Across The Years In Prince Georges County

In 1954, the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision called for the desegregation of schools throughout the United States. The full effects of this decision were not known in Prince George's County for another 20 years, yet new economic opportunities and an attractive lifestyle kept the population, education level, and median income on the rise.In Black America: Prince George's County, the unique story of a diverse area once situated between the ideals of the nation and the traditions of the South is told through vintage photographs.

Prince George's County, one of Maryland's most populous counties, has a rich and vibrant history. From agriculture to industry, school life to religious life, trolleys, trains, and tobacco, the people of this area share a distinctive regional heritage and a great pride in the communities they have built. With numerous recognized historic sites, Prince George's County boasts, among others, Mount Calvert, the only structure remaining at the site of the first county seat; Melwood Park and the Magruder House, both visited by George Washington; and His Lordship's Kindness, a five-part Georgian mansion. Other historic buildings were not elegant manors, but functional public facilities. The College Park Airport holds the record as the oldest continuously operating airport in the world, and the Surratt House played a role in the assassination plot of Abraham Lincoln. But the everyday lives of citizens are represented here as well, in the images of early residents, their homes and businesses, of the city services and social events, of elementary school classes and congregations. All can be found within these pages.

4th ser., v. 1-4 includes the Proceedings of the 1st-11th annual meetings (1848-58) of the Maryland State Agricultural Society.

Of all the major figures of the Civil War era, Confederate general John Bankhead Magruder is perhaps the least understood. The third-ranking officer in Virginia's forces behind Robert E. Lee and Joseph E. Johnston, Magruder left no diary, no completed memoirs, no will, not even a family Bible. There are no genealogical records and very few surviving personal papers. Unsurprisingly, then, much existing literature about Magruder contains incorrect information. In John Bankhead Magruder, an exhaustive biography that reflects more than thirty years of painstaking archival research, Thomas M. Settles remedies the many factual inaccuracies surrounding this enigmatic man and his military career. Settles traces Magruder's family back to its seventeenth-century British American origins, describes his educational endeavors at the University of Virginia and West Point, and details his early military career and his leading role as an artillerist in the war with Mexico. Tall, handsome, and flamboyant, Magruder earned the nickname "Prince John" from his army friends and was known for his impeccable manners and social brilliance. When Virginia seceded in April of 1861, Prince John resigned his commission in the U.S. Army and offered his services to the Confederacy. Magruder won the opening battle of the Civil War at Big Bethel. Later, in spite of severe shortages of weapons and supplies and a lack of support from Jefferson Davis, Judah P. Benjamin, Samuel Cooper, and Joseph E. Johnston, Prince John, with just 13,600 men, held his position on the Peninsula for a month against George B. McClellan's 105,000-man Federal army. This successful stand, at a time when Richmond was exceedingly vulnerable, provided, according to Settles, John Magruder's greatest contribution to the Confederacy. Following the Seven Days' battles, however, his commanders harshly criticized Magruder for being too slow at Savage Station, then too rash at Malvern Hill and they transferred him to command the District of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. In Texas, he skillfully recaptured the port of Galveston in early 1863 and held it for the Confederacy until the end of the war. After the war, he joined the Confederate exodus to Mexico but eventually returned to the United States, living in New York City and New Orleans before settling in Houston, where he died on February 18, 1871. John Bankhead Magruder offers fresh insight into many aspects of the general's life and legacy, including his alleged excesses, his family relationships, and the period between Magruder's death and his memorialization into the canon of Lost Cause mythology. With engaging prose and impressive research, Settles brings this vibrant Civil War figure to life.