The regular religious services were
held in the churches of the city and
were as well attended as usual.
Citizens generally seemed to be calmly
awaiting the issue of events.
I now come to the consideration of
Gen. Butler's story of his
correspondence and interviews with
Governor Hicks, upon which I shall
make such comments and in connection
with which I shall relate such facts
as will disclose the real motives that
prompted the governor's course and
actions in the matter. Butler says:
"Before I went ashore Capt.
Haggerty gave me two notes which had
been received, one from the governor
of the State, and one from Lietu.
Miller, who was quarter-master of the
army at the post. The governor's note
read as follows:
" 'I would most earnestly advise
that you do not land your men at
Annapolis. The excitement here is very
great, and I think it prudent that you
should take your men elsewhere. I have
telegraphed to the Secretary of War
against your landing your men here.'
"This was addressed to the
'Commander of the Volunteer Troops on
Board the Steamer.' Capt, Morris J.
Miller wrote thus:
" 'Having been entrusted by General
Scott with the arrangements for
transporting your regiments hence to
Washington, and it being impracticable
to procure cars, I recommend that the
troops remain on board the steamer
until further orders can be received
from General Scott.' "
The Man-of-War
Constitution; Old Ironsides |
This is perhaps only a side issue,
but it is given here to show that the
governor, even if he had been sincere
in his protest (which I will show he
was not,) was sustained in a measure
by an officer of the United States
Army. Butler says he suspected Miller
of disloyalty, and reported him to
General Scott, who relieved him and
sent another quarter-master in his
stead. In reply to the protest of
Governor Hicks, Butler wrote to that
official as follows:
"I had the honor to receive your
note by the hands of Lieutenant
Matthews of the United States Naval
School at Annapolis. I am sorry that
your Excellency should advise against
my landing here. I am not provisioned
for a long voyage. Finding the
ordinary means of communication cut
off by the burning of railroad bridges
by a mob, I have been obliged to make
this detour, and hope that your
Excellency will see, from the very
necessity of the case, that there is
no cause of excitement in the mind of
any good citizen because of our beings
driven here by an extraordinary
casualty. I should at once obey,
however, an order from the Secretary
of War."
Referring to his further
communication with the governor in
relation to landing his troops, Butler
says:
"On Monday morning I went ashore at
the academy and received Gov. Hicks at
headquarters. He was accompanied by
the mayor of Annapolis, and both of
them exhorted me not to think of
landing. They said all Maryland was
ready to rush to arms; that the
enthusiasm of the people in Annapolis
could not long he restrained and that
the railroad towards Washington had
been torn up and was fully guarded. I
replied that I certainly should land
and go on through to Washington, but
that I could not march then as I had
no provisions."
At the time when this interview
occurred the steamer, with the troops
aboard of her, was hard and fast
aground outside of Horn Point and did
not get back to the Naval Academy
wharf till sometime Monday night, or
Tuesday morning. Butler states that at
this same interview with the governor
and mayor he said to them that he
"desired to purchase the provisions
needed, as Maryland was to be treated
as a State that had not seceded," and
that "they then said I could not buy
an ounce of provisions in Annapolis.
The mayor assured me that no patriot
would sell to Yankee troops provisions
with which to march to Washington "
Butler's book was not published
until more than thirty years after the
story he tells of this interview and
when Governor Hicks had been dead for
twenty-nine years, so that his version
of it can never be known; but Mayor
Magruder is still living and in reply
to an inquiry concerning his
recollection of the occurrence, wrote
me the following:
Annapolis, Sept. 30th, l909
My Dear Sir:
Both Governor Hicks and I urged
against General Butler's landing at
the Naval Academy, but not exactly
for the reasons as he states them.
The excited condition of affairs in
Baltimore, Southern sympathizers
having been in control there, made
us fear that his landing might
provoke an attack upon the city of
Annapolis and the Naval Academy from
that, quarter, which we greatly
desired to avoid, and so told him.
We referred to the fact that the
railroad between Washington and
Annapolis was in some places torn up
and suggested that it would be
easier for him to reach Washington
via one of the rivers below us and
nearer Washington.
If Gen'l. Butler intended to
reflect upon Gov. Hicks' loyalty by
his statement of what occurred at
that interview, he does him great
injustice; he was true to the Union
and his native State.
Very Cordially Yours, John R.
Magruder.
Taking this letter of Mr. Magruder
into consideration and comparison with
other exaggerated statements made by
General Butler, I am inclined to
believe that his account of what
occurred at that interview is greatly
overdrawn and that he placed a false
interpretation on the description of
the difficulties which confronted him
at that time, as the case was
presented to him by the mayor and
governor. The very day on which, all
this occurred a leading butcher of
Annapolis, a pronounced secessionist,
visited Butler to arrange for
supplying his men with meat and made a
contract with him for that purpose.
The butcher reported that he said to
Butler: "We'll feed you first and
fight you afterwards." That part of
the butcher's story may be open to
question, but it is probably
substantially true, as he was a man
not lacking in courage. But, however
that may be, it is certain that Butler
experienced no serious difficulty in
obtaining all the meat and other
provisions necessary to feed his
troops, from citizens of Annapolis. It
is a fact, also, that when Butler,
after landing, needed teams to haul
supplies to the railroad depot, he
found no difficulty in purchasing half
a dozen fine horses and carts from
Solomon Phillips, a coal dealer in
Annapolis and a thoroughly loyal
unionist.
Referring again to (he governor and
mayor, after the interview on Monday
morning, Butler says:
"A few days of the presence of our
troops changed the minds of the
governor and mayor, for within thirty
days the mayor of Annapolis was an
applicant, for the place of post
sutler. He did not get it from me,
however. The governor changed the
place of meeting of the legislature,
which had been called to meet at that
time in Annapolis, to Frederick, upon
the ground that it was improper for it
to meet in a city which was held by
United States troops. Yet within
fifteen days there afterwards he
brought to me the great seal of the
State of Maryland and placed it in my
hands for safe keeping so that it
could not be attached to an ordinance
of secession, if the Maryland
legislature should pass one."
The only further correspondence
between Governor Hicks and General
Butler, with which I have to deal, is
the following:
"Executive Chamber, "Annapolis,
Friday, April 23, 1861.
"Dear Sir: Having by virtue of
the power vested in me by the
Constitution of Maryland, summoned
the legislature to assemble on
Friday, the 26th inst., and
Annapolis being the place in which,
according to law, it must assemble,
and having been creditably informed
that you have taken military
possession of the Annapolis &
Elkridge Railroad, I deem it my duty
to protest against this step,
because, at present, without
assigning any other reason, [ am
informed that such occupation of
said railroad will prevent the
members of the legislature from
reaching this city. "Very
Respectfully Yours, "Thomas H.
Hicks."
The day of the week on which this
letter is dated was evidently an error
and for "Friday" "Tuesday" should be
read. Indistinct chirography is
probably responsible for the mistake
on the part of General Butler, who
promptly replied to the communication
as follows:
"Headquarters U. S. Militia,
"Annapolis, Md., April 23, I861
"To His Excellency, "Thomas H.
Hicks, Governor of Maryland.
"You are credibly informed that I
have taken possession of the
Annapolis and Elkridge Railroad. It
might have escaped your notice, but
at the official meeting which was
held between your Excellency and the
mayor of Annapolis, and the
committee of the government and
myself, as to the landing of my
troops, it was expressly stated as a
reason why I should not land, that
my troops could not pass the
railroad because the company had
taken up the rails, and they were
private property. It is difficult to
see how it can be that if my troops
could not pass over the railroad one
way members of the legislature could
pass the other way. I have taken
possession for the purpose of
preventing the execution of the
threats of the mob, as officially
represented to me by the master of
transportation of the railroad in
this city, that if my troops passed
over the railroad the railroad
should be destroyed.
"If the government of the State
had taken possession of the road in
any emergency I should have long
hesitated before entering upon it;
but as I had the honor to inform
your Excellency in regard to another
insurrection against the laws of
Maryland, I am here armed to
maintain those laws, if your
Excellency desires, and the peace of
the United States, against all
disorderly persons whomsoever. I am
endeavoring to save and not to
destroy; to obtain means of
transportation, so that I can vacate
the capital prior to the sitting of
the legislature, and not to be under
the necessity of encumbering your
beautiful city while the legislature
is in session.
"I have the honor to be, very
respectfully, "Your Excellency's
obedient servant, "B. F. Butler,
"Brigadier General."
Butler then says that "the result
of this correspondence was that the
governor ordered the legislature to
convene at Frederick City instead of
Annapolis." He also tells the
following remarkable story:
"Before my landing the governor
came to me with the announcement that
he was informed that there was an
intended rising of the negroes against
the people of Annapolis, and that the
citizens were fleeing .from their
homes. His Excellency was in a state
of great excitement and fear, and I
immediately wrote him the following
letter:
"I did myself the honor, in my
communication yesterday, wherein I
asked permission to land on the soil
of Maryland, to inform you that the
portion of the militia under my
command were Armed only against
disturbers of the peace of the State
of Maryland and of the United States.
I have understood within the last hour
that some apprehension is entertained
of an insurrection of the negro
population of this neighborhood. I am
anxious to convince all classes of
persons that the force under my
command are not here in any way to
interfere with the laws of the State.
I therefore, am ready to co-operate
with your Excellency in suppressing
most promptly and efficiently any
insurrection against the laws of the
State of Maryland. I beg, therefore,
that you announce publicly, that any
portion of the forces under my command
is at your Excellency's disposal, to
act immediately for the preservation
of the peace of this community."
"The effect of that offer was
extremely beneficial. It brought back
all the inhabitants who had fled. It
allayed the fears that we were
undertaking a servile war. It brought
me at once into personal friendly
relations with Governor Hicks, who was
not at heart a secessionist, but only
a very timid and cautious man."
I have no means of controverting
Butler's story that the governor went
to him with this story of a threatened
negro insurrection; but I do not
hesitate to say that it was a gross
exaggeration of actual conditions. I
was in almost constant communication
with the governor at the time and the
subject of a negro insurrection was
never alluded to between us. There was
a vague rumor that such an uprising of
the negro race might occur and very
timid people were probably alarmed by
it, but the people generally gave it
no credence, and I do not believe that
any of them fled from their homes on
account of it. There were no signs of
concerted action of any sort among the
blacks, most of whom were in actual
fear of the soldiers, at the time
Butler says this incident occurred,
and were looking to the whites to
protect them.
Butler follows his statement about
the friendly relations into which ho
was brought with the governor in
consequence of his assurances of a
purpose to preserve order, by saying:
"I informed him in a private
friendly conversation, that he must
not recommend, in his message to the
legislature, any discussion of the
question of secession, and that if he
did I should certainly proceed against
him. He assured me that nothing was
further from his wish or thought than
secession, and that he would never
permit the great seal of Maryland to
be affixed to any such ordinance, or
give force and validity to it if it
were passed; and as a guarantee of his
good faith in that regard, he placed
the seal for safe keeping in my hands,
and I so held it during the session of
the legislature.
"I also told him that if the
legislature undertook, with or without
his recommendation, to discuss an
ordinance of secession, I should hold
that to be an act of hospitality to
the United States, and should disperse
that legislature, or, more properly
speaking, would shut them up together
were they might discuss it all the
time, but without any correspondence
or reporting to the outer world."
For the sake of Butler's own
reputation I hope his threat to deal
with Governor Hicks, which can only be
interpreted as implying the arrest if
that functionary under certain
conditions, was not as emphatic as he
puts it. It may be that the governor's
course, during his correspondence and
interviews with Butler, justified the
latter in entertaining suspicions that
he was opposed to coercion; but the
fact that Maryland, up to that time,
when it was entirely too late for
successful secession action, had been
denied by the governor the opportunity
to consider the question of secession,
should have been sufficient evidence
of his determination to keep the State
in the Union and to have protected him
against such a gratuitous insult.
Butler's threat to arrest and imprison
the members of the legislature, under
certain conditions, was a different
proposition, as it was known, or at
least supposed, that a majority of
them were in favor of secession, and
that was the very cause of the
governor's refusal to call them in
special session at an earlier date.
I have given General Butler's story
of his interviews and correspondence
with Governor Hicks in considerable
detail, to avoid the slightest
appearance of a purpose to conceal any
fact bearing upon the governor's
course and conduct in the trying
circumstances under which he was
placed and row will proceed to show,
from personal knowledge, that, while
protesting against the landing of the
troops, tie was actually desiring them
to do so.
The written protest against the
landing was sent to General Butler
only a few hours after his arrival at
the Naval Academy became known, on
Sunday morning. About the same time I
received a message from the governor,
requesting me, in conjunction with
Mayor Magruder, to notify citizens of
whose loyalty I was satisfied, that
they could obtain muskets and
ammunition from the State arsenal, in
the Assembly building, that night. The
arms were to be distributed by our
authority and were only to 'be given
lo men known to be loyal to the
Government. That was the' governor's
order, given about the same time he
was protesting against the landing of
the troops. The order was carried out
to the letter and that night all the.
muskets in the arsenal were placed in
the hands of trusted unionists. And
throughout the night the streets of
Annapolis were patrolled by men
carrying those arms. I need hardly
comment on that fact as evincing the
governor's sympathy with the
Government and his purpose to aid the
cause of the Union.
Comptroller and
Land Office Building: It was the
entrance to this building the
interview which Gov. Hicks
acknowledged his mistake in
protesting against the landing of
General Butler's Troops took
place. |
It was while I was engaged in
selecting the men to whom the arms
were to be given that an incident
occurred to confirm my opinion that
the masses of the working people of
Annapolis were generally in sympathy
with the Government, as I have
heretofore stated. In pursuance of the
duty I went to what was then known as
Taylor's wharf. At that time an open
space, about 75 yards wide, extended
from the junction of Main street with
Market Space, to Spa creek, a distance
of about 150 yards. There were then no
buildings on the market wharf and only
a single small building on Taylor's
wharf, which fronted on the harbor and
extended to Spa creek. I found a crowd
of men numbering about 200, working
people, almost to a man, congregated
on the wharf and looking; out over the
harbor with evident interest. as the
harbor came within my vision I
discovered the cause of their presence
and of the interest they were
manifesting. I saw Old' Ironsides, in
tow by the steamer Maryland, with her
prow pointing towards the open waters
of the Chesapeake bay. The steamer
could not be seen, as she was lashed
to the opposite side of the ship,
which hid her from view.
As I approached the men I could
hear their voices in conversation, but
as I drew near them they became silent
and uttered no word except to
acknowledge my greeting. It was a
clear, beautiful Spring day, with a
stiff breeze blowing from the
southeast, the direction in which the
Constitution was being towed, and the
Star Spangled Banner, now familiarly
known as "Old Glory," was streaming
straight out from her masthead.
At the sight, memories of the
achievements of the grand old
man-of-war, familiar from my boyhood,
crowded upon me and thoughts of the
perils which then encompassed the
nation which she had greatly aided in
making renowned on the sea,, filled me
with emotions which I cannot describe.
The draught of the ship was greater
than the depth of water in the harbor
and her keel was dragging in the mud.
When I first saw her she was either
stationary or moving so slowly that
her motion was imperceptible, and for
a few moments I stood gazing upon her
in silence. Then my emotions overcame
what some persons called prudence. I
did not know how many Southern
sympathizers, if any, were among the
men collected on the wharf, but I did
not stop to think of possible
consequences to myself if secession
should possibly prevail. Suddenly
raising my right arm, and pointing
toward the ship, I said:
"Men, the man who would raise his
hand to dishonor the flag floating
from the masthead of that ship
deserves to be hanged to the highest
yard of the grand old frigate."
I was not prepared for the effect
of this exclamation upon the men to
whom it was addressed. Their reticence
disappeared in a twinkling and they
crowded about me with expressions of
astonishment and signs of
gratification and pleasure. One man
asked, not in a threatening but a
questioning manner: "Are'nt you afraid
to talk that way?" And when I replied:
"No, why should I be?" another said,
and I use his exact words: "Why, we
thought all you big men had gone over
to the secessionists."
When I assured them that was not
so; that the governor was still loyal
and that few of the prominent
unionists of the city had weakened in
their fealty to the Government, they
were jubilant.
I did not think my action under the
circumstances was at all extraordinary
and did not mention it even in my own
home. At that stage of the secession
movement there was little danger of
bodily harm to the partisans of either
side of the controversy and the only
consequence I had to apprehend, if
tri-State should join the Southern
Confederacy, was deprivation of the
office I was then holding. I had
already been notified by some zealous,
but indiscreet secessionists, who
believed that Maryland was about to
sever her connection with the Union,
that I must either take an oath of
allegiance to the new Confederacy, or
vacate the office, and had, in that
event, about decided to leave Maryland
and seek a home upon loyal territory.
Mr. Purnell, the comptroller of the
treasury, and I had been considering a
plan to organize a colony of unionists
and ask the Government for a grant of
land upon which we could settle in one
of the Western Territories. Neither of
us felt that we could be happy under
any other than the Id flag. Happily
the contingency for such a proceeding
did not arise, .but the fact of its
consideration will serve to accentuate
the sort of loyalty by which some
citizens of Maryland were actuated.
The men on Taylor's wharf who had
witnessed my gesture and heard my
words were not slow in telling the
story and probably exaggerated what I
had said and done. At any rate I was
heartily congratulated by numbers of
unionists upon the open stand I had
taken for the Union cause, while I
probably lost nothing in the esteem of
the secessionists on account of it,
although I was informed that one young
lady with secession proclivities,
declared that she would like to see me
hanged. She was too the daughter of
one of the most prominent and
pronounced unionists in the city, but
was at war in sentiment with her
father.
The most emphatic and at the same
time the most gratifying evidence of
the approbation of my course by the
unionists of Annapolis was received
from Judge Brewer, who expressed in
unmeasured terms his approbation of my
conduct.
Judge Brewer was not one of those
who required such a stimulant to
express his unionism. He had made no
attempt to cloak his sentiments. He
could not keep silent nor simulate,
even by forbearing to speak, the least
motion toward secession. Everybody in
the community knew where he stood in
the crisis through which the State was
then passing There were many others,
also, who had shown no sign of
wavering in their loyalty, but to none
of them had fallen such an opportunity
to give expression, openly, to their
sentiments, as came to me that Sunday
afternoon on Taylor's wharf.
I have told this story, egotistical
as it may seem, not to exploit myself
personally, but to give force to my
testimony to the loyalty of Governor
Hicks and the State of Maryland as
well. I think it bears sufficient in
lenient evidence that it is not
manufactured, and thus so to
demonstrate my own loyalty as to make
me a competent and reliable witness in
the case.
I did not tell the men who crowded
the wharf at the time, collectively,
the purpose of my visit to the
locality, but selected a number of
them whom I knew to be most
trustworthy and reliable and directed
them to go to the arsenal after
nightfall and get arms. In this I was
materially assisted by a man named
William Freeman, (familiarly and
generally called Bill), a mechanic and
humble citizen, but one or the truest
and staunchest unionists in the
country, and well deserving the
mention I make of him in this
connection.
When the Maryland, with the
Constitution in tow, finally made
Annapolis Roads, Old Ironsides spread
her sails and disappeared down the
Chesapeake. The Maryland, with
Butler's troops on board, in
attempting to return to the harbor ran
aground on the bar outside of Horn
Point and lay there for thirty hours
or more. That Sunday night was an
anxious period to the people of
Annapolis, and especially to the
unionists. Rumors were rife and
persistently circulated that the
Baltimore mob was preparing to make a
descent upon the town and the Naval
Academy. It was rumored also, that in
view of the hostile attitude of so
many Marylanders towards the troops,
the Government at Washington
contemplated the abandonment of the
effort to enforce its authority in the
seceding States and would order the
withdrawal of the troops then on the
way to the National Capital. This
rumor was decidedly more disconcerting
to the unionists than their fears of a
raid upon the place by the Baltimore
mob. Above every other consideration
they desired the preservation of the
Union and had then arrived at the
conclusion that the only means to be
used successfully to that end lay in
the employment of the military power
of the Government. The rumor that this
was not to be done turned many an
anxious eye toward the lights of the
Maryland as she lay outside the harbor
that Sunday night. I could see them
from a dormer window of my residence
on Duke of Gloucester street near the
church circle, and the last thing I
did before retiring, at nearly
midnight, was to look out over the
harbor and Horn Point to see if they
were still there. I saw them gleaming
in the distance and somehow felt
comforted at the sight and encouraged
to hope that the Government would not
desert us and abandon its purpose to
save the Union.
The apprehension that it might
possibly do so, however, caused some
weak-kneed unionists to flop over
temporarily to the side of the
secessionists. One of them, a
clergyman who had been an emphatic
unionist, approached me the following
day and expressed the opinion that
nothing was left for Maryland to do
but secede. My reply to that was that
I could see no reason whatever why the
State should be dragged out of the
Union by a mob of Baltimore roughs. I
told him of the notice served upon me
to the effect that I must take the
oath of allegiance to the Southern
Confederacy and added that I would see
them all in a much hotter place than
Annapolis before I could do so. Within
the next two days that clergyman
became as ardent a unionist as ever;
but his lapse led me to reflect that
the weakness of such men might have
led to the secession of the State, if
an uprising of Southern sympathizers
had taken place before the
inauguration of President Lincoln.
About 10 o'clock the Monday
following that memorable Sunday of
Butler's arrival in Annapolis I went
to the executive chamber to give
Governor Hicks an account of what-had
been accomplished under his order to
distribute the State arms to loyal
citizens. He expressed gratification
at my report that the arms were then
in the hands of trusted unionists. 1
informed him that the secessionists
were very indignant because they had
been kept in ignorance on the subject
and were denouncing it as a mean and
unfair trick. He was amused at that
and laughed heartily over it, but
immediately gave me such a shock, as I
have only experienced once in a
lifetime, by suddenly asking if I knew
that he had protested to General
Butler against landing his troops at
the Naval Academy. I replied that 1
had not heard of it. Then he said:
"Yes, I sent him a written protest
yesterday morning." I was inclined to
be incredulous about it and to believe
that he was playing some sort of joke
upon me. When finally convinced that
he was serious about it and had really
made such a protest, I became very
indignant and angry and reproached him
bitterly for what seemed to me to have
been a perfidious action. I told him
that in my opinion Butler and his
troops had as much right on Maryland
soil as he himself had. I pointed out
to him what seemed to be self-evident
that the presence of Federal troops at
Annapolis was a guarantee of
protection to the unionists of that
city and that with my whole heart I
wanted them to land. To this, with
lips close to my ear and with great
earnestness, he whispered: "And 1 want
it as much as you do."
"Then, in heavens name," I
exclaimed, "why did you protest
against it?" To this he replied: "I
did it to keep a hold as long as
possible upon the other side," meaning
the secessionists. "I don't want them
to be fully aware of my attitude just
yet."
I was not appeased by this
explanation and promptly said to him:
"Well, sir, you have made the mistake
of your life and have committed an act
that will come home to plague your
memory when you are dead and gone.
Instead of protesting against the
landing you should have extended a
loyal welcome to the defenders of the
Union. You have certainly carried your
diplomacy entirely too far in this
case." I really said much more in the
same vein, for I was thoroughly
aroused, but I cannot recall the
entire conversation. I do remember
that I told him I hoped Butler would
not be influenced by his protest, but
would promptly land his troops. He at
once expressed his concurrence in this
desire and said that was just what he
wanted. There were ten or twelve
persons, some of whom were
secessionists, in the executive
chamber during our conversation but
they were at the opposite side of the
room, and as we did not speak in a
loud tone, which I saw the Governor
did not desire, they did not catch the
drift of what we were saying.
I had no doubt that it was the
tendency of the governor to endeavor
to hoodwink his enemies that had
caused him to enter his protest
against the landing of the troops, but
I was not placated by his assurance
that he, too, wanted them to land; and
so I spoke to him freely of its effect
upon his reputation, though I did not
then and have never since doubted his
sincerity in agreeing with me about
the desirability of the presence of
the soldiers with us. I felt, however,
that his course in the matter had
placed the loyalists of Maryland in a
false light before the country and
could not refrain from telling him so.
Taken alone, it might he argued from
his course with General Butler that I
was the party he desired to mislead;
but he had shown his loyalty on too
many previous occasions, and I had
been too closely identified with him
to place such an interpretation upon
his assurance that he sympathized with
my desire to have the troops landed.
The governor did not resent my
reproaches and no break in our
friendly relations resulted from the
interview. 1 believe he felt at the
time that he deserved all that 1 had
said to him. If he did not then, he
certainly came to that conclusion soon
afterwards and frankly acknowledged to
me that he had made a great mistake.
This occurred early in the following
June. The record building, as it was
called, in which the comptroller's and
land offices were located, fronted the
State House, and I was standing in the
hall doorway about sunset of a
beautiful day, when the governor left
the executive chamber for his
residence. His way led past me and
when he reached me he stopped and
entered into conversation. We talked a
few moments about indifferent matters
and then he suddenly asked:
"Seabrook, do you remember what you
said to me about my protest to Butler
against landing his troops at the
Naval Academy?" The question startled
and embarrassed me. I supposed he
intended to take me to task for the
heat and vehemence with which I had
reproached him, and I answered in an
apologetic manner:
"Yes, Governor, I remember it
distinctly and fear I was extremely
discourteous. But I was greatly
excited."
"Stop," he said, "1 did not recall
it to reproach you. You convinced me
that I had, as you said,, made the
mistake of my life, and I shall never
cease to regret that I did not consult
with you before acting in the matter.
You said the protest would come home
to plague my memory when I am dead and
gone, and in that you spoke truly. It
was the one act of my administration
that I deeply regret and would gladly
recall, if that were possible. I would
give my right arm if I could undo it.
You have been with me enough to know
there has never been a throb of my
heart that was not true and loyal to
the Government and the cause of the
Union."
I did know it, and assured him in
the most decided manner, that I could
hear irrefutable testimony to that
effect. We were both much affected. I
had no sense of triumph in hearing him
acknowledge his error. On the contrary
my heart went out in deep sympathy for
him. He was nearly forty years my
senior, and it pained me to hear what
it must have given him a sense of
bitter humiliation to confess. He was
a very lovable man. In all my
intercourse with him I had never seen
him give way to auger, and I was as
greatly attached to him as I could
have been if he had been my own
father.
Upon my assuring him that I knew
beyond a shadow of doubt that he had
been inflexibly loyal at every moment
of the secession movement, he said:
"Then I must look to you and others
who have been associated with us
during the winter and spring to clear
my memory of aspersions against my
loyalty."
I promised him I would do so and
have on many occasions told the story
of the events upon which I base my
confidence in his sincere and
unchanged devotion to the Union. I
have still facts to relate and
explanations to make which strengthen
that confidence and in writing this
story am endeavoring to put the
evidences which I deem conclusive of
his loyalty in a form which will
assure their permanent preservation.
I have Quoted General Butler as
saying that "the governor had changed
the place of meeting of the
legislature, which had been called to
meet at that time at Annapolis, to
Frederick, upon the ground that it was
improper for it to meet in a city
which was held by United States
troops." But to me the governor
assigned a very different reason for
the change. I believe I was alone in
advising against the call at all. I
thought it then entirely unnecessary,
and time has not changed that opinion.
But the other staunch loyal advisors
of the governor thought differently.
They were impressed with the opinion
that the announcement of the call
would destroy the pretext for the
secession rioting in Baltimore, and
would put an end to the riot. It
probably had that effect but I believe
that within a few days the mob could
have been overawed and dispersed by
government troops.
Governor Hicks voluntarily informed
me that instead of having been
actuated by the reason he had assigned
to Butler for changing the place of
meeting to Frederick, he was
influenced by other considerations. He
found in the presence of the troops a
means of impressing the secessionists
with the idea that he considered it
improper to have the legislature meet
in a place under control of Federal
soldiers, while his real reason was
that at Frederick it would be
surrounded by a thoroughly loyal
people, that city, and Frederick
county generally, having been known as
a veritable hotbed of unionism. The
governor thought that fact would
restrain the legislature from
attempting to pass an act of
secession, about which there was some
talk of its doing. His judgment was
hardly at fault if a story current at
the time was correct. While some
action indicative of a purpose to
proceed with the secession program was
pending so the story goes a band of
sturdy, determined looking citizens
appeared in the legislative halls with
rope halters hanging on their arms.
Members, noticing the singular
proceeding, inquired its meaning and
were informed that the halters were to
be used in hanging such of them as
attempted to pass an act of secession.
I cannot vouch for the truth of the
story, but I do know that the union
sentiment in Frederick was very
strong, and am confident that the
governor gave me his true reason for
taking the legislature to that place.
The extra session of the
legislature made a special election in
Baltimore necessary. The city had no
members in the House of Delegates, the
seats of those returned as elected in
1859 having been contested by the
opposing candidates, at the regular
session in 1860, and declared vacant,
as I have already stated, upon the
theory that, on account of the
violence and fraud which prevailed at
the election it was impossible to
determine who had been chosen; or in
other words, that no election had been
held in the city.
The election was held after the
lapse of the shortest time allowed by
law and while the secessionists were
still presumably in control of the
city. The unionists made no
nominations, but put it up to their
opponents to demonstrate their
numerical superiority by polling a
majority of the whole number of votes
in the city. Thus challenged,
extraordinary efforts were made to
poll the full strength of the
secession sympathizers. There was then
no registration of voters in Maryland,
and the exact number of electors in
the city cannot be stated, but could
not have been much, if any, less than
forty thousand. Of these only about
ten thousand, notwithstanding the
extraordinary efforts to bring out a
large vote, cast their ballots at the
special election. This was a meagre
showing and thoroughly exploded the
claims of secession preponderance in
Baltimore. The fright produced by the
riot was ended. Only a short time
elapsed before Butler, who in the
meantime had seized the Relay Junction
of the Main Stem and Washington Branch
of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
marched with a small force to Federal
Hill, in Baltimore, and rode thence,
attended by only an orderly, to
Barnum's Hotel in the heart of the
city.
Only a few weeks after the
exhibition of mob sympathy with
secession in Baltimore a notable
meeting of prominent citizens was held
in the auditorium of the Maryland
Institute, in that city, to give
expression to their views in relation
to the action of the Government in
resorting to war for the preservation
of the Union. Every section of the
State was represented and the great
hall of the institute was crowded with
a body of as representative citizens
as ever assembled in Maryland. They
came together voluntarily and not by
delegation. The call for the
convention placed no limit upon the
number who might attend and it was a
spontaneous outpouring of loyal
people. It is worthy of remark that in
all that large assembly no voice was
raised against the prosecution of the
war to prevent the dissolution of the
Union. The common sentiment was in
favor of the employment of all the
resources of the Government to defeat
the cause of secession. An address,
setting forth the views of the
convention and forcibly expressing
this sentiment, was adopted without a
dissenting voice. This address, it was
understood, was written by Samuel S.
Maffit, of Cecil county, who was
elected comptroller of the treasury at
the succeeding November election.
Augustus W. Bradford, chosen governor
at the same election, delivered an
impassioned and eloquent address which
created unbounded enthusiasm and
placed him at once in the front rank
of union leaders in the State. No one
who participated in the proceedings of
the convention could have doubted that
it voiced the sentiments of a majority
of the people of the State.
There were in fact thousands of
prominent citizens, all over the
State, who never for a moment swerved
from their fealty to the Government
and who would have resisted any
movement to drag the State into
secession, if it had been necessary to
employ force to prevent it. I have in
mind and was personally acquainted
with many of these men, who deserve to
have their names recorded and
perpetuated for their unflinching
loyalty. It would extend this story
far beyond the limit contemplated to
mention them all, but, I cannot
forbear naming some of the more
prominent ones. Among these were:
Ex-Governor Francis Thomas,
ex-Congressman Henry W. Hoffman,
George A. Pearre, leader of the
Allegany county bar and father of the
recent Congressman George A. Pearre;
A. C. Green, Hopewell Hebb, Col.
Charles Gilpin, Lloyd Lowndes, then
only a young man, but afterwards a
member of Congress and governor of the
State; Dr. Charles H. Ohr, Judge
Daniel Weisel, Peter Negley, Louis P.
Fiery, Andrew K. Stake, Peter B.
Small.. Sr., Albert Small, Mittag and
Sneary, publishers of the Hagerstown
Herald and Torch Light; John V. L.
Findlay, afterwards a member of
Congress from Baltimore; Louis Nyman,
Louis E. McComas, then only a young
man and afterwards a United States
Senator; Edward Stake, afterwards a
Circuit Court judge; Judge William P. Maulsby, John W. Birely, General
Edward Shriver, Col. Charles E. Trail,
Dr. Lewis Steiner; Joshua Dill, Lewis
H. Dill, George T. Dill, Col. Edward
Schley, and his sons, Henry and Frank,
Major Henry Schley and his son, Dr.
Fairfax Schley, Frederick Scliley,
editor of the Frederick Examiner; John
T. Schley, father of Admiral W. S.
Schley; Grayson Eichelberger, Charles
Cole, editor of the Maryland Union; B.
Amos Cunningham, Michael Zimmerman,
Dr. William Zimmerman, M. L.
Beckenbaugh, Jos. W. L. Carty, John C.
Hardt, Thomas Haller, John H.
Seabrook,
Dr. Andrew Annan,
Lawrence J. Brengle, David Frazier,
Capt. George M. Tyler, Mahlon
Rhoderick, John E. Smith, a member of
the State Senate at the beginning of
the war and afterwards judge of the
Fifth Judicial district Circuit Court;
his father, Joshua Smith, and his
uncles, John Smith Of Wakefield and
Richard Smith, Col. William A.
MeKellip, Joseph M. Parke, George E.
Wampler, A. H. Huber, "William H.
Grammer, editor of the Westminster
American Sentinel; William A. Wampler,
Drs. John and Samuel Swoipe, Daniel
Swope, Benjamin Shunk, John MeKellip,
Dr. William Reindollar, Jonas Ecker,
Solomon S. Ecker, Rogers Birnie,
Thomas F. Shepherd, Joseph A.
Stouffer, Moses Shaw, Daniel Wolfe,
Joseph Wolfe, George Everliart, Jacob
Campbell, John G. Capito, Augustus
Shriver, Dr. Clotworthy Birnie, Andrew
K Shriver, Henry Wirt Shriver, Joseph
L. Haines, Dr. Jacob J. Weaver, Sr.,
Dr. James L. Billingslea, Dr. Charles
Billingslea, William A. Cunningham,
Alfred Troxell, Joshua Yingling, Jesse
Reifsnider, Deuton Gehr, Granville S.
Haines, Nathan I. Gorsuch, Augustus W.
Bradford, William H. Hoffman, John T.
Ensor, Robert Fowler, General John S.
Berry, Reverdy Johnson, Sr.,
ex-Attorney General of the United
States and afterwards United States
Senator; Reverdy Johnson, Jr., Col.
Edwin H. Webster, who was in Congress
when the war began; Major William H.
Dallam, George McComas, John Baker,
Edward M. Alien, James T. McCollough,
John A. J. Creswell, afterwards U. S.
Senator and Postmaster General; Jacob
Tome, founder of the Tome Institute at
Port Deposit; James W. Clayton,
Alexander Evans, F. T. Birely, Isaac
O. Baile, Wm. Bachman, Philip H. L.
Myers, Leonard Zile, and many others.
These were all citizens of the
northern tier of counties.
In Baltimore City were such, men as
Henry Winter Davis, William Schley,
Henry Stockbridge, father of the
present Judge Henry Stockbridge;
William Price, Thomas S. Alexander,
leading members of the bar; Charles C.
Fulton, publisher of the Baltimore
American and father-in-law of General
Felix Agnus, the present publisher of
that well known daily, Alexander
Fulton, John F. McJilton, R. Stockett
Matthews, Archibald, Stirling, Sr.,
Archibald Sterling, Jr., afterwards
United States District Attorney; Judge
Hugh Lennox Bond, Republican candidate
for governor in 1867; Jos. Gushing,
Jos. Whitney, Milton Wihitney, Jacob
H. Medairy, Cornelius L. L. Leary,
Marcus Dennison, General Andrew
Dennison, Frederick Fickey, Sr.,
Frederick Fickey, Jr., John M.
Dennison, Baltis H. Kennard, John L.
Thomas, afterwards a member of
Congress; Washing Booth, Francis
Cochran, Jehu B. Askew,
In Southern Maryland were:
Thomas Donaldson, Judge Edward
Hammond, Dr. William W. Watkins, an
uncle of ex-Governor Edwin Warfield;
George W. Sands, James Gary and his
son, James A. Gary, afterwards
Postmaster General; Hart B. Holton,
once Republican candidate for
governor; Alien Bowie Davis, Francis
Miller, Judge Richard Johns Bowie, of
the Court of Appeals; Charles B. Calvert,
elected to Congress in 1861; Frederick
Sasscer, Shelby Clarke, Alexander
Randall, an Ex-member of Congress;
Judge Daniel Magruder, Randall
Magnifier, John R. Magruder, Judge
Nicholas Brewer, Nicholas Brewer, Jr.,
Nicholas Brewer of John, adjutant
general under Governor Hicks; John
Stephen Sellman, several times a State
Senator; Frank H. Stockett, a
prominent member of the Annapolis bar;
J. Wesley White, James M. Munrce,
prominent Annapolis merchants; Grafton
Munroe, Sr., Grafton Munroe, Jr., J.
Edwards Munroe, Richard R. Goodwin,
George M. Taylor, Dr. William Goodman,
Harry Levely, W. Clement Tuck, Dr.
Washington G. Tuck, Dr. Johu Ridout,
Dr. Dennis Claude, for many years
State treasurer; Elijah Arnold, Thomas
Graham, Nathaniel Duke, Mongomery
Blair, Postmaster General in the
Cabinent of President Lincoln; Frank
Blair, father of Montgomery Blair.
On the Eastern Shore, south of
Cecil county, were Col. Edward
Wilkins, Capt. William D. Burchinal,
Dr. Christopher C. Cox, afterwards
lieutenant governor; Col. William J.
Vannort, afterwards a Republican
candidate for governor; Henry H.
Goldsborough, a Democratic Senator
from Talbot county in the legislature
of 1861, but a most determined
unionist; William B. Dixon, Col. H. C.
Mullikin; Robert J. Jump, afterwards
comptroller of the treasury; Judge
George M. Russum, Judge Thomas A.
Spence, Charles F. Goldsborough,
Governor Hicks, Col. James Wallace,
Levin Straughn, Henry Straughn, John
W. Crisfield, elected to Congress in
1861; Col. William H. Leonard, Judge
Brice W. Goldsborough, of the Court of
Appeals; William H. Purnell,
comptroller of the treasury at the
beginning of the war, and during the
war postmaster of Baltimore.
This list might be multiplied to
thousands, but these are named
because, with very few exceptions,
they were personally known to me and I
was familiar with their views. Their
names are given here just as they came
to mind and I have not sought to
refresh my memory by consulting
references. On the other hand I
remember a much smaller number of
prominent Marylanders who sided
actively with the secession movement.
In his efforts to make Maryland an
effective factor in the struggle for
the maintenance of national unity,
therefore, I think there can be no
doubt that Governor Hicks represented
the wishes of a decided majority of
the people of the State.
It is but just to the men whose
names are mentioned in the foregoing
list to say that they were not without
sympathy for the masses of the
Southern people, in the suffering and
distress brought upon them by the war.
They the men named believed, with
reason, that the secession movement
was instigated and precipitated by a
small proportion of the people of the
South, and that many of those people
were dragooned into voting for and
consenting to withdrawal from the
Union, against their better judgment.
It is well known that Lee, the great
Southern military leader, was not in
favor of secession, but felt it his
duty to cast his lot with Virginia
when she decided to Join the
Confederacy.
The Senate
Chamber where general Washington
resigned his commission |
There were many citizens of
Maryland whose hearts and heads were
at variance. They did not believe in
the right of secession, or if they
conceded the right, believed its
exercise unwise and impolitic, and
could see in it nothing but the
disintegration of the country and the
ultimate destruction of popular
government. I have in mind a citizen
who was generally supposed to have
been imbued with strong Southern
sympathies, who, with the exception of
Governors Hicks and Bradford, probably
rendered greater service for the
government, throughout the war, than
any other Marylander not connected
with the army. I refer to Mr. J. W.
Garrett, the great railroad magnate,
who, as president of the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad Company, devoted the
property of that corporation to its
fullest extent, in carrying munitions
of war and in the transportation of
troops. Under Mr. Garrett's
supervision the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad never failed to meet any
emergency, however pressing and
demanding prompt action, when called
upon by the government.
Mr. Garrett was a native of
Baltimore and a Democrat politically,
and his sympathy was naturally with
the South. But it is evident from his
course;, from the beginning to the end
of the war, that he regarded the
preservation of the Union paramount to
every other consideration.
While the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad was strictly a Maryland work,
undertaken by Maryland men and its
construction made possible by the
liberal aid voted by the Maryland
Legislature, its line ran for lone
distances through Virginia, and the
service it continually rendered the
government provoked such an antagonism
against it in the Confederacy that it
suffered serious damage at the hands
of the Confederate armies. But this
did not deter Mr. Garrett from doing
his duty to the government, and the
railroad under his control continued
till the very end of the war to do its
utmost to aid the Union cause.
That Mr. Garrett possessed the
confidence of President Lincoln, to
the fullest extent, is well
understood. This is corroborated by
the fact that he, Mr. Garrett,
accompanied Mr. Lincoln to the
headquarters of Gen. Grant in front,
of Petersburg, near the close of the
war, and that the railroad president
was photographed standing with Lincoln
and Grant, in front of the latter's
tent. These facts indicate that Mr.
Garrett must have been entrusted with
a knowledge of military secrets that
would have been withheld from any but
a thoroughly loyal man.
I might give, in detail, some
account of the great service rendered
the government by the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad, but, as I say in
substance elsewhere the scope and
purpose of this story is only to show,
on the civil side, what the unionists
of Maryland and her governor did to
prevent, her secession from the Union.
Mr. Garrett was a type of Marylanders
who were not few in number. They felt
the ties of fellowship and the
influence of kindred institutions with
the South, but they were not blind to
the consequences which must have
followed a successful attempt to
dissolve the Union. Their course is
more than justified by the marvelous
growth of a united country and its
development into a power whose
influence is second to none among the
great nations of the world and whose
people are the freest, most prosperous
and happiest on earth.
This part of my story would be
incomplete without some reference to
the loyal women of Annapolis, of whom
there were many among the leading
families of the city. During the first
year of the war a corps of these
ladies, lead by the wife of Judge
Brewer and my own wife, visited the
soldiers' hospitals in the Naval
Academy grounds, almost daily, and
ministered to the sick and wounded men
brought there from camps and
battlefields. The government was not
prepared to care for these men
properly and the Christian and
Sanitary Commissions were not then
efficiently organized. The Annapolis
ladies provided such luxuries and
delicacies as the men were remitted to
have and with their own hands served
them to the patients. These
ministrations were very grateful to
the men and many a poor fellow had his
last hours soothed by the presence and
tender sympathy of these devoted
women. In one instance, with my rather
reluctant consent, my wife had a boy
soldier named Irving Jaques, of
Albany, N. Y., brought from a
soldiers' camp to our home and nursed
him back to health. He was but 16
years old and would have died but for
the care he received in my home. I
secured his discharge from the army,
but he re-enlisted and became sergeant
major of the regiment of which
Colonel, now General MeDougal, of
Auburn, N. Y., was the commander. He
was shot through the head and killed
at Gettysburg. I have his portrait,
sent me by his mother, soon after his
death. This is only one of many
individual stories that might be told
to the credit of the loyal women of
Annapolis.
Historical Note:
Dr. Andrew Annan was an Emmitsburg
Doctor. It was by luck I ran into his
name on the list of those men who
attended the meeting on the decision
of Maryland's fate.
Read Part Four
Special thanks to
John Miller for his efforts in scanning the book's contents and converting it into the web page you are now viewing.
