Divided Loyalties

Queenstown, like most of the Eastern Shore in 1861, was a slaveholding community, and the impending conflict was regarded with concern and fear. When war erupted, families were torn apart because of their conflicting loyalities. It was not uncommon for some family members to be in the Confederate army and others in the Union.

The war took its toll on white Queenstown residents. With the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and the 1864 Maryland constitutions abolution of slavery, many slave owners lost everything. Financial problems forced the proprietor of Bowlingly to sell all of his property and belongings so he could pay his debts. The local economy did not recover until the end of the century.

In 1863, the recruitment of blacks for the United States Colored Troops began in Queen Anne's County at Queenstown and Kent Island. Frederick Emory wrote in 1880 that it resulted in "the running away" of many of the slaves. Twenty of Wm. B. Paca's were the first to leave but were recaptured." In February 1864, a presidential order required "when a slave of a loyal master shall be drafted and mustered into the service of the United States, his master shall have a certificate thereof, and thereupon such slave shall be free and the bounty of one hundred dollars, now payable by law for each drafted man, shall be paid to the person to whom such drafted person was owing service or labor at the time of his muster into the service of the United States."

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Show me all markers in:  Queenstown, MD  |  Queen Anne's County  |  21658  |  Maryland  |  United States of America

Colonial Courthouse
Surprise at Queenstown
War in the Chesapeake
Bowlingly
Bowlingly
"Lord's Gift"
St. Peter's Church
Battle of Slippery Hill
British Command
The Battle Enjoined!

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