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Military Operations at Laurel, MD, 1861-1865

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Figure 1: Martenet's Map of Prince George's County, Maryland, 1861.

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Figure 2: camp_hathaway_141st_regt_nysv_1863_max_rosenthal

Letters and history of Laurel during the Civil War.

The Story of Aunt Becky's Army-Life

9/8/1862 - 109th New York - “MONDAY EVENING, Sept. 8….We rode out on the pleasant Sunday morning, passing our detachments at Savage Switch and at Laurel, and from the latter point struck off some seven miles up the 'Brookville Road'.” - Buffalo Express, 9/15/1862

10/9/1862 - 141st New York - “We arrived at the place designated for our camp early on Wednesday morning. It is situated along the rail road within the limits of the neat little village of 'Laurel,' 18 miles from Washington; upon a beautiful meadow, situated on a slight eminence gradually descending toward the rail road…” - Corning (NY) Journal, 10/9/1862

10/24/1862 - “CAMP 141 REGIMENT N. Y. Vols. Laurel Station, Prince George County, MARYLAND, Sept 25, 1862…Our ride from Elimira to this place was one long ovation…We are encamped in a fine meadow on a sloping ground, between the Baltimore and Ohio R. R,. track and the carriage road…our tents extending from one road to the other, and so near the track that we can readily distinguish and converse with the passengers in the cars…Our men are now engaged in building an abattis and blockhouse at the bridge. Laurel is a neat, sleepy little lazy village of one street, the houses built mostly of stone, the streets shaded, and a large old fashioned pump in the middle of the street in from of every third or fourth house. Before the war it was quite a manufacturing town, but at present there is no business of any kind carried on, and hardly a white man to be seen. Everything is different from a Northern village. The wagons are large enough to make a dozen like those made by neighbor Conderman, and are drawn around by three or four horses with a slave riding one of them. Everything human is sleepy, lazy, listless and inactive…” - Hornellsville (NY) Tribune, 10/2/1862

10/9/1862 - “CAMP HATHAWAY, 141st Regiment N. Y. Vols., LAUREL, Md., Oct. 5, 1862…We are here yet…Yesterday our camp was honored by a visit from Secretary Seward…” - Hornellsville (NY) Tribune, 10/9/1862

10/24/1862 - “141st New York. Our Regiment is encamped at Laurel, 3 miles from the Annapolis Junction…” - Addison (NY) Advertiser, 11/5/1862

10/30/1862 - 141st New York - “We have a fair prospect of wintering here, and Paul Wisner's ingenuity is brought into constant requisition in building stoves, consisting of a square hole in the ground covered with a piece of sheet iron, with a barrel for a pipe…” - Hornellsville (NY) Tribune, 10/30/1862

11/15/1862 - 141st New York - “Our Regiment is down at Laurel yet, and is building barracks…” - Hornellsville (NY) Tribune, 11/20/1862

11/25/1862 - “THE ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIRST NEW YORK, Col. Hathaway, arrived in this city yesterday. The regiment has been in the field two months, doing duty at Laurel Station, guarding the Baltimore and Ohio railroad.” - Daily National Republican, 11/25/1862

11/29/1862 - 141st New York - “Our Regiment left Laurel, Md., on Monday the 24th Inst. Our duties at Laurel had been light, our rations good, our quarters (which we had anticipated occupying through the winter) were very comfortable, and although anxious to see more of the country and the cause that brought me here, still it was not without feelings of regret that we turned our backs on camp Hathaway…” - Hornellsville (NY) Tribune, 11/20/1862

2/25/1863 - 109th New York - “Camp at Laurell, Md., February, 25th 1863…There are five Companies stationed here under command of Lt. Col. Catlin. We have comfortable quarters constructed of logs and covered with our tents, and the intervening space between the logs is filled with mud…Laurell is a place of about one thousand inhabitants: it contains three churches, a large machine shop, and the Laurell Cotton Mills, both of which are now idle, the effects of secession…” - Broome (NY) Republican, 3/18/1863

6/4/1863 - 109th New York - “Annapolis Junction, Md.,…Companies A, C and D have moved from Laurel to this place…” - Broome (NY) Republican, 6/10/1863

7/15/1863 - “The bridge crossing the Patuxent river at Laurel Station, was also washed away, together with the stone abutments; it was about sixty feet in length and regarded as a substantial structure. On the north side of the embankment at Laurel was a block house of good size, in which a number of soldiers of the 109th New York volunteers had taken quarters. The rapidly rolling flood soon undermined its foundation and carried it off. Of those who were inside five are reported drowned.” - Alexandria Gazette, 7/15/1863

4/26/1864 - “Yesterday, Captain William R. Riddle, of the 6th regiment Veterans Reserve Corps, discovered a man lurking in the vicinity of Laurel, Md., under very suspicious circumstances. The Captain arrested the individual, who upon being questioned gave his name as Lieut. George Taylor, of Moseby's rebel guerrillas…” - Evening Star, 4/26/1864

7/20/1864 - “LOSS OF MULES. Over four hundred mules, belonging to a Government contractor, which were on pasture near Laurel Station…were gobbled by the rebels last Tuesday…” - Daily National Intelligencer, 7/20/1864

8/26/1865 - “SALE OF GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS AT HYATTSVILLE AND LAUREL STATION, BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD, MD. Headquarters Department of Washington, Office of Chief Quartermaster. Will be sold at Public Auction…
At LAUREL STATION, Md., at 3 o'clock p. m., TWELVE LOG BUILDINGS averaging 16×12 feet, with board roofs, floors, and partitions…” - Evening Star, 8/26/1865

laurel.txt · Last modified: 2019/05/10 15:15 (external edit)