Unionville

From the beginning of the Civil War, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman urged President Abraham Lincoln to allow blacks to enlist in the U.S. Army and fight for their freedom. On May 22, 1863, General Orders 143 were issued stating "A Bureau is established ... for the record of all matters related to the organization of Colored Troops." The Orders were a major turning point in the war for the Union and changed America's fate.

Eighteen Talbot County slaves and free blacks joined the U.S. Colored Troops. At least half of them were assigned to the Seventh Regiment Infantry which fought in some of the war's most crucial battles. The regiment was repeatedly praised for its performance as it was by a New York Tribune correspondent who wrote after the battle at Fussels Mills, "The 7th U.S. colored troops (Maryland) on the first day carried with fixed bayonets, a line of rifle pits, and carried it without a shot, but with a loss of thirty-five; it was one of the most stirring and gallant affairs I have ever known."

In 1866, the soldiers were discharged and returned to their families here. John and Ezekiel Cowgill, conscientious Quakers who owned Lombardy Plantation, offered each veteran a plot of land and a dollar a month. The former soldiers immediately built a school and church and named their new community Cowgilltown. Later, they renamed the village Unionville to honor their service during the Civil War. The eighteen veterans and founders of Unionville are buried here behind St. Stephen A.M.E. Church.