Archaeologists dig in Maryland where Frederick Douglass was child slave

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: Unearthing Slavery, Finding Peace
A Dig at an Eastern Shore Plantation Could Help Local Blacks See Their Past
By Elizabeth Williamson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 21, 2006; Page B01


Excavating a house on the Wye House site. (Mark Gong - The Washington Post)

Mary Tilghman watches from her window as archaeologists sift the earth of Wye House Farm, her Eastern Shore property. Buttons and an iron ring, pig bones and a broken spoon: Over three centuries, her family helped the growth of a new American economy and, on this plantation, built an empire on the backs of slaves.

This is where the black abolitionist Frederick Douglass lived for a couple of years, as a child slave of about 7. The work confirms his descriptions of the physical place to a fault, animating the landscape with his words: "Though crimes, high-handed and atrocious, may there be committed . . . it is, nevertheless . . . a most strikingly interesting place, full of life."

Tilghman welcomed this search of her land and family records. Now 87, the 11th-generation heir to Wye House has "always been interested in the history of this place," she said. But until now, the stories of hundreds of people who lived steps from her front door have lain under a carpet of emerald turf, their names stowed in boxes of family ledgers, with notes gauging their fitness for work.

Down the road, in the hamlet of Unionville, Harriette Lowery waits for her lost history to emerge from the clay and the files. The ancestors of Unionville once toiled at Wye House Farm, and some of their descendants work there today....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/20/AR2006072002041.html

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. That's a very interesting article

I've read Douglass's autobiography, and know how horrible his time in slavery was. I'm glad to see the descendants of the slave owners do not try and justify it, and are helping slave descendants to learn more of their history. I'm only sad that the county didn't want to erect the statue--one indication in my mind that the Voting Rights Act is still very much needed.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. The statue conflict was really disappointing to read about. nt

[eppur_se_muova]

4. I was down in that general area lately ... saw a Confederate monument

site in preparation. I guess they have their priorities.

[DeepModem Mom]

6. "In preparation"? Wow. nt

[eppur_se_muova]

7. Actually, it turns out there's a sad and interesting story behind it ...

It's a *Federal* monument to Confederate (CSA) soldiers who died at a (USA) prison camp there.

"During the war, in 1862, the U.S. government established a hospital to help treat the mounting number of war casualties. By 1863, the camp and hospital began to accept POWs. The numbers swelled over the next two years to more than 52,000. Tragically, nearly 4,000 Confederate POWs died from disease by 1865 at Point Lookout. The monument in the small park at the side of Route 5 at Point Lookout citing their names and home states represents the only instance of a federal monument to honor Confederate soldiers."

The new monument will (apparently, I'm not sure) replace the monument in the photo.



Maryland was a border state, with many Confederate sympathisers. I'm not sure if that's connected to the new monument, but I've been warned not to assume that everyone in the area had family wearing blue uniforms in the "War Between the States" -- or would have approved if they did.
ON EDIT: Here's an interesting historical footnote -- one family that did wear blue! Really neat story. http://www.somdnews.com/stories/052406/indytop190326_32121.shtml

[DeepModem Mom]

8. Thanks, eppur_se_muova! nt

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

9. Thanks for this information and the really neat story

There were families literally torn apart by the Civil War, and not only in MD. Shelby Foot, in one of his books, told that after the fall of Vicksburg, a brother in blue found his brother in grey and gave him money for "the old folks back in Missouri". There's a monument in Fredericksburg, TX, I believe, to the German soldiers who remained "True to the Union" and were killed by Confederates in the area; in Southern Illinois, the Knights of the Golden Circle met; in Carbondale, there's a grave above ground of a lady of Southern sympathies who was a refugee there; she died before the war was over, and her instructions were "don't bury me in Yankee soil."

If you have Civil War relatives, I would encourage you to purchase their war and pension records from the National Archives (if Union) or state archives(if Confederate). They are fascinating reading.

[eppur_se_muova]

10. I had no idea about the archives! Thanks, it should be worth a look.

My family is pretty big on my Mom's side, and they keep in touch, despite being scattered over many states. We had ancestors on both sides. I think an aunt has copies of letters from one Confederate soldier (not a blood relative, but her husband's -- my uncle's) which were published by a local historical society, IIRC.

[acmejack]

3. It sure is, when they worry about a thing like that.

The Talbot boys, during the renewal act I posted that they were still mad over Sherman's March to the Sea. I honestly believe they are. I know when I was a boy, when old people said "Damn Yankees!" they really meant it.

[Caoimhe]

5. agreed, it is very sad

and the stipulation that the statue must not be taller than the existing statue of Confederate Soldiers? Why have this competition over history? What a slap in the face! Racism is still very much alive and well in the USA.