Chaptico: A History of Rebellion

History: Tiny Chaptico was home to many daring, rebellious men. John Coode led Maryland’s 1689 Protestant Rebellion. During the Civil War, Chaptico’s blockade runners carried medicine and other supplies at night across the Potomac River past Union gunships to Confederate Virginia. A Chaptico merchant who supplied them, Charles Clement Spalding, was confined at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C. 

Other residents joined the Confederate Army. George Hayden, mortally wounded in the Battle of Gettysburg, is buried in nearby Christ Church Cemetery. James Waring, captured at Gettysburg, was imprisoned at Point Lookout. He was among the few who escaped, hiding beneath cadavers piled on a buckboard and fleeing to Virginia. 

William Charles Love was the only man in St. Mary’s County to vote for Abraham Lincoln during the 1860 presidential campaign. Love shot his way out of an ambush at Plank Bridge near Leonardtown as he started home.

More to Explore: Feed your need for speed at Maryland International Raceway, Potomac Speedway and Budds Creek Raceway, just a few miles from Chaptico. Experience flame-breathing dragsters, roaring stock cars and high-flying moto-crossers. The fun is fast and furious. Races are held on Friday and Saturday nights. 

Photo Credits:

1. Oath of allegiance signed by William Blair in Chaptico, Maryland. Confederate soldiers who surrendered were required to sign oaths before they could return to their homes. – Photo courtesy of Bernard Johnson Collection, St. Mary’s County Museum Collections.
2. Zarvona and his men seize control of the St. Nicholas.– Photo courtesy of Nimitz Library Collection, U.S. Naval Academy.