St John's Lutheran Church - Hagerstown, Maryland
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 39° 38.419 W 077° 43.314
18S E 266428 N 4391378
Marker with information about the role the church played in the Civil War in Hagerstown, Maryland.
Waymark Code: WMKE62
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 03/29/2014
Views: 9
Text of marker:
St. John's Lutheran Church was erected in 1795. During the Civil War on July 6, 1863, cavalry of both armies clashed in the streets of Hagerstown from noon until dark. Observers recorded that the streets were full of dead and wounded soldiers and dead horses and the buildings were pock-marked with bullet holes.
Confederate troops occupied the town until July 12, when driven out by Union forces including General George Armstrong Custer's Michigan cavalry brigade, which forced the Confederates out to the western edge of town. Federal General Oliver O. Howard (later a founder and early president of Howard University) observed Confederate positions south of town from the St. John's chruch bell tower.