Vital Service to the Union

The mill town of Savage served a vital need for the United States Army after the Civil War began in 1861. William Baldwin who had purchased the mills in 1859 manufactured canvas for cannon covers and tents. Although cotton was in short supply, Baldwin succeeded in acquiring enough to keep the mill operating.

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Line transported Federal troops who occasionally camped in the meadow on the north side of Savage Switch.

Near here, at Annapolis Junction, Union soldiers en route to Washington in April 1861 managed to avoid the Baltimore Riots. When General Benjamin F. Butler and his Massachusetts regiments arrived in Annapolis by boat via the Chesapeake Bay, they found that Confederate sympathizers had destroyed much of the track and equipment of the Elkridge spur of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The soldiers repaired a locomotive and cars, rebuilt the tracks, boarded the train and made their way to Washington. Other Federal troops occupied Relay and eventually Baltimore.

John Savage of Pennsylvania founded Savage Mill, among the oldest surviving textile mills in Maryland, and constructed this facility early in the 19th century. The stone carding and spinning building was built between 1816 and 1823. Mills have been here on the rapids of the Little Patuxent River since the mid-18th century. The Savage Manufacturing Company purchased the site in the 1820s, erected a large factory and installed machinery.

Photo captions:

Savage Mill as it looked in the late 19th century.

Annapolis Junction in the mid-nineteenth century.

Marker can be reached from Foundry Street north of Gorman Road when traveling west.

Courtesy hmdb.org

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