Making a Mountain Citadel

From 1862 through 1863, Federal forces turned Maryland Heights into a mountain stronghold by building seven fortifications and establishing numerous encampments on the rugged, remote mountain. Reaching the summit was exhausting work, made harder by steep, rocky, crooked roads that were barely wide enough for a wagon and by the labor of hauling guns, ammunition, supplies, water, and a 9,700-pound gun tube up the mountain. Maj. Frank Rolfe of the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery Regiment wrote that the batteries stood from 250 to 2,065 feet above the river and that all guns, ammunition, and supplies were hauled over those difficult roads. Timber cutting was another demanding task, as soldiers clear-cut the upper third of the mountain to open lines of fire and provide wood for shelters and campfires. On October 20, 1862, while commanding a detachment of 100 tree-choppers, Lt. Charles F. Morse of the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry recalled working from the bottom of a ravine up a steep hill, with many trees falling at once in a way that reminded him of men falling in battle. President Abraham Lincoln visited Maryland Heights on October 2, 1862, and after a formal review of the army, Lt. Charles Morse led the presidential party toward the summit until they reached a path that went straight up, where Lincoln turned back and went down the mountain.

Maryland · United States