Civil War History of the Thomas Viaduct & Relay, Maryland Area

 The B&O Railroad was the only railroad into Washington DC until after the Civil War, thus it was an essential supply train route for the Union during that time. To prevent Confederate attack or sabotage of the Thomas Viaduct and Washington junction, the Sixth and Eighth Massachusetts regiments, as well as Cook's Boston Artillery Battery, took control of the railroad junction,  Relay House train station, and the Thomas Viaduct on May 5th, 1861. The Relay House itself became the occupying Union Army headquarters. 

  Union troops pose for a picture at the Relay House in 1861 with a  
waiting locomotive. Courtesy B&O Railroad Museum.

 Cook's Boston Light Artillery "Bouquet Battery" was set up on a hill overlooking the viaduct on the Elkridge side of the Patapsco River. Two cannons were positioned overlooking the southern end of the bridge and river valley facing north towards Relay and the hilltop encampment became known as Camp Essex.

 

 Cook's Boston Light Artillery "Bouquet Battery" in 1861 on the Elkridge

end of the viaduct. There are 2 cannons deployed on the hill overlooking

the Thomas Viaduct. This battery and the encampment behind it was  

known as Camp Essex. Courtesy, Howard County Historical Society.

 Cook's Boston Light Artillery also set up a 2-cannon sandbag battery on the Old Main Line facing west to protect the Thomas Viaduct from threats coming from that direction by rail. It was located about 150 yards west of the Relay end of the viaduct.

 

                    The sandbag artillery battery in 1861 facing west on the 

                    Old Main Line with two "twelve-pounder" cannons. The 

                    Thomas Viaduct can be seen about 150 yards behind it.

                     Photo taken from the hill in front of the battery. Courtesy, 

                     Howard County Historical Society.

 

    This is a sketch of the Union sandbag artillery battery facing west on the

Old Main Line. The Thomas Viaduct is about 150 behind the cannons   

From the Harper's  Weekly magazine dated June 1,1861.

 The same site as it appears today, minus the second set of tracks.
Photo taken March 2014 by Jeff L.

 A Union fort known as Fort Dix was built in Relay on top of the hill behind the Relay House overlooking the viaduct and Patapsco River valley and was named after General John A. Dix.. The Engineers who were in charge of building the fortifications on Federal Hill in Baltimore built an earthen-type fort which included a substantial timber block-house and a magazine sunk deep into the ground which was covered with a high mound of earth. In front of the magazine entrance was another mound of earth to protect it from incoming enemy shells.  An artillery battery was set up on the bluff overlooking the Thomas Viaduct with 7 twelve pound cannons, 1 thirty-four pounder and one heavy Howitzer.

 

   Thomas Viaduct in 1861. Photo taken from the bluff overlooking 

 the bridge on the Relay end where a Union artillery battery was 

        placed. Union Fort Dix was located behind the photographer on this

     hilltop. Notice the man standing at bottom left. Courtesy, Howard

 County Historical Society.

 To prevent the smuggling of arms and supplies by railway to the Confederate southern states, both freight trains and passenger trains passing through Relay were stopped and searched at the Relay House station by Union troops. Passengers had their trunks and even their food baskets searched. Everything from picnic baskets full of brass buttons destined for Confederate uniforms to thousands of percussion caps for rifles and pistols hidden in trunks were found and confiscated.

The Relay House ca. 1860's. Notice the crude telegraph pole
    at the passenger platforms.  That big white sign is in every Civil
  War era photo of the Relay House that I have come across. I  
   have a photo similar to the one above on a digital poster and I 
can decipher most of it. See below. Courtesy, Baltimore 
County Public Library Legacy Web project.

  This is most of what that large sign in front of the
Relay House says. I have a similar photo of the
  Relay House to the one above on a digital poster 
    and was able to enlarge and enhance it enough to 
         make this much out. Question marks are words that I 
   couldn't read. This is the exact layout of that sign.

 There were eventually over 2,000 troops stationed around the Thomas Viaduct in Relay, Elkridge, and the fields across the tracks from Relay that would later become the village of St. Denis. The entire area became a military occupation for the duration of the war, much to the dismay of the local residents. People's homes and buildings were occupied. Some of the soldiers not satisfied with their camp grub would forage around the countryside for something better; often robbing chicken coops, meat houses, dairies, etc.. If the soldiers at any of the camps wanted wood, hay or straw, they usually took it without the permission of the owners.

  Soldiers caught stealing chickens were often forced to march up and down the Relay House platforms all day wearing a wooden barrel with the top and bottom knocked out of it. A sign saying "Chicken Thief" was hung from it so that everybody passing by could see what they had done. Another popular form of punishment was having the offender march up and down the platforms wearing a knapsack full of rocks.

 Elkridge resident Rebecca Pue Dobbin Penniman, whose father was a southern sympathizer and owned the land where Camp Essex and the artillery battery was positioned, reported that northern Union soldiers tended to be more rude and insolent to suspected southern sympathizers living in the area than soldiers from the western regiments. She wrote that horses, fruit, and vegetables were stolen from them by northern regiment troops. She also reported that no sanitary regulations were observed by Union regiments and that they simply moved to a new location when their current camp site became too unbearable to use anymore ("Elkridge:  Three Wars & the Peace"  copyright 1983 by the Elkridge Heritage Society, page 45.). 

 There was another recorded incident of a group of soldiers under the command of a non-commissioned officer that began taking straw from a stack without the owner's permission. The farmer only mildly protested because he didn't want to get into trouble but his wife didn't share his fears. She demanded to see a quartermaster's order for the straw. The non-com replied that he didn't need one and told his soldiers to continue loading up the straw. She drew a pistol from under her apron and told them that she would shoot the first man that put a fork in their straw without an order. The soldiers left the farm and the non-commissioned officer returned later with the requested quartermaster's order. She then let them take the straw knowing that the government would pay her for its value.
 
  The areas of Relay and Elkridge were under martial law for four years so there was little to no advancement or improvements made there until the end of the war in 1865. Relay remained only a small hamlet until after the war was over.



               ***Click On Images To Enlarge Them***

              Google Earth image of the hilltop site where the Union Fort was

        located and of the Relay House which was taken over and used as the

              Union Army's regimental headquarters during the Civil War.

   Google Earth image of the Union Army's Camp Essex site located on top
   of the hill about 100 yards from the Elkridge end of the Thomas Viaduct.
  Cook's Boston Light Artillery camped here and had 2 cannons deployed
     at the top of the hill overlooking the Thomas Viaduct during The Civil War.

Union Soldiers pose in front of the Relay House hotel & 
train station 1861. The Thomas Viaduct is located just 
 around the bend at left. Photo Maryland State Archives.

   Cook's Boston Light Artillery at the edge of the hill overlooking the 

 Thomas Viaduct and the Patapsco River on the Relay side of the

        bridge in 1861. Bad boys showing off their sabres! The photographer

     must have been set up on the large rubble pile that was on this site

  because there is no way to get this angle today without standing

on a ladder. When they blasted out the hillside to move the Old

    Main Line tracks they dumped the rocks on this site and left them

   there until they decided to clear it in the late 1860's. The Viaduct

      Hotel was built on the site in 1873. Also, notice the telegraph poles 

     attached to the railings running across the bridge. Photo Patapsco

     Valley State Park, courtesy Baltimore County Public Library

Legacy Web project.

Stereograph of the Boston Light Artillery at artillery practice near the 
Relay House June 15, 1861. Courtesy, American Antiquarian Society.

 Boston Light Artillery near the Relay House June 1861. Courtesy American
Antiquarian Society.

 Stereographic view of the 1st section of Boston Light Artillery's cooking
 establishment at camp near the Relay House June 15, 1861. Notice that
the roof behind the men is in the background of the previous photograph.
Courtesy, American Antiquarian Society.

 Boston Light Artillery near the Relay House June,1861. Notice the men are all 
standing at attention with a cannon completely disassembled in a symmetrical 
manner in front of them. Courtesy, American Antiquarian Society.

Boston Light Artillery in camp near the Relay House June, 1861. Notice the man in
the foreground appears to be sewing a garment. Courtesy, American Antiquarian
Society.

 
Cook's Boston Light Artillery "Bouquet Battery" at Camp Essex on the
  Elkridge side of the viaduct in 1861. The bottom of the American Flag can 
be seen at the top just right of center which is hanging from what looks 
like a sapling that was cut down and used as a flag pole. Courtesy,
 Howard County Historical Society.

            If you look carefully at the previous 2 photos, you will see that the cannons

          and troops are set up on a kind of shelf that is about 3-4 feet below where

          the photographer is standing.  This is how it looks today. The line running

    horizontally through the center of the photograph is the drop-off to the

         shelf where the cannons were.  It is considerably smaller today because

the hill has a huge problem with erosion.  There are very few trees

 on the hillside and the county has posted a bunch of signs warning

people not to disturb the vegetation.

This was taken July 6, 2014. Mary Bahr of the Elkridge Heritage
Society hiked up the hillside with me to see the Bouquet Battery
 site. If you scroll back 2 photos you can see that the shelf on the
  edge of the hill was a few feet lower than where the photographer
   was standing. That is still true today as you can see. Where Mary
    is standing is a couple of feet lower than where I am standing. The
 erosion is considerably worse at this site than it was 3 years ago
when I took the previous photo.

  This is another sketch from the Harper's Weekly magazine

from June 1, 1861. The original caption underneath of the

   picture read "The Bouquet Battery, commanding the bridge

   at the Relay House, Lieutenant Josiah Porter, Boston Light

   Artillery. commanding". The Thomas Viaduct can be seen 

   directly in front of the cannon on the right. The sandbagged

   artillery battery with flag pole from 5 & 7 pictures back can 

be seen off in the distance just right of center.

Troops from the Bouquet Battery in Elkridge pose for a photograph with the  
Thomas Viaduct in the background. Three of these men are smoking pipes.
Notice the young boy at far right. Photo circa early 1860's. Courtesy New-York
Historical Society Museum & Library.

 

        Another drawing of Bouquet's Battery on the hilltop camp. The Relay

House can be seen under the flag and to the right in the distance.

Courtesy, Florida Center for Instructional Technology.

http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/

    A similar vantage point today but I'm closer & lower. Unfortunately, I

   had to take this picture from the I-895 highway bridge that was built

           directly in front of the "artillery hill". The Hockley Grist Mill was where the

           road is on the right. The grist mill's separate track ran up next to the right

          track on the wide gravel berm. The house in the far distance is on a bluff

    where the Union Army Civil War fort was built to defend the Thomas

           Viaduct and Relay. The highway bridges actually run right over top of the

        area where the 2 roads cross the tracks in the above photograph . The

             next photograph shows the hill where the Union cannons were positioned,

      as seen from the I-895 highway bridge that I'm standing on.

      This is the actual hill where Cook's Boston Artillery was positioned. 
I climbed that hill and was within 50-75 feet of the I-895 bridges
 at the top. Of course the original view is blocked by these bridges

          as well as the scrubby little trees clinging for dear life to the eroded hillside.

I'm sure that the Union Army clear-cut the hill at the time to have an

    unobstructed view and field-of-fire of the bridge as well as the Patapsco

river valley.

 This is a zoomed view from the shelf near the hill top.

  I am standing near the edge where the cannons were.

Because of the 2 highway bridges and the pine trees

  the view is totally ruined. I was standing on the farthest

bridge in the previous 2 shots.

                                           

 This is a New York Times article published May 11, 1861 about the disposition of General Butlers command from the Relay House:

FROM THE RELAY HOUSE; DISPOSITION OF GEN. BUTLER'S COMMAND A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY GEN. BUTLER'S CAMP CLERMONT HILL Opposite Relay House, MD.

Published: May 11, 1861

Tuesday, May 7, 1861.

  The men now under Gen. BUTLER's orders here are encamped on one of the most beautiful spots the eye could rest upon. The Relay House is situated in a deep valley, through which the Baltimore

and Ohio Railroad runs and from which the hills on either side slope gradually to a height commanding a full view of the surrounding country. The Eighth New-York Regiment was the advance guard in taking possession here, and arrived at noon on Sunday. The Sixth Massachusetts arrived somewhat later, by special train, from Washington. The Eighth New-York occupy one of these magnificent hills, and the Sixth the other, the valley, which is lined with troops -- detachments from the regiments -- separating them. I went over the camp this noon, and was surprised to find how rapidly the men had thrown up their tents and batteries, and made themselves comfortable. The tents and camp appointments of the Sixth have not yet arrived from Boston; but anyone to look at their quarters on Clermont Hill, would suppose that they were in little need of other tents than those which adorn the place of their encampment Numerous tasteful little barracks, made of limbs and boughs of trees, beautifully thatched and decorated with foliage, and well lined with straw within, are dotted all over the hill. The men are well provided with provisions, and they have a part of a house far down on the west side of the hill, which they call Doctor's Quarters. The family who occupied the house when the troops took possession of the place still remain, and have sufficient room for comfort. 
  The men are particular here, as indeed they are everywhere they go, to cause as little discomfort, and no interruption to the ordinary routine of daily occupations, as is consistent with their duty; and it is a gratifying thing to hear the people at this place and at Washington, expressing their pleasure at the behavior of the Northern soldiers. They are quiet, inoffensive, and always sober. The men here are a splendid set of fellows in appearance. Gen. Butler himself has a fine, military presence, self-possessed and full of vigor, with a hearty urbanity of manner that makes him very popular. He rides over the camp daily, mounted on a splendid animal apparently as full of fire as his manly-looking rider. The officers attached to the General's staff and to the regiments are noble-looking men -- strong, sinewy, and full of a determined force of character. They are of polished manner also, and know how to treat a lady with deference, even though she be a Secessionist, They meet with many having such sentiments in this latitude.

  One of the Eighth (New-York) Regiment accidentally shot himself this morning, while resting his chin on the muzzle of his gun. The bullet entered the poor fellow's brains, killing him at once. One of the Sixth was also unfortunate to-day. He came near being poisoned, -- something of that nature having been given him in the food or drink he had taken in the neighborhood. The men intend to keep a strict watch hereafter. A noisy Secessionist, a Baltimorean, was arrested here this morning. He shook his fist in the face of an officer, and with imprecations, said: "I was one of them who fired on you at Baltimore, and I'll do it again when I get a chance." This, with other insulting remarks, procured a lodging for him in the Guard-house, where he awaits Gen. BUTLER's orders. They have a few men on the sick list here, but none dangerously ill. Friends at home may be sure that the sick will be tenderly taken care of. Miss Powell, from New-York, has been all through the camp here, and has placed two of the efficient nurses of her corps under the orders of Gen. BUTLER, to go wherever they are wanted with his men.

  The Boston Flying Artillery that accompanied the troops here, have planted two fine batteries, commanding both points of the road leading to Baltimore and Washington. One commands the Bridge of the Washington Turnpike across the Patapsco, and the other could rake in a few moments the magnificent stone railroad bridge of the Washington branch, and has a fine sweep of the main track. It is a splendid military position, and can be held against any force that would make an attack.

  The Fifth (German) Regiment are new stationed at the Annapolis Junction, about 22 miles from Washington. They deserve the greatest praise for their vigilance and devotion. I saw them to-day, and their movements were very fine. I was amused at the way in which one of them related his love for the "Junion," (Union.)  The Regiment is under Col. Schwarzwaelder, and are well-built, active men. For some reason the afternoon train which was to go to Baltimore to-day has been ordered back to Washington.

  I saw Capt. BRIGGS, son of Ex-Gov. BRIGGS, of Massachusetts, at the Relay House today. He had just come from Fort McHenry. You may fancy how well the fort is occupied when you hear that some of the officers are obliged to camp in the stables.

  This is a beautiful region of country, and to-day's bright sun and lovely blue sky, light up the hills and valleys with all the soft, green, glowing beauty of early Summer. You have only to descend to the valley on the West side of Clermont Hill, to find yourself out of sight of the troops, who are within a minute's walk on the hill. In this valley your gaze is shut out by the hill from everything but the peaceful meadows of velvet green, the quiet cattle grazing, and the calm heavens. It was difficult to realize in this holy peace, that grape and cannister, and bullets and cold steel were on the other side of this high hill, ready to do a terrible work, and illustrating a commotion which will startle the world. Oh! that the men who have insulted the Stars and Stripes could really feel the value of this holy peace which they have broken, and the dreadful results to them which must follow. I told a Southern gentleman, to-day, who was expressing, with myself, a sorrow for the suffering which must fall on the South, that the world could never forget that when they rebelled against the Government, they had the control over it in both Houses of Congress. He sighed and said, "Yes." That reproach will always cling to them, and most damage their cause. More anon. Adlou. E.

This is the link to the above article:
                                                             http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0F13F8385B1B7493C3A8178ED85F458684F9&pagewanted=1