Libertytown-Hot, Humid, and Worn Out - Libertytown MD - U.S. Civil War Sites on Waymarking.com

TEXT ON THE HISTORICAL MARKER

Libertytown Hot, Humid, and Worn Out-Gettysburg Campaign-On June 29, 1863, the Army of the Potomac's II Corps, commanded by Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, broke camp south of Frederick near the Monocacy River, marched into Frederick, and turned eastward on the road to Liberty (Libertytown). The men perspired as the sun rose, and the heat caused "the salty liquid to get into the eyes, causing them to burn and smart, and it ran from down under the cap, through the dust and down the sides of the face which was soon covered with muddy streaks, the result of repeated wipings upon the sleeves of the blouse."

Gen. John Gibbon, commanding the corps' Second Division, was a tough regular army officer, but he realized that his volunteers were faltering. The 19th Massachusetts Infantry had a glee club, and Gibbon wanted it to sing rousing, morale-raising songs. Col. Arthur F. Devereux ordered his his singers to the front, where they broke into a stirring marching son. "The effect was magical," remembered one Bay Stater. Although they hoped to bivouac in Liberty, some reinvigorated soldiers made it all the way to Uniontown in Carroll County before they halted for the night.

Gibbon's division was heavily engaged at Gettysburg on July 2-3, suffering 1,651 casualties. The 19th Massachusetts lost 77 killed, wounded, and missing, likely including several members of the glee club that sang so lustily on that hot June day.

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Date Logged Log User Rating   03/30/2023 Don.Morfe visited it 05/02/2020 Searcher28 visited it

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