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In 1763, on land called
Joe’s Lott, Joseph Chapline laid out what was to be the first
town in Washington County. He named it Sharps Burgh, in honor of
his friend Governor Horatio Sharpe. He chose that site for the
town, he noted, because of the “great spring” of water located
there.
The early residents of Sharps Burgh in the 1760s were
primarily of English and German extraction. Settlers continued
to locate there throughout the remainder of the 18th century,
establishing a flourishing commercial community. By 1820 the
population was 650; the growth continued until about 1880 when
the population was approximately 1260.
When George Washington became President of the United States
of America in 1789, he looked at the area between Sharpsburg and
Shepherdstown (Virginia) as a possible site for the permanent
location of the U.S. Capital. It would have occupied both sides
of the Potomac River in the same manner as the site he
eventually chose further down the river at Georgetown and closer
to his home at Mount Vernon.
Construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal began at
Georgetown in theDistrict of Columbia in 1828 and reached
Sharpsburg around 1836. Working on the canal then became a
welcome employment opportunity for many of the townspeople.
The Battle of Antietam, or Sharpsburg as it was referred to
by the Confederate Army, began at dawn on September 17, 1862.
About 40,000 Southerners under the command of Gen. Robert E. Lee
were pitted against 87,000 troops of the Federal Army of the
Potomac commanded by Gen. George B. McClellan. At day’s end and
the end of a pivotal event in the Civil War, 23,110 men and boys
were dead, wounded, or missing. The sense of community shared by
the people of Sharpsburg provided the strength by which they
overcame the devastation of the battle and rebuilt their town.
Veterans and families later made their pilgrimages, walking from
the train station through the town to the National Cemetery. The
town’s Memorial Day Parade, begun in the 1860s, continues today
as an occasion of solemn remembrance.
Today, Sharpsburg is a small residential community, with a
few commercial activities. It looks very much as it did in the
1800s. The people of Sharpsburg are content with that—they are
proud of their history and heritage. Whole families lived and
worked on boats that transported goods on the Canal from
Georgetown in the District Columbia to Cumberland, Maryland.
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