C. Keefer Thomas, a businessman, moved his family from Baltimore to his 240-acre farm, Araby, because he believed war would eventually rage around the city, but troops soon marched through or camped on the farm where the Thomases raised corn, wheat, and other crops with slave labor. During the Battle of Monocacy, the family fled to the cellar as artillery shells and rifle shots tore up the house. Thomas recalled that for four years there was not a moment when from 4,000 to 14,000 soldiers were not camped on or near his farm, and by the end of the war he had hardly a fence left, though he was glad to find some of the quiet for which he had left the city. In June 1863, Union Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock established his headquarters at the Thomas farm for three days while his troops were heading north to Gettysburg, and in August 1864 Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant met there with Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan and other military leaders to map plans for the Shenandoah Valley campaign.