Gettysburg is a borough in Pennsylvania and the county seat of Adams County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the borough had a population of 7,106 people.
The Potomac River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States that flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is 405 miles (652 km) long, with a drainage area of 14,700 square miles (38,000 km2), and is the fourth-largest river along the East Coast of the United States. More than 6 million people live within its watershed.
Berkeley County is located in the Shenandoah Valley in the eastern panhandle region of West Virginia in the United States. The county is part of the Hagerstown–Martinsburg metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 122,076, making it the second-most populous of West Virginia's 55 counties, behind Kanawha County. The City of Martinsburg is the county seat.
Funkstown is a town in Washington County, Maryland, United States. The population was 904 at the 2010 census.
Williamsport is a town in Washington County, Maryland, United States. The population was 1,868 at the 2000 census and 2,137 as of 2010.
Martinsburg is a city in and the county seat of Berkeley County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 18,773 at the 2020 census, making Martinsburg the largest city in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia and the sixth-most populous city in the state. It is a principal city of the Hagerstown–Martinsburg metropolitan area extending into Maryland, which had 293,844 residents in 2020.
Shepherdstown is a town in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States, located in the lower Shenandoah Valley along the Potomac River. Home to Shepherd University, the town's population was 1,531 at the time of the 2020 census. The town was established in 1762 along with Romney; they are the oldest towns in West Virginia.
Paw Paw is a town in Morgan County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 410 at the 2020 census. The town is known for the nearby Paw Paw Tunnel. Paw Paw was incorporated by the Circuit Court of Morgan County on April 8, 1891, and named after pawpaw, a wild fruit that grows in abundance throughout this region. On September 14, 2024 a group of local citizens organized by Maria Gloyd hosted the inaugural Pawpaw Festival in the Town Park. Hundreds of people attended the festival to hear lectures on how to grow and cultivate Pawpaw fruit, and listen to Appalachian music performed by the Paw Paw Community Choir, Ben Townsend, the Critton Hollow String Band, and Mary Hott with the Carpenter Ants. Paw Paw is the westernmost incorporated community in Morgan County, and the Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The eastern panhandle is one of the two panhandles in the U.S. state of West Virginia; the other is the northern panhandle. It is a small stretch of territory in the northeast of the state, bordering Maryland and Virginia. Some sources and regional associations only identify the eastern panhandle as being composed of Morgan, Berkeley, and Jefferson Counties. Berkeley and Jefferson Counties are geographically located in the Shenandoah Valley. West Virginia is the only U.S. state with two panhandles.
The Battle of Williamsport, also known as the Battle of Hagerstown or Falling Waters, took place from July 6 to July 16, 1863, in Washington County, Maryland, as part of the Gettysburg Campaign of the American Civil War. It is not to be confused with the fighting at Hoke's Run which was also known as the Battle of Falling Waters.
The Gettysburg campaign was a military invasion of Pennsylvania by the main Confederate army under General Robert E. Lee in summer 1863. It was the first time during the war the Confederate Army attempted a full-scale invasion of a free state. The Union won a decisive victory at Gettysburg, July 1–3, with heavy casualties on both sides. Lee managed to escape back to Virginia with most of his army. It was a turning point in the American Civil War, with Lee increasingly pushed back toward Richmond until his surrender in April 1865. The Union Army of the Potomac was commanded by Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker and then by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade.
West Virginia Route 45 is a state highway in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The state highway runs 25.8 miles (41.5 km) from the Virginia state line near Glengary east to WV 230 and WV 480 in Shepherdstown. WV 45 connects the communities of Glengary and Arden in southwestern Berkeley County with the county seat of Martinsburg. The state highway also connects Shepherdstown in northern Jefferson County with Martinsburg, where the highway meets Interstate 81 (I-81), U.S. Route 11, and WV 9.
Bunker Hill is an unincorporated community in Berkeley County, West Virginia, United States, located in the lower Shenandoah Valley on Winchester Pike at its junction with County Route 26 south of Martinsburg. It is the site of the confluence of Torytown Run and Mill Creek, a tributary of Opequon Creek which flows into Winchester, Virginia. According to the 2000 census, the Bunker Hill community has a population of 5,319.
White Hall is an unincorporated farming community in northern Frederick County, Virginia, established in the late 1810s and located near the crossroads of Apple Pie Ridge Road with Green Spring and White Hall Roads, astride Apple Pie Ridge.
The city of Winchester, Virginia, and the surrounding area, were the site of numerous battles during the American Civil War, as contending armies strove to control the lower Shenandoah Valley. Winchester changed hands more often than any other Confederate city.
U.S. Route 11 (US 11) in the U.S. state of West Virginia spans 26.2 miles (42.2 km) across the Eastern Panhandle region. US 11 enters the state near Ridgeway and crosses into Maryland just south of Williamsport. The highway closely parallels Interstate 81 (I-81) for its entire length.
The Hagerstown–Martinsburg metropolitan area, officially designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as Hagerstown–Martinsburg, Maryland–West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), constitutes the primary cities of Hagerstown, Maryland; Martinsburg, West Virginia; and surrounding areas in three counties: Washington County, Maryland; Berkeley County, West Virginia; and Morgan County, West Virginia. The metro area lies mainly within the rich, fertile Cumberland and Shenandoah valleys, and is approximately a 60–90 minute drive from Washington, D.C.; Baltimore, Maryland; and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Hagerstown is approximately 75 miles (121 km) driving distance from all three cities. The population of the metropolitan area as of 2008 is 263,753.
Hagerstown is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Maryland, United States. The population was 43,527 at the 2020 census. Hagerstown ranks as Maryland's sixth-most populous incorporated city and is the most populous city in the Maryland Panhandle.
The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia began its Retreat from Gettysburg on July 4, 1863. Following General Robert E. Lee's failure to defeat the Union Army at the Battle of Gettysburg, he ordered a retreat through Maryland and over the Potomac River to relative safety in Virginia.
1st Maryland Cavalry Battalion, Potomac Home Brigade, originally organized as the 1st Potomac Home Brigade Cavalry, "Cole's Cavalry" was formed under the guidance of Henry A. Cole. There are also references to it being designated as Cole's 1st Volunteer Maryland Cavalry. The unit, a battalion, originally consisted of four companies, A, B, C & D and was initially enlisted between August 10 and November 27, 1861.
