Some interesting thoughts crossed my path today - mostly of the military nature.
Since this is Memorial Weekend I got a dose of military history today. Looking at the role of the elite in the Wars would probably be rather useful.
I want to track down more information on the property owned by the gentry class in Baltimore Town. I want to know how much time they spent there versus the time spent on the plantations, what their household staff was, the function of the property, etc.
Apparently the Ridgley's owned a place in Dundalk(???), with a cupola similar to Hampton. It was one of the key lookout points for the Harbor during the War of 1812.
I also found the Civil War story of the horse guards (of which John Merryman of suspended-habeus-corpus fame belonged and which was Ridgely led) to be particularly captivating. They fought not so much for either North or South, but for Maryland. When it was clear that violence was inevitable and the state was going to be put under martial law and such, Ridgely told them to either head South if they wished, or surrender their weapons to the Federals. They were all gentlemen too.
Interesting.
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