In War's Path

In War's Path. "Like a Typical Locust". Today, Barnesville is a peaceful village. But imagine it strewn with the wreckage of war and overwhelmed with huge armies passing through here on the roadway in front of you. In September 1862, during the Antietam Campaign, Union and Confederate cavalry skirmished here, and carbine fire and shellfire echoed off of houses., After those troops had moved on, Barnesville residents had to deal with, Union Army stragglers who stole food. On October 4, local resident James F. Beal wrote in his diary, "Stragglers are still about the meanest wretches under the sun." And the dangerous refuse of war was everywhere. On October 9, he "found a shell ... which the Rebles [sic] threw at the Yankees.... It had buried itself 2½ feet in the ground.", Less than a year later, Union troops once again inundated Barnesville as the Army of the Potomac marched toward Gettysburg. From June 26 to June 28, 1863, the 1st, 5th, and 6th Corps, more than 37,000 men, marched past here. On the 28th, Maj. John Nevin of the 93rd Pennsylvania, 6th Corps, commented on the "zone of exhaustion ... that marks the broad path of a large army which sweeps over the country like a typical locust.", While no major battles occurred in Barnesville, the hard hand of war still visited the village and its residents., Southern Sympathy , Like many Maryland towns close to the Potomac River and Virginia, a number of Barnesville residents sympathized with the Confederate cause. At least five locals are known to have joined the Confederate Army. Prominent citizen Leonard Hayes, whose son served in the 35th Virginia Cavalry, hosted J.E.B. Stuart's brigade commanders, Col. Thomas Munford, Gen. Wade Hampton, and Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, for dinner on September 5, 1862., (captions) , Imagine finding an artillery projectile similar to this Hotchkiss Shell buried in the ground near your home, as resident James F. Beal did. Courtesy Dana B. Shoal collection, For days in 1862 and 1863, Union Army wagons and ambulances clogged the roads around Barnesville, limiting the movement of residents and heavily damaging the roadways.