Harry W. Gilmor served as Baltimore City Police Commissioner

Baltimore Police Department

The Baltimore Police Department provides police services to the city of Baltimore, Maryland and was officially established by the Maryland Legislature on March 16, 1853...

 in the 1870s, but he was most noted as a Confederate

Confederate States Army

The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...

 cavalry

Cavalry

Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

 officer during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. Gilmor's daring raids, such as The Magnolia Station Raid

Gilmor's Raid

Gilmor's Raid, also known as The Magnolia Station Train Raid, was a foraging and disruptive cavalry raid that was part of an overall campaign against Union railroads, led by Maj. Harry W. Gilmor with 135 men from the First and Second Maryland Cavalry regiments. It was authorized by Confederate Lt....

 gained his partisan

Partisan (military)

A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity...

s fame as "Gilmor's Raiders".

Early life

Gilmor was born at "Glen Ellen", the family estate in Baltimore County, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

. He was the son of Robert Gilmor and Miss Ellen Ward, daughter of Judge William H. Ward. Harry was the fifth of eleven children.

Civil War

During the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, as a member of Captain Charles Ridgely's Baltimore County Horse Guards, Gilmor was arrested and imprisoned in Fort McHenry

Fort McHenry

Fort McHenry, in Baltimore, Maryland, is a star-shaped fort best known for its role in the War of 1812, when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack by the British navy in Chesapeake Bay...

 following the occupation of Baltimore by Federal troops. Upon his release, he traveled South and eventually rejoined the fighting serving, for a while, under General Turner Ashby

Turner Ashby

Turner Ashby, Jr. was a Confederate cavalry commander in the American Civil War. He had achieved prominence as Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's cavalry commander, in the grade of colonel, in the Shenandoah Valley before he was killed in battle in 1862...

. He was again captured during the Maryland Campaign

Maryland Campaign

The Maryland Campaign, or the Antietam Campaign is widely considered one of the major turning points of the American Civil War. Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North was repulsed by Maj. Gen. George B...

 and spent five months in prison. During the Gettysburg Campaign

Gettysburg Campaign

The Gettysburg Campaign was a series of battles fought in June and July 1863, during the American Civil War. After his victory in the Battle of Chancellorsville, Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia moved north for offensive operations in Maryland and Pennsylvania. The...

, Major Gilmor was assigned command of the First Maryland Cavalry and Second Maryland Cavalry

2nd Maryland Cavalry, CSA

The 2nd Maryland Cavalry, a.k.a Gilmor's Partisan Rangers, was a Confederate unit in the American Civil War.-History:The unit was founded and commanded by Colonel Harry Gilmor. Gilmor was a member of the Towson Guards , when the Civil War started. Due to his political views, he was taken prisoner...

, supporting Brig. Gen. George Steuart's infantry brigade. Gilmor was the provost marshal

Provost Marshal

The Provost Marshal is the officer in the armed forces who is in charge of the military police .There may be a Provost Marshal serving at many levels of the hierarchy and he may also be the public safety officer of a military installation, responsible for the provision of fire, gate security, and...

 of the town of Gettysburg

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Gettysburg is a borough that is the county seat, part of the Gettysburg Battlefield, and the eponym for the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. The town hosts visitors to the Gettysburg National Military Park and has 3 institutions of higher learning: Lutheran Theological Seminary, Gettysburg College, and...

 while it was occupied by the Confederates July 1–4.

The Magnolia Station Raid

After the Battle of Monocacy

Battle of Monocacy

The Battle of Monocacy was fought on July 9, 1864, just outside Frederick, Maryland, as part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864, in the American Civil War. Confederate forces under Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early defeated Union forces under Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace...

 on July 9, 1864, Colonel Gilmor's command, along with Brig. Gen. Bradley T. Johnson

Bradley Tyler Johnson

Bradley Tyler Johnson was an American lawyer, soldier, and writer. Although his home state of Maryland remained loyal to the Union during the American Civil War, Johnson served as a general in the Confederate States Army, leading efforts to raise a Maryland Line in the CSA, and rising to command...

's infantry, made a series of raids around Baltimore going as far east as Magnolia Station in Harford County, Maryland

Harford County, Maryland

Harford County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland. In 2010, its population was 244,826. Its county seat is Bel Air. Harford County forms part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area.-History:...

 and Fork, Maryland. On July 10, 1864 Major Harry Gilmor of the 2nd Maryland Cavalry was given 135 men of the 1st and 2nd Maryland, and directed to cross Baltimore County into Harford County at Jerusalem Mill

Jerusalem Mill Village

Jerusalem Mill Village is a living history museum that spans the 18th through early 20th centuries. One of the oldest and most intact mill villages in the U.S. state of Maryland, Jerusalem is located in Harford County, along the Little Gunpowder Falls River. It also serves as the headquarters of...

, and destroy the railroad bridge of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad

Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad

The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad was the Pennsylvania Railroad's main line from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania southwest to Baltimore, Maryland in the 19th and early 20th centuries...

 at Magnolia Station, northeast of the city. Early on the morning of July 11, Gilmor's cavalrymen reached Magnolia Station, [Major Harry W. Gilmor] located just off present-day I-95 near Joppa. There they proceeded to wreck two trains, one northbound and one southbound. After first evacuating the passengers and looting the cars, the troopers set fire to one of the trains and backed it over the trestle, thus partially destroying the bridge. To further sweeten the pot, aboard the northbound train was an unexpected prize—convalescing Union Maj. Gen.

Major general (United States)

In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general...

 William B. Franklin

William B. Franklin

William Buel Franklin was a career United States Army officer and a Union Army general in the American Civil War. He rose to the rank of a corps commander in the Army of the Potomac, fighting in several notable early battles in the Eastern Theater.-Early life:William B. Franklin was born in York,...

. This raid was always regarded as one of the most daring ever attempted by detached cavalry on either side during the war.

Later in the day on July 11, 1864, Gilmore's advance group were passing the home of Ishmael Day

Ishmael Day

Born on March 20, 1792 in Baltimore County and Christened 16 JUN 1793 at Saint James Protestant Episcopal Parish, Baltimore, Maryland. Ishmael Day was the son of Edward and Mary Day in the 11th District of Baltimore County in Maryland. His birthplace was off of the current Mount Vista Road...

 on Sunshine Avenue in Fork, Maryland. Day was a Union sympathizer, and knowing Gilmor's troops were passing through, hung a large Union flag across the road. In the advance guard unit, Confederate color bearer and Ordinance Sergeant Eugene Fields told Day to take the flag down. After Day refused, an argument followed and Ishmael Day shot Sgt. Field at close range with a shotgun. Gilmor's men burned Day's home and Day immediately fled, cowering under a cider press for days until the passing troops were gone. The mortally wounded Sgt. Field was taken, accompanied by Gilmor, to Wright's Hotel operated by W.O.B. Wright on Harford Road, where Field later died.

Later raids

Gilmor was eventually ordered to take his command to Hardy County, West Virginia

Hardy County, West Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 12,669 people, 5,204 households, and 3,564 families residing in the county. The population density was 22 people per square mile . There were 7,115 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile...

, and attack the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. There, he was captured on February 4, 1865, and was held as a prisoner of war

Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...

 at Fort Warren

Fort Warren (Massachusetts)

Fort Warren is a historic fort on the Georges Island at the entrance to Boston Harbor. The fort is pentagonal, made with stone and granite, and was constructed from 1833–1861, completed shortly after the beginning of the American Civil War...

 in Boston Harbor

Boston Harbor

Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeast.-History:...

 until July 24, 1865.

Postbellum life

After the war, Gilmor moved to New Orleans, where he married Miss Mentoria Nixon Strong, daughter of Jasper Strong and Eliza Julia Nixon. Gilmor and his wife had three children.

Gilmor wrote his war memoirs, entitled Four Years in the Saddle (New York, Harper & Bros., 1866). He soon returned to Maryland and was elected a colonel of the cavalry in the Maryland National Guard

United States National Guard

The National Guard of the United States is a reserve military force composed of state National Guard militia members or units under federally recognized active or inactive armed force service for the United States. Militia members are citizen soldiers, meaning they work part time for the National...

. He also served as the Baltimore City Police Commissioner

Police commissioner

Commissioner is a senior rank used in many police forces and may be rendered Police Commissioner or Commissioner of Police. In some organizations, the commissioner is a political appointee, and may or may not actually be a professional police officer. In these circumstances, there is often a...

 from 1874 to 1879. Gilmor died in Baltimore, plagued by complications from a war injury to his jaw. He was buried in Loudon Park Cemetery

Loudon Park Cemetery

Loudon Park Cemetery a subsidiary of Stewart Enterprises, Inc., the second largest operator of funeral homes and cemeteries in the United States, is a cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland. It was incorporated in 1853 on the site of the "Loudon" estate, previously owned by a local merchant and politician...

in an area now known as "Confederate Hill." At his death, Baltimore police stations flew their flags at half-staff. Gilmor's funeral was a large local event with many dignitaries present to honor this war hero.