Jonestown in Baltimore, Maryland — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)

On to Yorktown

Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route Historic Tail

— Road to Victory —

On to Yorktown Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Allen C. Browne, August 28, 2016

1. On to Yorktown Marker

Inscription. Coming from their camp at White Marsh in the early afternoon of Wednesday, 12 September 1781, the First Brigade of French forces, consisting of the infantry regiments Bourbonnais and Royal Deux-Ponts marched into Baltimore on Pulaski Highway [US Route 40]. Once they were joined the next day by the Regiments Soissonnais and Saintonge, close to 4,000 French soldiers were resting in three campsites in and around Baltimore: at Ridgely's Delight (today's Camden Yards), the largest of the three encampment sites, at Howard's Woods on the northwest corner of North Charles and Mulberry streets, and along Harford Run in Jonestown on the western outskirts of Fells Point/eastern side of the Inner Harbor area. On their way they passed the recently completed Friends' Meeting House, now the oldest religious meeting place in the city. In 1781, Baltimore's first Quaker meeting house was led by the famous Abolitionist Quaker Elisha Tyson.

One of comte de Rochambeau's units was the German-speaking Royal Deux-Ponts Regiment. In his Reisebeschreibung von America, his account of 30 months of service in America, Private Georg Daniel Flohr

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fondly remembered his days in Baltimore: On the 12th we made 20 miles to Baltimore, a German city of respectable size, very much determined by trade because of its convenient harbor which via a wide river reaches all the way to the city. We set up camp very close to the city on a large open plain. Here the approach of the fellow countrymen was again as strong as in Philadelphia. There we rested, very joyfully, until the 16th.

Though it was too late for Mary Katherine Goddard to announce the arrival of French forces in the Tuesday edition of her Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser, she carried the news in her next issue of 18 September:

"Early on Sunday Morning last his most Christian Majesty's Forces, consisting of several Thousand choice Troops (who arrived here on Tuesday last) attended by several Generals and other Officers of Distinction, marched for Annapolis, where they are to embark with all possible Expedition, for Virginia. The Behavior of every Corps during their stay here, deserves universal Applause."

Ten days later, on 28 September, these same troops and their American allies laid siege to Lord Cornwallis

Photographed by Allen C. Browne, August 28, 2016

2. On to Yorktown Marker

before Yorktown.

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Abolition & Underground RR • Religion & Religious Structures • War, US Revolutionary. In addition, it is included in the Quakerism, and the The Washington-Rochambeau Route series lists. A significant historical date for this entry is September 12, 1781.

Location. 39° 17.505′ N, 76° 36.069′ W. Marker is in Baltimore, Maryland. It is in Jonestown. It is on East Baltimore Street, on the right when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1201 East Baltimore Street, Baltimore MD 21202, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Central Maryland.

It is also in the American Mid-Atlantic,

in the Chesapeake Bay Region,

and on the Eastern Seaboard. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region,

North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once one of the original Thirteen Colonies

and also the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: 1781 Friends Meeting House

<i>Road to Victory</i>, 2006 by David R. Wagner image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Allen C. Browne, August 28, 2016

3. Road to Victory, 2006 by David R. Wagner

Close-up of painting on marker

(a few steps from this marker); McKim Free School (within shouting distance of this marker); Lloyd Street Synagogue (about 500 feet away, measured in a direct line); a different marker also named Lloyd Street Synagogue (about 500 feet away); 1029 East Baltimore Street (about 500 feet away); 1023 East Baltimore Street (about 600 feet away); 1017 - 1021 East Baltimore Street (about 600 feet away); B'nai Israel Synagogue (about 700 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Baltimore.

The Friends' Meeting House, 1781 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Allen C. Browne, August 28, 2016

4. The Friends' Meeting House, 1781

Detail of painting on marker

Old Town Friends' Meeting House image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Allen C. Browne, August 28, 2016

5. Old Town Friends' Meeting House

Captain Louis-Alexandre Berthier image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Allen C. Browne, August 28, 2016

6. Captain Louis-Alexandre Berthier

Close-up of image on marker

Credits. This page was last revised on February 3, 2024. It was originally submitted on August 29, 2016, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland. This page has been viewed 901 times since then and 51 times this year. Last updated on February 10, 2021, by Carl Gordon Moore Jr. of North East, Maryland. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on August 29, 2016, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.