Mt. Ephraim Crossroads

Mt. Ephraim Crossroads (HMFE)

Location: Dickerson, MD 20842 Montgomery County
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Country: United States of America
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N 39° 14.886', W 77° 21.01'

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Inscription

Sharpshooters Hold the Line

— Antietam Campaign 1862 —

You are looking at Sugarloaf Mountain, where the running cavalry fight that began in the late afternoon on September 9, 1862, in Barnesville came to a halt. By the next morning, the 7th and 9th Virginia Cavalry had been brought to bay here at the southern base of the mountain by the 8th Illinois and 3rd Indiana Cavalry. Both sides had been reinforced, and each had brought up artillery. Dismounted sharpshooters of the 2nd Virginia Cavalry looked down on the Federals from among the trees and rocks on the slopes of the mountain. The fighting continued throughout the day with much cannon fire. By evening neither side had budged, and one Union cavalryman had been killed and one wounded.

Early on the morning of September 11, the Confederates slipped away after brief exchanges of gunfire, also abandoning a signal station atop the mountain. As the Army of Northern Virginia was marching northwest out of Frederick, the action at Sugarloaf Mountain proved to be a successful rear guard action.

(Sidebar)

The Comus Inn was the Benjamin Johnson family farm at the time of the Civil War, and the crossroads was known as Mt. Ephraim. The family's log cabin was added to in the 1890s. The name Comus (Roman god of revelry and son of Bacchus) was not used until a post office was established here in 1930. In the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted to acquire Sugarloaf Mountain as his presidential retreat, but the owner, Gordon Strong, refused to sell, so the president went north to Shangri-La, now Camp David.
Details
HM NumberHMFE
Series This marker is part of the Maryland Civil War Trails series
Tags
Placed ByMaryland Civil War Trails
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Friday, October 10th, 2014 at 9:37pm PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18S E 297196 N 4346941
Decimal Degrees39.24810000, -77.35016667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 39° 14.886', W 77° 21.01'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds39° 14' 53.16" N, 77° 21' 0.60" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)301
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 23900 Old Hundred Rd, Dickerson MD 20842, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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