Buckeystown Park
Soldiers’ Shortcake
On the south end of this park, the road from Urbana to Buckeystown crossed the Monocacy River over a stone bridge. Some of the Confederate troops camped here on September 6, 1862, while some crossed the bridge to bivouac on a knoll overlooking the river on the south side of the road on William Graff’s farm.
On September 13, Union Gen. William B. Franklin’s VI Corps passed by here on the march from Urbana, and halted for an hour at the apple and peach orchards near the Dalaplaine (Michael’s) Mill. Then the corps continued west toward Burkittsville and South Mountain, where it fought the next day.
(Sidebar): George and Michael Buckey founded Buckeystown, located a mile west of here, in 1775. By the 1860s, it was a thriving town with a large milling and tanning industry and several stores. Buckey’s tavern and many of the old houses from the period are still standing along the picturesque tree-lined main street of Buckeystown. The town’s largest gristmill, Delaplaine Mill (Now Michael’s Mill), is on the hill in front of you. Since the Confederates had stopped the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad traffic, the mill had a thousand barrels of flour in its warehouse, over which guards were posted to prevent pilfering. William J. Grove later recalled, “My father was the railroad agent. He opened the warehouse for the troops [and] told the Confederates they would bake as much bread as they could to feed the troops. My mother had several good cooks who were her slaves. They baked for the soldiers day and night, generally shortcake, without lard or salt, but it was eaten ravishly by the hungry soldiers.”
Marker is at the intersection of Michael's Mill Road (Maryland Route 880) and Fingerboard Road (Maryland Route 80), on the right on Michael's Mill Road.
Courtesy hmdb.org
