A Frederick Diarist on the National Road

In 1826, Jacob Engelbrecht moved to the house across the street near Carroll Creek. He began reporting on the National Road cavalcade that was going by his front door. His priceless diary recorded everything he saw. Travelers he observed included:

The famous:
General Winfield Scott, Presidents Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison and Senator Henry Clay rode through, traveling to the Capital City.

The ordinary:
"A drove of turkeys amounting to nearly four hundred from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania just now passed the door on their way to Washington City. They go at the rate of 8 miles per day."

And in 1862, Civil War armies:
"For three days I was nearly continually looking at the Rebel army passing and nearly the whole army passed our door."

For a half century, Mr. Engelbrecht had a front row seat to American history. His diary recorded everything he saw, and is now in the collection of the Historical Society of Frederick County.

(Sidebar): Barbara Fritchie
Local legends distinguish Barbara Fritchie for defiantly waving the American flag at Confederate troops in 1862. Jacob Engelbrecht, who never saw the event, was an early voice that disputed the story. An 1869 diary entry claimed, "...should anything like that have occurred I am certain someone in our family would have noticed it." In spite of skeptics, the Barbara Fritchie legend lives on.

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