A Military Genius Part 4

(Catalogue, page 1058.)

Pet.i.tion for compensation for services. Anna Ella Carroll. February 14, 1876. House Mis. Doc. No. 179, 44th Congress, 1st session, vol.

IX.

(Catalogue, page 1099.)

Memorial of Anna Ella Carroll. October 22, 1877. Senate Mis. Doc. No.

5, 45th Congress, 1st session, vol. I.

(Catalogue, page 1128.)

House of Representatives. Mis. Doc. No. 58, 45th Congress, 2d session.

Claim of Anna Ella Carroll. Memorial of Anna Ella Carroll, of Maryland, praying for compensation for services rendered to the United States during the late civil war. May 18, 1878.

(Catalogue, page 1149.)

Report on claim of Anna Ella Carroll. Senator c.o.c.krell February 18, 1879. Senate Report No. 775, 45th Congress, 3d session, vol. II.

(Catalogue, page 1241.)

Report of claim of Anna Ella Carroll. Representative E. S. Bragg.

March 3, 1881. House report No. 386, 46th Congress, 3d session, vol.

II.

Note.--Most of these only to be seen by consulting the bound volumes in the Congressional Library.

(All the following letters, reports, etc., concerning Miss Carroll's literary and military services are reproduced from these Congressional doc.u.ments.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Thomas A. Scott]

CHAPTER III.

RISE OF THE SECESSION MOVEMENT -- THE CAPITAL IN DANGER -- MISS CARROLL'S LITERARY LABORS FOR THE CAUSE OF THE UNION -- TESTIMONIALS FROM EMINENT MEN.

"On the election of Mr. Lincoln, in 1860, the safety of the Union was felt to be in peril and its perpetuity to depend on the action of the border slave States, and, from her geographical position, especially on Maryland.

In the cotton States the Breckenridge party had conducted the canva.s.s on the avowed position that the election of a sectional President--as they were pleased to characterize Mr. Lincoln--would be a virtual dissolution of the "compact of the Union;" whereupon it would become the duty of all the Southern States to a.s.semble in "sovereign convention" for the purpose of considering the question of their separate independence.

In Maryland the Breckenridge electors a.s.sumed the same position, and as the Legislature was under the control of that party, it was understood that could it a.s.semble they would at once provide for a convention for the purpose of formally withdrawing from the Union. The sessions, however, were biennial, and could only be convened by authority of the Governor. It therefore seemed for the time that the salvation of the Union was in the hands of Governor Hicks. Although he had opposed the election of Mr. Lincoln and all his sympathies were on the side of slavery, his strong point was devotion to the Union.

With this conviction, founded upon long established friendship, Miss Carroll believed she might render some service to her country, and took her stand with him at once for the preservation of the Union, come weal or woe to the inst.i.tution of slavery.

Governor Hicks had been elected some three years before as the candidate of the American party, and to the publications Miss Carroll had contributed to that canva.s.s he largely attributed his election. It was therefore natural that when entering on the fierce struggle for the preservation of the Union, with the political and social powers of the State arrayed against him, that he should desire whatever aid it might be in her power to render him.

A few days after the Presidential election Miss Carroll wrote Governor Hicks upon the probable designs of the Southern leaders should the cotton States secede, and suggested the importance of not allowing a call for the Legislature to be made a question. That she might be in a position to make her services more effective, she repaired to Washington on the meeting of Congress in December, and soon understood that the Southern leaders regarded the dissolution of the Union as accomplished.

The leading disunionists from Maryland and Virginia were on the ground in consultation with the secession leaders in Congress, and the emissaries from the cotton States soon made their appearance, when it was resolved to make Maryland the base of their operations and bring her into the line of the seceding States before the power of the Democratic party had pa.s.sed away, on the 4th of March, 1861.

Hence every agency that wickedness could invent was industriously manufacturing public opinion in Baltimore and all parts of the State to coerce Governor Hicks to convene the Legislature.

With Maryland out of the Union they expected to inaugurate their Southern Confederacy in the Capitol of the United States on the expiration of President Buchanan's term, on the 4th of March, and by divesting the North of the seat of Government and retaining possession of the public buildings and archives, they calculated with great confidence upon recognition of national independence by European powers. About the middle of December Miss Carroll communicated to Governor Hicks their designs on Maryland and suggested the propriety of a public announcement of his unalterable determination to hold Maryland to the Union.

After his address on the 3d of January, 1861, resolutions and letters from men and women endorsing his cause were received from Maryland and from all quarters of the United States.

Governor Hicks at that time was willing to abide by any terms of settlement that would save a conflict between the sections. He favored the compromise proposed by the border States committee, that slavery should not be forbidden, either by Federal or territorial legislation, south of 36 30', and he was strongly inclined to base his action on the acceptance or rejection of the Crittenden resolutions by Congress.

On the 19th of January, 1861, he urged Miss Carroll to exert whatever influence she was able to induce Congress to adopt some measure of pacification; but she was soon satisfied that no compromise that Congress would adopt would be accepted by the cotton States, and, perceiving the danger should the Governor commit himself to any impossible condition, informed him on the 24th of January that the Crittenden proposition would by no possibility receive the sanction of Congress.

All efforts to move the steadfastness of the Governor having failed, the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Delegates issued their call to the people to act independently of him and elect delegates to a convention. This was a most daring and dangerous proceeding, and had the plan succeeded and a convention a.s.sembled they would immediately have deposed the Governor and pa.s.sed an ordinance of secession. The Governor was powerless in such an emergency to defend the State against the revolutionary body, as the State militia were on their side and Mr. Buchanan had declared that the National Government could not coerce a sovereign State.

The gravity of the situation was appreciated by the Governor and the friends of the Union. Miss Carroll addressed articles through the press and wrote many letters to prepare the public mind in Maryland for the struggle. Fortunately the people (thus warned) failed to endorse this call; consequently the leading statesmen of the disunion party abandoned their cherished expectation of inaugurating their Government in the National Capitol.

Many of the conspirators, however, still sought to seize Washington and forcibly prevent the inauguration of the President elect on the 4th of March. The military organizations of the South were deemed sufficient for the enterprise, and a leader trained in the wars of Texas was solicited to lead them. The more sagacious of their party, however, discountenanced the mad scheme. They a.s.sured Miss Carroll that no attempt would be made to seize the Capitol and prevent the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, so long as Maryland remained in the Union.

The ruthless a.s.sault upon the Ma.s.sachusetts troops in Baltimore, as they were pa.s.sing through on their way to Washington, on the 19th of April, with the antecedent and attendant circ.u.mstances, roused to the highest degree the pa.s.sions of all who sympathized with the secession movement, and the mob became for the time being the controlling force of that city. So largely in the ascendant was it and so confident were the disunionists in consequence that they, without warrant of law, a.s.sumed the responsibility of issuing a call for the Legislature of Maryland to convene in Baltimore. Governor Hicks, fearing that the Legislature would respond to the call, and that if it did it would yield to the predominant spirit, give voice to the purpose of the mob, and adopt an act of secession, resolved to forestall such action by convening that body to meet at Frederick City, away from the violent and menacing demonstrations of Baltimore.

The Legislature thus a.s.sembled contained a number of leading members who were ready at once for unconditional secession. There were also others who, with them, would const.i.tute a majority and would vote for the measure could they be sustained by public sentiment, but who were not prepared to give that support without that a.s.surance. The field of conflict was, therefore, transferred from the halls of legislation to the State at large, and to the homes of their const.i.tuents, and there the battle raged during the summer of 1861. In that conflict of ideas Miss Carroll bore an earnest and prominent part, and the most distinguished men have given repeated evidence that her labors were largely instrumental in thwarting the secessionists and saving Maryland to the Union. The objective point of the labors of the disunion leaders was a formal act of secession, by which Maryland would become an integral portion of the Confederacy, not only affording moral and material aid to the Southern cause, but relieving the rebel armies in crossing the Potomac from the charge, which at that stage of the conflict the leaders were anxious to avoid, of ignoring their vaunted doctrine of State rights by invading the territory of sovereign States. With the usual arguments that were urged to fire the Southern heart and to reconcile the people to the extreme remedy of revolution, special prominence was given to what was stigmatized as the arbitrary and unconst.i.tutional acts of President Lincoln. To place the people in possession of the true theory of their inst.i.tutions and to define and defend the war powers of the Government were the special purposes of Miss Carroll's labors during these eventful months."

It would not be possible in the compa.s.s of this paper to set forth circ.u.mstantially all the important questions that arose in the progress of the war, in the discussion of which Miss Carroll took part; but it is proper to say that on every material issue, from the inception of the rebellion to the final reconstruction of the seceded States, she contributed through the newspapers, in pamphlet form, and by private correspondence to the discussion of important subjects.

Governor Hicks bore the brunt of this terrible conflict, greatly aided by Miss Carroll's public and private support, and stimulated by such inspiring letters as the following:

WASHINGTON HOUSE, WASHINGTON CITY, _Jan. 16, 1861_.

My Dear Governor:

I have for some days intended to write and express my cordial admiration and grat.i.tude for the n.o.ble stand you have now taken in behalf of the Union by the public address issued on the 3d instant. An extended relation with the leading presses of the country has enabled me in a public and more efficient manner to testify to this and create a public opinion favorable to your course of patriotic action throughout the land. Many of the articles you have seen emanated from this source.

I feel it will be a gratification to you, in the high and sacred responsibilities which surround your position, to know from one who is incapable of flattering or deceiving you the opinion privately held in this metropolis concerning your whole course since the secession movement in the South was practically initiated.

With all the friends of the Union with whom I converse, without regard to section or party, your course elicits the most unbounded applause. I might add to this the evidences furnished from private correspondence, but you doubtless feel already the sympathy and moral support to be derived in this way. I am often asked if I think you _can_ continue to stand firm under the frightful pressure brought to bear upon you. I answer, _yes_; that my personal knowledge enables me to express the confident belief that nothing will ever induce you to surrender while the oath to support the Const.i.tution of your country and the vow to fulfill the obligations of your G.o.d rest upon your soul.

As a daughter of Maryland, I am proud to have her destiny in the hands of one so worthy of her ancient great name; one who will never betray the sacred trust imposed upon him. "When G.o.d is for us, no man can be against us," is the Christian's courage when the day of trial comes.

I shall continue to fight your battle to the end.