During the American Civil War, Union Brigadier General Joseph Hooker commanded the Third Brigade near Budd’s Ferry in August 1861. The site was a gathering spot for volunteers, including the 5th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry under Colonel Samuel H. Starr. The site was also used by the Union Army Balloon Corps for reconnaissance of Confederate troop movements across the Potomac.^[7][8]

[edit] Incorporation

The town of Indian Head was incorporated in 1920. It is located between the Potomac River and Mattawoman Creek on Cornwallis Neck, named for the 1654 grant of 5,000 acres (20 km²) by the second Lord Baltimore, Cecilius Calvert, to Capt. Thomas Cornwallis of St. Mary’s County. This land grant included the 2,000-acre (8.1 km²) Cornwallis Manor on the Potomac, presumably the Indian Head site, with St. Elizabeth’s Manor of 2,000 acres (8.1 km²) “nearby but detached”.^[9] In 1850, the Washington Fruit Growers Association named the area including Indian Head as “Glymont”. At that time, with Pye’s Wharf and Leonard Marbury’s Wharf, it was the largest river port in Charles County. The name “Indian Head” applies to the land west of the current Glymont, and dates to the establishment of the powder factory.^[10]

Indian Head was a thriving small town during the World War II years and up until the late 1960s. The construction of St. Charles, a giant planned community south of nearby Waldorf, brought with it retail chains and big-box stores. These attracted Indian Head’s shopping dollars and started the demise of local businesses.

Today, Indian Head is rich in history but is lacking many basic retail and service businesses.^[11] Many remedies for this situation have been attempted, but the desired growth has been slow in coming. Indian Head is bisected by Maryland Route 210, generally known as Indian Head Highway. It goes directly into the middle of town at the entrance to Indian Head Naval Support Facility. Because of this, the town cannot benefit from through-traffic, but must be a destination in its own right.

Private plans to build a massive “Chapman’s Landing” housing development a few miles to the north were thwarted in the 1990s when the state government purchased the land to preserve it as green space under its “smart growth” program. The preserved land includes an old growth Shell-Marl Ravine Forest ecosystem.

The town recently opened a “black box” stage theater, the Indian Head Center for the Arts, a new community center building, new ball fields, and is exploring other efforts to revitalize the town. A section of the railroad to the naval facility, built in 1918, was converted to a paved hiking/biking trail in 2008.^[12] A year-round swimming pool is at the nearby Henry E. Lackey High School.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Head,_Maryland