C. K. Thomas for President! (...of the Frederick Co. Agricultural Society)

Dear Friends,

With the Great Frederick Fair open for business (Midway all the way, y'all!), I thought it might be fun to look at one of the ways our battlefield families are connected to the fair.

Wait, what? The Monocacy National Battlefield and the Fair? How is that possible?

I'm so glad you asked.

The Frederick County Agricultural Society had been hosting a county agricultural fair off and on for decades prior to the Civil War. The earliest reference I've found to the society was in 1821, when the local newspaper mentioned the organization's constitution had been approved and the candidate for President had declined the position¹. The organization hosted a fair, or "Cattle Show," the following year².

As one might imagine, those festivities stopped during the war, and after the war the society took advantage of the break to reorganize the society. In the fall of 1867, they purchased property as a permanent home for their fair and elected one C. K. Thomas as president.³ Thomas would continue to serve as president of the organization for several years. In 1868, the Society decided to renew their annual fair⁴; Thomas sent a request to William Devries, a former business partner who was serving as president of the Maryland State Agricultural and Mechanical Association, requesting an endorsement of the Frederick County's fair. Mr. Devries complied, posting about it in the Baltimore Sun⁵.

In 1869, the Frederick County Agricultural Society appointed a committee of four to visit none other than President Ulysses S. Grant and request his august presence at the annual fair⁶. The newspaper mentioned the committee used the aid of General Crewel of Frederick County to get an audience with the President; it was during that meeting that the President agreed to attend. Believe it or not, that meeting was held the day before the fair; I can't even imagine the President of the United States having that much flexibility in his calendar today.

Portrait of President Grant by Henry Ulke. 

I was going to describe his reception in town, but perhaps you'd enjoy hearing it in the words of the local newspaper⁷:

FREDERICK, MD., Oct 14--2 p.m. --The train arrived here at 11:30 o'clock a.m., amid ringing of bells and cheering. The Presidential party, in carriages, were escorted by the marshals of the occasion. President Grant was in a four-horse open carriage, accompanied by C. Keefer Thomas, President of the Society, and others. The carriage proceeded to the residence of W. H. Falconer, where the officers of the Society were introduced to the distinguished visitors, and refreshments were served.
          The principal party was then escorted to the fair grounds, where thousands were gathered who rent the air with their cheering. The President bowed his acknowledgements and the party alighted at the committee rooms, when Colonel Maulsby addressed the President, thanking him for his sympathy and patronage of the arts and sciences shown in visiting the fair, and welcoming him in the name of the citizens of Frederick. The President responded, thanking the Secretary for the reception accorded to him, and expressing his pleasure in visiting the city of which he had heard so much, and which had done nobly in the support of the Government.

Would you believe that carriage ride was not the first time C. Keefer Thomas and Ulysses S. Grant had met? It's true. While General Ulysses S. Grant was not present during the battle, he took advantage of an opportunity to see part of the battlefield a month later. On August 5th, he held a war council with his generals at the Thomas House (known at that time as Araby). Of course, the visit gave the Thomas family the opportunity to meet the famous general; in the books Fighting for Time⁸ and The History of Western Maryland⁹, neighbor Glenn Worthington and historian J. Thomas Scarf, respectively, stated that the council was held in an upstairs room of the Thomas House above the library, and then each related a different anecdote about the family entertaining the General at breakfast the following morning.

Obviously, we don't actually know how well they got along, but Thomas seems to have had a talent for recognizing opportunities to make useful connections. He flowed in and out of business partnerships while a merchant in Baltimore¹⁰, and during the war his friendships with leaders of some of the units stationed at his property is well documented. A few years after the war, he used that talent for forming relationships to get involved in various organizations, most notably the aforementioned Frederick County Agricultural Society. While I've found no evidence to suggest Thomas was part of that 4-person committee to request the President's attendance at the fair, is it possible he had influence? I'll leave that to you to decide.

So we're standing on the fair grounds, President Grant had just listened to Col. Maulsby welcome him and was getting ready to say a few words of his own. According to President Grant's papers, his speech went something like the following¹¹:

I have great pleasure in visiting for the first time the City of Frederick, of which I have heard so much during the period of the late rebellion, and which, too, stood up manfully for the maintenance of a whole Union. I expected to visit this city some years ago, but found myself unable to do so; but now that I have found so many friends, and have been so gratified with what I have seen of your fair and enjoyed of your hospitality, I hope at some future time to visit you again.

Anybody else catch that? In his speech he talks about it being the first time he visited Frederick, and yet we know he was at our battlefield in August of 1864. In addition to the two books listed above, both President Grant's and General Sheridan's memoirs specifically mention that the transfer of authority from General Hunter to Sheridan happened at Monocacy Junction (where Hunter's troops were camped along the river banks). The first time I read the President's speech it took me back a step, but I suspect the reason is because, in the last 150 years, the limits of Frederick have expanded so that we consider the properties of the battlefield to be part of Frederick city and not the separate "Monocacy Junction" or "Araby" community that it was during the war. We have no reason to believe that General Grant actually entered the city in 1864; indeed, the local newspaper is astonishingly silent on the entire visit. If he truly held his war council on the 5th in the Thomas House, and then had breakfast with the Thomas family the following morning, it seems likely that he would have spent the night there instead of venturing into town. Certainly anything the Thomas House had to offer would be more comfortable than quarters in camp with the troops.

Either way, getting the President of the United States to attend your fair is quite an accomplishment for any county society, and since it was done while C. K. Thomas was president, he gets part of the credit. That was not the only good news that our battlefield families received at the fair that year. In the list of premiums awarded at the fair¹, C. K. Thomas won about $45 total by winning in 5 different categories, while John T. Best won about $29 in 4 other categories. And Mrs. C. K. Thomas was called out by the local newspaper for donating a chair that was bottomed "handsomely with cane by a totally blind soldier" and recognized for its excellence. I like to think that Mrs. Thomas donated the chair out of support for the country's veterans, but it is perhaps an unfortunate sign of those times that Mrs. Thomas was named for donating the chair but the soldier who did the work was doomed to anonymity.

As for more current events, I haven't entered anything in this year's fair, but I will be there this Thursday in the battlefield's booth to celebrate History Day. (Also to indulge in some carnie food like funnel cake. Here's hoping I don't get confectioner's sugar all over myself.) If you're planning to be there on the same day, please stop by to say hello! I'd love to meet you.

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1 “[At a regular meeting of the Frederick County Agricultural Society]”, The (Frederick, MD) Republican Gazette and General Advertiser, 17 Mar 1821, p 3, col 1, ad 7.^↩
2 “Frederick County Cattle Show and Fair,” The (Frederick, MD) Republican Gazette and General Advertiser, 27 Apr 1822, p3, col 2, ad 4.^↩
3 ”Locals: Frederick County Agricultural Society," article, The (Frederick, MD) Examiner, 22 May 1867, p2, col 2.^↩
4 ”Agricultural Exhibition," article, The (Frederick, MD) Examiner, 17 Jun 1868, p2, col 4.^↩
5 ”Frederick City, MD," article, The (Baltimore) Sun, 14 Oct 1868, p2, col 2. ^↩
6 "Locals: Interview with President Grant," article, The (Frederick, MD) Examiner, 13 Oct 1869, p2, col 4.^↩
7 “Telegrams to the Star, This Afternoon's Dispatches,” article, Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 14 Oct 1869, p 1, column 4, 3rd dispatches.^↩
8 Glenn H. Worthington, Fighting for Time, second revised edition (White Mane Publishing Co., 1985), first edition (Glenn H. Worthington, 1932), p204-07.^↩
9 Scharf, J. Thomas, History of Western Maryland, Vol I-II, online edition (Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com, 2015), 573.^↩
10 There a number of advertisements notifying readers of the formation and dissolution of a number of partnerships, including the following:^↩
      “Notice. T. E. Hambleton…” advertisement, American and Commercial Daily Advertiser (Baltimore, MD), 07 Nov 1849, p 2, col 8, advertisement 14.
      “Partnerships,” advertisement, American and Commercial Daily Advertiser (Baltimore, MD), 02 Jul 1852, p 3, col 3, para 8.
      “Partnerships,” advertisement, American and Commercial Daily Advertiser (Baltimore, MD), 05 Jul 1852, p 2, col 6, advertisement 1.
      “The Copartnership [Devries, Stephens & Thomas],” advertisement, TheSun (Baltimore, MD), 02 Jul 1861, p 2, para 9, col 4.
11 Simon, John Y (ed). The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant,Volume 19: July 1, 1868-October 31, 1869, (Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale and Edwardsville), p. 548; digital images, Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library.^↩
12 “List of Premiums,” article, The (Frederick, MD) Examiner, 20 Oct 1869, p 2, column 5-6.^↩

Old McDonald Had a Farm (and the farm was run by horsepower)

Part of the Thomas Farm. Photo by Elizabeth Richardson.

Dear Friends,

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 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

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.

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, 1773
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

According 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:

                                    February 23, 1786
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

Of 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:

ESTRAY.
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 

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!

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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.^↩