While there were no skirmishes in Owings Mills, the war didn’t entirely pass it by. During the Gettysburg Campaign, the rail line through Owings Mills as well as the Reisterstown turnpike were commandeered by the Union Army for at least 5 days for use as a supply line. They brought engines and cars up from Virginia and residents reported seeing an almost continuous line of cars carrying troops and supplies north to Westminster. There was hospital set up in Westminster to care for the wounded and then ship them back to Baltimore. After the battle, scores of Confederate wounded and prisoners made the return trip though Owings Mills into Baltimore, as well as the body of General Reynolds with an honor guard. Fourteen wounded Union soldiers rode down the Reisterstown Turnpike after the battle, having walked the 20+ miles from Gettysburg back to Westminster.
I put a previous post up about Harry Gilmor and his raid around Baltimore, which pretty much scared the pants off anyone he came across. I know that I mentioned that he used to raid for horses in Owings Mills, but what I didn’t mention was the fact that fact that three Owings Mills farmers were most likely the only ones he didn’t scare and they came up with inventive ways to keep him away from their horses.
Gilmor was from the Baltimore area and in June 1863, after riding with the Baltimore County Horse Guards, a stint in a Baltimore prison (for riding with the aforementioned unit), and joining Turner Ashby’s 7th Virginia Cavalry – the 7th had had pretty much enough of him, and he was finally given command of the 1st and 2nd Maryland Cavalry. My 3rd great uncles on both my mother’s side and my father’s side fought with the 1st MD and were probably very aware of each other. Weird that the grandchildren of their respective nieces would meet and marry and wind up with me. But I digress. They probably were involved in several raids in Owings Mills.
By 1863-1864, the Confederate Army was pretty much living off the land and didn’t care what they confiscated in the way of horses and food, and on one ride through the area, raided Oliver Disney’s farm, killing cows and taking all the geese and the chickens. The Disney property sat near what is Disney Court today and further west of Dolfield Road. He never complained about it because he feared they would torch his farm. Disney had already gotten into a tussle with the United States Army over enlistment. He had paid for a substitute twice because he didn’t want to leave his wife and 7 children on his farm alone. He couldn’t pay a third time when the army came again, so they took his property at the cost of 2 dollars an acre for the equivalent of what he would have paid for a substitute. He lost at least 30 acres. His wife was pregnant and after being screwed out of land by the Union Army, along came Harry Gilmor and his Confederate partisans to mess things up worse.
Whenever Gilmor was spotted in the area, Disney and two other local farmers, Lowe and Lockard, rounded the horses up and would literally hide them on the upper branch of Red Run in a heavy part of Lowe’s woods. This area is very near the old Lowe Family Cemetery which sits just behind Bridgeway Church and the Strayer University building on Red Run Boulevard. They built a corral and literally guarded the animals with rifles to keep them from being stolen. Gilmor wasn’t a dummy and if he thought horses were being hidden, he would ride a stallion in; the object being to get the mares in a tizzy and reveal the hiding place. The farmers weren’t stupid either, so they tethered the mares with her heads down so they couldn’t rear up and whinny. Gilmor came close at least once and Disney almost shot him, but since Gilmor had dated a girl who lived at Cedarmere House (by the 15 Mile House on Reisterstown Road) and was considered a local hero/scoundrel, shooting him would not have gone over well with the ladies in the area and Disney knew it.
Lowe Cemetery today – photo by Nance Simmers at FindAGrave
Disney lived to be 88 years old – dying in 1917 – making him 32 or so when the war got rolling. He’s buried in the cemetery adjacent to Pleasant Hill Church on Reisterstown Road.
Disney’s obit from the Baltimore Sun
During his raid around Baltimore in 1864, Gilmor captured wounded Union Major General William Franklin and several of his staff. He put Captain Nicholas Owings (his grandfather was brother to Samuel Owings of Owings Mills) in charge of him and dropped everyone off near the Oliver farm near the Craddock House on Craddock Lane. Owings and his men fell asleep, and Franklin and his staff escaped leaving the Confederates beating the woods looking for them. Franklin was never recaptured despite an valiant attempt by Glimor.
Craddock House – photo by WBAL
Confederate troops also had their first taste of ice cream while in Owings Mills. Bradley Johnson’s men stopped at the old Samuel Owings farm at the lower mill on what is now Painters Mills Road – roughly Painters Mill and Music Fair Roads. There was a dairy there at the time that made ice cream. They would put it in barrels and ship it to Baltimore where the family had a store on Charles Street that sold it. The troops saw these barrels sitting on a railroad flat car at the Owings Mills depot and decided to try the stuff. Some of the men had never seen ice cream before, declared it frozen-milk-mush, and waited for it to melt then poured it into their canteens. Needless to say, the troopers became ill after carrying around the melted concoction for a few days.
The Samuel Owings House – it became a restaurant and was finally razed to put in a office building. Named “Ulm” – for the Upper, Lower and Middle mills that the family owned. Photo from the Baltimore County Public Library
The Owings Mills Train Station – it has been refurbished and is currently used by U-Haul. Pic from Google maps.
Baltimore Through My Eyes 