through and were asked where they crossed they would reply “At the Ash Ford.” Whether or not one believes either of these versions, the town is still known by its unique name.

(Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Ashford United Methodist Church

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Alabama, Houston County, Ashford
This building site was purchased March 9, 1899 by trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, of Gordon Circuit. Services were held in a three-walled wood structure until the completion of a permanent building in 1893. In 1927 a brick building replaced this structure which burned in 1924. When a larger sanctuary was built in1956, the old sanctuary became the fellowship hall. In 1987 an education building was constructed. The following year the sanctuary was renovated and stained glass windows were installed. “They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.” Psalm 125:1

(Churches, Etc.) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Snyder's Bluff

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Mississippi, Warren County, near Redwood
Throughout the winter of 1862-63, Union Major General Ulysses S. grant orchestrated a series of Bayou Expeditions aimed at capturing Vicksburg. The Steele's Bayou Expeditions aimed at capturing Vicksburg. the Steele's Bayou Expedition was the most daring of these operations and was personally led by Rear Admiral David D. Porter. Federal forces hoped to gain access to the Yazoo River above the Confederate batteries at Snyder's Bluff from where they could move northward to the aid of the Yazoo Pass Expedition or south directly against Vicksburg. The Steele''s Bauyou Expedition was the Major General Ulysses Grant's most determined unsuccessful attempt to take the strategic city of Vicksburg. The Union's plan for gaining control of the Mississippi River was to isolate Vicksburg by out flanking Confederate batteries at Snyder's Bluff and gaining control of the Yazoo River and Mississippi Delta. The powerful batteries erected at this site, overlooking the Yazoo River, anchored the Confederate fortifications north of Vicksburg. They also prevented Union naval excursions upriver and served to protect the Confederate Navy Yard at Yazoo City.

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 1 photo, GPS coordinates, map.

Medical Miracle

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Virginia, Rappahannock County, Sperryville
This building housed the medical office of Dr. William Amiss, whose brother Dr. Thomas Amiss practiced in Slate Mills and later in Page County. Together, the two men accomplished a medical achievement virtually unheard of during the Civil War.

Maj. Richard Snowden Andrews commanded Gen. Charles S. Winder’s artillery during the Battle of Cedar Mountain a few miles south of Culpeper on August 9, 1862. An exploding Federal shell slashed through Andrew’s right side, almost disemboweling him. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s surgeon, Dr. Hunter H. McGuire, declared Andrew’s condition hopeless.

That evening, Drs. Thomas and William Amiss (31st and 50th Georgia Infantry, respectively) examined Andrews in a field hospital and concurred that the wound was mortal. Andrews retorted that “if you damned doctors would do something for me, I’d get well.” Thomas Amiss joked that Andrews was – literally and figuratively – “full of all kinds of grit.” The doctors washed the wound, reinserted Andrew’s bowels into his abdominal cavity, and sewed up the enormous gash. Amazingly, peritonitis did not set in, and seven weeks later the “mortally wounded” Andrews hobbled about on crutches. He returned to duty but was again wounded during the Second Battle of Winchester on June 15, 1863. After he recovered, he was reassigned as an advisor to the German army. After the war, he resumed his career as an architect in Baltimore. For the remainder of his life (he died in 1903), he reveled in telling of his brush with death and exhibiting the huge scar left from the Amiss brothers’ stitching. His recovery was so remarkable that his case is still sometimes mentioned in medical texts.

(Science & Medicine • War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Pohick Church

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Virginia, Fairfax County, Lorton
During the Civil War, the prominent hilltop location of Pohick Church made it a target for occupation and vandalism, but it also served as an aeronautical center. On November 12, 1861, Union Gen. Samuel P. Heintzelman’s 2nd Michigan Volunteers raided the church. One of those present, Lt. Charles B. Haydon, was outraged at the soldiers’ looting of artifacts from George Washington’s church: “They were all over it in less than 10 minutes tearing off the ornaments, splitting the woodwork and pews, knocking the brick to pieces & everything else they could get at.”

Within two months, the church became a balloon outpost for Thaddeus S.C. Lowe, the famous aeronaut, and the building served as quarters for the garrison stationed here. The men’s graffiti is still visible on the church walls, doorposts, and quoins, as are bullet holes on the exterior brick.

At this location, Lowe repeatedly launched his balloon, Intrepid, to track Confederate troop movements along the Occoquan River. On March 2, 1862, he observed the Confederates evacuating the Occoquan area – the first indication that they were withdrawing from northern Virginia to a more defensible position along the Rappahannock River. Later and elsewhere, Lowe’s aeronauts successfully located Confederate forces, reported on force strength, and directed artillery fire. Lowe’s earliest successes for the short-lived Federal Balloon Corps, which disbanded a year-and-a-half later, occurred here at Pohick Church.

(Sidebar): Completed in 1774, this colonial church replaced a wooden building located two miles south of here. The congregation had been founded by 1732, when the Virginia House of Burgesses created the geographical district of Truro Parish north of the Occoquan River. For this reason, Pohick Church is often referred to as “the Mother Church of Northern Virginia.” Vestry members George Washington and George Mason, among other patriots, met at Pohick Church in 1774 for early discussions of the Fairfax Resolves, a step on the road to independence. Because of Washington’s membership here, the British reportedly raided the church during the War of 1812 and disfigured a memorial to our nations’ first president.

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 7 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Extra! Extra!

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Maryland, Carroll County, Taneytown
Whitelaw Reid, a Civil War correspondent, began reporting for The Cincinnati Gazette in 1862. On June 30, 1863, Reid took the train from Washington, D.C, and traveled to General George Gordon Meade’s headquarters just outside of Taneytown on the following day. While in the General’s company, Reid interviewed him about his battle plans. Reid also observed the soldiers as they prepared for battle, and his report conveyed the urgency they felt. Reid was able to send his July 1 dispatch by courier from a Taneytown tavern to the Frederick telegraph office. From a nearby road later that day, Reid watched the soldiers march from Taneytown to Gettysburg, noting the “masses of blue coats toiling forward.” Besides watching the fighting from Cemetery Hill on July 2 and 3, Reid also traveled the battlefield to speak to four Union commanders to learn about the fighting on July 1. The place of the battle caused him to write feverously scratched notes describing the sounds and sights of the battle. On July 8, his story about the Battle of Gettysburg appeared on the front page of The Cincinnati Gazette under the byline “Agate.” (Inscription of the photo in the upper left side of the marker) After the Civil War Whitelaw Reid had his portrait taken by Mathew Brady. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress. (Inscription of the photo in the center of the marker) The telegraph pictured here is similar to the one used to send Whitelaw Reid’s stories to the Cincinnati Gazette in 1863. Courtesy of the Monocacy National Battlefield, National Park Service.

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Union Infantry Winter Camp

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Virginia, Stafford County, Stafford
These woods contain remains of hut sites, chimneys and defenses of a large Army of the Potomac winter camp, soldiers of the 11th Corps 1st and 3rd Divisions moved to this area from Belle Plain and Stafford Courthouse in late Feb/early Mar, 1863, in camps like this throughout Stafford 135,000 plus soldiers in 8 Corps recovered from the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Mud March and and Chancellorsville, many called these camps their "Valley Forge," NY, OH, CT, PA, IL and WI units camped in or near this park. Over 3,500 Union soldiers that died and were buried around the Stafford Camps were moved to National Cemeteries 1866-1870.

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Eleventh Corps Encampment Area

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Virginia, Stafford
In 1863, over 135,000 Union Army of the Potomac soldiers established winter camps throughout Stafford County - the largest encampment of any Army during the Civil War. Two-thirds of Civil War deaths occurred while armies were in camp. Many soldiers throughout Stafford compared their camps and experiences to Valley Forge during the Revolution. Unlike Valley Forge however, none of the Stafford camps have been preserved in a park - until now.

The Army of the Potomac reached its lowest point in Stafford after the Battle of Fredericksburg and the disastrous "Mud March," eventually suffering hundreds of desertions a night. Still, by late April of 1863 under new leadership, the Army recovered its faith in itself and its fighting spirit. Army organization, food, weaponry and training were all improved. Even after its defeat at Chancellorsville and return to Stafford in early May, morale remained strong. By the 12th of June, 1863 the Army of the Potomac was headed North, eventually to Gettysburg, where it won what most consider the most important battle of the war.

This park is dedicated to the over 3,500 Union soldiers left behind in Stafford graves who died during that winter of 1863 of disease, exposure, accidents, and other causes. It is also dedicated to Stafford's citizens, outnumbered by 15 to 1, who suffered greatly as their farms became camps, their homes headquarters or hospitals, and their woodlands disappeared in the thousands of campfires that surrounded them that winter.

This park preserves over 41 acres of land camped on, traversed and fortified by elements of the Union Army of the Potomac's 11th Corps, 1st and 3rd Divisions. Historical sites here are representative of many others that once existed in Stafford, most lost to farming or development since the Civil War. Follow the tour stops to see the remains of a winter camp, soldier-built or improved roads, remains of a pre-Civil War bridge, an early Stafford quarry, and three large earthen artillery batteries constructed to defend this area. Each stop has historic signs and/or trails leading to historical sits and interpretive signs. There is a picnic area with several tables located at Stop 3. Park roads, parking areas and historical sites are depicted on the map at right and included in Stafford Civil War Park brochures.

Please help preserve this park's historic resources. Do not climb or walk on earthworks or historic structures. Hunting, relic hunting, ATVing, littering and damage to, or removal of, any items man-made or natural from this park is strictly prohibited and will be prosecuted. Report violations immediately to the Stafford County Sheriff's Office at 540-658-4450.

Thank you for visiting the Stafford Civil War Park!


Park Hours:
Mid-March through October 31
  Monday - Sunday, 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM
November 1 through Mid-March
  Monday - Sunday, 8:00 - 5:30 PM


(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Frederick Douglass Home Site

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New York, Monroe County, Rochester
Underground Railroad Sites
Rochester's proximity to Lake Ontario afforded runaway slaves a direct route to freedom in Canada. Hundreds of runaway slaves were "conducted" from one "station" to another along this secret network of escape routes by people like world-renowned abolitionist Harriet Tubman who, after escaping from slavery herself, returned to the South several times and led approximately 300 people north to freedom.

Even in states like New York where slavery was outlawed, escaped slaves traveled in utmost secrecy. This was particularly true after passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 provided harsh penalties, fines and imprisonment for anyone even knowing of the whereabouts of a runaway slave and sailing to return him or her to the master. Overland, the runaways traveled in ingenious ways, some hidden in wagons, others disguised as workers. Many were "conducted" through the streets at night. Sometimes the mode of travel was along the Erie Canal, the Genesee River, or on board a ship or boat docked at one of Rochester's ports or landings. As soon as a runaway boarded a boat flying a Canadian flag, he or she was immediately considered free.

Rochester was at the juncture of routes moving from either New York's Southern Tier and Pennsylvania or from Canandaigua and Mendon along Clover Street. Travelers from Avon and points along the Genesee River to the south traveled through Henrietta. Frederick Douglass frequently found runaways on the steps of his North Star office on Main Street downtown. His wife, Anna, sometimes cared for them at their home on South Avenue.

The religious revivals of the 1830s solidified anti-slavery sentiment in the Rochester area. Strong abolitionist sentiments favored the runaway slaves, and Rochester's marshals were uncooperative with the Fugitive Slave Act.

Some of the sites used on the Underground Railroad were the Isaac and Amy Post house on the site of the present Hochstein School of Music on Plymouth Avenue, the Brighton Hotel on East Avenue at Winton Road, which once backed onto the Erie Canal, the Samuel Porter house on South Fitzhugh Street, the Thomas Warrant house on West Henrietta Road, the Douglass house on South Avenue, and Kelsey's Landing on the Genesee River near Driving Park Bridge. Shrouded in secrecy, many sites remain undocumented.

The Civil War Years
When President Abraham Lincoln called for troops to suppress the secession of Southern states from the Union, the local militia expected the "conflict" to be brief. Frederick Douglass agitated to make the Civil War a war to end slavery.

In 1863. Douglass was appointed to help raise the 54"’Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. The first regiment of African-American soldiers raised in the North. Believing that black men could prove their entitlement to equal rights as American citizens. Douglass issued his "Men of Color, To Arms!" challenge: "Who would be free themselves must strike the first blow." His son Frederick Jr. become a recruiter while his sons Lewis and Charles served in the Army. Lewis fought in the noted battle at Fort Wagner, South Carolina July 18, 1863. Douglass worked to obtain equal pay, equal supplies and treatment of the black troops, but initially with little effect. The black soldier did, however, favorably change the perception of the ability of African Americans to be soldiers.

In 1865, slavery ended in America with the passage of the 13th Amendment. Douglass‘s support of the 1870 15* Amendment granting black men the right to vote caused a rift in his relationship with longtime friend Susan B. Anthony, who had fought tirelessly for universal suffrage.

The Pursuit of Education
Douglass' Baltimore master, Hugh Auld, thought that teaching slaves to read and write would lead them to disobedience and encourage them to escape. Innocently, Sophia Auld, the master's wife, taught Frederick Douglass the basics of reading, led the way to a lifelong career of journalism and oratory. When Mr. Auld found out, he ordered his wife to stop. Thereafter, Douglass relentlessly pursued the benefits of the written and spoken word tor himself, his children, and all African Americans.

Douglass's oldest daughter, Rosetta, faced numerous difficulties while trying to receive an education. When Rosetta was old enough to attend school, Rochester’s public schools were segregated. Douglass enrolled Rosetta at Miss Lucilla Tracey's Seward Seminary, a private school near the Douglass family's Alexander Street home. When he learned that she was receiving instruction in a separate location from the white children, Douglass removed Rosetta from that school and, to ensure that each of his children recelved a quality education, hired a woman to teach them at home. The struggle of Douglass and others to desegregate Rochester's public schools ended successfully in 1857.

While all of his children could read and write, Anna Murray, Douglass's wife, remained illiterate for her entire life. She relied on her daughter. Rosetta, to read to her and to write letters.

Fire Strikes!
In 1872, while Douglass wa working in Washington, DC, his house was destroyed by fire. Arson was suspected. Neighbors alerted the family and returned to the burning house repeatedly to save pieces of furniture, precious books, and a few valuables. Douglass made his way back to Rochester by train. Arriving at night, he first was refused lodging, being told the hotel was full. When the manager recognized Douglass, he offered him a room. Douglass refused special treatment and walked several miles in the dark and rain to join his family.

The Rochester Legacy
The Douglass family home site (A) is one of several sites throughout Rochester associated with Frederick Douglass. Near this site is Highland Bowl (B), where the Frederick Douglass statue is now located. This 1899 statue is thought to be the first erected in this country honoring an African American. The graves of Frederick Douglass and members of his family are in nearby Mt. Hope Cemetery (C), as is the grave of fellow abolitionist and activist Susan B. Anthony. A Civil War Memorial, graves of black and white Civil War veterans, and graves of known conductors on the Underground Railroad are also located at Mt. Hope Cemetery.

Susan B. Anthony's home (D), now a museum, is located at 17 Madison Street off West Main Street in a substantially intact 19th-century working-class neighborhood. The neighborhood also has its original public square, where Let's Have Tea (E), a bronze sculpture of Douglass and Anthony by local artist Pepsy Kettavong, was installed in 2001.

During the years Douglass lived in Rochester, the Erie Canal flowed through downtown, bringing commerce, immigrants, and new ideas. At that time, the canal crossed the Genesee River via an aqueduct (F) that is now the foundation of the Broad Street Bridge. The canal continued on Broad Street, crossing Main Street and joining the Genesee Valley Canal. Douglass's office (G), where he printed the North Star, was in the Talman Block at 25 East Main Street. The building's front has been altered, but the rear reveals an earlier stone exterior. Today's parking lot, behind the building, once was Child's Basin, a docking area for canal packet boats.

Douglass's work on the Underground Railroad was aided by barber Jacob P. Morris, at 31 East Main (H), and by Edward C. Williams, who manufactured sails in a loft on East Main Street alongside the river.

The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was organized in 1827. Its former building (I), the last of three on Favor Street, was constructed in 1906 on the same site where the Douglass family worshiped, and where, for a while, Douglass printed his newspaper in the basement. The Memorial AME Zion Church is now at 549 Clarissa Street (J).

Isaac and Amy Post were Quakers, abolitionists, supporters of Douglass, and conductors on the Underground Railroad. There home was on the site of what is now the Hochstein Music School, 50 North Plymouth Avenue (K), built as Central Church. There, funeral services were held for Frederick Douglass. Douglass's body, returned to Rochester, was laid in state on Broad Street at what was then City Hall (L).

Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was born Frederick Bailey about February 1818 on the Lloyd Plantation, Talbot County, Maryland. He was born to an enslaved mother. His father likely was a plantation owner. At about six years old, he moved to Wye Plantation. He saw his mother only a few times after that when she secretly walked 12 miles to visit him. While still a boy, Douglass was sent to Baltimore to serve Hugh and Sophia Auld and their young son, Tom.

Douglass learned elementary reading from Sophia Auld, and from secretly copying Tom's lettering books. After his escape, he became a public speaker at abolitionist meetings. To counter charges that he did not write his own well-thought-out speeches, he wrote his first book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. As Douglass was in danger of being returned to slavery as a runaway, English friends Anna and Ellen Richardson purchased his freedom in 1845 for about $700.

In 1847, Douglass came to Rochester and began to publish the North Star, later called Frederick Douglass' Paper. He then published Douglass' Monthly and continued to do so until 1863. After the Emancipation Proclamation, he devoted his full attention to recruiting black troops to fight in the Civil War.

After the Fugitive Slave Act passed, Douglass made his famous "fifth of July" speech on July 5, 1852 at Corinthian Hall in Rochester. In it he condemned as a fraud America's annual Fourth of July celebration o s life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all men. Following John Brown's 1859 attack on the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, Douglass fled to Canada, then to England where he remained until his daughter Annie died in 1860.

Working with many abolitionists and women's rights leaders and as an advisor to Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, Douglass gained an international reputation as an orator and spokesman. In 1872, his home on South Avenue was burned. Douglass then moved his family to Washington D.C. On February 10, 1895, Douglass died of a heart attack at his home, Cedar Hill, Washington, D.C. Following funeral and memorial services in Washington, Douglass's remains were brought to Rochester where services were held at Central Church, now Hochstein Music School. His body lay in state at City Hall, where the bells tolled as he was carried to a horse-drawn hearse. A parade of citizens and dignitaries accompanied Douglass to his final resting place at Mt. Hope Cemetery.

Who Lived Here? The Douglass home on South Avenue was a refuge from the turmoil of the outside world for Anna and Frederick,their children, extended family, friends, fellow abolitionists, and runaway slaves. On the edge of the city limits, two miles from downtown, stood the two-story frame house, barn, and other outbuildings adjacent to a lily pond. Here, Anna made a comfortable home while her husband traveled throughout the United States and abroad to further the abolitionist cause. When the Douglasses moved here in 1852, their children were: Rosetta, 13; Lewis, 12; Frederick Jr., 10; Charles, 8; and Annie, 3. The four older children had been born in New Bedford, Massachusetts; Annie, the youngest, in Rochester. For 18 years the family lived here, playing baseball, violins, and card games. When Anna taught her daughters to sew, Rosetta made her father a shirt. In 1860 Annie died and was buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery.

Lewis and Charles left from here to join the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first African-American unit in the Union Army. On this site, the Douglasses also became grandparents. Rosetta Douglass Sprague returned to her mother’s care in order to have her first child, Annie Rosine. Charles's wife, Mary Elizabeth Murphy, also stayed with the Douglasses during her pregnancy. Charles left for Washington, DC just before his son`s birth, to become one of the first African-Americans appointed to the Freedmen's Bureau. In all, Anna and Frederick had 20 grandchildren.

In 1867, after nearly 40 years of separation, Douglass was reunited with his long-lost, 56·year-old half brother Perry Downs, who had been a slave all his life. Downs, his wife, and their four children came to Rochester, where he and Douglass worked together to build a cottage for the Downs family on the South Avenue property.

Anna Murray Douglass
Frederick Douglass and Anna Murray. a free black woman, met in Baltimore. Maryland. They were married in New York City in 1838. after Douglass, with Anna's help. escaped from slavery. Through 44 years of marriage. helping her husband and keeping a comfortable home were the missions of Anna's life. The Douglasses first settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and started a family. While Douglass was establishing himself as an abolitionist. Anna Murray worked as a domestic servant. Making the move to Rochester in 1847, they stayed until 1872. when they moved to Washington. DC. While in Rochester. Anna raised the couple's five children and welcomed visitors while her husband traveled abroad to foster the cause or abolition. She also sheltered runaway slaves in her home. Anna died in 1882 and is buried in a family plot in Mt. Hope Cemetery along with Frederick. daughter Annie. and Douglass's second wife Helen.

Rosetta Sprague wrote in her tribute. My Mother as I Recall Her: "lt is difficult to say anything of mother without the mention of father. her life was so enveloped in his. Together they rest side by side. and most befittingly within sight of the dear old home of hallowed memories from which the panting fugitive, the weary traveler. the lonely emigrant of every clime, received food and shelter."

Who Visited Here?
The Douglasses welcomed to home visitors from all walks of life, some famous, some infamous and some downtrodden. Visiting here were abolitionists, suffragists journalists, and escaping slaves, as well as extended family members and friends. In her tribute, My Mother as I Recall Her, Rosetta Douglass Sprague emphasized her parents‘ universal hospitality. She said, "Perhaps no other home received under its roof a more varied class of people than did our home. From the highest dignitaries to the lowliest person, bond or free, white or black, were welcomed, and mother was equally gracious to all." Among the visitors were an untold number of escaped slaves running to freedom with the help of the Underground Railroad. In 1852, when the Douglass family moved to the house on South Avenue, it was a long way from downtown, making it an ideal place to hide fugitives. Douglass also was known to have hidden escaping slaves at his office on East Main Street in downtown Rochester. Some of these fugitives were led by renowned abolitionist and Underground Railroad "conductor" Harriet Tubman, who was known as the "Moses of her People."

As long-time friends and colleagues, Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass, both Rochester residents, publicly supported each other's struggles for the abolition of slavery and for women's right to vote. The Douglasses and Miss Anthony exchanged visits to each other's homes. After the Civil War, the two old-time conspirators found themselves at odds over whether suffrage should be extended first to black men or to all citizens, including women. Near her house at 17 Madison Street, in Susan B. Anthony Square, a life-size bronze sculpture, Let's Have Tea, by Pepsy M. Kettavong, portrays the two old friends in comfortable familiarity.

Frederick Douglass counted militant abolitionist John Brown among his friends. Brown, the leader of the October 16, 1859, raid on Harpers Ferry, sent his son John Brown Jr. to Rochester early in the fall of 1859 to enlist Douglass's support for this attack. Douglass, who admired Brown and called him a "noble old hero," nevertheless refused to participate in the raid, knowing that an attack on federal property would anger most Americans. After the raid, Brown was captures, tried for treason, and hanged. Many people believed incorrectly that Douglass was involved. Fearing for his safety, Douglass fled to Canada. Safely out of the country, he wrote letters denying his involvement in the attack and explaining the flight.

(Abolition & Underground RR • African Americans • Civil Rights • War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 13 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Camp Allen 1861-64

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Indiana, Allen County, Fort Wayne
Colonel Hugh B. Reed served as first Commandant. Here the 30th, 44th, 74th, 88th, and 100th Indiana Regiments and the 11th Indiana Battery were organized.

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Mayor Emery and the Union Army

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District of Columbia, Washington, Northwest
The City Park across the street was once Emery Place, the summer estate of Matthew Gault Emery.

A prominent builder, Emery was Washington City's last elected mayor during the period of home rule. He was succeeded in 1874 by a presidentially appointed board of commissioners, which governed until Mayor Walter Washington was elected a century later. Emery made a fortune in stone-cutting, including cornerstone for the Washington Monument. He excelled in insurance, banking, and new technologies -- electric streetcars and lighting.

During the Civil War (1861-1865), Captain Emery led the local militia. His hilltop became a signal station where soldiers used flags or torches to communicate with nearby Fort DeRussy or the distant Capitol. Soldiers of the 35th New York Volunteers created Camp Brightwood here. During the Battle of Fort Stevens in July 1864, Camp Brightwood was a transfer point for the wounded

The property passed on to Emery's daughter Juliet and her husband, businessman and civic leader William Van Zandt Cox. In 1946 Cox heirs sold the rundown estate to the city for use as a playground. Emery Recreation Center opened in 1959.

Across Georgia Avenue at the corner of Longfellow Street, one block behind you, was the site of two successive neighborhood department stores. The Abraham family ran shops, and eventually Ida's Department Store, there from 1915 until 1983. Morton's came next , part of a chain founded in Washington in 1933. In his early stores, Morton's owner Mortimer Lebowitz refused to segregate rest rooms or prohibit black customers from trying on clothes despite local custom.

(African Americans • Man-Made Features • Politics • War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 17 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Birthplace of Abner Doubleday

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New York, Saratoga County, Ballston Spa
Birthplace
Major-Gen Abner Doubleday
Ballston Spa June 26 1819
Founder of Baseball 1839
A Civil War Hero at Battle
of Gettysburg 1863


(Sports • War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Early Ozark/Ozark's Role in the Origin of Fort Rucker

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Alabama, Dale County, Ozark
(Front):
Early Ozark
From 1824, when Dale County was created by an act of the Alabama Legislature, until 1870, the area now comprising the “City of Ozark” was gradually settled mostly by farmers who came and bought the former Indian lands from the U.S. Government. In 1855 Elijah T. Matthews bought a country store located on the hill at the north end of Union Street. He became the postmaster for the area and selected the name “Ozark” after the Ozark Indians in Arkansas and Missouri. On October 27, 1870, the Alabama Legislature incorporated the City of Ozark. (Back):
Ozark’s Role in the Origin of Fort Rucker
In the mid-1930s, several Ozarkians including Congressman Henry B. Steagall and Jesse Adams, editor of The Southern Star, led in the acquisition by the U.S. Government of 35,000 acres of land in the southwest quadrant of Dale County. In 1941, with World War II threatening, the same Ozark leadership persuaded the War Department to use the 35,000 acres as the nucleus of a 64,000-acre Infantry Division training post. The camp, which eventually became the Army Aviation Center and a permanent “Fort,” was named after Confederate General Edmund Winchester Rucker.

(Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Gordon's Flank Attack

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Virginia, Orange County, Lake of the Woods
Before Sunset on May 6, 1864
From this site, you would have seen Confederate Brig. Gen. John B. Gordon quietly assembled ten regiments between here and the woods, across the lake, at Madison Cir.

In those woods, Union Brig. Gen. T. Seymour had ordered his brigade and that of Brig. Gen. A. Shaler "to make small fires and cook coffee" and they both rode off to Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick's 6th Corps headquarters near Spotswood Park.

Suddenly, the long line of gray-clad soldiers appeared and opened fire. They charged by Madison Cir., along Creekside Dr. and up to a mile down the Union line. Within a few minutes, they had killed or captured most of Seymour's and Shaler's brigade and panicked much of Sedgwick's 6th Corps.

The three Union generals, upon hearing the shots and yells, rode to the battle. Shaler, on the fastest horse, was the first captured by Lt. C.M. Compton of the 31st Georgia Infantry and a dozen of his company near Nugget Dr. Soon thereafter, Compton was shot while capturing Seymour. Sedgwick was rallying his troops around the Culpeper Mine Road when a Confederate officer leveled his pistol at him and shouted, "Surrender, you Yankee SOB." Before the Confederate could fire, a New York trooper shot him dead.

At Sunset
The 10th Vermont Infantry check the Confederate advance along a line from Creekside Dr. to the sixth tee box on the golf course. The 10th Vermont Infantry chaplain wrote that their colonel and that of the 106th New York Infantry had their regiments rise up in front of Gordon's regiments and "give three cheers as only soldiers can give them." This yelling caused the Confederates to halt their charge.

By 8 P.M.
"It was impossible to see anything in front of the line fifty feet; I had to be guided by the noise."
-Brig. Gen. R.D. Johnston

After Dusk on a Moonless Night
The battle spread down the Culpeper Mine Road and all its connecting paths, all the way to the Germanna Plank Road, now Route 3.

Brig. Gen. R.D. Johnston's Brigade, consisting of four North Carolina infantry regiments, lost connection with the Georgian regiments. Johnston rode into a Pennsylvania regiment, but he escaped.

Realizing that Yankees were re-forming in force nearby, Johnston ordered his men back to their starting point. His officers reported that they came in sight of the wagon trains (on the Germanna Plank Road) and would have charged upon them, had they not been recalled at this time, which was as darkness was setting in.

Gordon Continued to Fight Past 10 PM
cordon was riding the captured horse of General Shaler. "The horse saved me from capture, when I had ridden, by mistake, into Sedgwick's Corps by night."

Midnight
Lt. Gen. U.S. Grant restored order and removed his troops from Lake of the Woods to a new trench line behind Eastover Parkway.

"About 3 A.M. of May 7th, we started to find the battalion. Parties came straggling in all day. Some never came back., (They were) either killed or wounded and burning up in the terrible fire which swept the wood.
Thus ended the Battle of the Wilderness for us and the army."

-Col. H.C. Kirk, 4th New York Heavy Artillery

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Battle of the Wilderness

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Virginia, Orange County, Lake of the Woods
1st NC Cavalry and Ewell's lead infantry regiments fought Sedgwick's three divisions throughout Lake of teh Woods Golf Course.

Regiments from Nine States in Lake of the Woods
May 5, 1864

Union Infantry
Maine 5th, 6th, 7th
New Jersey 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 15th
New York 43rd, 49th, 77th, 121st
Ohio 126th
Pennsylvania 49th, 61st, 95th, 96th
Wisconsin 5th

Confederate Infantry
Louisiana 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th
Virginia 2nd, 4th, 5th, 13th, 25th
Cavalry
North Carolina 1st

10:00 A.M. - The First Battle inside of Lake of the Woods
Sedgwick's skirmishers encountered the 1st NC Cavalry in the area of Mt. Pleasant Dr. to Beachside Cr.

12:00 P.M. - Sedgwick established the 1st Division Field Hospital at Spotswood's Farm.
Sedgwick's 1st Division headed down Culpeper Mine Road toward Saunder's Field.
The 49th Pennsylvania Volunteers chased a number of the 1st NC dismounted troopers in the vicinity of the #1 fairway. Pvt. Westbrook stated, "We drove the rebels in our front like a lot of sheep."

2:00 P.M. - Ewell deployed skirmishers in front of his regiments that had moved up the Culpeper Mine Road.
The 33rd Virginia Infantry rifles formed a line near the 5th green to the Lake. Ewell placed some artillery near Lee Cir. Their solid shot crashed through the tree tops along the 6th and 7th fairways.
Sedgwick's line stretched from Mansion Ct. back to Germanna Plank Road.
The 5th Wisconsin Infantry attacked Ewell's 1st Division in the area near LOW Church.

Sedgwick's Corps, some 24,163 troops, passed down Culpeper Mine Road and through the Wilderness.
During the next 36 hours of intense combat, 3,660 wounded walked or were carried back up the road to the Field Hospital; another 1,375 were killed or captured.
By midnight of May 6th, the rest had retreated to behind Keaton Lake.

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
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