Washington County
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Washington county was established on the same day as Montgomery and was taken from Frederick, originally including Allegany and Garrett. It is bounded on the north by Pennsylvania, on the east by South Mountain, which separates it from Frederick; on the south and southwest by the Potomac river, dividing it from Virginia, and on the west by Sideling Hill creek, which separates it from Allegany. It is nearly triangular in shape. The county is abundantly watered by the Antietam, Beaver, Conococheague, Israel, and other creeks tributary to the Potomac. The principal products are wheat, corn, oats, hay, rye, potatoes, wool, live stock, butter and honey. The county-seat is Hagerstown, with a population of 13,591, and an admirable location as a railroad center. It lies on Antietam creek, 86 miles from Baltimore, and a seminary of high order and other private institutions, are among its educational facilities. The Baltimore and Ohio, Western Maryland, Norfolk and Western, and Cumberland Valley Railroads traverse the county and all pass through Hagerstown. The manufacturing establishments of the city are numerous and some of their products are bicycles, gloves, organs, building materials, agricultural implements, cigars, flour, carriages, etc. Williamsport has a population of 1,472, and is a commercial and industrial center. Sharpsburg, Hancock, Clearspring, Boonsboro, Smithsburg, Leitersburg, Funkstown, Keedysville, and others, are thriving villages. The county ranks high among wheat producing counties of the United States, and is noted for its mountain-side peach orchards. The population is remarkable for intelligence, industry and thrift. Its area is 525 square miles. Germans, English, Scotch, Swiss, and French from the border provinces of Alsace and Lovraine were among the original settlers. A number of families where established in the county as early as 1735, and from 1740 onward the numbers rapidly increased. Washington has been the mother of a long line of distinguished men in every walk of life, who have left their impress not only upon Maryland but upon other states and the nation. The county may lay claim to no inconsiderable share in the construction of the first steamboat built in the United States, (1785-86). General Washington and Governor Thomas Johnson were patrons of the experiment of James Ramsey, and parts of his steamboat were made at the Antietam Iron Works on March 14, 1786. Sharpsburg and vicinity was the scene of the most terrible and bloody battle of the Civil War, and in the Antietam National cemetery here lie buried 4, 667 Union dead. The Delaware and Catawba battleground at the mouth of Antietam Creek, the limestone or subterranean curiosity from which Cavetown derives its name, and old Fort Frederick, near Clearspring – the last remaining visible vestige of the French and Indian War – and Maryland Heights, rendered conspicuous in 1861-65, together with Antietam battle-field, dotted with monuments and tablets, make the county forever memorable in song and story.
Contributed 2023 Dec 01 by Norma Hass, extracted from Leading Events of Maryland History, by John M. Gambrill, published in 1903, pages 228-229.
The first Mennonite settlement in Maryland was made in Washington county. This county forms part of the same Cumberland Valley through which the Germans of Pennsylvania passed on their way to Virginia. The settlement here is older than those farther up the valley in Pennsylvania and almost as old as those in Virginia. The first church was located in what is known as the Leitersburg district between Conococheague and Antietam creeks. Christian Burkhart had come here as early as 1755 and John Reiff and Jacob Good as early as 1765. By 1776 the community had grown large enough to demand some recognition upon their refusal to bear arms during the Revolutionary war from the State convention which at the time was establishing a new constitution, as well as from the county Committee of Observation. Both the constitutional convention and the local committee exempted them from military service, but required them to furnish transportation for the county troops and contribute to the support of the families of the men in the army. Before 1800, among others, the following had found their way into this region: Michael Miller, Andrew Reiff, John Newcomer, John Strite, John Barr, Jacob Miller and John Shank. The community at present comprises four congregations. Several congregations have also been established in the western part of the state. [page 198-199]
By the close of the eighteenth century, then, the Mennonites of Southeastern Pennsylvania had appeared among the pioneer settlers in the fertile valleys of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. No new communities have been established in these states since that time. But with the opening of the Northwest Territory these settlements became in turn the mother communities of many congregations organized early in the next century in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. [page 207]
Maryland is the only state to mention the Mennonites by name in its constitution. Article 36 in the Declaration of Rights Maryland Constitution drawn up by the Constitutional Convention of 1776 declares that
the manner of administering an oath to any person ought to be such as those of the religious persuasion, profession or denomination of which such person is one generally esteem the most effectual confirmation, by the attestation of the Divine being, and that the people called Quakers and those called Dunkers, and those called Menonists holding it unlawful, to take an oath on any occasion ought to be allowed to make their solemn affirmation in the manner that Quakers have been heretofore allowed to affirm and to be of the same avail as an oath in all such cases as the affirmation of Quakers has been allowed and accepted within this state instead of an oath. And further on such affirmation, warrants to search for stolen goods, or the apprehension or commitment of offenders, ought to be granted or security for the peace awarded and Quakers, Tunkers and Menonists ought also on their solemn affirmation as aforesaid to be admitted as witnesses in all criminal cases not capital.
In 1794 the General Assembly confirmed this article and further enacted that Quakers, Menonists and Tunkers when elected to any civil office might substitute a simple affirmation for the usual oath. In 1797 a law was passed to the effect that before any of the above mentioned were to be admitted as a witness in a court of justice "the court shall be satisfied by such testimony as they may require, that such person is one of those who profess to be conscientiously scrupulous of taking an oath." [pages 360-360]
In Maryland there were comparatively few Mennonites before the Revolution. Their influence was "much less than that of their Pennsylvania brethren and thus they met less opposition to their demands. But here, too, they had to resort to petition for all the exemptions they enjoyed. The petition for freedom from military service is not to be found anywhere in the published records, but a resolution recorded in the minutes of the Constitutional Contention of 1776 shows us what its contents must have been. Under date of July 6, the following entry occurs in the Journal on the reading of the petition of the "Society of Mennonites and German Baptists:"
Resolved that the several committees of observation may at their discretion prolong the time or take security for the payment of any fine by them imposed for not enrolling in the militia and may remit the whole or any part of the fines by them assessed and it is recommended to the committees to pay particular attention and to make a difference between such persons as may refuse from religious principles or other motives.
The Mennonites were exempted from militia duty but were under obligations during the war to pay a fine if the local committee of observation saw fit to collect it. These same provisions were re-enacted later. The law of 1793 provided that "Quakers, Menonists and Tunkers and all others who are conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms and who refuse to do militia duty shall pay a sum of three dollars annually." In 1811 a new act exempted Quakers, Menonists and Tunkers between 18 and 45 years of age on payment of five dollars annually. This would excuse them, however, only from the militia musters in time of peace. When called into active service all were compelled to enlist. The law of 1834 says nothing about fines but declares that all Quakers, Menonists and Tunkers must submit to the commanding officer of the district a certificate from a licensed preacher in the Society who shall certify of their good standing in their respective churches. This legislation continued practically unchanged until the time of the Civil war. [pages 372-374]
Contributed 2025 Sep 13 by Norma Hass, extracted from Mennonites of America, by C. Henry Smith, published in 1909, pages 198-199, 207, 360-360, and 372-374.
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This page was last updated
09/13/2025