Hagerstown, MD news and local guide

In 1739 Jonathan Hager, a German immigrant from Pennsylvania and a volunteer captain of scouts, bought 200 acres in the Great Appalachian Valley between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghenies and called the land Hager's Fancy. In 1762 he founded the town of Elizabethtown, named for his wife, Elizabeth Kershner. Fourteen years later he became known as the "father of Washington County" after helping create the county from Frederick County and making the town its seat. Because the name Hager's-Town had come into common use, the town council adopted it in 1813, and the state legislature confirmed the change the next year. In 1794 government forces arrested 150 people during a draft riot staged in response to the Whiskey Rebellion.

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On the border between North and South, Hagerstown was a staging area and supply center for four major Civil War campaigns. In 1861 General Robert Patterson's troops used it as a base to attack Virginia forces in the Shenandoah Valley. In the Maryland Campaign of 1862, General James Longstreet's command occupied the town on its way to South Mountain and Antietam, and in 1863 the town saw several incursions and engagements as Robert E. Lee's army invaded the North. Sources Wikipedia: Hagerstown, Maryland