Inscription
The Arrest of Ross Winans
On May 11, 1861, Union Gen. Benjamin F. Butler's troops occupied the railroad depot southwest of Baltimore at Relay, where a spur of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's main line turned south to Washington. The seizure of Relay yielded a surprise triumph in the capture of the "Winans Artillery Gun," a rapid-fire steam-powered cannon invented by Ross Winans, before Confederate forces could move it to Harpers Ferry. Winans, a wealthy railroad pioneer well known for his Southern sympathies, often visited his son Thomas D. Winans here at Crimea Mansion.After Butler's men occupied Federal Hill in Baltimore on May 13, Maj. Benjamin Watson and 50 men from the 6th Massachusetts Infantry came here to arrest Ross Winans on Butler's orders. They ignored the painted logs - "Quaker Guns" or simulated cannons - that the younger Winans had deployed on the ridge below the estate to discourage Federal soldiers from entering the property. When a search of the mansion and grounds failed to locate the elder Winans, the soldiers camped on the property in the event that he should return. They cut down the orchard and burned the trees as firewood. The next day, soldiers arrested Winans at Relay as he returned here by train from an emergency session of Maryland's General Assembly held in Frederick. He was the first civilian arrested in Maryland during the Civil War.
Details
| HM Number | HM3T5 |
|---|---|
| Series | This marker is part of the Maryland Civil War Trails series |
| Tags | |
| Historical Period | Civil War |
| Historical Place | Home |
| Marker Type | Historic Building |
| Marker Class | Historical Marker |
| Marker Style | Free Standing |
| Placed By | Maryland Civil War Trails |
| Marker Condition | No reports yet |
| Date Added | Friday, October 17th, 2014 at 9:15am PDT -07:00 |
Pictures
Photo Credits: [1] SEPTEMBERSPARROW1666 [2] SEPTEMBERSPARROW1666 [3] SEPTEMBERSPARROW1666 [4] SEPTEMBERSPARROW1666
Locationbig map
| UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 18S E 353528 N 4352056 |
|---|---|
| Decimal Degrees | 39.30551667, -76.69880000 |
| Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 39° 18.331', W 76° 41.928' |
| Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 39° 18' 19.8600" N, 76° 41' 55.6800" W |
| Driving Directions | Google Maps |
| Area Code(s) | 410, 443 |
| Can be seen from road? | Yes |
| Is marker in the median? | No |
| Which side of the road? | Marker is on the right when traveling West |
| Closest Postal Address | At or near 1901 Eagle Dr, Baltimore MD 21207, US |
| Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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