Confederate Railroad Raid

On Sunday, April 26, 1863, a detachment of Confederate Capt. John H. McNeill's partisan rangers under Col. A. W. Harman attacked the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad facilities here in Oakland. They were part of Confederate Gen. William E. "Grumble" Jones' incursion into West Virginia and Maryland to hamper the rail movements of Federal troops and supplies.

The town was defended by Company O, 6th West Virginia Infantry, a Preston County unit. The Confederates arrived about 11 a.m. and surprised the garrison. When Oakland's citizens emerged from church services, they found the town in possession of the Southerners. The Union commander, Capt. Godwin, was captured at the Lutheran Church on Green Street, and one by one, three more officers and fifty-seven soldiers were rounded up.

Apparently, only one shot was fired in Oakland, when Confederates who thought that a Union officer was recuperating at the Glades Hotel fired a warning shot from a small cannon past the building. After they turned the gun to face the hotel, the manager came out and begged them to inspect the interior rather than opening fire. They found no Federal officer in the building. Meanwhile, a few Confederates rode west to the Youghiogheny River railroad bridge, where they captured the guards at Fort Alice, disarmed them, and burned the bridge.

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Show me all markers in:  Oakland, MD  |  Garrett County  |  21550  |  Maryland  |  United States of America

1884 Oakland Train Station
Gettysburg Campaign
1920 Baldwin Steam Locomotive
The Glades Hotel
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Garrett Memorial Church
Welcome to Dailey's Park
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The Commercial Hotel and the William James Hotel
The Oakland Hotel

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