My post today is about the Confederate monument on the green of the Talbot County Courthouse in Easton, Maryland. The monument was made by the W.H. Mullins Co. in Salem, Ohio with John Segesman being the chief Sculptor. The monument was dedicated in May of 1916 by the Charles Winder camp of the United Confederate Veterans. Below is a list of the brave boys from Talbot County on the statue who wore the gray:
Admiral Franklin Buchanan, Brig. Gen Lloyd Tilghman, Brig. Gen Charles S. Winder, Col A.B. Hardcastle, Col. Chas.E. Sears, Capt. Oswald Tilghman, Lt Wm. R Byus, Lt John Leeds Tilghman, Stanley M Byus, Chas. Byus, I. James Blunt, Robt. H Clough, Robert Alex. Dawson, Levin G. Dawson, Robert M. Dawson, Wm. Thomas Ewing, Wm C. Gibson, Fayette Gibson, Edward Gibson, Samuel T. Glenn, Jas. K Harper, Wm. R. Hardcastle, Alex. Rigby Hopkins, Robt. C. Jones, Capt, Jno W. Bennett, Edw. LL. Bracco, Seth Calvert, D. Rich D. Cheezum, Thos. E Cryer, W. Elveno Dickinson, Chas. H Eckhart, Thos. J. Edgar, Frank M. Fairbank, Solomon Fletcher, Lt. Robert H. Goldsborough, William Grace, Jas. P. Hambleton, Theodore Lockerman, Robert Lee, Maj. A.C.C. Thompson, Benj. F Lane, John N. Lane, William E. Lowe, Wrightson L. Lowe, John N.S. Martin, Wrightson McMahan, Percolus M. Moore, Josiah Noble, Alfred C. Price, James H. Price, Michael Quinn, Geo. Redmond, William S. Winder, Anthony P. Ross, James M. Tharp, Tench F. Tilghman, Richard C. Tilghman, Theophilus Tunis, John O.Tunis, Edwin S. Valliant, George E. Valliant, Chas. T Lloyd, Daniel Lloyd, WM. H. Lyons, Wm. T. Loveday, John W. McDaniel, Augustus Moore, Alexander Murray, Thomas H. Oliver, J.Roussy Plater, Wm. J. Porter, James Reddie, Jos. Ridgaway, Edward Roberts, John K. Shanahan, Louis Slaughter, John R. Thomas, Thos. Rigby Valliant, George Todd, John G. White, Charles N. Willis, Thomas E. Willis.
Confederate Veterans who were residents of Talbot County after the war:
Henry Hollyday, Louis W. Trail, Maj E.W.Stewart, Chas. E Henderson, George Edmunds, Harmon K. George, Burton S. Highley, Chris G. Lynch, John P. Berry, Andrew Wilson, James Bryan.
The Maryland Line C.S.A. 
Mark, as a matter of interest, is there a history of quarrying in Talbot County?
Mostly farming and working the water as far as history goes. Why do you ask? Presently alot of “old money” lives there now. Talbot county has a lot of waterfront property. Easton, the capitol, is a beautiful old colonial town. Talbot county was named in honor of the wife of Sir Robert Talbot. She was the sister of Cecilius Calvert the 2nd Baron of Baltimore.
Easton is the major village on Portland, the island where I come from. Portland was mainly a quarrying and fishing community, mostly famous for Portland Stone and as a major embarcation point for US troops during the Normandy landings.
As many US cities and towns hold names from their founders, I wondered if there was a Portland connection.
Hi Mark,
oddly after your question I visited the Maryland Historical Society and found out that the limestone markers used by Mason/Dixon when surveying the Maryland border were from Portland! lol
When will the Fredrick Douglas statue be built? Are they near completion?
No Sam, this has been a very volatile situation for years. Here’s hoping for a resoultion that will make everyone happy.
Regarding quarrying on the Eastern Shore of Maryland,there is no naturally occurring stone on the delmarva peninsula south of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. The first stone buildings were not built until after the rail lines were established in the 1850’s. Older grave stones were ordered from elsewhere and shipped in. There was ballast stone dumped at some landings. There is a reference in the Maryland archives to check to see if flint ballast stones dumped at Emersons Landing ( now Wye Landing ) would be usable as flints for the Continental Army.
William E. Lowe, referred to below by Hiss, lived in Talbot County until he died in 1921.
Excerpts from a biographical essay written by Alger Hiss:
“From my earliest childhood, together with my mother and my brothers and sisters, I spent the summer months of each year on the Eastern Shore of Maryland on the farm of the Wrightsons, relatives of my mother. There, the eight children of the two families shared farm chores and the general life of farm youngsters.”
“Uncle Jake, who tended the Wrightson’s lawn, had been a slave in their family. Cousin Billy Lowe, a member of the household, had been a drummer boy in Pickett’s Brigade.”
William E(dwin) Lowe was severely wounded at Gettysburg; surrendered at Appomattox with his cousin John W McDaniel.
I gave some old family photos, including one of Cousin “Billy” to the Talbot County Free Library’s Maryland Room several years ago.
“Uncle Jake” was Jacob Moore who was living with the Wrightson’s in 1920. He lived to be over 90 years of age; the farm was in the Bay Hundred area, Talbot County.
Thanks for sharing your info Ms Miessner and glad you donated the family pictures to the Talbot County Free Library. Many times when a family member reaches their demise the photos are tossed in the trash.
I am very interested in Eastern Shore Civil War History. I am from Easton and ironically live in Goldsboro, N.C. (yes same Goldsborough family from Talbot) Although I lean to the Southern side I do feel the Union Talbot Countians story has been neglected.
Maryland’s story in general has been neglected Jeff. 🙂 Maryland was a pivotal state at the outbreak of the war. If Maryland secedes, then Washington DC is surrounded by the Confederacy. Lincoln probably broke the law to force Maryland to stay in the Union….but I hate politics and don’t want to get into any Constitutional arguments. lol
When I got your messages the other night I was in the middle of researching the Civil War record of a resident of our small town in Massachusetts where I live. What a coincidence!
Many families which include ours in Maryland had relatives who supported both sides – Sheriff Joseph Graham of Talbot County and his son John Thomas Graham were estranged until after Appomattox. (Sheriff Graham is referred to in Frederick Douglass’ autobiographies. His photo is in the collection I gave to the Talbot library.) John Thomas Graham served as a 1st Lt., later R.Q.M. (quartermaster) on the staff of the Purnell Legion Infantry, Maryland Volunteers, in the Union Army. There is an article in the NYTimes archives about his escape from Baltimore after April 19 1865.
Atrocities which occurred during the Civil War by both sides need to be acknowledged and buried forever!
Thank you for this inclusion on your site. I am an 11th generation Talbot Co. native. My great-grandfather, John Alexander Sinclair, served with Col. Moseby’s Rangers. I have photocopies of his internment in the Union prison at Point Lookout. Sinclair lived on Poplar Island and later built a house on Tilghman Island, where my mother was born. Sinclair is my maternal great-grandfather. Another maternal great-grandfather, William Harrison, also of Talbot Co. (St. Michaels area) served in the Union Army. Our family history is interesting to say the least, with most of the family being Southern Sympathizers.
Thanks for the comments David. You should be proud of your Talbot County ancestors.
Hi, David. I too am a Sinclair descendant. I am currently putting together my mom’s family tree (She is a Sinclair) and giving it to her for Christmas. I am in desparate need of copies of any photos and/or documents you may have pertaining to the settlement of the Sinclairs in Tilghman Island so that I may put it all together. Looks like we may be distant cousins. 🙂
Thanks in anticipation of your help.
Traci
Traci, please contact me at dfelter@aol.com. I may be able to help you with some stuff on the Sinclairs. My Grandmother was Katie Luhwanda Sinclair Crockett. Her father was John Alexander Sinclair. Her husband was a “down-the-bay’er” David Brindle Crockett, from Tangier Is. VA. His father brought the family up from Tangier when David was a teenager. Katie’s mother, my great-grandmother, was Mary Elizabeth Harrison. Katie was born on Poplar Is, which is being restored using the content that dredged from the port of Baltimore. Email me and I’ll connect you with my cousin the genealogist. Blessings!
Hi, David. My mother is a Sinclair and I just presented her with a family tree for Christmas. I would love to know more about your great-grandfather, John Alexander. My mother’s 2 great grandfather was James Alexander (the light house keeper during the Civil War).
Thank you and hope the new year finds you well.
Traci Nadolny
David,
I am trying to do some genealogy. My 4th greatgrand father would have been Alexander Sinclair. He was from
Scotland. He had a son John Alexander and was possibly married to an Indian. John Alexander also had a son by the same name. I would appreciate any information you have. My cousin is W.W. Fluharty Jr..
Thanks
Hi Ms Wilson, Plenty of Sinclairs and Fluhartys on the Eastern Shore. You may want to leave an email address for David in case he has the information you need and this will give him a way to contact you!
When I lived on Tilghman as a grade-schooler back in the 1950’s I remember a lot of Fluharty’s who were really good people. I have a hunch we’re kin through our Sinclair lines. My grandmother lived on Mission Road on Tilghman Is. She was born on Poplar Is. Her father was John Alexander Sinclair and her mother was Mary Elizabeth Harrison. The Sinclair genealogy that I have shows John Alexander as a descendent of your Alexander Sinclair, having arrived from Scotland somewhere around 1717. He worked for Risdom Bozman on Tilghman Pt. up near St. Michaels. He had quite a history as I understand it. My email address is dfelter@aol.com. Blessings,
Fluharty’s are a good bunch. I have known quite a few over the years from several different counties.
I am writing a novel that refers briefly to this statue, so i have been studying it closely. There are two remarkable facts about the piece I have noticed so far: (1) there is no weapon displayed anywhere on the statue or the pedestal (not even crossed cannons or other weaponry)and (2) the Confederate battle flag is draped behind the standard bearer. I think the designers or patrons wanted to downplay the violence that had torn the country and county apart (no weapons) and somehow acknowledge that even though the installation of the statue was 50 years after the end of the war (and therefore might be considered to be opening some old wounds) it was best to put the old loyalty behind (thus the strange location of the flag). I wonder if there are any written minutes or other evidence around the design issues of this statue.
There really should be some acknowledgment in Easton of the many former slaves and whites who served in Union regiments during the war.
This war was one of the few where the vanquished actually wrote the history, as this statue and the lack of a Union memorial attests. It is all very interesting to me as an indication of the stories a community tells about itself in the things it chooses to celebrate.
Hi Hank,
Actually this statue has an identical twin sitting in front of the courthouse at Lake Charles, Louisiana. Good information on the history of this statue can be found in a book called “Lest We Forget: Guide to Civil War Monuments in Maryland” by Susan C Sorderberg. The original plan was to erect a statue in honor of native son Admiral Franklin Buchanan, but this plan was nixed by the majority who wanted a statue to represent the boys in gray. Most of the old money in Talbot County had Confederate sympathies and they easily raised the money for the statue. At the same time there was a movement to erect a statue in honor of the men from Talbot Coaunty who wore the blue. The funds were never raised unfortunately.
Hi – I am the public relations director at Augusta State University in Augusta, Ga., site of the former Augusta Arsenal, 1826-1955. We have two cemeteries on campus, and in one are the remains of Lt. John Leeds Tilghman. I am trying to get more information on him. If anyone has info, please share with me. Thanks so much for your help.
email is kschofe@aug.edu; phone, 706-737-1878
Hi Kathy,
I have numerous books on Maryland Confederates, I will see what info I have on John Leeds Tilghman.
Mark
Lt. John Leeds Tilghman is included in James W. Raab’s “Confederate General Lloyd Tilghman” (digitized by google) in which he’s referred to as Captain. Not a lot of information given, but does mention that he was in charge of the Huger Battery of Light Artillery in Norfolk, VA and died of consumption in Augusta, GA, 1863. His residence is given as Oxford, MD, which of course is in Talbot County.
Betty M.
Thanks for the info Betty. I will see if I can add any additional information.
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I am a part of the “Gibson” family from the St. Michael’s, Tilghman, Talbot County area. My family had always lived in the area until my father moved us to Raleigh, NC in 1961. While we had family members on both side of the Civil war two great stories are: Isaac Beauchman Gibson working as a blockade runner for the confederate both with supply’s and soldiers in his oyster schooner. His sister Margaret turned him in to the Union, (she had son’s fighting for the Union side). He spent a few day’s in prison and was released after he swore loyalty to the Union. Another relative Fayette Gibson, Grandson of Jacob Gibson the “Prankster of St Michaels”, was a Col in Jeb Stuarts “Horse light Artillery Battery” serving in Breathed’s Battery. His signature appears on the famous Maryland Scroll, Brandy Station Battlefield, also known as the “Confederate Grafitti”. After the ware he left Talbot County and went with his 2 brothers to start a large cattle ranch in Montana. He returned and lived with family after becoming an invalid and is buried at Loudon Park Cemetery in Baltimore. I can not imagine being on the battlefield and seeing your cousin or other family member on the other side. But this happened with Maryland Solider’s more then with any other I feel. Blake.
Thanks for the reply Blake. You have some interesting kin on both sides of war. Col. Fayette Gibson sounds like a he was quite the soldier. Quite a few Marylanders served in the Stuart’s “Horse Artillery”. Did Isaac and Margaret make peace after the war?