Peerless, Civil War Web Exhibit, Main Page

Location of Beall-Dawson House

At corner of North Adams Street and West Montgomery Ave.

X marks the location of the house. X is the location of the Gettysburg Trail marker for the same.

Beall-Dawson House

During the Civil War, the Beall-Dawson House is owned and occupied by the Beall sisters. It is one of the largest and most noteworthy homes in the town at the time. General McClellan selects it as his headquarters for two days while his troops pass this way during the Antietam Campaign. He shares the house with the Beall family, nominally as their guest. He comments in a letter about the notorious spinsterhood of the Beall sisters. They are single and aging by this time and are reputed to have refused a number of proposals of marriage from likely suitors throughout their youth. The property is a large estate and farmland (covering most of the area north of Darnestown Road [West Montgomery Drive today] between Adams Street and Watts Branch creek [somewhat west of I-270 today]). The Beall family owns a number of slaves that operate the estate. The family also owns another homestead in Georgetown, but the Beall sisters prefer to live in Rockville. When emancipation of slaves with nominal compensation to owners is announced in Washington DC, the Beall sisters craftily shift a number of their slaves to their Georgetown property and therefore receive some compensation for their supposed value. The remainder of the family slaves are freed by the general emancipation in the State of Maryland soon after the War ends. A number of these former slaves continue working on the estate as freemen, after their emancipation. The sisters give some land to their freed slaves at the north edge of their holdings, which becomes the Haiti neighborhood off Woods Lane. Families in this neighborhood today are directly descended from these former slaves. Another episode of the war swirls around the house during the Battle of Rockville. Fighting occurs on the grounds. (Union) Pvt. James Hill is shot in the road just out front and stumbles through the gate into the yard before collapsing. He is taken into the house and cared for, by the family, for a number of days before being transferred to a military hospital. He credits the Beall sisters with saving his life and returns in later life to thank them. [click here to read about this story]

Gettysburg Trail Markers at Beall-Dawson House

Note: The Gettysburg Trail Marker at the Beall-Dawson House is to the right of the rear driveway, off West Middle Lane.