Four letter carriers, including Joshua Corbin and his horse “Harry”, begin free daily delivery of the mail from Westminster to the rest of Carroll County. They are the first government-sponsored “guinea pigs” to test Rural Free Delivery county-wide in the U.S.
Corbin delivers about 30 pieces of mail a day. He and his colleagues are so successful that U.S. Post Office makes RFD official in 1899.
Sgt. Major Christian Fleetwood, Civil War hero, almost becomes the first Black commissioned officer in the US Army in 1865. Every white commissioned officer in the 4th US Colored Troops recommends him but the Secretary or War declines.
Elizabeth Ann Seton, born 1774, becomes first person born in US canonized as Catholic Saint in 1975.
Jacob R. Thomas, a Carroll County farmer, assembles a wheat reaping machine in 1811 and tries it out locally. It doesn’t cut well, but the first experiment with a mechanical reaper ushers in the age of agricultural machinery.
We acknowledge the enduring presence of many American Indian tribes who once lived in Maryland and who now, having lost their lands, live in a diaspora. Read more.
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