News

(Annapolis, Maryland) The Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation, with the support of a mini-grant from Four Rivers: the Heritage Area of Annapolis, London Town & South County announces the availability of a free Civil War Inventory Guide. The Guide has been designed as a reference tool to raise the awareness of local Civil War heritage among community stakeholders and to provide a basis for future heritage tourism research and product development.

It is estimated that at one time up to 30,000 troops were stationed in the greater Annapolis, Maryland area during the War of the Rebellion, known by most people as the “Civil War.” While no battles were fought here, this Union occupied southern border town may have been one of the busiest and most strategically located centers of War operations on the East Coast. It was here that a major receiving depot and hospital operations hub for Union soldiers returning from Southern prisons was established. It was here that one of the first fourteen original national cemeteries for soldiers was opened. It was here that Southern sympathizers and Northern troops co-mingled on a daily basis in an attempt to keep “business as usual” while functioning in the center of major War operations. It was here that the famous Civil War heroine, Clara Barton, established an information clearinghouse for missing soldiers. And it was here that Confederate agents spied on the meetings of Grant, Burnside, and Lieutenant (later Admiral) Meade as they carefully planned a major Union expedition to the South.

For additional information, please contact the Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation, or Four Rivers: the Heritage Area of Annapolis, London Town & South County. This publication was also financed in part with State Funds from the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority, an instrumentality of the State of Maryland. The contents and opinions do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority. Additional funds were provided by the many kind contributors who support the ongoing work of the Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation.