Editing Port Tobacco Village, Maryland (section)

==Overview==
This was historically the territory of [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]]-speaking peoples, especially the [[Potapoco]] and the more dominant [[Piscataway tribe|Piscataway]]. Settled by the [[England|English]] in the 17th century and established in 1727, the town on the [[Port Tobacco River]] soon became the second largest in Maryland. The first [[county seat]] of Charles County, it was a seaport with access to the [[Chesapeake Bay]] and Atlantic Ocean. It declined rapidly after river traffic was cut off by silting and the town was bypassed by the [[railroad]]. The town incorporated in 1888, but in 1895 the [[county seat]] moved to nearby [[La Plata, Maryland|La Plata]], which drew population away but left the town with its historic significance intact.<ref>Donald G. Shomette, ''Lost Towns of Tidewater Maryland'', Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, MD, 2000, pp. 193-245.</ref><ref name="county">{{cite web|url=http://www.charlescountymd.gov/ed/municipalities-population-centers|title=Municipalities & Population Centers - Port Tobacco|publisher=Charles County Government|access-date=January 11, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111203022/http://www.charlescountymd.gov/ed/municipalities-population-centers|archive-date=January 11, 2014}} "Today just 13 residents live within the incorporated borders of Port Tobacco Village, but the many surrounding neighborhoods add to this community known for its rich heritage and historical significance."</ref><ref name="mdmanual">{{cite web|url=http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/37mun/porttobacco/html/p.html|title=Port Tobacco|work=Maryland Manual Online|publisher=Maryland State Archives|access-date=January 11, 2014}}</ref>

Since the late 20th century, the former 1819 courthouse has been renovated for use as a historical museum. In 2007 a consortium started the Port Tobacco [[Archeology]] Project, devoted to revealing the history of [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]]s and colonial [[Europe]]ans and [[African diaspora|Africans]]. Because of its unique history, the area is "one of the richest archeological sites in [[Southern Maryland]]."<ref name="somdnews.com">[https://archive.today/20130202164952/http://www.somdnews.com/stories/022908/indyfea180525_32082.shtml Nancy Bromley McConaty, "Restorers work to upgrade Catslide House"], ''SoMDNews,'' February 29, 2008, accessed March 17, 2010</ref>

A few miles south, the [[St. Thomas Manor|St. Ignatius Church]], manor house, and cemetery at [[St. Thomas Manor]] comprise a complex designated as a [[National Historic Landmark]]. It is notable as a [[Jesuit]] [[mission (station)|mission]] center established in the 17th century and is likely the oldest continuously operating [[Roman Catholic]] parish founded in the [[Thirteen Colonies]]. The complex at Chapel Point has scenic views overlooking the [[Potomac River]].  [[John Hanson]], President of the U.S. [[Continental Congress]], was born nearby.<ref>{{cite web
 |url          = http://mdmunicipal.org/cities/index.cfm?townname=PortTobacco&page=home
 |title        = Port Tobacco
 |publisher    = Maryland Municipal League
 |access-date   = October 4, 2007
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927131523/http://www.mdmunicipal.org/cities/index.cfm?townname=PortTobacco&page=home
 |archive-date = September 27, 2007
 |url-status     = dead
}}</ref>

===History===
[[Image:Replica courthouse Port Tobacco MD1.jpg|thumb|left|Modern recreation of the 1819 Charles County courthouse in Port Tobacco Village]]
{{More citations needed|date=August 2007}}
Areas along the waterways of present-day Maryland were inhabited for thousands of years by various cultures of distinct [[indigenous peoples]]. At the time of European exploration, this coastal area along the [[Port Tobacco River]] was the territory of the [[Potapoco]], an [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]]-speaking tribe. They called their settlement '''Potapoco'''. Overall, the dominant tribe on the north side of the Potomac River was the Algonquian [[Piscataway tribe]], which later absorbed some of the smaller tribes' survivors.<ref>{{cite book|title=Handbook of North American Indians: Volume 15|author=Sturtevant, William C., gen. ed. Trigger, Bruce G.|page=241|year=1978|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|isbn=978-0-87474-195-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Piscataway Indians of Southern Maryland|author=Alice and Henry Ferguson|page=8|publisher=Alice Ferguson Foundation|year=1960}}</ref>

===Colonial era===
Within a generation of the first Maryland settlers' landing at [[St. Clement's Island]], they pushed the frontiers of the colony north and west toward the Potomac and Port Tobacco rivers. The English developed a small village about 1634 on the east side of the Port Tobacco tributary. It became the nucleus for trade and government. It was first called Chandlers Town. The town was one of the oldest English-speaking communities on the [[East Coast of the United States]]. In 1658, it was designated the first county seat of Charles County.

Later the [[English people|English]] adapted the Potapoco name as Port Tobacco. Its name also referred to what became the colony's chief export commodity crop. The town grew as it became a major port for the [[tobacco]] trade, with exports transported by ocean-going sailing ships. During the late 17th century, Port Tobacco became the second-largest [[river port]] in Maryland.

The early immigrants to Port Tobacco were products of the religious turmoil in England. Their deeply felt convictions were powerful influences in Maryland's history. The area had both English Catholic and [[Church of England]] congregations. Father [[Andrew White (missionary)|Andrew White]] of the [[Jesuits]] established a mission in 1641 and later a church at what became [[St. Thomas Manor]] at Chapel Point. The manor's chapel was expanded to what is called St. Ignatius Church, a center for local Native Americans converted to [[Christianity]]. The oldest continuously operating Catholic parish in the United States, the complex has been designated as a [[National Historic Landmark]] and is part of the Religious Freedom [[Maryland Scenic Byways]] route.<ref>[http://www.marylandroads.com/oed/MarylandScenicByways.pdf Maryland Scenic Byways at pp. 66-71 of 91-page pdf file, pp. 128-138 in internal pagination]</ref> Catholic parish records identified Indian families through the decades, when civil records began to use only designations of [[free people of color]], colored, or Negro for mixed-race persons, thus failing to record their cultural identification. The two state-recognized [[Piscataway people|Piscataway]]-descendant tribes have used Catholic records in making their case for cultural continuity.

Freed from restraints by the [[Maryland Toleration Act|Toleration Act]] of 1649 and feeling a need for spiritual guidance, some settlers gathered their first [[Anglican church|Anglican]] congregation in a log building at the head of the Port Tobacco Creek in 1683, nine years before the [[Establishment Act]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.christchurchlaplata.com/history.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060717064858/http://www.christchurchlaplata.com/history.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 17, 2006 |title=A History of Christ Church, Port Tobacco Parish, Established 1692 |access-date=November 22, 2007 }}</ref> Supported by the tobacco [[Tax per head|poll tax]] of 40 pounds per head from 1692 to 1776, Christ Church prospered. The community built a second structure in 1709. After the [[American Revolution]], although the Anglican Church was disestablished in the US, parishioners rallied to contribute directly to Christ Church, and Lemuel Wilmer, of a distinguished family of Maryland Episcopalian clerics which included his brother [[William Holland Wilmer]], uncle [[James Jones Wilmer]], and father, grandfather and brother (all named Simon Wilmer) served as rector for 35 years. After a tornado destroyed the building in 1808, they held a lottery and ultimately financed a new brick structure, which was rededicated in 1827. Falling into disrepair after 60 years of use, it was demolished and replaced with a sandstone edifice in 1884. However, only the graveyard now remains of this church (and a relatively recently outline of the historic church's foundation), since it was disassembled in 1904 and reassembled in La Plata, which had become the county seat in 1895.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.christchurchlaplata.org/about-us/our-history/ |title=Our History - Christ Church Port Tabacco Parish |access-date=July 4, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714151341/http://www.christchurchlaplata.org/about-us/our-history/ |archive-date=July 14, 2014 }}</ref> 
[[File:Christ church port tobacco.jpg|right|thumb|Graveyard next to outline of historic Christ Church in Port Tobacco (building moved to La Plata)]]
For two centuries, Port Tobacco area residents assumed important roles in state and national history. [[John Hanson]] was elected first President by the [[Continental Congress]] under the [[Articles of Confederation]] before moving to [[Frederick, Maryland|Frederick]]. [[Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer]] was a signer of the [[United States Constitution]]; and [[Thomas Stone]] was one of four of the Maryland delegation who signed the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]].
[[File:Charles County, Maryland. Churches are important in the community life of Charles County people. In . . . - NARA - 521540.tif|thumb|upright|left|The Episcopal Church moved from Port Tobacco to the new county seat at La Plata.]]

===Civil War===
During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Port Tobacco became known as a stronghold of [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] sympathizers, although [[Union Army|Union]] troops occupied the town. [[Rose O'Neal Greenhow]] (1814–1864), born here, became renowned as a Confederate spy operating in Washington, DC. Recruited by former US Army captain [[Thomas Jordan (general)|Thomas Jordan]], later promoted to Confederate general, she took over his network in early 1861.<ref>Fishel, Edwin C. ''The Secret War for the Union: The Untold Story of Military Intelligence in the Civil War'', New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1996, pp. 59-76</ref> Due to military plans she passed to the Confederates that summer, she was credited with ensuring their victory at the [[First Battle of Bull Run]] in July 1861.<ref name="bioArc">[https://arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/AdvancedSearchForm "Greenhow, Rose O'Neal"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160120211241/https://arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/AdvancedSearchForm |date=January 20, 2016 }}, (1817-1864), ''The National Archives – People Description''. 1817-1864, (accessed February 5, 2013)</ref>  Local slaves were [[abolitionism in the United States|freed]] following Maryland's adoption of a new Constitution on November 1, 1864 (the [[Emancipation Proclamation]] of 1863 did not apply to states which remained in the Union). During the hunt for [[John Wilkes Booth]] after the assassination of President [[Abraham Lincoln]], intelligence gathered in a Port Tobacco hotel (Brawner Hotel) (conspirator [[George Atzerodt]] lived in town) established the assassin had fled with his companion Herold into Virginia, where they were ultimately located and Herold surrendered, but Booth died during the attempted capture.

===Decline===
Port Tobacco started declining as erosion from excessive agricultural use and poor soil conservation caused significant [[siltation]] at the head of the [[Port Tobacco River]], decreasing its navigability and ultimately cutting off the town from access to [[Chesapeake Bay]] and the Atlantic Ocean. Larger merchant vessels were unable to use the former seaport; as a result, commercial activity at the port had dwindled by the time of the Civil War.<ref name="ABeisaw">{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/176111|first=April M.|last=Beisaw|title=Once Was Not Enough: Founding and Finding Port Tobacco, Charles County|access-date=July 19, 2014|journal=Maryland Archeology |volume=43 | issue = 2  |date=September 2007 |pages=1–6 |publisher=Academia}}</ref>

The decline was exacerbated by the completion in 1873 of a nearby [[Baltimore and Potomac Railroad]] line to Pope's Creek which bypassed Port Tobacco and ran further south to another port directly on the Potomac River.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.charlescountymd.gov/locations/la-plata-train-station|title=LaPlata Train Station |publisher=Charles County Government |access-date=July 17, 2014 }}</ref> A small portion of the town's square incorporated in 1888 as Port Tobacco Village,<ref name="county"/><ref name="mdmanual" /> a move that may have signaled an effort by the community to reverse its decline, but new communities eventually sprang up along the railway and prospered, including the town of [[La Plata, Maryland|La Plata]] which succeeded Port Tobacco as the county seat in 1895.