B & O Railroad Station

At this intersection on October 4, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln spoke from a railroad car platform to Frederick residents gathered in the streets after returning from the battlefields of South Mountain and Antietam and after calling on Gen. George L. Hartsuff, who was recuperating here from a wound suffered at Antietam, before boarding a train for Washington. He thanked the soldiers for their service, energy, hardships, and blood shed for the Union, and also thanked the citizens of Frederick and the men, women, and children of the land for their devotion to the cause, expressing hope that future generations would continue to enjoy the benefits of a united country and rejoice under institutions bequeathed by Washington and his compeers. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad station also figured in John Brown’s raid on the United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, one of the sparks that ignited the Civil War. On Sunday evening, October 16, 1859, Brown and his supporters entered Harpers Ferry from the Kennedy Farm in nearby Washington County, where they had been organizing the raid since July. They seized the arsenal, killed seven men, and injured a dozen others. Although they cut communication lines, a passing train crew telegraphed the news from Frederick. The next day, three Frederick volunteer fire companies organized as militia units, the Independent Rifles, Junior Defenders, and United Guard, became the first out-of-state responders, riding the train from here to Harpers Ferry to patrol the streets and guard railroad bridges. After a company of U.S. Marines under Col. Robert E. Lee stormed the building and captured Brown and his men, Frederick militia units guarded the prisoners.

Frederick, Maryland · United States