Historical human remains discovered in Frederick, close to Revolutionary War barracks

by Christine Condon, Maryland Matters
January 23, 2026

Little is known about the two sets of skeletal remains uncovered during an excavation in downtown Frederick earlier this week — only that police are convinced they’re “historic in nature.”

The bones were discovered Tuesday by archaeological crews excavating land near the Hessian Barracks, an 18th century building on the grounds of the Maryland School for the Deaf. The excavation was part of the beginning stages of historical restoration work.

The remains were left in place and reburied to protect them, a state official said. If they are eventually exhumed, examinations could reveal more about the remains, including their approximate age.

But in the meantime, local historians have their guesses.

Could they be from the American Revolution, when the barracks held British and German, or Hessian, prisoners of war?

Could they be from the Civil War, when the barracks became a hospital for injured Union and Confederate soldiers, including from the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single-day battle on American soil?

“When you look at the history of this site and the various uses that it has had, whether as a military barracks, as a place where prisoners of war were kept, or as a hospital — I mean, it really doesn’t surprise me,” said Jody Brumage, archivist and museum manager for the Heritage Frederick historical society.

During times of peace, the barracks have served a diverse array of functions: The barracks were a supply depot for the Lewis and Clark expedition west after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803; in the late 1800s, a pair of merchants raised silkworms there.

But Tuesday’s discovery has directed attention to wartimes, when on-site burials would have been more likely.

Chad Baker, a former teacher and later deputy superintendent at the Maryland School for the Deaf, said he once read a diary entry from a Hessian soldier imprisoned there that said a fellow prisoner died and was buried outside the barracks.

“I would hope, I like, I wish — whatever — that they find out they can date it to the Revolutionary War period,” said Baker, who focused on preservation of the barracks during his decades at the school, before his 2014 retirement. “That would verify the document that referenced the possibility — and especially if there are any artifacts that they buried with them. You never know.”

Brumage, for his part, believes the remains may be more likely to be from the Civil War era, when wounded from both sides inundated the site.

“We know that in different instances with Civil War hospitals, that burials were done in almost any available place,” Brumage said, “particularly in those periods like after Antietam, where just the sheer numbers of wounded soldiers that are being dealt with in these places is really astronomical.”

But Baker said there was a temporary morgue in the Civil War era — at that time called a “dead house” — just to the east of the barracks, making him question the idea that burials could have occurred there.

“They had a place to put — in a temporary morgue, if you will — those soldiers, Civil War, who died while being cared for in the barracks,” Baker said.

The barracks were commissioned by the state legislature in the late 1770s — one of three funded by the state at that time, Baker said. Back then, they were on the southern outskirts of town, atop a hill that gained the nickname “Cannon Hill,” because townspeople fired cannons from the barracks for special occasions, such as Marquis de Lafayette’s 1824 visit, or the Baltimore & Ohio railroad’s arrival to the city.

Today, though, the barracks are tucked into the School for the Deaf’s 68-acre, 14-building campus, which is surrounded by a residential area full of historic homes in Frederick.

“Today, Frederick completely surrounds the site where the barracks stand, and the remaining structure really sits right in the heart of the Maryland School for the Deaf campus,” Brumage said.

The barracks were originally the Frederick Town Barracks, Baker said, though it was later nicknamed for the Hessian prisoners held there who later became part of the community. After the Revolution, many Hessian prisoners were freed and settled in Frederick, which already had a sizable German population, Baker said.

“When repatriation to Germany was offered, most of them said no and they just stayed locally,” Baker said. “And some, in fact, married the proverbial farmer’s daughter, and we have descendants in Frederick that have that lineage.”

That the discovery of aged remains happened in 2026, the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, is no accident: The School for the Deaf got a $750,000 National Park Service grant in July 2023 to support the preservation of the barracks site, including “critical stabilization and foundation work,” said Amy Mowl, a spokesperson for the school, in a statement.

It was during “pre-restoration archaeological work” for this project that the buried human remains were found, said Brandon Stoneburg, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of General Services. The department is working alongside the Maryland Historical Trust on the project, Stoneburg said.

“The discovery, while unexpected, is being handled with appropriate care and historical consideration,” said Maryland School for the Deaf Superintendent John A. Serrano, in a YouTube video message delivered in American Sign Language.

“At this time, authorities are working to determine the next steps for the respectful and compliant handling of the remains. Work in the affected area will remain paused until this process is complete,” Serrano said.

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