Westminster Depot

Westminster Depot (HM8YY)

Location: Westminster, MD 21157 Carroll County
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Country: United States of America
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N 39° 34.5', W 76° 59.772'

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Inscription

Pressed into Service

— Gettysburg Campaign —

During the Civil War, railroads for the first time attained strategic importance for transporting troops and equipment. On July 1, 1863, Gen. Herman Haupt, chief of U.S. Military Railroads, assumed control here of the Western Maryland Railroad to supply the army engaged at Gettysburg. He found a depot nearby as well as several large grain and flour warehouses. Two days earlier, however, after a cavalry action in the streets, hungry Confederates had raided the warehouses for food for themselves and grain for their famished horses.

Haupt made a covered wagon his temporary office and quickly created a military supply depot here. Four hundred Railroad Construction Corpsmen soon arrived from Alexandria, Virginia, with lanterns, buckets and rails. They hauled water from a nearby impoundment and brought in firewood for the steam locomotives. Soon 30 trains in 5-train convoys moved 1,500 tons of supplies and ammunition in 150 cars daily from Baltimore to Westminster. Previously, the single-track line, completed in 1861, had carried only four trains a day. Within two days, the army's needs were more than met, and excess supplies went to Gettysburg hospitals. Thousands of Union wounded and almost 7,000 Confederate prisoners passed through the Westminster depot July 1-7.

Ellen Orbison Harris of the Philadelphia Ladies Aid Society wrote on July 4, "Westminster, 4 a.m., spent the night on the cars, being the only woman; and with a kind-hearted baker and his wife, had an opportunity of comforting some of our wounded with pies and cakes of their manufacture."
Details
HM NumberHM8YY
Series This marker is part of the Maryland Civil War Trails series
Tags
Historical Period19th Century, Civil War
Historical PlaceMilitary Installation, Town, Train
Marker TypeHistoric District
Marker ClassHistorical Marker
Marker StyleFree Standing
Placed ByMaryland Civil War Trails
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Tuesday, September 23rd, 2014 at 12:51am PDT -07:00
Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18S E 328546 N 4382491
Decimal Degrees39.57500000, -76.99620000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 39° 34.5', W 76° 59.772'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds39° 34' 30.0000" N, 76° 59' 46.3200" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)410
Can be seen from road?Yes
Is marker in the median?No
Which side of the road?Marker is on the right when traveling East
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 1-9 MD-27, Westminster MD 21157, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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