Prettyman House

Prettyman House. Confederates in Rockville. , E. Barrett Prettyman, a prominent Rockville resident and educator, watched from his house as about 5,000 Confederate cavalrymen rode into town in three columns on Sunday, June 28, 1863. Gen. Wade Hampton's brigade, with prisoners captured between Rowser's Ford and Darnestown, entered on Darnestown Road after scattering a small Union force meant to delay his advance. Later that day, Confederate Gen. E.E.B. Stuart and brigades under Gen. Fitzhugh Lee and Col. John R. Chambliss rode in on Great Falls Road, to your right. Stuart stopped here at Prettyman's house, then continued to Rockville's Court House Square, where a boisterous reception ensued., Lee's advance encountered part of the 2nd New York Cavalry which quickly retreated. Chambliss captured a large supply-wagon train from Washington heading north on the Rockville Pike. The Confederates cut telegraph lines, foraged in the countryside, and arrested local Unionists. Local Confederate supporters like George Peter called for their fair treatment, as the Unionists had likewise defended their secessionist neighbors when Federal forces arrested them. Divided by political loyalties, Rockvillians were united by community., About 400 prisoners were held at the courthouse until the Confederate troopers that left that evening. The prisoners included 150 U.S. Colored Troops and white officers captured at Edwards Ferry, Rockville residents, and Black men and women from surrounding farms. As Stuart's cavalrymen trotted northward towards Gettysburg, their 900 captured mules and 125 wagons slowed their progress. Infamously, Stuart and his men arrived near the end of the second day of fighting on July 2. This delay likely contributed to the Union victory there.