Lost in the District, Lost in the Federal Territory: The Life and Times of Doctor David Ross, Surgeon, Sot-Weed Factor, Importer of Human Labor, of Bladensburg, Maryland, and related individuals

Book excerpt: "Lost in the District, Lost in the Federal Territory" relates the facts about Doctor David Ross of Bladensburg, his family life, his business and political connections, and his efforts to develop a productive iron mine along the upper Potomac River on lower Antietam Creek in Washington County, Maryland. Through his diligence and the skills of his close relatives, Dr. Ross was in a position to recommend the taking up of arms against Great Britain to his river neighbors of the Committee of Correspondence. His son was later appointed to serve briefly as one of the first auditors for the newly formed District of Columbia. His nephew by marriage, James Maccubbin Lingan, a victim of the Baltimore Riot of July 28, 1812, was one of the first group of leaders who set Georgetown, Maryland (and later D.C.), on its course to greatness as a deep water port. He remains the only veteran of the American Revolutionary War to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.