Antietam-Prehistoric Remains--Longmeadows-Skipton-on-Craven -Deceit-Darling's Sale-Lambert's Park-Downing's Lot-Ches- ter-Well Taught-Allamangle-All That's Left-Rich Barrens- Perry's Retirement-Huckleberry Hall-Dry Spring-Burkhart's Lot-Scant Timber-Father's Good Will-Elysian Fields-The Farmer's Blessing-Addition to Cumberland-Turkey Buzzard- SOCIAL AND MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT. Language, Dress, Etc.-Slavery-Erection and Boundaries of Lei- tersburg District - Politics-"In War Times"-Agricultural De- velopment-Postal Facilities-Public Roads-Bridges-Turnpikes -Mills-Rock Forge-Distilleries-Tanneries, Textile Manufac- .51-101 "The Hollow House "-Martin's School-Leitersburg Schools-The Jacobs Church School-"Jacob Miller's School House"-Paradise- INTRODUCTION. WASHINGTON COUNTY, MARYLAND. SITUATION AND EXTENT-GENERAL HISTORY-POLITICAL ORGANIZATION-INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS-TOWN AND VILLAGE GROWTH. A NOTICEABLE feature of the Appalachian mountain system is the great valley that extends from Vermont to Alabama, bounded on either side by parallel ranges and crossed by the largest rivers of the Atlantic slope in the United States-the Hudson, the Delaware, the Susquehanna, the Potomac, and the James. The section between the Susquehanna and the Potomac is called the Cumberland valley, in which the larger part of Washington County is situated. It is bounded on the south by the Potomac river; on the east the South mountain separates it from the adjacent county of Frederick; Mason and Dixon's Line is the northern limit of its territory, which terminates at Sideling Hill creek on the west. The county has a maximum length of forty-four miles; in breadth it varies from a mile and a half at Hancock to twentyeight miles at the base of the South mountain. The basin of the Potomac river embraces the whole of Washington County, from which its principal affluents are the Conococheague and Antietam. Both rise in Pennsylvania. The former pursues an extremely winding course through the geological formation known as slate or shale and joins the Potomac at Williamsport; the latter traverses a limestone region and terminates its course near Sharpsburg. GENERAL HISTORY. The Indian occupation of Western Maryland is perpetuated in the names of its streams-Potomac, Conococheague, Antietam, Tonoloway, Monocacy, etc. Indian village sites, burial grounds, and battle-fields have been identified in various parts of Washington County. About the year 1736 a sanguinary battle occurred at the mouth of the Conococheague between the Delawares and Catawbas, in which the former were disastrously defeated. Schlatter, writing of the Conococheague region in 1749, says: "In this neighborhood there are still many Indians, who are well disposed and very obliging and are not disinclined toward the Christians when they are not made drunk by strong drink." The upper Potomac was explored at an early period in the history of Maryland, but nearly a century elapsed after the founding of St. Mary's before the present territory of Washington County was formally opened to settlement. The sale of lands west of the South mountain was first authorized in 1733. The Proprietary reserved the Manor of Conococheague, a tract of eleven thousand acres. The largest individual estate in the county was Ringgold's Manor (twenty thousand acres); Chew's farm, Longmeadows, Montpelier, the Chapline, Jacques, and Hughes lands were also extensive tracts. Two converging streams of immigration contributed to the early settlement of Washington County. There was a movement of population, principally English in nationality, across the South mountain from the older settlements of Maryland, while the German communities of southeastern Pennsylvania also contributed a large contingent, which found its way thither through Lancaster, York, and the Cumberland valley. To the relative numerical strength of the different nationalities composing the early population there is perhaps no better index than religious preferences. The Church of England was an established provincial institution and one of the first places of public worship in the county was an Episcopal chapel, situated near Chapel Woods school in Funkstown District; but the adherents of this faith, while generally wealthy and influential, were not numerous, and no other English church existed in the county before the Revolution. There was a German Reformed congregation at Conococheague as early as 1747, at Hagerstown in 1766, and at Salem in 1768; a German Lutheran congregation at Antietam in 1754, at Sharpsburg in 1768, at Hagerstown in 1769, and at Funkstown in 1771. German Mennonites and Baptists were also represented before the Revolution. Washington County was the scene of important military operations during the French and Indian war. Braddock's army, which rendezvoused at Frederick, crossed the county on its march to Fort Cumberland in the campaign which terminated in disastrous defeat on the Monongahela, July 9, 1755. A general panic ensued; in the Conococheague settlement numbers of people deserted their homes and retired for safety to the interior of the Province. As Fort Cumberland was too far to the westward to afford adequate protection Governor Sharpe built Fort Frederick, an extensive fortification with massive stone walls near the Potomac fourteen miles above the Conococheague. Here a garrison was stationed until the close of hostilities. Parties of Indians still devastated the frontier, however, especially in 1763, when a second exodus similar to that of 1755 occurred. But in 1764 the allied tribes of Pontiac's confederacy were finally defeated and the western frontier of Maryland at length enjoyed the benefits of undisturbed tranquility. After the close of the French and Indian War the development of Washington County was rapid. The population increased, and the cultivated area was greatly extended. The number of mills multiplied and flour became a staple commodity for export. Towns were founded and soon became local centers of business and industry. The mineral resources of the county were also developed: the Jacques Furnace in Indian Spring District, Mt. Aetna at the South mountain, and the Antietam Iron Works were all in operation at this period. A number of important public roads were opened to facilitate internal communication and the transportation of the varied products of the farm, the mill, and the forge to distant markets. In the war for American independence the people of Washington County bore an honorable part. The Stamp Act of 1765 was practically nullified in Frederick County by the action of the county court and the revenue measures by which it was followed were successfully frustrated. "On Saturday, the 2d of July, 1774," as reported in the Maryland Gazette, "about eight hundred of the principal inhabitants of the upper part of Frederick County assembled at Elizabeth-Town and being deeply impressed with a sense of the danger to which their natural and constitutional rights and privileges were exposed by the arbitrary measures of the British Parliament," expressed their sentiments in a series of resolutions in which the Boston Port Bill was denounced, the suspension of all commercial relations with Great Britain and |