47 miles W of Baltimore, 45 miles NW of Washington, D.C., 34 miles S of Gettysburg
Frederick has long been an important crossroads. With the building of the National Pike in the 1700s, it was linked with the port city of Baltimore and became a stop on the road west. Young Francis Scott Key grew up and practiced law in Frederick before writing the poem that would become our national anthem. When Elizabeth Ann Seton sought a place for her new community of religious women, she looked west to Frederick, finally finding a home just north of the city in Emmitsburg.
During the Civil War, thousands of wounded soldiers arrived in Frederick to recover. The first came in August 1862, following the Battle of South Mountain. More arrived the next month after the battle at Antietam, the bloodiest day of battle during the Civil War. So many wounded arrived, they outnumbered Frederick's own citizens.
In 1862, Barbara Fritchie confronted General Stonewall Jackson and was immortalized in poetry: Shoot if you must this old grey head/but spare your country's flag
2 years later, Confederate General Jubal Early demanded a $200,000 ransom that saved the town from destruction. Battles at Harpers Ferry and Gettysburg brought more wounded before the Battle of the Monocacy was waged to the southeast.
That $200,000 figure for the ransom the confederates extracted from the City of Frederick would be $2,722,810.24 in 2007 dollars using the consumer price index as a guide to calculate the factor of inflation.
Reminders of these sad days remain in the area's historic sites, museums, and four battlefields, maintained by the National Park Service.
Frederick, Maryland's third-largest city, remembers the war with its Barbara Fritchie House and the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. The growing town has drawn people to it, with suburbs extending down toward Washington, D.C., and a downtown area that shines as a place to shop, dine, and relax. Outside town are rolling fields and orchards, the foothills of the Catoctin Mountains, and plenty of green space for picnicking and hiking.
The nearby Monocacy site has changed little since the battle in 1864, except for a few monuments and a visitor center. Antietam has added battlefield guides and opened a field hospital museum. Harpers Ferry reminds visitors of its past in a beautiful setting overlooking the Potomac River. And Gettysburg, just north in Pennsylvania, draws the most crowds among these battlefields.
Once a largely agricultural community, according to the US census 2007 The City of Frederick nosed ahead of Gaithersburg City in Montgomery county Maryland by some 5,000 residents.
Though its downtown district is surrounded by housing developments that have given Frederick a population of 62,000, the 33-block historic area maintains its small-town charm. The buildings from the 1700's and 1800's and cluster of church spires that make up Frederick's skyline are still a main attraction.
Antiques and crafts shops dominate the downtown shopping area, and there's a vibrant restaurant and bar scene. Those who like scenic drives will be happy to know that Frederick lies at the junction of two national scenic byways, the Historic National Road (Alternate U.S. 40) and the Catoctin Mountain Scenic Byway (Rte. 15). North and west of the city, the agricultural community still thrives, with produce stands popping up among the grain fields and meadows.
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http://www.emmitsburg.net/archive_list/articles/history/civil_war/raids_of_1864.htm
After volunteering at Monocacy National Battlefield, I was amazed how little the battle that saved Washington was remembered. I soon discovered it was not known what General Early’s intentions were. Was it Harrisburg? Or, was it Washington? Nobody during the that time knew. The one thing that was clear, a Confederate force of about 18,000 under the command of General Early was marching toward the Mason-Dixon Line by way of Harpers Ferry and Shepherdstown.
Unlike any battle, Monocacy acted as a roadblock against General Early's Confederate forces. Only a handful of 100 days men and militia under the command of General Lew Wallace guarded the entrance into Washington via Frederick, Maryland. General Rickett's soon re-enforced General Lew Wallace and on July 9th, 1864 the battle that saved Washington was on. General Wallace was fighting for time to delay the invading Army for re-enforcements to be brought in from Petersburg, Virginia to defend the Ring of Forts that surrounded Washington. If General Early seceded the Civil War may have ended a day later as the Confederates would have invaded the defenseless capital via Fort Stevens. This was the second time in history the capital of this nation was endangered.....
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