Dayhoff Westminster: 147 years ago, a neighbor saved Westminster from ransom … or destruction

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

147 years ago, a neighbor saved Westminster from ransom … or destruction

Confederate Major Harry Gilmor(U.S. Army Historical Photo / July 11, 2011)

On July 10, 1864, a large contingent of Confederate cavalry was moving out of Westminster. A day earlier, it had arrived at dusk with a ominous mission:

Hold the town for ransom … or burn it to the ground.

What unfolded in Westminster in July 1864 is considered by some historians to have been the most perilous experienceCarroll County had during the Civil War.

At this point in the war, the conflict had grown ugly as a result of the North's decision to target civilians and burn and destroy the South into submission.

Arguably, July 1864 was one of the darkest hours in American history. And for two days in the summer of 1864, Westminster was Ground Zero for retaliation by the South.

Yet our fare county seat escaped destruction as the result of one individual — a friend and neighbor it did not even know it had.

The events that played out on that hot and humid Sunday marked the end of the third occupation of Westminster by Union and Confederate troops during three important military campaigns in 1862, 1863 and 1864...

147 years ago, a neighbor saved Westminster from ransom … or destruction