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| Part of the Thomas Farm. Photo by Elizabeth Richardson. |
The morning of the battle, Mr. Worthington and his slaves harvested as much of their crops as they could, and then he ordered his slaves to gather all the horses and take them to the darkest, most remote area on Sugar Loaf Mountain. The hope was to keep them out of the hands of the Confederate "thank you for your contribution to the war effort" raiders. Only Old Davy - the carriage horse - and an old mule were left behind. During the battle, Col. Randolph Barton had his horse shot out from underneath him. Apparently a colonel can't do what colonels do without a horse, so his orderly scouted around for a replacement. He found Old Davy. The old horse was brought to the colonel, who mounted only to have Old Davy shot out from under him a few minutes later. Poor Old Davy. As for the hidden horses, SPOILER ALERT: the Confederates got them. They weren't alone; about 200 horses were "hidden" on that mountain from area farmers and they were all taken.1
So when the battle was over and they needed to clean up their fields, hitching the horses to their wagons to go collect the debris was out of the question. Ditto for hitching their horses to their plows to clear out what's left of the summer harvest or planting a fall harvest for the next crop. I'll write another post about some of the technology advances that we know were being used or tested by the battlefield farms during the Civil War, but the bottom line is that animals provided most of the power on a farm. Not only did our battlefield farms lose their crops from the battle, but also a lot of the ability to just run the day-to-day aspects of a farm.
This is an extreme example of intentional livestock theft, but it wasn't a happy day when a farm discovered even one of his animals had wandered off this property, either. Good, strong fences help keep animals where they belong, but to add insult to injury for our battlefield farmers, whenever the Confederate and Union armies came through, they had a tendency to take off with our farmers' wooden fences. We know this from the damage claims some of our farms filed with the government2 and also the following advertisement3 run in April 1863:
TO THE PUBLIC.The Confederate and Union armies had both camped here and confiscated the local farmers' fencing during the Maryland Campaign on their way to Antietam. I've found no evidence to indicate whether these farmers found stray livestock on their lands that season, but anyone who has ever had Houdini-reincarnated-as-the-family-pet knows that animals have a way of getting past barriers if they really want to. It's become a bit of a running joke that the first newspaper notice I find about a new family I'm researching is usually an advertisement alerting neighbors they found a stray.
The undersigned hereby give public notice to all whom it may concern, that they intend impounding all stock found tresspassing upon their lands. In consequence of their fencing beind destroyed in a great measure by the army, it is impossible for them to have their farms fenced in time, and therefore hope and expect, that all those having stock in the neighborhood or otherwise, will see to having it secured in such manner as not to be found tresspassing at large upon their premises.
RICHARD W. ROLLAND,
JOHN T. WORTHINGTON,
DAVID BEST,
ISAAC H. HOWARD,
J. H. GAMBRILL,
JACOB C. KANODE,
C. K. THOMAS,
JOHN REICH,
PHILIP REICH,
CALVIN PAGE.
April 8--paid
Interestingly, the tone of these advertisements have changed over time. In the 1700s and early 1800's, the tone is neighborly and informative, such as this advertisement placed by James Marshall4:
Frederick County, September 15, 1773According to the NPS's Archeology Assessment, Marshall owned most of what would eventually become the Monocacy National Battlefield5 (plus some); that's a lot of land for strays to hide. I don't yet know if Marshall had fencing around the entire perimeter of his estate, which would have minimized bovine trespassers if it was in good shape, but his "I found your livestock" notices didn't lose their neighborly tone as time went on:
THERE is now at my plantation, on Monocassy, a brindled STEER about three years old, with a swallow fork in each ear, and a piece cut off the top on the lower side of each fork. The owner is desired to prove his property, pay charges, and take him away.
JAMES MARSHALL
February 23, 1786Of course, as we saw from the story at the beginning of this post, not all animals who left home did so under their own power. It wasn't long before someone who found stray animals on their property found it necessary to practice a little legal CYA. Fast forward about 40 years, and notices have a bit of a different tone. In fact, they all seem to follow the same formula; here's an example of an advertisement placed on behalf of David Best in 18637:
Taken up as STRAYS,
AT the plantation of the Subscriber, four miles from Frederick Town, TWO MARES; the one is a sorrel, about four years old, 12 hands high, with a large blaze, white mane and tail, and four white feet; a natural pacer, without any perceivable brand; the other a dark Bay, about ten years old, 14 hands high, with a star and a snip, high withers, ridged back, from the middle to the croupe, a natural pacer and goes narrow behind, without any perceivable brand. The owners are desired to prove their property, pay charges, and take them away.
JAMES MARSHALL 6
ESTRAY.I can't help but wonder if that red steer belonged to one of our other families. This is an area where more research is needed to know what kind of incentives were driving those who found stray livestock to get the courts involved. After all, it seems far more neighborly (and cheaper) to just send one of the kids across the field to knock on the neighbor's door to see if they're missing a red steer than to haul that animal a few miles into town to appear before the judge and put a notice in the newspaper. Every "stray" notice that I've found so far in Frederick newspapers during the Civil War era follows this same formula, but what isn't clear is whether it was used as a last resort or the first step after finding that stray. I'm looking forward to learning more, and if anyone reading this happens to have done research in this area, please respond in the comments!
Maryland, Frederick County, Sct:
I HEREBY certify, that David Best, of said County, brought before me, the subscriber, one of the Justices of the Peace in and for the said County, this 20th day of February, 1863, as a Stray, trespassing upon his enclosures, a very large RED STEER or OXEN, supposed to be about ten years old. Given under my hand.
J. M. HARDING.
The owner of the above described Steer or Oxen, is requested to prove property, pay charges, and take him away.
DAVID BEST,
Living about two miles South of Frederick City.
February 25--pd
1 Glenn H. Worthington, Fighting for Time, second revised edition (White Mane Publishing Co., 1985), first edition (Glenn H. Worthington, 1932), p101-103, p155-56 and footnote on 167.↩
2 "Claims for Civil War Damages," Synopsis of various Civil War damage claims by Frederick County farms on the Monocacy Battlefield, undated; Monocacy National Battlefield library, Frederick, Maryland, Interp files, Claims for Civil War Damages.↩
3 "To the Public [impounding tresspassing stock]," advertisement article, The (Frederick, Maryland) Examiner, 08 Apr 1863, p2, col 7, ad6.↩
4 "There is now at my plantation." Maryland Journal, September 05, 1773; p. 4.↩
5 Beasley, Joy (2010). Archeology Overview, Assessment, Identification, and Evaluation Study of the Thomas Farm. Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior; p. 19.↩
6 "Taken up as strays." Maryland Chronicle, or Universal Advertiser, March 01, 1786; p. 3.↩
7 "Estray [found by David Best]," advertisement article, The (Frederick, Maryland) Examiner, 25 Feb 1863, p2, col6, ad3.↩
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