 No Civil War battles occurred in Cecil County, but residents had strongly divided loyalties.Slavery had declined from 3,400 slaves in the county in 1790 to just 800 in 1850.The Underground Railroad had crossed through Cecil County, perhaps assisted by the 'Fighting Quaker,' former Congressman and U.S. Marshall John Conard, who moved to North East between 1834 and 1851 and was reburied at St. Mary Anne's Episcopal Church there`after his death in Philadelphia in 1857.