George Rizer Farm House

The George Rizer farmstead was a campground for Union troops during the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign and the scene of a skirmish during the 1864 Monocacy Campaign.

George Rizer bought the property that would bear his name onJune 8, 1853. It is believed that the farm house was built about 1840, perhaps earlier, and that Rizer made several major additions to the structure in the years that followed.

In 1863, during the Gettysburg Campaign, the Rizer farm was used as a bivouac for about 7,000 Union troops commanded by Maj. Gen. William H. French. French’s command had been ordered from Harpers Ferry to Frederick to prevent the Confederates from moving against Washington if the Union Army of the Potomac was unable engage them. OnJune 28, 1863, General Joseph Hooker, commander of the Army of the Potomac, was relieved of command while encamped at the farm next to the Rizer farm.

On July 7, 1864, during the Monocacy Campaign, a skirmish took place on the Rizer farm between dismounted Confederate Virginia cavalry, commanded by Frederick native Gen. Bradley T. Johnson, and dismounted Union cavalry from the 8^th Illinois Cavalry, commanded by David Clendenin. Following a cannonade, the skirmishing began at4:00 p.m. and concluded at about 8:00 p.m. Frederick diarist Jacob Englebrecht, who witnessed the action, later visited the Rizer farm and described dead livestock and the barn riddled with shell and mini balls. This battle was the last of the Civil War to be fought in Frederick.