Cooksville

Cooksville. Saving the Guns. , When Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart led his cavalry division north across the Potomac River into Maryland in June 1863, about 400 Federals and civilians were captured and then paroled in Brookeville. At the same time, Confederate Gen. Fitzhugh Lee’s brigade continued its march north toward Hood’s Mill., Near Cooksville, meanwhile, Capt. R.E. Duvall’s Co. A, Purnell Legion Md. Cavalry, had bivouacked on the National Road with two ordnance rifles of Capt. W.D. Rank’s Battery H, 3rd Pa. Artillery. Duvall was escorting the guns to Relay in Baltimore County, where they were to be used in the defense of the Thomas Viaduct on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. , When Stuart’s advance drove in the Union pickets before dawn on June 29, Duvall sent Sgt. Andrew Duncan and Pvt. Jonathan Norris back to Frederick to warn Gen. George G. Meade of the Confederate presence, then beat a hasty retreat under cover of darkness. He lost some camp equipment and four horses but saved his men and Rank’s guns. Near Poplar Springs he encountered Col. John B. Mclntosh’s cavalry brigade, which was hunting for Stuart and offered protection. When Duvall’s company and the two guns did not reach Relay as expected, area commander Gen. Robert Schenck reported them captured. It was two days before he learned their true status.