North Market Street

North Market Street. "Now I shall see Cousin J.". On June 28, 1863, Union Gen. John F. Reynolds rode into Frederick to visit his cousin Catherine Reynolds Cramer and her sisters near the intersection of North Market and Second Streets. She would have much to write the rest of her family on July 1 about this reunion with him. Her delight was obvious: "When we heard the ARmy of the Potomac was really coming my first and constant thought was, 'now I shall see Cousin J.'", Reynolds visited his cousin that Sunday afternoon before leaving to confer with his new commander, Gen. George G. Meade. Catherine prepared a meal for him, hoping that he would return after the meeting. While waiting, she and her sisters "gave supper to 17 soldiers who came in at different times asking to buy bread as all shops had sold out and they had nothing all day." It was late when Reynolds finished this work for the day. He did not return, and Catherine never saw him again. Reynolds was killed three days later during the first day's fighting at Gettysburg., Confederates returned here a year later, as Gen. Jubal A. Early forced the city of Frederick to ransom itself for $200,000. Local banks paid the ransom here at the former City Hall using bushel baskets full of cash. It was July 9, 1864, and soon thunder from nearby Monocacy, "the battle that saved Washington," rent the air.