These two handsome interpretives are located in front of the Central Maryland Heritage League @ 200 W. Main St./Route 40. If standing in the road and looking toward the house, the marker on the left is called Middletown - Union Left Flank and on the right, Middletown - Enemies & Friends. Both explore Middletown's association with the Civil War during September of 1862.
Middletown, a fun town to learn about the Civil War, is a place where time has kept still and everything is almost as it was back in September of 1862 when the Civil War raged through this tiny, picturesque town. There are at least 4 markers related to the Civil War located along this patch of Route 40/The National Road which help to interpret the town's association with the Civil War. The markers are of the same stock found at Gettysburg & Antietam: horizontal, all held in a thick, lack, metal frame, 4 feet off the ground and angle forward for easy viewing. This first interpretive (the on the left if you are in the street facing the house) is a few inches from Route 40. That sign of history reads as follows:
Late in June 1863, the Union Army of the Potomac pursued Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia as it invaded the North for the second time. The Federal left flank under Gen. John F. Reynolds occupied the Middletown Valley, June 25–27, holding South Mountain passes against a possible Confederate advance. In Burkittsville, III Corps guarded Crampton's Gap, I and XI Corps defended Fox's and Turner's Gaps respectively. On Saturday night, June 27, valley farmers and villagers brought pies, cakes, and milk to the camps. The next morning, while church bells rang in Burkittsville, Jefferson, and Middletown, Reynolds and his men marched away to Frederick to take the roads that led to Gettysburg.
After the battle, most of the Union army returned to the valley in pursuit of the Confederates retreating to Virginia, and Gen. John Buford led his Federal cavalry through Middletown on July 7. The I and IV Corps entered the valley through the Hamburg Pass, while V and XI Corps, accompanied by commanding Gen. George G. Meade, marched by here on the National Road. The rest of the army moved on to Jefferson, Burkittsville, and Crampton's Gap by July 10. Union soldiers washed their clothing and leather equipment in the refreshing waters of Catoctin Creek. During the next week, supply wagons carried provisions to the army while it confronted Lee across the Potomac River.
Additionally, there is a map on the lower corner of the marker. The text with the map reads: Position of the Union Army of the Potomac June 27, 1863. The Union army, commanded by Gen. Joseph Hooker, moves north in pursuit of Gen. Robert E. Lee's Confederate army which was invading Pennsylvania. There are also two black and white pictures (at the top left of the interpretive) of Generals John Buford and John F. Reynolds.
The second interpretive, on the right (again, if standing in the street facing the house), is similar to the other interpretive concerning the same scope of history. This sign of history reads as follows:
When Gen. Robert E. Lee and part of the Army of Northern Virginia passes through Middletown on September 10–11, 1862, they encountered a chilly reception. The inhabitants of this single-street hamlet on the National Road loved the Union, and the ragged Confederates who marched west through here epitomized what the citizens regarded as a rebellion. Confronted by openly defiant residents, the Confederates considered Middletown the most Union of all places they saw during their first trek to Maryland. When part of Gen. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac marched through town a few days later, the citizens were more welcoming.
Following the Battle of South Mountain on September 14, Middletown's churches and dwellings became hospitals for Union casualties. Future President of the United States Rutherford B. Hayes, then a lieutenant colonel of the 23rd Ohio Infantry, was wounded at Fox's Gap. His wife, Lucy, nursed him back to health at Jacob Rudy's home at 504 West Main Street.
Additionally, the center of the marker displays a drawing of Union troops marching through Middletown on the National Road. A picture of General Jackson is on the right in the margin with the following accompanying text: As Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson rode through Middletown on September 10, two very pretty girls with ribbons of red, white, and blue in their hair and small Union flags in their hands ran out to the curbstone, and laughingly waved their colors defiantly in the face of the General. He bowed and lifted his cap with a quite smile and said to his staff, “We evidently have no friends in this town.” –Henry Kyd Douglas, I Rode with Stonewall.