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February 9, 2025

Chestertown Spy

Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Chestertown

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On Civil War Monuments with Kevin Hemstock

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The recent fight over the Talbot Boys monument in front of the Talbot County Courthouse inspired the Spy to ask regional historian Kevin Hemstock about our own Civil War memorial in Chestertown.

The 25-ton granite memorial stone in Memorial Park commemorates Kent soldiers who held allegiance to both sides in the Civil War, and that’s a point Hemstock notes as an important difference from the Talbot Boys statue which honors only the names of Talbot Confederate soldiers.

Also, The Talbot Boys is a statue of a lone CSA soldier standing high on a plinth and holding the Confederate battle flag. Chestertown’s memorial aspires to simply name the many losses from Kent County on both sides of the war.

Hemstock does not feel that the 1917 Chestertown memorial encourages controversy like the Talbot Boys, but he does ask interesting historical questions about the memorial’s inception and that man who orchestrated and paid for it: Judge James Alfred Pearce.  

Why did the memorial stone lack any notice of the 400 Black soldiers who fought and died for Union during the war?

The Spy reached out to talk with G. Kevin Hemstock, former Editor of The Kent County News and a lifelong history sleuth, archivist, and author. His books include “Injustice on the Eastern Shore,” “The Thirteen Most Sensational Murders of Kent County, MD,” “Freaks, Fables and Fires of Kent County, MD,” and “The History of Millington: Vol 1 and 2.”

This video is approximately nine minutes long.

 

 

 

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Letters to Editor

  1. Can anyone provide details on the naval truck gun in Memorial Park, e.g., What weight ball was fired from it, Do we know its origin, i.e., what ship did it come from; Was it used during the War of 1812; Why was it preserved here in C-town?

    • Thanks for your interest in local history. I have written about the cannon on a couple of occasions. First, in Tales of Kent County (2006) and in Freaks, Fables and Fires of Kent County Maryland (self published in 2018). The cannon’s history is interesting, and perhaps a little unsavory. It was the cause of a major town fire in 1842. The following year its alcohol-related mishandling caused an infant’s death. Either Fred or Bill Usillton, in their poorly source history accounts, erroneously opined that it was a carryover from the Battle of Caulk’s Field. In fact, it was used to help celebrate the Fourth of July in 1793, according to the original Chestertown Spy. It was used for a number of Independence Day celebrations which is how the fire and death occurred. For Tales, we contacted a cannon expert based in Great Britain, who (using pictures and descriptions) dated it to the early 18th century. As you noted, it’s a naval cannon, and would have been impractical to use in the field. One knowledgeable person guessed it’s a six- or eight-pounder. It has been located in various places in town, including a school playground, a barber shop, a local residence and the market square (AKA Fountain Park), before it ended up in Monument Plaza. I hope this helps — there’s a lot more information in the articles I mentioned.

  4. Oh yeah? And what about the many blacks who WILLINGLY fought for the south? Do there lives not matter?

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