Citizen Meets Soldier

SATURDAY, JULY 20, 2025
SUNDAY, JULY 21, 2025

1863 in Carroll County, Maryland: Invasion and Retreat

“Citizen Meets Soldier” is a living history of 1863 in Carroll County, Maryland. Join us at Union Mills to commemorate the events of the hot summer of 1863. Walk in the footsteps of the citizens of Carroll County, Maryland, who were divided in their loyalties, and the Union and Confederate soldiers who camped along Big Pipe Creek at Union Mills in the days surrounding the Battle of Gettysburg.

Union Mills’ Civil War encampment will celebrate and commemorate the chaos and excitement of the Civil War in Carroll County, Maryland.

In the days surrounding Lee’s Second Invasion of the North, small towns in Carroll County — including Union Mills — saw the movement of both Union and Confederate Armies, supply wagons, injured soldiers, and an important skirmish occurred in nearby Westminster. There, Union Cavalry charged headfirst into Confederate Cavalry under the command of Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart. But for a few hours, a battle may well have occurred at Union Mills, as it lay dead center in the Union Army’s defensive line along Big Pipe Creek and Union Mills served as the site of overnight encampments by both Stuart’s Confederate Cavalry and Sykes’ Fifth Corps of the Union Army. Stuart’s Cavalry pulled out of Union Mills just hours before the Union Army arrived! Living history portrayals, encampments, and historic displays interpreting this period will take place on the scenic and spacious grounds of the Union Mills Homestead.

For living historians and re-enactors to register, download and print the form below, then mail us the completed form with a check, payable to the “Union Mills Homestead Foundation, Inc.”:
Union Mills Homestead
3311 Littlestown Pike
Westminster, MD 21158

// REGISTRATION FORM

Schedule subject to change.

Saturday, July 20:
10:00 Grounds Open
10:30 Infantry Demonstration
11:30 Surgical Demonstration
1:00 Guest Speaker: David Lovelace, “The Shrivers: Under Two Flags”
2:00 Infantry Demonstration
2:30 Surgical Demonstration
4:00 Grounds Close

Sunday, July 21:
10:00 Grounds Open
10:30 Infantry Demonstration
12:00 Surgical Demonstration
1:00 Guest Speaker: Scott Mingus Sr., “Confederate Calamity: Jeb Stuart’s Cavalry Ride Through York County, PA”
2:00 Infantry Demonstration
2:30 Surgical Demonstration
3:00 Camp Breakdown begins

Living History Stations for 2025 Event:

Shriver family at Union Mills
Grist Mill
Medical Staff
Provost Guard [Military Police]
U.S. infantry
Prisoners of war
Blacksmith

Park Entrance Fees ($10/car) include:

Civil War encampment
Limited house and mill walk-through tours (Saturday 10 am – 4 pm and Sunday 10 am – 3 pm)
Military drills and firing demonstrations

This year’s dance has been cancelled. Keep an eye here for next year!

Please contact us with any questions:

410-848-2288
or
Use our Contact Form