Mr. Green,

The best known and most used road to Upper Marlboro from the Beltsville/College Park area would have been through Bladensburg, on the Bladensburg-Marlboro road, the alignment of which is now roughly MD 202. If however Johnson was still north of the Maryland Agricultural College, he could have wound southeastward on lesser, but still public, roads - through Pleasant Grove and Good Luck to Magruder's Tavern, then south on the road (now roughly MD 193) until it met the Bladensburg-Marlboro Road.

I thought that Johnson came south from Beltsville to the College, and then west through the College to meet Early, but I gather that you have evidence that he may have been farther along on the way to Marlboro when he received the order to abort the mission, and therefore came back northwest to the campus. I would be interested in learning about that evidence.

I suggest that you put a short version of your inquiry into an e-mail and send it to our library (info@pghistory.org) where it can be picked up by John Peter Thompson who has studied this 1864 event in detail and can respond to it much more fully. Or send an e-mail to him directly at ipetrus1@verizon.net

Good luck with your research!

Susan G. Pearl, Historian
Prince George's County Historical Society

--Previous Message--
: On or about July 13, 1864, General Bradley T.
: Johnson, CSA was in Beltsville on his way to
: Point Lookout POW Camp on a rescue mission.
: Reports state that he was headed south to
: the Marlboro Road but was stopped by a
: courier from General Early to abort the
: rescue mission. At that point, General
: Bradley turned his entire command and
: started to join General Early in Silver
: Spring, MD. Reports do not state where
: Johnson was at the time he received his
: orders, they do indicate that they had
: several skirmished with Yankee pickets and
: made their way to the Maryland Agriculture
: College (U of MD) in College Park. There
: they were fed and housed by the president of
: the College and the next day Johnson caught
: up with Early.
: That being said; my research finds that
: Johnson may have taken Edmonston Road (201)
: down to travel Greenbelt Rd (193) towards
: Glendale, Enterprise, Mitchellville and
: finally getting to Largo Road or known back
: then the Marlboro Road but he never got that
: far. Reports also state that Johnson’s
: troops skirmished with the Yankees at Paint
: Branch, but the reports do not state whether
: the skirmish was before or after he was
: ordered to abort the mission. I want to
: believe it afterwards on his way to the
: college, traveling the old
: Branchville-Glendale road then going south
: on Washington Pike (US1).
:
: Is there another Marlboro Rd from the
: Beltsville area? Any assistance would be
: appreciated.
:
: Thanks in advance
:
: Respectfully
:
: Bryan Green
:
: