When War broke out in 1861 Williamsport, MD was a booming Canal town in Western Maryland that bordered the state of Virginia with the mighty Potomac River in between the two. The town’s population was around 2000 citizens and there was commerce coming in and out of the town coming off the many canal boats that traveled parallel to the Potomac between the grain rich fields of central Maryland to the coal fields of Cumberland and Western Maryland. Though not the county seat it