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 Union forces including General George Armstrong Custer's Michigan cavalry brigade drove them 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 church bell tower.