Catoctin Mountain Park Historic Resource Study

Introduction

In 1841, The Baltimore Phoenix and Budget carried a long article reflecting on a half-century of change having occurred in the shadow of the Catoctin mountains. The piece began by recalling the idyllic state of the mountain and environs in the late eighteenth century: "At that period . . almost uninterrupted forest; and game of various descriptions. . . the frightful shrieks of the howling wolf were heard at night." But "a few years brought the woodman's axe in fearful conflict with the mighty oak that had withstood the blasts of many winter, and the majestic trees whose towering height almost pierced the clouds all were laid low." By the early nineteenth century, explained the author: "Now how changed the scene! The p'ough is seen gliding o'er the horizontal plain, attached to furious steeds, and the husbandman is heard merrily whistling, as the chargers fling the foam--now the clank of busy mechanic, and the rattling of chariot-wheels, and the hum of business are always heard." The once peaceable mountains, according to the writer, had changed forever. [1]

This chapter covers the evolution of the area, later to become Catoctin Mountain Park. It carries the story through a time of tumultuous change--from the time of the American Revolution through to the 1830s. While the region remained primarily agricultural, industry, in the form of the iron works, increasingly changed the face of the area both environmentally and socially. To the already diverse Catoctin population was added a new group--African slaves who worked in the furnace. Their work was often brutally hard. But industrial slavery at Catoctin appears to have been a fundamentally different experience from the plantation slavery also practiced at the time.

Forging a Revolution

In 1775, a band of western Marylanders, led by Michael Cresap, marched off to join their colonial brothers under siege in Boston. This was not unexpected. Most residents of the upper Monocacy and Catoctin region were strong supporters of the movement for American independence. The English-descended elites in the region had plenty of reason to resent their colonial overlords. Many were in debt. Others were angered by high taxes. Still others were beset by the mercantile regulations imposed by the British Parliament that circumscribed their businesses. Nor did the Germans in the area have any great allegiance to Great Britain. Many had come to America to escape religious persecution, and efforts to tighten imperial control did not sit well with a population that prized religious and political freedom. Rumors freely circulated that the British planned to impose Church of England practices on all dissenters. Likewise, the Germans--barred by colonial law from voting--felt alienated from the civic life of the region. [2]

Many in the Catoctin area contributed both materially and with their lives to the American cause. [3] Unlike the previous French and Indian War and the future Civil War, there was to be no fighting in the immediate Catoctin vicinity. Nevertheless, western Marylanders volunteered in large numbers to aid the new nation's cause. With a estimated 130,000 colonists of German origin, the continental army organized special German regiments. Most members of the special force came from Maryland and Pennsylvania. German regiment officers were bilingual, but German was the spoken language among the ranks. These special regiments saw action in both the Trenton and Princeton campaigns and spent time at Valley Forge. [4]

Germans from Frederick County and newly-formed Washington County (created out of the Western portion of Frederick County in 1776) served in the German regiments. [5] A survey of the German regiment muster rolls, however, turns up none of the prominent family names from the Catoctin area. However, members of the Frederick County--Middle District regiment did include a few familiar family names including Vallentine Creager, Ludwick Moser, and Michael Fox. Members of the Frederick Company Third District organized out of Emmitsburg included Philip and John Weller, Lawrence Freagers, and Peter Shover (who owned a small farm on what would later become parkland). First Lieutenant Frederick Nicodemus (ancestor of a Nicodemus who owned the furnace property in the twentieth century), headed up the Flying Camp in Washington County. [6]

The paucity of Catoctin-area names among the ranks of Maryland's soldiers may have been due to incomplete records, but also may have related to religious strictures against war. For instance, despite their sympathy for the American cause, Moravian beliefs forbade the taking up of arms. Nevertheless, the Graceham Church recorded that patriotism led some members of the congregation to join the Continental army despite their pacifistic convictions. [7]

American officials viewed those Marylanders who did fight, including those in the German regiments, as among the best soldiers in the continental army. After fighting with distinction in the northern campaigns, the Maryland soldiers were redeployed. They passed through their home state on their way south to the Carolinas. This would be the next theater of the war. In the Southern campaigns, General Nathaniel Greene exalted that, "nothing could exceed the gallantry of the Maryland line." Others recalled the Maryland forces as having "the hottest blood in the union." [8]

Frederick County was not the scene of much fighting, but it made invaluable contributions to the war effort. With its rich wheat fields, the county, claimed one historian, became the "breadbasket of the Revolution," supplying hungry troops and making up for crops destroyed in the many military campaigns of the war. [9] The emerging industries of the region also provided for the military needs of the war. An important powder depository and gunlock factory was situated in Frederick City. There was also a prison camp in the city which held captured Hessian soldiers. [10] Other important powder mills could be found in Antietam and along the Monocacy River. [11]

Revolution and the Furnace

Frederick County's important role in the war could be credited in part to Thomas Johnson's increasingly central role in the government of the new nation. Johnson, along with his brothers, had numerous business interests in Western Maryland--including the brand new Catoctin iron furnace. Earlier he had helped draft many of the early colonial protests to the King's imperial policies. As a wealthy, well-connected patriot, Johnson was elected to the Continental Congress where, in turn, he nominated his friend George Washington to be commander-in-chief of the continental army. Johnson proved to be a well-respected and important member of congress. Fellow congressman John Adams commented that although not a great orator, "Johnson of Maryland, has a clear and cool head . . . He is a deliberating man." [12]

In January 1776, Johnson's home colony tapped his talents when its Provincial Convention elected him Brigadier General of the Militia. In this position Johnson had the challenging duty of raising supplies and money to arm the new army. The job kept him so occupied that he missed the debate and signing of the Declaration of Independence. His work was demanding and allowed Johnson to utilize his immense network of business interests and contacts. On February 13, 1777, the Maryland legislature elected Johnson the first governor of the state. He was inaugurated amid a lavish ceremony in Annapolis on March 13, 1777. [13]

By the time of the American Declaration of Independence, Johnson's long-planned furnace at the foot of the Catoctin mountains was nearly completed--just in time to meet the demands of war. Continuing uncertainty exists as to the exact contribution made by Johnson's Catoctin Furnace during the Revolution. With few surviving records of the operations of the furnace (even for the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century), current research can do little beyond pointing to probabilities. In the case of the Revolutionary War, it does appear that some war materials were produced from iron manufactured at Catoctin. On July 17, 1776, the colonial Council of Safety contacted Thomas Johnson and his brother, James, a colonel in the Continental Army and proprietor of the furnace about the possibility of producing cannon balls and shot from the furnace. The Council of Safety was the revolutionary body in charge of virtually all elements of war preparation and life in the new nation, and it needed the Johnson's help:

"Sir. We are in want of about 20 41b Cannon, 20 31b and 20 21b and 40 Swivels for the use of the Province and desire to know whether you will engage to furnish us with those quantities immediately--if you can, be pleased to favor us as soon as possible with your terms and the time by which you will have them made, the-it will be such more agreeable to us to see you upon the occasion. We shall likewise want 200 Iron Potts, some to contain 4 and other 2 Gallons, with Gales or Handles to supply the place of Camp Kettles, and should be glad you would advise us whether you could also cast them for us and by what time, likewise the price." [14]

On behalf of his brother, Thomas Johnson replied to the Council. He explained that "our furnace is not yet in blast," but there was on hand "a few potts of about the size you describe." Johnson promised an effort to meet the Council's needs. Meanwhile, he assured the council that his "brother is getting his furnace into Blast with all Diligence and hopes to effect it within a fortnight. You may then have any number of potts and kettles that you please within a short time." Johnson also promised "to cast such guns as are wanted but cannot contract for them in all Events because the metal may not suit, although we have every Reason to expect it will." [15]

Most interested in the guns, the council quickly replied: "If your Brother's Iron is suitable for casting Guns we could contract with you for fifty three pounders, fifty four-pounders, and seventy five Swivels to Carry one point Ball." [16] With the Council's offer to purchase guns, the paper trail ends. By September 1777, the Johnson furnace was fully functioning and the partners were advertising for the sale of "[s]alt pans, ten feet square and fifteen inches deep with crews ready to join an fit them up made at Catoctin Furnace about 10 miles from Frederick Town at 551 per ton." [17] Presumably the Johnson's Bush Creek Forge, built in the mid-1770s near the mouth of Bush Creek, three to five miles from Frederick City, forged the iron produced at Catoctin. The Johnson Forge included a rolling and slitting mill, although these might have been added later. [18]

Several years later, in 1780 James Johnson and his partners contracted with the Board of War to "prepare for casting ten inch shells . . . for the use of the United States." Johnson was to ship the shells to Baltimore and be paid in continental dollars. The Board of War, however, seemed to have had reservations about Johnson's abilities to produce the shells. The contract required that the partners "use their best Endeavors" and instructed that "if they can succeed in Casting them" to follow specific instructions for the delivery of the shells. [19] The writers of the contract apparently had some doubt that the Johnson furnace could produce the shells. On the other hand, it was wartime and uncertainties abounded.

No specific evidence could be found that Catoctin Furnace contributed to the production of Revolutionary War munitions. There is ample evidence, however, of discussion relating to munitions manufacturing and the Johnson Furnace. One could surmise that given the Johnson family connections and the length of the war, which lasted seven years following the first blast of the furnace, the Catoctin Furnace did produce iron--either for shot, cannon balls, guns or swivels. At the very least, it appears almost certain that Catoctin iron produced "potts" and other products for the war effort. The Johnson works was a new, centrally-located furnace owned by a well-connected patriotic family. It would be difficult to believe that the Johnson enterprise did not contribute to the war effort.

The announcement of American victory brought tremendous celebration to Frederick County. Fireworks accented festivities in Frederick City, while residents of upper Frederick County enjoyed a victory celebration on Israel Creek. [20] The legacies of the Revolution were many, including the introduction and elevation of industry in the former frontier region. One of the most immediate impacts was the introduction of a new group of German immigrants to the area--Hessian soldiers, many of them former prisoners of war, who decided to stay in the New World. [21] Some apparently found employment in the furnace, eventually becoming key operators. [22]

Rumsey's Steamboat

One of the most interesting events in which the newly built Catoctin Iron Furnace played a role was the launching of James Rumsey's steam ship on the Potomac in 1787. The event grew out of the friendship and common interests of Governor Johnson and George Washington. Both owned land along the Potomac, and both eagerly sought to improve upon their investments. Along with other prominent figures, the two formed the Potomac Company to promote development along the river. Washington served as president of the organization, and Johnson was an active member of the board of directors. [23]

The company hired James Rumsey, an enterprising inventor from Cecil County, Maryland, as its superintendent. Rumsey used his position to generate interest in his plans to construct a steam-powered boat. When he submitted a preliminary proposal to the company, General Washington immediately saw the potential. The founding father declared "that the discovery is of vast importance . . . and if it succeeds (of which I have no doubt) that the value of it is greatly enhanced by the simplicity of the works which, when seen and explained, may be executed by the most common mechanic." [24]

In 1785, Rumsey and Washington visited Thomas Johnson in his Fredericktown home to discuss the manufacturing of needed parts at the Johnson iron works. [25] Over the next couple of months, Johnson's brother, James, attempted to forge and cast the necessary parts. The Catoctin Furnace, however, proved inadequate to the task. Thomas Johnson then arranged to have the cylinders made from copper in Frederick City. [26]

Two years later, Rumsey's ship was ready. On December 3, 1787, a large crowd gathered in Shepardstown, Virginia on the Potomac to witness the first run of Rumsey's engine-powered ship. A vertical pump, seated in the middle of the vessel, driven by a steam engine powered the inventor's eighty-foot long boat. As the crowd looked on, Rumsey's boat struggled up to about four-miles per hour before dying out. [27]

Rumsey was not alone in experimenting with steam engines in the 1780s. Others, including John Fitch of Connecticut were developing similar engines. A bitter debate broke out as to whose engine was actually the first. [28] Seeking to promote his case, Rumsey cited the experiments at Catoctin Furnace--which must have taken place in 1785 or 1786--to bolster his claim to have been first in inventing the steam technology. [29]

While Rumsey's engine was hardly ready for immediate commercial utilization and may not have been unique, his invention suggested a real future in steam travel. Robert Fulton's steam ship in 1807 and the rapid spread of the railroad, of course, later realized this. The Johnson enterprise did not produce any of the parts used in Rumsey's engine. But having played a role in the important experiments leading to the steam engine, the Catoctin area can claim a small part in the work of a man whom Thomas Jefferson called "the most original and greatest mechanical genius I have ever seen." [30]

Early Industry

Others in the Catoctin region soon followed the Johnson brothers in exploring the potential of industry. By the early nineteenth century, numerous small industries had sprung up east of the mountains, especially in the town soon incorporated as Mechanicstown. One of the first was a 1793 tannery constructed by Daniel Rouzer, a German immigrant who had first passed through New Jersey before coming to the Catoctin area (see Map 2). The tannery, set on Owens Creek, made use of the tanning agent found in the bark of abundant oak tree bark found in the area. Heavy stones crushed the bark and water from nearby creeks allowed for the soaking of animal hides. The business prospered and remained in family hand when Daniel Rouzer's son John took over the tannery in 1815. [31]

Other tanneries followed. The Wampler Tannery opened for business in 1810. Ten years later, Captain W.L. Jones of Baltimore built a two-story, stone-faced tannery, containing 200 vats for soaking, located on Hunting Creek. [32] The creek's flowing water propelled a large "grinding apparatus," and the tannery yearly consumed some 2,000 cords of bark, employed fifteen men, and produced 25,000 hides of leather per year. [33]

Other industries developed east of the mountains in the early national period including a snuff factory in Graceham, an extensive edge-tool manufactory erected in 1811, and a matchmaking factory begun by the Weller family. [34] Meanwhile, into the early nineteenth century, the Johnsons continued to expand their business enterprises. Alongside his furnace, James Johnson also owned a flour mill on Fishing Creek. [35]

Each of these early industries made ample use of one of the region's most abundant natural resources--timber. In fact, logging was a major mountain area industry. Sawmills, which were features of the mountain since the arrival of white settlers, continued to operate and expand. When Catoctin Furnace owner James Johnson sold 715 acres of mountain land roughly a half mile from his business, "abounding with chesnut, locust, poplar, and oaks of all kinds," he made sure to mention the additional presence of "a saw mill that would work four or six months in the year." [36] Ten years later Johnson put on the market "325 acres of heavily timbered Mountain land." Again the land was within a mile of his furnace. Johnson suggested that the land might be divided into four to six lots, and among the enticements, he trumpeted a "saw mill set and a seat for a distillery or tanyard." [37] No doubt dozens of other sawmills dotted the Catoctin area.

Small industry also proliferated along Hunting Creek as it flowed through the valley at the foot of the mountain. Soon locals began calling the area Mechanicstown for the large number of mechanics operating in the area. In 1882, Andrew Sefton, longtime resident of Mechanicstown, recalled his arrival: "I came to this town, April 1st 1831. It then numbered about three hundred inhabitants and was a very business place for its size." Sefton married one of the daughters of Jacob Weller and settled down. In the 1830s, he recalled:

"seven tanniers in town and vicinity, two blacksmith shops, a tilt hammer, grand stone, polishing wheel and turning lathe, all propelled by water power, one wool and cloth factory, two shoemaker shops three tailors, three weavers, one gunsmith, one silversmith, two wagon and coach shops, two mill-wrights, three cabinet maker and house carpenter shops, one saddler, one hatter, one doctor, three stone and brick masons, three hotels and a match factory." [38] In 1832, the thriving settlement was incorporated as the town of Mechanicstown.

Growing industry, of course, required transportation, a perennial problem in the mountainous Catoctin area. What roads existed as the new century began often were barely passable. Many were essentially dirt trails through dense forest, with tree stumps cut at 16 inches so axles could clear them. Frenchman Ferdinand M. Bayard, traveling through Frederick County in the early nineteenth century, found himself "confronted with abominable roads . . . where one runs the risk of being upset at any moment on sharp stones or of being thrown into mudholes." [39] Travel by stagecoach from Baltimore to Hagerstown in 1803 required one to board the coach in Baltimore at three in the morning, arriving in Frederick by evening. A second coach in Frederick, again departing at three in the morning, arrived in Hagerstown by early afternoon. Fare for the two-day journey was three dollars and an extra dollar and a half for additional luggage. [40] There does not appear to have been a coach that traveled north from Frederick during this period.

With Baltimore the largest growing city in the country by the 1790 pressure grew to create a network of useful, passable roads radiating out from the city. Turnpike companies were incorporated to build the necessary links. One of the first construction endeavors was a turnpike from Baltimore to Frederick, which, by 1807, was extended to Boonsborough, and later to Williamsport, where it could link up with routes along the Potomac River. [41] Construction of the famed National Road then followed. The road linked existing roads to a major turnpike that ran from Cumberland, Maryland, on the Potomac River to Wheeling, Virginia on the Ohio River.

In the Catoctin area, the first phase of the transportation revolution involved the Westminister-Hagerstown Turnpike completed in 1816, which connected to the National Road in Hagerstown (see Map 2). The Turnpike ran through Mechanicstown and Harmon's Gap (a portion of the pike that appeared to have been called Harmon's Gap Road) and what became Mechanicstown. [42] Within a few years, the Frederick-Emmitsburg Turnpike, passing through Creagerstown to the east of Mechanicstown was also completed. [43]

Wheat and Whisky

If an early industrial revolution was taking hold east of the mountains, a simpler agricultural economy centered around hunting, the harvesting of wheat, and raising a small number of livestock, persisted on the west side of the mountain. With no agricultural census until mid-century, records relating to the local agricultural economy are sparse for this period. Nevertheless, what evidence we have suggests a subsistence economy where barter more than cash was the basis for most transactions. Of key importance was the exchange of whiskey, brandy, and hides.

The center of the mountain economy was a tavern—which still stands--on the southeast side of Manahan Road in present-day Foxville (see Map 2). Labeled Wolfe's Tavern on an 1873 map of Frederick County, the two-story, log and frame building sheathed in German siding dates from around 1800. [44] Throughout the first half of the nineteenth century, the Hauver family operated the tavern. The Hauvers --following the much-traveled route of German migrants to America--first settled in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, then, by the 1760s, moved to Frederick County, settling on the west side of Catoctin Mountain. The family briefly changed its name to Oates in the late eighteenth century, apparently feeling that Hauver sounded too German. In 1779, the Oates\Hauver family purchased a tract of land known as "Good Luck" on which they built their tavern. Situated on the road to Hagerstown, the tavern could take advantage of business from both the local community and travelers.

The tavern served multiple functions. The ever-increasing number of migrants moving west found a night's sleep and something to eat at the tavern. With politics an increasingly important part of the new nation, the tavern served as a polling place and local court house. [45] For nearby farmers, it served as a general store at which to buy needed supplies such as salt, butter, cornmeal, and coffee. It provided needed services such as shovel sharpening. Most importantly, the tavern offered farmers and trappers a trading post through which to exchange goods. Farmers, for instance, could exchange cow hides for whiskey. The Hauvers often would sell the hides they obtained to Daniel Rouzer for use in his tannery. Lumber was an important commodity and farmers could make staves from wood processed at the many sawmills in the region. The Hauvers bought staves by the thousands and resold them to businesses in Mechanicstown. [46]

Operating on a system of credit and counter credit, the primary product sold by the tavern was whiskey, and secondarily brandy. A product of the abundant wheat grown in the area, whiskey offered obvious advantages. In an area like the Catoctin mountains--with no nearby source of water transportation, and railroads still many years off--whiskey could be shipped at a significantly lower cost than wheat. The nation, in the early nineteenth century, had an insatiable thirst for alcohol, leading one historian to dub the new country the "alcoholic republic." [47] While it is impossible to determine the amount of alcohol consumed by local farmers, they did purchase a great deal of whiskey and brandy from the local tavern. Some of the whiskey, no doubt, was resold. Some may even have been used in place of hard-to-come-by currency. [48] Whatever the case, Wolfe's Tavern sold close to one hundred gallons of whiskey on a monthly basis. In the month of November 1820, for instance, local farmer John Wiant purchased six gallons of whiskey, one gallon of brandy, and a half bushel of salt from the tavern. In return, he appears to have sold the tavern one twenty-three pound hide.

Two farmers who owned mountain tracts, later incorporated into the park, appear with some regularity in the records of the tavern. Yost Wiant, whose name or whose son's name appears on early maps of the region as owner of a significant plot of mountain-top land, was a colorful character, who, according to local legend, kept wild hogs on a portion of his holdings. It was that area that became known as "Hog's Rock." [49] Wiant mainly purchased alcohol from the tavern, occasionally selling a hide or calfskin in return. His purchases for the first several months of 1821 appear in the Wolfe's Tavern ledger as follows:

January 15, 1821

one gallon of wiskey [whiskey]
one quart of brandy
one quart of brandy

January 20, 1821

two quarts of cider
two gallons of brandy
Carage for butter
two gallons of wiskey

March 3, 1821

two gallons of wiskey
tow gallon is wiskey
one gallon of wiskey

March 10, 1821

two gallons of wiskey

March 17, 1821

two gall of wiskey
fish
one quart of wiskey
one quart of cidrile[?]
one pint two gall of wisky
two gallons of wiskey
two gallons of brandy

April 10, 1821

one shovel plow at bars
one quart cidrila [?]

Another prominent farmer whose family played a major role in the development of the area and later acquisition of the park was Archibald McAffee. Settling on a large tract surrounding Cunningham Falls, McAffee's descendants retained ownership of the land until they sold it to the government in the 1930s. Like Wiant, McAffee (whose name is spelled Archibald Mackffe in the tavern ledger) used the local tavern primarily to purchase and trade for whiskey. For instance in March 1819 he purchased the following:

one quart of wiskey
one half pint of wine one sling
three half points of wiskey
two gallons of wine
two gallons of wiskey
three gallons of wine

In return for the alcohol, McAffee appears to have paid cash and traded horse shoes.

Compared to the rapid development of industry in western Maryland and throughout the country, agriculture saw few advances and the beginnings of some setbacks. Observers noted the first signs of soil exhaustion and lower yields. The Hessian fly, a costly remnant of the Revolutionary War, also ravaged crops. Although roads improved and new efforts to build canals and railroads generated excitement, transportation networks generally remained primitive in the area. [50] It was thus industry rather than agriculture that generated the great changes of the times.

Catoctin Furnace From the Top Down

During the late eighteenth century, the iron furnace at Catoctin prospered as one of the many business interests under the ownership of the Johnson family. In 1787, the brothers rebuilt the furnace entirely, moving it roughly three quarters of a mile up Little Hunting Creek to its present site (See Appendix 1). The new furnace continued to operate with one stack, producing an estimated 900 tons of iron per annum. [51] That same year the Johnsons also added another furnace located at the mouth of the Monocacy to their growing domain. [52]

By the early 1790s, the diverse interests of the Johnson family were proving too extensive to be jointly managed by the four brothers. In 1793, the Johnsons, therefore, divided up their jointly-held enterprises. [53] The Catoctin furnace, which previously had been under the supervision of James Johnson, now shifted to the former governor, Thomas, and his younger brother Baker (1749-1811). It was Baker who took the greatest interest in Catoctin. The younger Johnson acquired his brother's half share in 1802, becoming sole owner of the furnace.

Around 1805, Baker constructed for himself a handsome home, slightly west of the furnace, which he called "Auburn." [54] Apparently not an iron master himself, Johnson leased the land to Benjamin Blackford of New Jersey, who operated the furnace for almost a decade. [55] During the Blackford period, Baker Johnson continued to improve upon his industrial holding.

When Baker died in 1811, Catoctin Furnace went up for public sale, as instructed in his will. Newspapers from around the country carried lengthy announcements, advertising the merits of the furnace. Promising a public auction if the property failed to generate a private buyer, the site was advertised as "consisting of a large blast furnace-the stack, wheel and bellows, and all the buildings of the furnace are built in the best manner are in complete order." A considerable amount of land, about 4,611 acres, accompanied the furnace. Between 600 and 700 acres consisted of "arable land, and about 60 acres sat as meadow, a great part is well set with timothy." The land, the newspaper ads explained, "is well covered with wood and young timber, and is deemed sufficient to furnish coal wood for the furnace for many years." Iron ore found near the furnace "is easily raised and the Bank apparently inexhaustible." Likewise a "limestone quarry is also very convenient not more than 200 yards from the furnace bank." Other attractions included the master's house, a large two-story stone building, with "necessary out-houses," fountain pump at the kitchen door, and two store houses. Also included was a chopping mill, a stone blacksmith shop, barns, stables, and corn houses. The Catoctin Furnace apparently had taken on something of a company-town look, and a successful buyer would also acquire "from 15 to 20 houses for the accommodation of workmen, all in good order" (see Appendix 2 and 3) [56]

The executors of Johnson's will eventually sold the furnace to Thomas and Wiloughby Mayberry of Philadelphia. [57] The Johnson family, however, remained an active presence in the area. Baker Johnson, Jr., continued to live at Auburn House, for several decades. [58]

The Mayberry brothers enjoyed initial success with their new investment. With the United States desperately trying to avoid involvement in a war between France and Britain, President Thomas Jefferson declared a trade embargo against both belligerents. Spurred by the cut-off of foreign competition, American industry thrived. The subsequent War of 1812, although disruptive, especially in Washington and Baltimore, led to an economic boom in areas less affected by the war. But with the cessation of hostilities in 1815, British iron again flowed into the country. The Panic of 1819--the most severe economic downturn in the history of the young country--then virtually decimated the iron production business, and the Mayberrys went bankrupt. [59]

At a sheriff's auction on May 2, 1820, Colonel John McPherson, Jr., and his business partner and brother-in-law John Brien, who together already owned an iron furnace in Antietam, purchased Catoctin. [60] By the 1820 sale the Catoctin Furnace land holdings had expanded somewhat to include 5,000 acres on which sat "a blast furnace with a commodious casting-house and pot-houses, sufficiently large for sixteen moulders, built of stone, office and store houses, coal house, two blacksmith's shops, a large ware house, and stables for four teams; chopping, stamping and saw-mills, all in complete order." Twenty-two houses "for workmen" now adorned the property, as did the two-story, stone master's house, a large stone smoke house, a milk house, and an ice house. The sale also included two mountain tracts, "considered the most valuable on the Catoctin mt [sic] being covered with fine second growth chestnut." On one of the mountain tracts sat a two-story stone house, and the other a "log dwelling." [61] But the thirty-three-year-old site had aged and had been closed for at least for several months. After the purchase, Brien reported to the Census of Manufactures that Catoctin was an "Old Establishment in need of repairs. Now repairing it." [62]

The sale represented something of a homecoming for the furnace, since John McPherson Jr.'s wife was the granddaughter of Governor Thomas Johnson. Likewise McPherson was no stranger to the iron manufacturing business. His father, John, Sr., was an "iron master," and his sons, explained a family friend in 1809, "wished to adventure the same way." [63] John Brien also had a background intimately linked to iron production. Born in County Tyrone, Ireland, Brien, along with his two brothers, followed an uncle to America and into the iron business. The Brien brothers worked in iron furnaces in Pennsylvania, gradually accumulating enough money to purchase a furnace named Spring Grove. In 1804, John Brien married, Harriet, the daughter of "iron master" John McPherson, Sr. [64]

Brien and McPherson were dedicated to their investment. They added some 3,000 acres to the furnace holdings, built a grist mill, enlarged the furnace stack, and increased capacity. [65] The furnace began to cast ten-plate stoves, capable of burning full-length cord wood, which carried the inscription "McPherson and Brien, Catoctin Furnace." [66] Meanwhile, as the railroad revolution began to take hold, the demand for iron rose. [67]

The mid-1820s also brought something of an educational turn to the furnace area. In 1825, Baker Johnson, Jr., son of the former furnace owner, "at the solicitation of several of the citizens of Frederick and the vicinity . . .consented to open his large and commous house at Auburn for the receivership of boys to be instructed in all those branches of education necessary to prepare them for the higher classes of college." The boarding school, called Auburn Academy, consisted of 20 students, instructed by a Mr. Peers,"a gentlemen in every respect." Advertisements for the school, stressed the mountain atmosphere (rather than the nearby burning iron furnace operated by slaves): "a high and healthy situation, commending all the advantages of pure air and fine water." [68]

The school does not appear to have operated for more than two years. In 1827, John Brien purchased and moved into Auburn house. [69] Two years later his business partner, John McPherson, Jr., died. In 1834, Brien himself died while recovering from an illness at a health resort in Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania. [70] Within a couple of years, Brien's son, John McPherson Brien, managed to purchase the furnace from his father's estate, but, with the panic of 1837, the economy again collapsed, and the furnace operated only sporadically for the next couple of years.

Catoctin Furnace from the Bottom Up: Slavery

While we know the names and much about the lives of those who owned the furnace at Catoctin, we know little of the workers who toiled in the iron-making plant--many of whom were African slaves. Later, as shall be shown in Chapter 3, slave labor declined at the furnace, replaced largely by immigrant workers. Until the mid-1830s, however, slaves provided at least half of the labor at the furnace. While the subject of slavery inevitably conjures up images of large cotton plantations, there existed a sizable number of slaves working in industry. Although industrial slavery has not received the attention given to plantation slavery, those historians who have studied the phenomenon sharply disagree about the conditions under which slaves worked. Some argue that the unique circumstances surrounding slavery in industrial settings allowed slaves slightly more freedom and encouraged between master and slave "mutual accommodation rather than outright repression." [71] Other conclude that "[f]or laborers--slave and free--engaged in southern industries, working conditions were usually worse than those for laborers engaged in southern farming, since industrial development often demanded longer and harder working days than did plantation agriculture." [72] With only the most limited of sources on slavery at Catoctin, there is little that can be added to this debate. Nevertheless, the few scraps of information we do possess are tantalizing--such as evidence of an 1838 riot between furnace workers and residents of Mechanicstown. In the brawl black and white furnace workers fought side-by-side, suggesting a very different type of slavery than existed on plantations. Likewise, preliminary evidence--although still too sketchy to allow for any conclusions--suggests that ironmasters may have chosen African slaves because of their backgrounds in iron manufacturing. One again this suggests that the topic of industrial slavery at Catoctin and elsewhere deserves much deeper inquiry.

Before discussing slavery at Catoctin Furnace, we might briefly consider the nature of the "peculiar institution" in western Maryland. There was, in fact, much slavery in Frederick and Washington Counties. In 1790, around 3,900 (roughly 13%) of Frederick County's total population of 30,000 was of African lineage. Of the total African population, only 213 were free. [73] Most slaves worked in agricultural settings. Although many of the German religious sects held slavery in low regard, Germans in western Maryland eagerly sought to become slave-holders. Despite the German reputation for frugality, reports historian Elizabeth Kessel, the "one major exception to this rule was slave holding. A slave was a status symbol, and only the wealthiest members of this generation could afford such luxury." [74] Advertisements for escaped slaves in Frederick County often noted that a particular runaway spoke German as well as English. [75] A twenty-five-year-old slave named Jack, employed as a joiner by John Brien at the Antietam Iron Works, ran away in 1807. Frantically advertising for the slave, Brien described him as of "dark complexion, speaks German, blue coat, black Pantallons, white Jacket, and a fur hat much worn, 5'9, plays violin well." [76]

Slaves labored on many of the larger farms surrounding the Catoctin mountains. A particularly large farm that was advertised for rent, situated "one mile from the Catoctin furnace," boasted 700 acres of land "about 400 acres of which are cleared and under good fencing," with a "comfortable log dwelling, two barns, and several stables, granaries, and negro quarters." [77] Records of the Moravian Church of Graceham, likewise, contain numerous references to slave baptisms and marriages. For instance, in 1828, the church recorded the marriage of Jeremiah Sims to Mary Tuckman, a couple belonging to George Zollinger, listed as "a farmer in mountains." [78] In 1832, Jacob Hoover, a prominent store keeper in Wolfsville, advertised: "[c]ash for Negroes, Eighteen or Twenty men, women, and children wanted, for which the highest price will be given in cash, apply to Jacob Hoover." [79]

Alongside African slaves, a smaller population of unfree whites also worked in Frederick County well into the nineteenth century. [80] Some of these white "servants" were German, paying off their passages to America with several years of indentured work. Advertisements for escaped white servants ran alongside announcements of runaway African slaves. [81] No evidence, however, exists that unfree white labor ever toiled at the iron works in Catoctin.

The majority of unfree labor in western Maryland worked in the dominant agricultural sector. But as wealthy eastern Maryland planters, fully versed in the workings of slavery, launched industries in the west, it followed that slavery would be the preferred system of labor. Before the Civil War, throughout the South, increasing numbers of slaves worked industrial jobs in textile factories, sugar refining, grist milling, or coal mining. By the early-nineteenth century, roughly 5% of slaves (between 150,000 to 200,000) worked in industry. [82] It was the iron industry in the South, however, that became the most dependent on slave labor. Throughout the south, some 10,000 slaves worked in iron production, making up the majority of workers at Maryland's Antietam and Hampton Furnaces and Richmond's infamous Tredegar Iron Company, which employed roughly 100 slaves. [83]

Given the paucity of information about slavery at the Catoctin Furnace, generalizations do not come easily. We do know that Catoctin was a large operation, requiring generally around 80 workers. [84] Most were unskilled, but a handful possessed valuable skills necessary to keep the furnace functioning. Among the occupations necessary to the industry were founders, colliers, miners, teamsters, wood choppers, and, most likely, a group of general furnace workers assigned to labor wherever needed. Furnace blasts often lasted between four and five months. The rest of year was taken up by logging, coaling, and mining. Only when a proper supply of ore, charcoal and limestone--materials jointly called "stock"-- was ready would the furnace be put into operation. [85] During lulls in furnace operations, it may have been that a portion of the slave workforce shifted to agricultural work. Wheat production, in turn, had its slack seasons which would allow workers to return to the furnace. Slaves could be hired for these purposes. While it is clear that some of the slaves working at the Catoctin Furnace were the legal property of the furnace owners, it is unclear whether the furnace hired additional bondsmen in busy seasons, or hired-out slaves when the furnace sat idle. [86]

Nor does information exist regarding living quarters for slaves. Since listings of furnace property however, contained no separate designation for slave quarters, it might be fair to assume that slaves lived in the workmen's houses. Were houses segregated, with some designated for white workers and others for slaves? Did slaves live with their families or dormitory style? Did skilled and unskilled workers live separately? Barring any new unearthing of information, these questions will remain unanswered. That life for slaves working in the furnace was difficult is beyond question. One of the few references to slavery at the Catoctin Furnace comes from a traveling Moravian minister, Brother John Frederick Schlegel, who came to the furnace in 1799 as part of his ministry to the area. At Catoctin, he met James Johnson, then owner of the furnace, and Johnson's family. He then met with the furnace slaves. "[A] little group of them gathered around me at the top of the furnace opening," he noted in his journal, and "they wept very much because they were bound to work so hard during the week as well as on Sunday in the iron smelter and thus were seldom able to hear the Word of God." The missionary recorded his concern for the slaves "whose inward and outward conditions are troubled." [87] What the Moravian witnessed suggested the worst aspects of slavery. Almost everywhere, owners gave slaves Sundays off. But at Catoctin the Sabbath appeared to be just another working day.

Not only were hours long and the work hard, but conditions also could prove dangerous. By the late-nineteenth century, the weekly Mechanicstown newspaper, which began printing in 1871, contained much information regarding the dangerous work conditions at Catoctin. For the antebellum period there is little similar information, but we can assume that accidents happened frequently. The Graceham Moravian Church does record an April 1826 fire, fanned by high winds, "in the wood on the mountain started by a pile of coals." Large numbers of people labored to contain the conflagration, but they had little luck "until the greater of the wood that had been cut and corded, about 3,000 cords belonging to the Furnace, and many thousands of fence-rails and a lot of bark for the tanners, had been consumed." Losses from the fire were estimated at between four and five thousand dollars. [88]

With few historical sources available with which to recreate the lives of the slaves working at Catoctin Furnace, archeological evidence can help fill in some of the gaps. Locals long had known of a slave burial site marked by roughly a dozen fieldstones, within a half mile of the furnace site (see Map 2). In 1979 and 1980, with a planned expansion of Route 15 through the area, archeologists excavated some 31 burial sites--roughly one third of the interred bodies. [89] The decision to disrupt the bodies, which later were reburied, was made reluctantly and only with the intention of gaining an understanding of the lives of those overlooked in traditional historical accounts.

Of the thirty-one bodies unearthed, six were newborns, five children (ages 2 to 12), two teenagers, and fifteen adults (consisting of eight females and seven males, between the ages of nineteen and sixty-five). There appeared no obvious causes of death as might be found in an industrial accident. Nor did there appear to have been any nutritional deficiencies. From body weight and analysis of teeth, the archeologists concluded that diets consisted of "relatively coarse food, probably unmilled cornmeal" and little sugar. Nails found at the graveyard dated between 1790 and 1840, and the bodies appeared to have been buried in a manner consistent with Christian customs [90]

Archeologists identified all of the thirty-one bodies as of African heritage, with "no visible admixture of white." This led to the somewhat surprising conclusion that those buried were first or second generation Americans. [91] According to Jean Libby, in her study of slave ironworkers in western Maryland, ironmaking was a well-developed craft in many West African societies. Comparing African iron production with that practiced in America, Libby found many similarities "in furnace technology and cultural practices." [92] There is some evidence that slave traders valued Africans with skills or at least those from iron-producing regions who might possess skills. [93] There also exists limited evidence that some slaves practiced their native skills in America. A 1760 newspaper advertisement, for instance, calls attention to a runaway slave "imported in 1760, so that he scarcely speaks any English, but can work at the Smith's Trade, having been employed in his own Country in that way." [94] Citing the recent arrival status of those buried at the Catoctin slave cemetery, Libby offers the hypothesis that Catoctin slave furnace workers may have had backgrounds as African iron workers and brought elements of African ironworking skills with them. [95] While provocative and fascinating, the Catoctin Furnace does not offer the sort of evidence needed to support such a claim. Nevertheless, if first generation African slaves did work at the furnace, they would have brought elements of West African culture with them to the Catoctins.

The 1838 Riot

Aside from Brother Schlegel's brief comments in 1799, only one other source offers a glimpse into the lives of antebellum blacks employed at Catoctin. In September of 1838, a Baltimore newspaper carried the story of a riot between the citizens of Mechanicstown and iron workers, including slaves, enjoying a day off. The story is so strange that it seems to challenge much of our cumulative understanding of the nature of race relations at the time. The following account of the riot appeared in a newspaper called the Baltimore Gazette and Daily Advertiser on September 17, 1838, under the headline, "Late Disturbances in Mechanicstown." The author was a resident of Mechanicstown who witnessed the riot:

"Dear Sir-As much as has been said about an unfortunate disturbance in Mecanics'Town on Friday evening last, and as there can be no doubt that various misrepresentations have gone abroad upon the subject, I have thought proper to give you a statement of the whole affair as witnessed by myself.

The facts are simply these. A little before sun-down some ten or a dozen furnace hands, having indulged too freely in their libation on the race course, came into town, accompanied by two stout Negroes, for the purpose, as one of them afterwards expressed himself, of "using up the people." They very soon made known their intentions by an unprovoked attack upon two of our citizens. The people, anxious to persevere the peace, and apprehending the consequence of their remaining in town used every means to persuade them from the place. They, however, refused to go and became more violent, until at length one of the citizens, after in vain urging a Negro fellow to throw away some stones with which he had armed himself attempted to take them from him by force; this the Negro resented, with violence, and the citizen knocked him down.

The civil authorities now interfered to arrest the slaves, and they were actually committed, when their white associates rescued them from the officer having them in charge. This act, though highly outrageous, the people were disposed to tolerate, as some of the rioters proposed to depart, and here it was thought the matter would end. We were, however, disappointed. Some one demanded more whiskey, and this the landlord refused to give, supposing no doubt, that they already had too much, and dreading the consequence of giving them more. Upon this, one of them left the crowd, but returned in a moment with an axe, swearing that the landlord who refused to sell liquor ought to have his sign post cut down, & accordingly commended hewing at the post. Up to that this time we had used every effort to prevent a disturbance of peace-We, however knew very well that, once they were permitted to commence depredations of this kind there could be no telling to what their insolence might lead them. We therefore determined to protect ourselves.

One of the citizens in attempting to seize the axe received a severe blow; and now commenced a regular, or rather irregular, though desperate and bloody fight. Stones, brick bats and whatever could be picked up, were resorted to by both parties, until the rioters were completely driven from the town,--some of the them so severely beaten that they could not reach the furnace, though but three miles distant, without having their wounds dressed. It was a fortunate circumstance that the two Negroes left the town a few moments before the fight commenced, for, such was the excitement that I have no doubt, had they remained they would have been killed on the spot. After the affray was over, the people assembled and a guard was appointed to patrol the streets, though I am glad to say that no further violence ensued and the night passed off quietly.

In conclusion I would remark that a full representation of the whole affair was made to Mr. Brien by the civil authorities of Mechanics'Town and there can be no doubt that the gentlemen will use his influence to prevent a repetition of the outrages. The people of our village are quiet, industrious and, as a community highly intelligent. They are unused to acts of violence and, in no event, but in case of actual necessity, as in the present instance, could they be urged into such extremes. They, however, will protect themselves, and any attempt to disturb the people hereafter, in a similar manner will be opposed by an efficient force well prepared for the purpose.

-One of the people

N.B. It may be proper to state that in their attack on one of the individuals mentioned in the first part of this article, several of them followed him with clubs and drawn knives invading and disturbing the peace and quiet of his family, compelling him to escape through a window to which fortunate circumstance probably he owned his life. There were three other persons of notorious bad character from the neighborhood of the furnace in company with the gang, who shared in those triumphs and fortunes of the same. [96]

The Mechanicstown citizen's letter offers a brief window into the complex social relations of upper western Maryland in the early-nineteenth century. The riot clearly reveals tensions--probably longstanding--between the people of Mechanicstown and those of Catoctin Furnace, a few miles to the south. Residents of Mechanicstown tended to be small businessmen, operating often prosperous craft shops. The furnace workers who were not slaves worked for wages, rented houses in what was essentially a company town, and suffered periodic bouts of unemployment. By the early part of the nineteenth century, the emerging market economy had begun to transform the country. Former frontier areas such as the Catoctin region, where once a rough equality had existed, now experienced social stratification. In many ways, the riot, especially given the stress that the author puts on Mechanicstown as "quiet, industrious, and, as a community, highly intelligent," represented a clash between emerging middle-class and an increasingly assertive working-class.

Another revealing element of the riot was the role played by alcohol. As previously mentioned, American alcohol consumption was at an all-time high in the early-nineteenth century. The uncertainties fostered by the market revolution only encouraged drinking--especially among those who found themselves the victims of the changing economy. For many, the arrival of early industry brought with it uncertainty and a loss of control. Instead of keeping one's own hours, one worked according to another's schedule. A wage-earner's future depended upon a host of factors well out of his or her control--economic downturns, changing technology, the whims of a boss or foreman. These factors, no doubt, all contributed to the rise in alcohol abuse. Meanwhile the emerging middle class, made up of business managers and small business owners, grew concerned with alcoholism and the resulting problems posed by an inebriated work force. By the 1830s, a middle-class-driven temperance movement, with strong ties to evangelical Protestantism, began organizing a temperance movement. In the Mechanicstown riot, one can see both the problems of alcohol abuse and the concern of the middle class for sobriety and order.

The Catoctin area was hardly alone in this period in suffering a riot with deep social implications. Indeed rioting long was an American tradition. To some, crowd action actually represented a democratic spirit at work. But by the 1830s, violence often was out of control. The construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, which passed through the south end of the county, was continually plagued by riots between the largely Irish immigrant workforce, the local populations, and the project supervisors. [97] As riots became an increasing problem, the property-holding classes began to take action. Towns organized police forces. The reference to the "civil authorities" by the Mechanicstown letter writer may in fact have been an early police force.

The most perplexing aspect of the riot is the racial component. The two blacks involved are identified as slaves. Even if the writer is incorrect and the blacks were free, the episode was unique. Despite the all-powerful color bar of the time, the furnace workers--both black and white--stood together during the riot and apparently had celebrated together at the race track before the disturbance. White furnace workers even rescued one of the blacks, saving him from possible death. The skirmish, in a sense, represents a rare case in American history of class trumping race. The strong group identity among the furnace workers, apparently overcame the divisions of race. Perhaps the circumstances surrounding industrial slavery, in which blacks may have had the opportunity to earn overtime rewards and perhaps had obtained special skills, played a role in the apparent absence of racial divisions between workers. As currently is being explored by some historians, the designation of "white" in the nineteenth century tended to apply more to middle and upper-class white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants. Members of the working class, especially immigrant workers, generally occupied a middle-ground in public perception—a position that was neither white nor black. [98] Viewed in these terms, the riot might be seen as whites against non-whites.

Still, with only one brief episode told from one point of view, few definite conclusions can be reached about social relations. Nor do there exist the sort of sources that would provide a complete picture of this complex and fascinating period of development in the area surrounding present-day Catoctin Mountain Park. From our presently available sources, we can only conclude that social relations were mired in unexpected complexities and defy any easy categorization.

The Furnace After Brien

As sectional tensions over slavery heated up, the number of slaves working at Catoctin declined. From studies of personal property records and census materials, Michael Thompson has hypothesized that roughly twenty slaves labored at Catoctin in the 1820s and early 1830s. With the death of John Brien and a national recession beginning in 1837, the iron furnace operated only sporadically, and the number of slaves working appears to have declined dramatically. [99] The 1860 census showed only 21 slaves living in the entire Mechanicstown district, seven of whom were males over seventeen years of age. [100] No doubt the ever-rising price of slaves along with the soaring price of cotton made unfree labor increasingly cost prohibitive. While we have no evidence, the furnace owners may still have "hired out" slaves for the busy seasons at Catoctin--although the price of leasing labor was also rising.

Following a potato famine in Ireland and political trouble in Germany, and as the cost of slaves rose, a new source of labor flooded into the country. Ever-increasing numbers of Irish and German workers began arriving in the America, especially after 1848. While census takers did not record the nation of origin of workers living in the area until later in the century, there is some evidence that the furnace employed immigrant labor. [101] As early as 1828, a Moravian minister assigned to Harriet's Chapel (named for John Brien's recently deceased wife) recorded in his journal a burial service for an Irish immigrant furnace worker. Friends of the deceased--apparently also Irish Catholic furnace workers--stood apart from the service, wanting to pay their respects but not partake in the Protestant rites. [102]

Relying primarily on wage labor, the furnace struggled on. In the late 1830s, John McPherson Brien, son of John Brien, managed to purchase the enterprise from his father's estate. But McPherson's tenure as owner proved brief and difficult. Near broke, in 1843, Brien sold the furnace to Peregrinn Fitzhugh. Again, the sale kept the furnace in the family, as Fitzhugh--descending from a wealthy planter family in Virginia--was connected by marriage to the Brien and McPherson families. By the early 1840s, the economy had emerged from the Panic of 1837, and Fitzhugh enjoyed several successful years at the helm of the furnace. The new owner made significant investments to revamp the operations. Within ten years, The Frederick Examiner could proclaim: "the works are in complete repair; and in regular blast, and are doing a better business than at any time for some years past." [103] Fitzhugh's investments do not appear to have included slaves. According to the 1850 census, he owned eight slaves, but only one was of working age. [104]

The new owner's success did not last long. In 1855, fire destroyed another enterprise owned by Fitzhugh, the Carroll Creek Foundry in Frederick City. The disaster began a period of financial collapse for Fitzhugh. A year later, increasingly in debt, Fitzhugh took on a partner, Jacob B. Kunkle (also frequently spelled Kunkel), in an effort to protect his Catoctin investment. Kunkle was a politically active lawyer of German descent, whose family owned a prosperous tannery in Frederick City.

The partnership, however, came too late to save Fitzhugh. In 1859, he sold the entire furnace and property to Kunkle's family for $51,000. Under Kunkle, the transition away from slave labor appears to have continued. John B. Kunkle, brother of Jacob, who became iron master at the furnace, owned only four slaves, all of whom were under eight years old. In general, the Kunkle acquisition of Catoctin was a fortunate one for the furnace and its employees. The Kunkle family proved dedicated, hands-on owners, willing to continue investing in the enterprise long after it held any promise of profitability. But difficult days lay immediately ahead for the mountain area.