Historic U S Flags

Fighting, politics of war came to doorsteps of residents in county

Maryland's position as a border state during the Civil War meant there were strong Southern sympathies as well as Northern ones, something that was also seen in Carroll, according to Cathy Baty, curator of collections at the Historical Society of Carroll County.

"The cliche of the Civil War was ‘brother against brother,'" Baty said. "That really happened here in the county."

The ratio of county residents who served the Union compared to the Confederate army was 3-to-1, though that number isn't as straightforward as it may seem, Baty said. While the Union set up recruiting stations and called for regiments in the county, joining the other side required more work.

"If you wanted to join the Confederate army, you had to actually sneak out of the state and enlist with someone, so it was a much harder task," Baty said. "Not to mention that at the point, you were really cutting ties with family and friends at home, because no one knew what would happen during or after the war."

Reading firsthand accounts of the Civil War illustrates the division within the county, Baty said, including the account of Col. Thomas L. Rosser leading his Virginia cavalry through Westminster in 1862.

She said when Rosser's cavalry came through, all the Union flags disappeared and Confederate flags came out. When they left the next morning, Confederate flags were put away and Union flags suddenly reappeared.

Shriver Cousins

"Just South of Gettysburg," a book that uses personal accounts to illustrate the story of Carroll County during the Civil War, includes two letters between a pair of Shriver cousins who grew up as close friends on the same street in Union Mills. During the Civil War, one served in a Pennsylvania regiment for the Union, while the other fought in a Confederate cavalry regiment.

Below are excerpts from their letters to each other:

"My dear Aust:

"... Now I think the only patriots in the land are the Southerners, and in a little while you who have brought about this ‘unholy war' will be brought to your senses. You will be those who in the sight of future generations will justly merit a name more dishonorable and disgraceful than Rebel. I would sooner live under the Queen of England than our present ruler.

"I will stop, ‘tis useless to extenuate. I suppose you will hardly read what I have already written and I might in my warmth of feeling say something which would provoke you to anger. Though, dear Aust, we cannot agree upon the political subject now before us, you will now and ever after and under all circumstances have in me, I am sure, as good a friend and as affectionate a cousin as any other man. Let not political differences intrude upon our friendship ... .