The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1932-03-10
GEN. WASHINGTON'S FIRST
EMBLEM IS NOW IN RUINS
Neglected Monument In Mary
land Reduced to Stone Pile

| ne HTSt HlOHuHleuL ever SEeCCSU "
the memory of George Washington
stands today a bramble-guarded ruin
atop South Mountain in Western
Maryland.
No monument has been more
shamefully neglected by the country
which owes so much to the man whose
works it commentaries and none was
ever built with purer or more reverent
patriotism.
Built in a Day
Led by veterans of the Revolution
airy Army, the whole town of Boons-
boro turned out on July 4, 1927, toiled
1900 feet up the mountain and labored
all day without pay to build and dedi-
cate this structure. They made it 80
feet high and 81 feet around the base.
At shutdown a squad of heroes who
had fought under Washington fired a
salute at the close of appropriate GER
emonies, according to contemporary
writings.
This was just % years after the
death of Washington, when the coun-
try was only beginning to realize the
breadth of his vision and statesman
ship.
Land Donated
Today the result of this labor of
love is a refuge for rattlesnakes, buzz
yards and bobcats and prey to the
storms that sweep over the noun
tain.
An effort will be made this spring
in Congress to obtain an appropria-
| ton to restore the monument and
maintain it as a government reserva-
ion. The bill is being sponsored by
Representative David ]. Lewis of
Maryland, backed by the State
Daughters of the American Revolu-
ton, and by the Society for the Res
toration of the First Washington
Monument, organized by Senator
Harvey Bomberger of Boonsboro.
Senator Bomberger is a direct de-
scendant of Laurene Bomberger to
whom Lord Calvert granted the land
on which the monument stands.
Historic Spot
The monument stands on the top of
South Mountain overlooking the old
National Highway, the main artery
to the north and west from Washing
ton.
From it can be seen the battlefield
of Antietam, just below; and the hills
of Pennsylvania and Maryland.
The spot is rich in historic inter-
est. Washington himself helped in
the building of the highway and it
was over this road that Braddock
marched to his defeat. The monu-
ment was used as a watch tower in
the battle of South Mountain and
Champions Gap and just below near
Boonsboro John Brown made arrange
ments for his famous raid which in
large measure helped precipitate the
Civil War.
Boonsboro was named after the
family of which Daniel Boone was a
member.
Washington's Visits to Cumberland
Few sections, outside his home
neighborhood, were visited as often
by Washington as Cumberland and
vicinity.
On his first visit to the Fairfax
lands in northwestern Virginia in 1748
as surveyor, Washington came with
in ten or eleven miles of Cumberland,
but did not reach the junction of Wills
Creek and the Potomac River. Then
boy Of sixteen, he surveyed miles of
land in the Patterson Creek and the
South Branch areas, and stayed sew
eral days at Col. Cresap's in Old
town. This was his first visit to AL
legany county, Maryland.
1t was in 1850 that the Ohio Com
pany selected the present site of Cum
berland as a stragetic point for a
store house and stockade.
From this time until 1858, a period
of over seven years, the first Presi-
dent and Father of his Country was a
frequent, almost constant, visitor to
Cumberland.
Following his journey to the French
in 1853 with Cumberland as stop
ping place both going and coming)
Washington was commissioned lieu
tenant-colonel under Col. Joshua Frey
and came to Cumberland in 1854 as
second in command of the Virginia
forces ordered to repel the French
advance to the present site of Pitts
burgh.
Col. Frey's untimely death, when
thrown from his horse between Old
town and Cumberland, made Wash
ington commander of the expedition
against the French. This resulted in
the battle at Fort Necessity on July
Is, 1854, the first time that troops
from different colonies had united for
war on a common enemy. Fort Cum
berland was the headquarters from