Pocomoke City in Worcester County, Maryland — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
Maryland's Eastern Shore
Hundreds of Enslaved and Free Black Men Enlisted
Although isolated from Maryland's largest population centers, the Eastern Shore was important to the state's role in the Civil War and exemplified the citizens' divided loyalties.
In the years before the war, enslaved African-Americans here began escaping bondage via the Underground Railroad to the North and Canada, helped on their way by sympathetic blacks and whites and such courageous "conductors" as Harriet Tubman, an Eastern Shore native. During the war, hundreds of enslaved and free black men from the Eastern Shore enlisted in the United States Colored Troops, the black units authorized in January 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Afterward, returning black veterans established towns and emancipation celebrations that still survive today.
Some of the Shore's white residents held fast to the Union, while others supported the Confederacy. Although combat bypassed this area, families here as elsewhere suffered the loss of their men as well as the hardships of war. Newspaper publishers suspected of disloyalty to the Union were arrested. Streams and towns on both sides of the Chesapeake Bay became smugglers' havens as enterprising watermen ran the Federal blockade to supply Confederate forces. When the conflict ended, Eastern Shore residents returned to their fields and fishing vessels, and the passions of war subsided.
Please drive carefully as you visit Civil War Trails sites on Maryland's Eastern Shore.
Erected by Maryland Civil War Trails.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Abolition & Underground RR • African Americans • Industry & Commerce • War, US Civil. In addition, it is included in the Maryland Civil War Trails series list. A significant historical month for this entry is January 1863.
Location. 38° 0.279′ N, 75° 32.606′ W. Marker is in Pocomoke City, Maryland, in Worcester County. Marker can be reached from Ocean Highway (U.S. 13) when traveling north. Located at the Travel Information Center North. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Pocomoke City MD 21851, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 6 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Wicomico Treasures (a few steps from this marker); Beach to Bay Indian Trail (a few steps from this marker); Cultural Treasures (a few steps from this marker); Boundary Line (a few steps from this marker); Mark O. Pilchard (a few steps from this marker); Pocomoke City Historic Railroad Station (approx. 4.6 miles away); Costen House (approx. 5 miles away); In Memory of the Deceased Who Served to Protect Our Country (approx. 5.1 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Pocomoke City.
Credits. This page was last revised on July 22, 2020. It was originally submitted on December 30, 2011, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina. This page has been viewed 933 times since then and 11 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on December 31, 2011, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina.