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Enjoy an old-fashioned picnic at yester-year pricesWe will accommodate almost any size group at your locationRestaurantThurmont, Md 271-7373831-7700TIIK NKWS. Fmlerirk. Mil.. Friday. April 14. l‘J78 - Page 1MByron seeks to extend boundaries of Battlefield ParkBy NICK WOOD Staff Writer' Within the next several weeks, when the National Parks and Recreation Subcommittee of the House of Representatives' Interior Committee takes up the Omnibus Parks Bill. Congressman Goodloe E. Byron intends to bring up the subject of increasing the boundaries of the Monocacy Battlefield National Park.When a bill, also introduced by Byron, established boundaries for the park in 1976, only three farms were involved, all east of the Monocacy River.Byron hopes In a workshop session — wherein 62 changes are being proposed for parks across the country — to in-crease the Monocacy park from its present 730-plus acres to approximately 1.164 acres by adding two significant properties and some minor plots along the Monocacy. provided that each selleris willing.In this Byron will be acting on the recommendations given him by an advisory committee he established in the fall of 1977 to consider the park and its development. The committee has contacted the two large property owners and has gotten their consent to have their properties included within the parks boundaries, either through fee simple purchase or through various purchased easements which the owners findagreeable.I’m going to recommend to the subcommittee that (the advisory committee's Monocacy Battlefield) recommendations be included in the Omnibus bill. Byron said Thursday evening.I think it is a good chance, he added, because John Parsons (assistant director of the National Capitol Region of the National Park Service) workedvery closely with the (advisory) committee.”It was a great asset to me to have the advisory committees' enthusiastic advice, expertise and recommendations, Byron continued, adding that the committee will continue to gather data about the battle and assist in planning thepark’s development.Byron’s position on the parks subcommittee also is expected to make revising the local battlefield easier than it would be for most congressman. Sitting on the subcommittee, he will be able to bring up the subject in a workshop session, where another congressman would have to introduce a separate bill. Committee work is usually conclusive. Byron added, noting that the House of Representatives and the Senate usually attach great weight to the Interior Committee’srecommendations.He added that his proposed changes will have the support of Interior Committee Chairman Morris Udali and Subcommittee Chairman Philip Burton.Byron also revealed that he has written Sidney Yates, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee subcommittee on parks asking J3.5 million for initial land acquisition. Byron predicts that the funding will be available.“I don't see any problem with that at all, he disclosed. ”1 feel sure that next year we can get even more money and, within a few years, have all the property we hope to acquire. Then development of the park can begin.”If the Appropriations Committee includes funds in this year’s bill, the money would be available this Oct. 1.The three farms which were included in the 1976 bill are east of the Monocacy River: the Worthington Farm, now owned by the Jenkins Food Corporation; theBaker Farm, now owned by the heirs of Earl Ceisberg: and the Thomas Farm, now owned oy Judge Robert E. Clapp.It was across these three farms in 1864 that Confederate troops in the army of Gen. Jubai Early charged. Following a series of attacks, they eventually routed Union troops under General Lew Wallace.But while studying the battle. Ihe advisory committee realized that significant areas of the battle had not been included and have recommended extending the park's boundaries north and west, to include more of the actual fighting. ‘As the troops had retreated. Bush Creek became a bottleneck where beleaguered Union soldiers had lo turn once more to fight. It was here, on the Gambrill Farm, now owned by Ear! VivJno, that the bloodiest fighting of the battle took place. Boscobel, the home of the Vjvinos. was used as a hospital after the battle.Across the Monocacy. Confederate troops had massed for their attacks and hod. through artiiery barrage and infantry advances, kept up a steady pressure against Union soldiers guarding the Baltimore Ohio Railroad at Frederick Junction. There, west of the river, protected by the railroad embankment. 1st Lt. George E. Davis commanded his small force in such a gallant fashion that he later was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor, one of two issued after that battle.The Trail Farm has remained within the same family since the 1830s and is now in the possession of a variety of heirs, including U.S. Senator Charles McC. Mathias. The property is controlled. however, by Bayand Davidson and owned principally by the senator's mother and other family members ofher generation.The Trail and Vivino properties, encompassing an additional 427 acres, would be included into the park area if the bill proposed by Byron passes through Congress. The park would not include the residentiary established areas of Araby. which would remain a residential wedge between the Clapp and Vivino properties.While studying Ihe battle, the advisory committee considered and rejected other inclusions. The fighting raged, in more modest scale, across most of the county. Skirmishing began at each gap of the Catoctin Mountains, in which small Union forces opposed access of Early's army into Frederick County and ended with minor action near Urbana.In between were a whole series of engagements in which Union cavalry and a few infantry units fought holding actions at every rise between the mountain gaps and Frederick.While the main fighting occurred near Araby and Frederick Junction, on both sides of 1-270, a separate engagement was being fought on both sides of 1-70 at Jug Bridge. Without knowing whether Early's army intended to march on Washington or Baltimore, Wallace had fortified the Monocacy's banks at both points. While fighting at Jug Bridge was not nearly as intense, amounting to artillery barrages and sniping, perhaps a hundred men died in the area, mostly ir. fighting that resulted when the Union troops from the south began to flee toward U.S. 40 to escape the pursuing Confederates.The committee decided, however, to concentrate on a contiguous area which the park service would be able to develop more easily into a unified park.The advisory committee was chairedCHILD KILLER For children, cancer is responsible for more deaths in the 3-to 14-year old group than any other disease. In 1977, cancer accounted for the deaths of about 3,000 children, roughly half of them from acute lymphocytic leukemia, a cancerof blood-forming tissues.GRIMESMLSfit ASSOCIATESby Mrs. Patricia Sanner and H Thomas Summers, and includes Mrs. Beverly Byron, James F. Cupino Jr.. Harry L Decker. Judge Edward S. Delaplaine. Mrs. Ann B. Hooper. Mrs. Dana Keister.Lawrence W. Johnson. Gilbert L. Kingsbury. Arnold W. Schofield and Nicholas W. Wood. Until his recent, untimely death. Gregory J. Hayward also served on the advisory committee.Tillingmade easyThe International* 526 Rotary Tiller takes most of the blisters and backaches out of gardening You qet deep tillage and thorough mulching cf soil to get your garden off to a fast start The easystart. 5 hp engine gives you plenty ot soil-turnmq power Adjustable depth control lets you work to 8 deep. You can work a full 26 swath or cultivate rows as close as 14 simply by removing tinesConsider us as yourSPECIALSALEReal Estate Sales CenterNow only*290°°From the pitsThe stone fence in the foreground borders the BfiO Railroad tracks at Frederick Junction, overlooking the Trail Farm. Union riflemen might have hidden behind these very stones and watched Confederate troops advance across this field during the Battle of Monocacy. The Trail Farm would be Included in the Monocacy Battlefield National Park if Congressman Goodloe Byron succeeds in his plan to expand the parks’ boundaries. (Photo byCOINS COINSBuying Selling AlBurkerSilver Coins T Silver DollarsFrederick Towns MallWed., Thurs., Fri., Sat. Apr. 12-13-14-15COINS COINSSHENANDOAHH.B. DUVALL, INC.EAST PATRICK STREET, FREDERICK,PHONE 662-1125PROFESSIONAL RESULTS, TRUST A SEASONED RAND.
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Frederick, Maryland, US
Fri, Apr 14, 1978
Page 66
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