Folck's Mill

On August 1, 1864, Confederate and Union horsemen clashed briefly in northern Maryland during an episode remembered as the Battle of Folck's Mill, sometimes called the Battle of Cumberland. This skirmish formed one piece of the broader Valley Campaigns waged that year in the Civil War.

Two days earlier, on July 30, Confederate cavalry commanders John McCausland and Bradley T. Johnson had set fire to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Afterward they pushed their horsemen westward into Maryland, aiming for Cumberland with plans to wreck the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and either extract a ransom from the town or set it ablaze like Chambersburg. Their column reached Folck's Mill, just east of Cumberland, around three in the afternoon on August 1. Waiting for them was Union Brigadier General Benjamin F. Kelley, commanding three green regiments of "100-days" enlistees backed by six artillery pieces. When the Confederate riders approached the edge of town, Kelley's guns opened fire on them. Uncertain of the ground and unsure how large a force he faced, McCausland held back from charging and instead rolled his own artillery forward. Cannon fire passed between the two sides for roughly five hours, ending near eight o'clock when McCausland pulled his men back and marched them southeast toward Old Town along the Potomac.

By the next day the Confederates aimed to ford the Potomac and push into West Virginia, only to discover that Colonel Israel Stough and his own 100-days regiment had already destroyed the bridges spanning the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Stough positioned his troops on the narrow strip of ground separating the canal from the river, hoping to block the Confederates there. His men turned back an initial cavalry charge, but once soldiers of the 21st Virginia managed to throw up a makeshift bridge and cross the canal on his flank, Stough had no choice but to fall back over the Potomac. Once on the river's southern bank, his Federals sought shelter inside a blockhouse belonging to the B&O Railroad, as well as within an armored train of the Potomac Home Brigade sitting idle nearby. McCausland weighed launching a full assault on the blockhouse but chose instead to first call for its surrender. The Union troops inside accepted these terms, allowing the Confederates to finally cross the river and march on to Springfield, West Virginia, where they paused to recover until August 4.

Though the fighting near Cumberland settled nothing outright, Kelley's defense almost certainly spared the town from burning and protected the railroad from further destruction. Stough's determined fight along the Potomac marked the first real resistance McCausland's men had encountered since they had put Chambersburg to the torch.

Union Forces

Brigadier General Benjamin F. Kelley commanded the troops stationed west of Sleepy Creek. Under him served Colonel Israel Stough, leading the 153rd Ohio National Guard, and Colonel Caleb Marker, at the head of the 156th Ohio National Guard. Four companies of the 11th West Virginia Infantry answered to Maj. J. L. Simpson, while Lt J. McAfee directed Battery L of the 1st Illinois Light Artillery. Rounding out the command, Cpt Petrie oversaw the 2nd Potomac Home Guard Maryland Infantry.