SALISBURY – The next meeting of the Civil War Roundtable of the Merrimack will be on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, at 7:30pm (doors open at 7pm) at the Hilton Senior Center, 43 Lafayette Rd (Rte1), Salisbury, MA.
“Gilmor’s Maryland Raid of 1864: a Monocacy Side Story,” will be presented by Bill Hallett.
In the early summer of 1864, Robert E. Lee sent Gen. Jubal Early into Maryland near Frederick, to threaten Washington from the north and draw Union troops away from Petersburg. It was also to show the northern public that Lincoln had no grasp on the war and perhaps sway the election that fall.
This would culminate at Monocacy Junction in a battle against Gen. Lew Wallace on July 9, 1864.
However, a side story to this is a daring, almost insane plan by R.E. Lee to have some Confederates storm Point Lookout, a P.O.W. camp, at the southern point where the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River meet, and free thousands of Rebel prisoners – manpower Lee was in need of.
Gen. Bradley T. Johnson was put in charge of this raid and a section of this endeavor was the raid by Harry Gilmor across the state of Maryland.
Gilmor, a Marylander from Towson, a town just north of Baltimore, executed the raid, virtually cutting a line west-to-east all the way to the bay, which severed communication and rail service between the Baltimore/Washington area and points north of the Mason-Dixon.
This program will be presented by Bill Hallett, long time member of this CWRT and past-president of the CWRT of New Hampshire. A former radio announcer, Bill is author of the book, Newburyport and the Civil War (History Press 2012), and is a professional voice-over artist and writer.
Although having New England family roots, as a youngster, Bill grew up in Maryland north of Baltimore and can offer a detailed perspective on the raid and the impact on Maryland. ♦
