Even prior to the founding of the United States, our region was deeply influenced by—and actively involved in—the wars that helped define the course of American history.
The Garrett County Military Heritage Project aims to shine a light on our county’s remarkable and often overlooked connections to America’s military past. From the earliest frontier conflicts to the complex missions of the modern era, Garrett County has contributed far more than our size and location might suggest. This project brings those unique historical threads together—local stories, regional landmarks, and the broader national narrative—to show how deeply intertwined our county is with the nation’s defense and service traditions.
Every major conflict that our Nation has fought has some sort of special and interesting connection with Garrett County. We’re planning a series of historical signs to be placed around the county, each telling a unique story.
–French& Indian War – “A Doomed Campaign Forges the Father of a Nation” Braddock’s March (and Retreat) follows the general route of US Rt 40 through the northern part of the County and involved George Washington as a British army officer
–Revolutionary War – “Filling in the Frontier and Rewarding War Veterans” lots awarded to soldiers from MD form the basis of most property boundaries in the County today
–War of 1812 – “Brawling for Rank” Meshach Browning’s interesting account of how NCOs were selected in that time. This is a short little tale and would need maybe more behind it
– Civil War – “The Battle for ‘Lincoln’s Lifelife’ comes to Garrett County” the Confederacy’s Jones-Imboden Raid penetrated through Garrett Co with some minor damage to the B&O Railroad
–WW1: “Sending Our Sons (and daughters) Overseas” Still working on this, but there are some interesting tales of citizen support to servicemembers including a fundraiser to buy a Victrola record player for troops in training. There may also be an interesting stories of African American soldiers from Garrett Co and a nurse.
–WW2 : “Fueling the Arsenal of Democracy” – a look at coal production in Garrett County during this period, focusing on Kitzmiller
–Vietnam War: “The Highly Decorated USS Garrett County” the USS Garrett County was originally commissioned in WW2, but actually saw more service in Vietnam than WW2. During her lifetime, she has highly decorated, earning 9 battle stars, an impressive total for a non-capital ship
–Cold War: “Broken Arrow on Big Savage” The Buzz14 crash- a B52 bomber armed with nuclear weapons – occurred over Savage Mountain in Garrett County on a snowy January night.
– Modern wars: “Keeping the Tip of the Spear Sharp from Mountain Maryland” local contactors have filled interesting and niche military contracting roles
In support of Garrett County’s celebration of America250, I am working to develop a presentation summarizing these stories and then potentially to develop these stories into interpretive panels (a.k.a. historical signs) which could be posted throughout the County.
Aside from these mini-stories, I am also working to catalog the various websites and sources which have collected information and stories about Garrett County veterans.
Garrett County Military Heritage Project 