1863: Confederate soldier caught
On June 29, 1863, a Confederate soldier was captured in the Poplar Springs community of western Howard County, an area along what is now Route 144-Frederick Road. The prisoner told Union Army soldiers of the 1st Eastern Shore of Maryland Infantry Volunteers, who were camped at Poplar Springs, that his cavalry detachment was camped just two miles away and that Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's men were headed up the National Pike. It was part of the second push into Maryland by rebels trying to reach Pennsylvania. Fighting the next day near Poplar Springs drove the Confederate soldiers back to Westminster.
