Mary Shellman's Legacy

Mary Shellman's Legacy. "Hearts that loved 'Our Boys in Blue'". , On July 9, 1864, the heavy thump of cavalry boots came from the doorway behind you when Confederate Generals Bradley Johnson and Harry Gilmor briefly made the Shellman House their headquarters, while staunchly-Unionist 15-year-old resident Mary Bostwick Shellman (1849-1938) looked on. A Westminster native, Mary lived here from 1864 to 1932. , ,br> "Three times the Confederates visited our little town of Westminster," Mary later recalled, including a June 1863 visit where Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart "called me his little captive, and [gave] me the much wished for kills." Following the Battle of Gettysburg, Mary helped nurse wounded soldiers brought to Westminster., After the war, Mary believed preserving the memory of Civil War soldiers was her "sacred duty." In 1868, she helped established Westminster's first Decoration Day Parade and led children to decorate veterans' graves with flowers. She also wrote poetry honoring veterans, some of it read at Antietam National Cemetery and Arlington National Cemetery, and supported Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) posts in Maryland and other states; several honored her as an "Adopted Comrade.", In the 1880s, the Westminster Cemetery Company gave her a plot for the burial of veterans she feared would otherwise rest in paupers' graves. She later obtained headstones from the government., Following World War I, the local American Legion and G.A.R. posts helped Mary maintain Westminster's Memorial Day Parade tradition, which proudly continues to this day., Built in 1807, the Sherman-Fisher-Shellman House is now owned by the Historical Society of Carroll County.,

Excerpts from "The Boys in Blue" by Mary Shellman , With throbbing hearts, and tear dimmed eye, , We watched the ranks go slowly by , , The brave old ranks, the tried and true, , We knew them as our "Boys in Blue", As one by one, they go to rest, , And join the armies of the blest; , We drop our tears upon the sod, , And with our tears give thanks to God; , That men have lived so brave and true, , As these, our gallant "Boys in Blue."