Works in Baltimore |
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Name: |
Wells & McComas Monument |
| Address: | Monument and Aisquith streets |
| Standing? Yes | Year: 1873 |
| In 1814, privates Daniel Wells and Henry G. McComas were members of Captain Edward Aisquith's Militia Rifle Company. They were also apprentices in the Baltimore leather trade and, assuming the rigors of leather working, were hardy young men with a sound future ahead of them. Unfortunately, there are no known images of their likenesses. On Sunday, 11 September 1814, the British commander Major General Robert Ross with nearly 30 years service, advanced near Baltimore's North Point Peninsula. He saw signs of defensive preparations and halted his troops at the farm of Robert Gorsuch. Wells and McComas forward with their Company and approximately 230 other men and one cannon to attempt to dislodge the invaders from the Gorsuch Farm. At some point around 1:30 pm on Monday, September 12, 1814, history was made when they met Ross. All three died that day; Ross was 48, Wells 19, and McComas was 18. Wells and McComas are believed to be the killers of Robert Ross, yet historians disagree and site things such as the ammunition they used, a story that they were in a tree picking fruit and were shot by the British, and a lack of eyewitnesses to their actually firing on Ross. In 1873, after funding had been raised by public subscription (in a manner similar to the way citizens raised the money to build the Battle Monument), a 21-foot high obelisk of marble was built over their grave. No claim is made on the monument that the boys shot Ross. The remains of Wells and McComas, originally interred in Greenmount Cemetery, were moved to the monument; For more info, click here. |
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