Best Family Farm - Frederick MD
Posted by: 
Don.Morfe
N 39° 22.235 W 077° 23.917
18S E 293375 N 4360646
The Bests were used to working amid soldiers, for Union and Confederate troops had camped here on the South Hermitage farm several times since the Civil War broke out in 1861.
Waymark Code: WM136DM
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 09/26/2020
Views: 3
Best Family Farm 8:30 a.m. July 9, 1864— Monocacy National Battlefield--The John T. Best family was going about its chores of tending cows, hogs, chickens, and fields of wheat, oats, and corn. The Bests were used to working amid soldiers, for Union and Confederate troops had camped here on the South Hermitage farm several times since the Civil War broke out in 1861.
This time, however, Confederate sharpshooters in the barn and artillery on the ridge behind the house hammered Union troops at the bridges spanning the Monocacy River on the farm's southern edge. Union artillery responded and set the barn ablaze. The Bests lost their grain, hay and farm tools - and the battle had just begun.
...a shell from a well directed gun...hit the barn and set it on fire, thus scattering the rebel sharpshooters and relieving the skirmishers of this very galling and nerve-racking rifle fire.
Glenn H. Worthington
(Lower Sidebar): Lee's Lost Order
During the 1862 Maryland Campaign, Robert E. Lee's Order No. 191, which outlined his army's movements, was found wrapped around cigars in a grove of trees at an abandoned Confederate camp on the Best family farm. Ever cautious, Union Gen. George McClellan did not use the information to his full advantage at the Battle of Antietam.
LOCATION: Marker is near Frederick, Maryland, in Frederick County. Marker can be reached from Urbana Pike (State Highway 355), on the right when traveling south. Located at on the Best Farm Lane, in the parking lot for for stop number one for the driving tour of Monocacy Battlefield. Marker is in this post office area: Frederick MD 21704
Visit Instructions:
To post a log for this waymark a photo of you, the sign at the waymark with your GPS in view must be uploaded.