and troops were garrisoned there to protect the B&O Railroad. Confederate raiders routinely raided the city and in one daring raid by McNeill's Rangers kidnapped two Union generals, including General George Crook. In 1864, Confederate General John McCausland advanced along the Baltimore Pike towards Cumberland, Maryland, to disrupt the B&O Railroad. Union Brig. Gen. Benjamin F. Kelley organized a small force of soldiers and ambushed the Rebel cavalrymen near Cumberland at Folck’s Mill forcing the Confederates to withdraw. (See Battle of Cumberland) Subsequently, race relations were unsettled. In 1907, a mixed-race man named William Burns, accused of the murder of a white policeman named August Baker, was lynched on the steps of the Cumberland jail. Industrial Revolution Through much of its history, Cumberland's economic prosperity derived from its position as an early transportation hub linking the East Coast with the Midwest. Because of its strategic location at a gap in the mountains, Cumberland was in 1806 the starting point for the nation's first highway, the National Road (later known as U.S. Route 40). The road reached Wheeling, Virginia on the Ohio border in 1818. Of even greater significance to Cumberland's economic development in the 19th century were the B&O Railroad, which reached Cumberland from Baltimore in 1842, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal from Georgetown, Washington, D.C. to Cumberland, which opened in 1850. By the 1890s, five railroads served Cumberland and employed over 2,000 local people. The C&O Canal was also an important commercial link between East and West, providing bulk transport of items such as coal, flour, iron, and limestone products. Facilitated by Cumberland's importance as a transportation hub, manufacturing emerged as a major force in the local economy in the 19th century. By the mid-19th century Cumberland was the second largest manufacturing center in the State of Maryland, a ranking not surpassed until approximately 1915 by Hagerstown, Maryland. Important industries included glass manufacturing, brewing, textiles, and iron and steel works. The B&O Railroad's rolling mill, located off Williams Street and Maryland Avenue, was a major employer in Cumberland from 1870 into the 20th century. Coal mining quickly became the most important industry in the Cumberland area. Some of the richest beds of soft, bituminous coal in the country lay within the hills and mountains of this region. After the Civil War, coal became one of Maryland's chief products and exports. Coal from the Cumberland area fueled the state's