July 2, 2020 - Editor’s note: Each week “Miner Recollections” will spotlight Georges Creek, Maryland's coal heritage, and the sacrifices made by those who mined it, by drawing upon biographical sketches, family narratives and historical research.

A skirmish between Union and Confederate forces at Bloomington in 1864 resulted in the death of little Mary Walsh.

Gen. Robert E. Lee had been considering an attack on the railroad lines and the canals in Western Maryland to draw the attention of the Union forces away from the Shenandoah Valley. On May 5, 1864, McNeill’s Rangers from the South Branch Valley beat Lee to the punch when they attacked the B&O Railroad shops in Piedmont, Virginia (now West Virginia.) Jesse McNeill’s Rangers accosted an eastbound freight train at Bloomington Bridge and forced the engineer to uncouple the cars. After the telegraph wires were cut, a pistol was pointed at the engineer’s head and he was forced to take the locomotive to Piedmont. The remainder of McNeill’s Rangers followed in cautious pursuit.

The roundhouse and machine shops in Piedmont were soon set ablaze. Before the wires were cut, however, the alarm was raised in nearby New Creek (now Keyser, West Virginia.) Gen. Benjamin Kelley sent Lt. Charles Bagley, 75 men, and a Parrott Rifle (a muzzle-loaded rifled cannon) to respond to the Confederate attack. McNeill’s Rangers retreated and the skirmish ended, but not before an errant shot from the Union cannon hit the roof of the Walsh home on Hampshire Hill, located in the line of fire between the opposing forces.

Edward and Mary Walsh and their four young children were inside at the time (Bridget, age 4; Mary, age 3; John, age 18 months, and Margaret, age 1 month.) The shell hit the bedroom where young John was lying in his crib. Frightened by the din of the battle, 3-year-old Mary threw herself over her little brother to protect him. The wayward shell killed Mary instantly and blew off John’s right arm. Miraculously, John survived the incident and lived to old age.

Edward and Mary (Reynolds) Walsh had spent their married life in the Bloomington area. The family name was spelled “Welsh” in the 1860 census report. By the time they relocated to Lonaconing around 1870, they had adjusted to life without their little daughter, and their son had adjusted to life with just one arm. They hoped that the move would be the opening of a more peaceful chapter in their lives.

Arriving on Aug. 20, 1875, Bernard Walsh was the eighth child born to Edward and Mary. Two more children were added to the brood within the next five years. Bernard was most likely in his adolescent years when he was told the “war story” of how his sister Mary heroically saved his brother John’s life. Bernard felt the sting of tragedy, however, long before that time. On Dec. 27, 1879, 3-year-old Bernard lost his father Edward to a roof fall in the Koontz Mine. Bernard’s older brother Edward was working with his father at the time and avoided being crushed.

Bernard grew up to be a talented musician. Lacking the funds to purchase a store-bought instrument, he displayed his precociousness by fashioning his own instrument. On Sept. 30, 1898, Bernard Walsh married Miss Esther Hogan, the daughter of Patrick Hogan and Mary (Cavanaugh) Hogan, at the St. Mary’s of the Annunciation Catholic Church in Lonaconing. The dangers of coal mining continued to plague the Walsh family. On Jan. 21, 1902, Bernard suffered a scalp wound and two broken ribs in an accident at the Ocean Mine near Midland.

Bernard’s mother Mary died on July 16th, 1910. About that time, Bernard, Esther, and their four young children (Vincent, age 11; Mary, age 7; Catherine, age 4; and newborn Bernard) pulled up stakes and moved to the Thomas, West Virginia, area. Bernard found employment with the Davis Coal & Coke Co., and the family took up residence in the company town of Coketon.

In early 1913, Bernard was injured when he was knocked off a locomotive by a wire that powered the track. The severity of the injury necessitated the amputation of his right leg. On March 29, 1913, Bernard’s brother, Professor John Thomas Walsh, was summoned from his post at the Centre Street School in Cumberland to Thomas due to the serious condition of Bernard. Shortly afterward, Mary Walsh was called from her job as a teacher at Central High School in Lonaconing for that same reason. (Miss Nellie Stanton substituted at Central High School in Mary Walsh’s absence.)

Blood poisoning had set in, and at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, April 16, 1913, Bernard Walsh succumbed to his injury. Compounding the tragedy, the following day was his youngest son’s third birthday; Bernard had lost his own father at age three. Bernard was brought back to Lonaconing and buried in St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery near his sister Bridget, who had died from heart disease nine years earlier.

Edward Gabriel Walsh, Bernard’s older brother, saw his own share of hardship and grief. Edward lost his 27-year-old brother-in-law Martin Joseph Cosgrove in November of 1901, when Cosgrove was killed in a head-on collision between a freight train and a helper engine in Pocatella, Idaho.

Bernard’s brother John Thomas Walsh (who lost his right arm when he was 18 months old) became a schoolteacher and trial magistrate in the Georges Creek region; he once served as the principal of the public school in Midland. When John retired, he was an instructor at the Centre Street School in Cumberland and resided nearby at the Walton Hotel. Later in life, John was accepted as an honorary member of the Army Navy Club because of the incident that caused the loss of his arm.

Within 16 days of each other, two of Bernard’s siblings died at the home of their sister Mary Agnes at 17 Church Street in Lonaconing. Sixty-year-old Montrose “Rose” McGinn died on Monday, May 27, 1939. Rose was buried in St. Michael’s Catholic Cemetery in Frostburg. Seventy-five-year-old Margaret Shields passed away on June 12th. Margaret taught school at Ocean, Mount Savage, and Lonaconing; she was laid to rest in St. Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery in Cumberland.

Mary Agnes Walsh, the caretaker of her foregone sisters, was also a teacher. She taught music in Allegany County public schools for 43 years and was a school supervisor before retiring in 1933. In declining health for six years, Mary Agnes passed away on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 1951. She was buried in St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Lonaconing.

Bernard’s youngest sister Loretta went on to become a nun. Assuming the Catholic name of Cecelia Marie, she served at the Order of The Sisters of St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia. Sister Cecelia Marie passed away on July 11, 1955, and was buried in Mount Saint Joseph Convent Cemetery in Philadelphia. She was the last surviving member of her immediate family.

The Walsh family legacy holds the ingredients for a best-selling novel: war, heroism, loss of life and limb, overcoming disability, love, education, music, coal mining, devotion to family, and dedication to faith. At the very least, recalling their history provides us with a unique Miner Recollection.

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For an in-depth look at the early history of the Walsh family, see “The Walsh Family Changed Forever” in Miner Recollections Volume Two 2019. The compilation includes 250 pages of stories, pictures, maps and an updated list of deceased miners. Proceeds support the installation of a life-sized bronze statue and the educational landscaping that will surround it. It is available at Armstrong Insurance in Frostburg or by contacting Polla Horn at jph68@verizon.net or Bucky Schriver at bucky1015@comcast.net.