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MARYLAND, INDEPENDENCE, 
 
 CONFEDERATION. 
 
SFuiTc) -Publication, QTlo. ^L 
 
 Maryland, Independence, 
 
 CONFEDERATION. 
 
 A Paper read before the Maryland Historical Society, 
 
 DecemTaer 8tli, 1890, 
 
 By WILLIAM J. HULL, 
 
 
, UNiVE-Rsrrv 
 
 \ LIBRARY 
 
 PEABODY PUBLICATION FUND. 
 
 Committee on Publication. 
 1891-92. 
 
 HENRY STOCKBRIDGE, 
 BRADLEY T. JOHNSON, 
 CLAYTON C. HALL. 
 
 Printed by John Mubfht & Go. 
 
 FBINTEBS to THB MABTLAND HISTOBIOAL SOOIETT. 
 
 Baltiuobe, 1891. 
 
MARYLAND, INDEPENDENCE, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 CONFEDERATION. 
 
 THE three topics that occupied the most promi- 
 nent place in the deliberations of the Conti- 
 nental Congress before the Declaration of 
 Independence, and the three that were of the most 
 vital importance to the colonies as a whole, were 
 those of political independence from the mother 
 country, of foreign alliances, and of armed resist- 
 ance to the arbitrary measures enacted by the Brit- 
 ish Parliament and backed up by British arms. 
 
 A brief portrayal of Maryland's share in the 
 execution of these three great objects may serve a 
 useful purpose in enabling one the better to appre- 
 ciate Maryland's influence in the formation of the 
 Confederation and the Union. 
 
 I. 
 
 Maryland and Independence. 
 
 In attempting to trace the continuity of history 
 it is not well, especially in so limited a paper as 
 
 5 
 
this, to penetrate too far into the mists of antiquity ; 
 for the task of searching out the " first causes " of 
 human conduct, as well as of the phenomena of 
 nature, lies within the domain of speculative phil- 
 osophy, and not of philosophic history. I shall, 
 therefore, begin this relation of Maryland's influ- 
 ence upon American independence with an account 
 of her attitude toward the first immediate cause of 
 the Revolution — the Stamp Act of 1765. 
 
 In 1762, before the close of the French and Indian 
 War, in consequence of the bold stand taken by the 
 Maryland Assembly against the arbitrary demand 
 of the proprietary, governor, minister, parliament, 
 and general, to furnish supplies for the conduct of 
 that war, the king expressed his stern displeasure 
 at the " obstinate disobedience " of the Assembly 
 of Maryland, and censured its members as not 
 " animated by a sense of their duty to their king 
 and country." This reproof was administered, 
 Egremont wrote, " not to change their opinion," 
 but " that they may not deceive themselves by sup- 
 posing that their behavior is not seen here in its 
 true liglity Thus when Maryland entered upon her 
 energetic resistance to the Stamp Act, it was not the 
 first time she had braved the British Lion and 
 heard him growl ; nor could she plead for her 
 rebellious acts the immunity of a first offence. But 
 when news reached the colony that the duties on 
 stamped paper had been extended to America, there 
 
was no hesitation as to the manner in which the 
 odious act should be received. Meetings were 
 held in every part of the province, and the people 
 expressed their detestation of the act and their 
 unalterable determination that it should never be 
 carried into effect, not only by bold and decided 
 resolutions against it, but also by acts of violence 
 against the persons and property of its supporters. 
 The freemen of Talbot county erected a gibbet 
 before the door of the court house, twenty feet 
 high, and hanged on it the effigy of a stamp 
 informer in chains, "in terrorem," until the Stamp 
 Act should be repealed ; and they resolved unani- 
 mously to hold in utter contempt and abhorrence 
 every stamp officer and every favorer of the Stamp 
 Act, and " to have no communication with any such, 
 not even to speak to him, unless to upbraid him 
 with his baseness." The effigy of Zachariah Hood, 
 the officer appointed for the distribution of the 
 stamps in Maryland, was paraded, whipped, 
 burned, hung, tarred and feathered, buried, and 
 treated with every sort of contumely in Baltimore, 
 Frederick, Annapolis, Elk Ridge, and other towns 
 of the province. Nor did this unhappy stamp dis- 
 tributor escape with mere punishment by proxy ; 
 his house at Annapolis was torn down, and he him- 
 self was forced to flee for protection from the irate 
 Maryland populace to General G-age in the city of 
 New York. But here also he felt the power of 
 
8 
 
 American public opinion, now so thoroughly 
 aroused ; the Sons of Liberty of New York deter- 
 mined that, since " Mr. Hood had, by his flight, 
 deprived his country of that justice it had a right 
 to demand of him — the resignation of an office cal- 
 culated to enslave them " — he should not evade that 
 resignation while within their reach ; they accord- 
 ingly forced him to resign his office and to promise 
 never to undertake the duty again. 
 
 It was not by riotous measures alone that Mary- 
 land expressed her disapprobation of the tyrannical 
 act. Daniel Dulany of Annapolis, confessedly the 
 most distinguished lawyer America had produced, 
 published a treatise entitled, "Considerations on 
 the Propriety of Imposing Taxes on the British 
 Colonies, for the purpose of Raising a Revenue, 
 by Acts of Parliament." In this treatise Dulany 
 proved conclusively the utter illegality of the Stamp 
 Act, and by it he was at once placed in the foremost 
 rank of the champions of the colonies in their 
 struggle against taxes imposed upon them, Avithout 
 their consent, by the British Parliament. His 
 prominence is shown by the fact that William Pitt, 
 in Parliament, took honorable notice of his words, 
 and adopted them as the ground-Avork of his own 
 reasoning ; and his cogent arguments were undoubt- 
 edly of great influence in effecting the final repeal 
 of the act Avhose illegality he so clearly proved. 
 
9 
 
 He struck the key-note of the true Revolutionary 
 spirit when he declared " that a garment of linsey- 
 woolsey, when made the distinction of patriotism, 
 is more honorable than the plumes and the diadem 
 of an emperor without it. Let the manufacture of 
 America be the symbol of dignity and the badge 
 of virtue, and it will soon break the fetters of dis- 
 tress." [However culpable may have been Dulany's 
 reticence in the actual events of the Revolution, we 
 may believe, with McMahon, that it was owing 
 neither to opposition to the rights of America, nor 
 to a servile submission to the views of the ministry ; 
 and " that, had he not been thrown into collision 
 with the leaders of the war in Maryland, by the 
 proclamation controversy, and thus involved in a 
 discussion with them which excited high resentment 
 on both sides, and kept him at a distance from them 
 until the Revolution began, he would, most proba- 
 bly, have been found by their side, in support of 
 the measures which led to it." (McMahon, I, 357.)| 
 
 But opposition to the Stamp Act was not confinea 
 to individual writers and unofficial assemblies alone. 
 One of the instructions given by the free-holders 
 and freemen of Anne Arundel county to their 
 delegates to the State Assembly " enjoined and 
 required " them to use their " earnest endeavors,"— 
 " I. That our essential inherent rights, and consti- 
 tutional privileges, derived to us as British sub- 
 jects, from the clear fountain of the British laws — 
 
10 
 
 declared and confirmed to us by our charter — and 
 the usages and customs of our province, be clearly 
 and distinctly expressed and asserted by you in 
 General Assembly. . . . 
 
 " II. That a committee be appointed early in the 
 session by your House, and furnished with due 
 instructions, to attend at the congress to be held at 
 New York, the first day of next month [October 1, 
 1765], there to meet the commissioners from the 
 other provinces on the continent, agreeable with 
 the proposal in the Massachusetts circular letter, in 
 order to confer on the circumstances of our country, 
 and join in an humble and dutiful petition to his 
 majesty for relief from the Stamp Act, with its 
 numerous train of complicated evils ; and for redress 
 of all our other grievances. . . ." 
 
 The first act of the General Assembly, when it 
 was finally summoned by the governor, was to 
 appoint three delegates to the congress to be held 
 at New York, on the 7th of October, 1765, and to 
 provide them with suitable instructions to present 
 a petition to the king and British Parliament, pray- 
 ing "relief from the burdens and restraints lately 
 laid upon the trade and commerce of the British 
 colonies, and especially from the taxes imposed by 
 the Stamp Act, whereby they are deprived, in some 
 instances, of that invaluable privilege of English- 
 men and British subjects — trials by juries ; and to 
 take care that such representation should humbly 
 
11 
 
 and decently, but expressly, contain an assertion of 
 the right of the colonists, to be exempt from all and 
 every taxations and impositions upon their persons 
 and property, to which they do not consent in a 
 legislative way, either by themselves or their rep- 
 resentatives freely chosen and appointed." The 
 three delegates appointed to this congress were 
 Colonel Edward Tilghman of Queen Anne's, Wil- 
 liam Murdock of Prince George's, and Thomas 
 Ringgold of Kent, who seem to have taken a prom- 
 inent and useful part in the actions of that body ; 
 William Murdock was a member of the committee 
 that prepared an address to the king, and Col. 
 Tilghman of that which drafted the Memorial to 
 the House of Lords. 
 
 The Maryland Assembly in this same session 
 also promulgated a series of eight Declarations 
 " which," says Scharf, " from their dignified tone 
 and the unanimity with which they were adopted, 
 form one of the proudest pages of Maryland's his- 
 tory " (1,538). 
 
 This same Assembly, in a later session, rebuked 
 the governor for his delay in convening them at a 
 period when they were desirous to unite with their 
 fellow citizens in the other colonies in the preser- 
 vation of their rights; refused to give him their 
 advice, as requested by him, concerning the disposal 
 of a cargo of stamped paper which was intended for 
 the colony — the members asserting that it was " not 
 
12 
 
 agreeable to the sentiments of their constituents to 
 give him any ad^dce upon the subject ; " and, on the 
 day after the Stamp Act should have gone into 
 effect (November 2, 1765) , the Assembly appointed 
 a " committee of .grievances and courts of justice to 
 inspect the form of the oaths of office, that have 
 been, and now are usually taken by the several 
 magistrates, and if the following clause be not 
 inserted in the said oath," it was declared and 
 resolved to be necessary, \\z. : "To do equal law 
 and right to all the king's subjects, rich and poor ; 
 and not to delay any person of common right, for 
 the letters of the king, the Lord Proprietary, or of 
 any other, or for any other cause ; but if any such 
 letters come to them, they shall proceed to do the 
 law, the same "letters notwithstanding." Truly, 
 here is a declaration of legislative independence as 
 distinct and emphatic as the far famed one of 
 eleven years later ! 
 
 In pursuance of this policy, so boldly announced, 
 we find stated in the Maryland Gazette of Decem- 
 ber 10, 1765, that at " the last court in Frederick 
 county, the magistrates taking into consideration 
 the bad consequences that would attend a stop 
 being put to the ordinary course of justice, if any 
 notice was taken of the Stamp Act (which had 
 never been legally transmitted to them) , they, in a 
 very full court, unanimously resolved and ordered, 
 that all the business and process of that court 
 
13 
 
 should be transacted in the usual manner without 
 stamps, and that such proceedings should be good 
 and valid. The clerk of the court, apprehending 
 damage to himself if he made any entry, or issued 
 any process without stamped paper, "refused to com- 
 ply with the order of the court; upon which the 
 court ordered him to be committed to prison for con- 
 tempt. He then submitted, and was discharged, 
 and proceeded on business as formerly." 
 
 Nor did the Marylanders stop here in proving to 
 all concerned that they knew their rights, and that 
 they meant to assert and maintain them in the most 
 direct and effective manner possible. The Sons of 
 Liberty of Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties, 
 and the deputies of those of Kent, assembled on 
 the 1st of March, 1766, at Annapolis, and made 
 requisition upon the chief justice of the provincial 
 court, the secretary of the province, the commissary 
 general, and the judges of the land office, on pain 
 of compulsion, to open their respective offices on 
 the 31st of March, or earlier, if a majority of the 
 supreme courts of the northern colonies should pro- 
 ceed in their business before that period. This 
 requisition being peremptorily refused, the Sons 
 assembled again on the day fixed by them, and 
 insisted so emphatically upon their demand being 
 granted that the provincial court yielded, and, after 
 receiving a written indemnification for its action, 
 passed the following order : " It is by the court here 
 2 
 
14 
 
 ordered that the clerk of this court, from hence- 
 forth, issue all manner of process, file all pleadings, 
 give copies, and transact all business whatsoever, 
 in his office, for which application shall be made to 
 him by any inhabitant of this province, as usual, 
 without stamped paper." This order was at once 
 complied with by the clerk and other public officers, 
 and thus, one month and a half before the official 
 notification of the repeal of the Stamp Act was 
 received at Annapolis, the Marylanders had forced 
 the supreme court of their province to declare the 
 act absolutely null and void. 
 
 Hardly had the exultation over the repeal of the 
 Stamp Act subsided, when Parliament resorted to 
 a measure as arbitrary as, and still more odious to 
 the Americans than, the one just annulled ; on June 
 29, 1767, a duty on various articles, including tea, 
 was imposed, which was to go into effect November 
 20, of the same year. 
 
 The Maryland Assembly, on hearing that such 
 an act was intended, declared, before their proroga- 
 tion which shortly followed, that " life without lib- 
 erty is worse than death," and took steps to preserve 
 that liberty from such an attack/ 
 
 The Assembly was not again convened until May 
 24, 1768, when it at once took into consideration the 
 circular letter of Massachusetts rfequesting the col- 
 
 ' Namely, by taking up a collection to support an agent to represent them 
 in London. 
 
15 
 
 onies to cooperate for the repeal of the late acts of 
 Parliament. Aware of the governor's instructions 
 to prorogue or" dissolve them if they showed a dis- 
 position to receive this letter favorably, the House 
 prepared all their plans, and then replied to the 
 governor's message (that they should " treat the 
 letter with the contempt it deserved, by taking no 
 notice of it ") as follows : " We hope the conduct of 
 this house will ever evince their reverence and 
 respect for the laws, and faithful attachment to the 
 Constitution ; but we cannot be brought to resent 
 an exertion of the most undoubted constitutional 
 right of petitioning the Throne, or any endeavors 
 to procure and preserve an Union of the Colonies, 
 as an unjustifiable attempt to revive those distrac- 
 tions which it is said have operated so fatally to the 
 prejudice of both the colonies and the mother coun- 
 try. We have the warmest and most affectionate 
 attachment to our most gracious sovereign, and 
 shall ever pay the readiest and most respectful 
 regard to the just and constitutional power of the 
 British Parliament ; but we shall not be intimidated 
 by a few sounding expressions from doing what we 
 think is right." The next day the House sent a 
 reply to the Massachusetts circular, in which they 
 fully concurred in the opinion that the statutes 
 referred to " do infringe the great fundamental prin- 
 ciple that no man can be taxed, but with his own 
 consent, given by himself, or his representative." 
 
16 
 
 This . reply caused their prompt prorogation, but 
 not before they had promulgated a set of resolutions 
 against the obnoxious measures, which for conclu- 
 siveness of argument and fearless assertion of 
 rights will compare favorably with any other of 
 the time. 
 
 Maryland also joined — June 20, 1769 — with the 
 other colonies in forming a strict non-importation 
 agreement, and, in spite of wavering in other places, 
 maintained it vigorously up to the breaking out of 
 the war. She even administered a rebuke to Vir- 
 ginia for having fallen away from her non-importa- 
 tion agreement, passed resolutions to break off all 
 commercial relations with New York, pursued the 
 same course in regard to Rhode Island, for the 
 same reason, and in a number of instances sent 
 ships back to England, having refused to receive 
 their cargoes. 
 
 The times were rife with disputes ; no sooner had 
 the Maryland Assembly expressed her defiance of 
 England, than it became involved in a fierce con- 
 test with the proprietary governor over an attempt 
 arbitrarily to extend his prerogative ; the matters 
 now at issue were an export duty on tobacco and 
 the regulation of official salaries by proclamation. 
 The contest was not confined to a war of words in 
 the Houses of Assembly, for the press and people 
 took the matter up and carried it on by means of 
 essays, speeches, and "fistic" arguments, with the 
 
17 
 
 utmost spirit and, unfortunately, rancor. Charles 
 Carroll of Carrollton first took a prominent part in 
 public affairs at this time, and one of his declara- 
 tions that " In a land of freedom this arbitrary exer- 
 tion of prerogative will not, must not, be endured," 
 became widely celebrated, and was used as the 
 patriots' battle-cry of .the early Revolution. 
 
 And now this battle-cry of freedom as well as all 
 others, was to be in instant requisition ; the Revo- 
 lution, so long looming up threateningly in the 
 political horizon, was about to materialize ; and 
 Maryland showed herself ready for the fray. 
 When the act of the 10th of May, 1774, closed the 
 port of Boston, Maryland promptly conveyed mes- 
 sages of sympathy and more practical means of 
 support to the invested city. Baltimore resolved 
 " That . . . the town of Boston is now suffering in 
 the common cause of America, and that it is the 
 duty of every colony in America to unite in the 
 most effectual means to obtain " redress for her. 
 And in a letter conveying this resolution, with a 
 number of others, to Boston, Baltimore's Commit- 
 tee of Correspondence said : " Although the gentle- 
 men of Philadelphia have recommended a general 
 congress for proceeding by petition or remonstrance, 
 we cannot see the least ground for expecting relief 
 by it. The contempt with which a similar petition 
 was treated in 1765, and many others since that 
 period, convince us that policy or reasons of state. 
 
18 
 
 instead of justice and equity, are to prescribe the 
 rule of our future conduct, and that something 
 more sensible than supplications will best serve 
 our purpose." It was probably at this time that 
 Charles Carroll of Carrollton published his opinion 
 of the status of affairs by exclaiming: "And do 
 you think that our fens are to settle this mighty 
 question ? The bayonet must be the arbiter. The 
 people know their rights — knowledge is resistance 
 — and our only umpire is the Grod of battles ! " 
 Accordingly, the principal inhabitants set the 
 example of arming themselves ; and the delegates 
 of the people, assembled in convention, besides 
 levying and expending large sums of money for the 
 procuring of ammunition, commanded every citi- 
 zen to provide himself with arms, under pain of 
 being proclaimed an enemy to his country. All 
 this remarkable activity of martial preparation 
 occurred many months before the actual outbreak 
 of hostilities at the Battle of Lexington. Nor was 
 Maryland making these preparations for herself 
 alone; the Convention, on the 11th of December, 
 1774, " Resolved, unanimously, that if the late acts 
 of Parliament, relative to the Massachusetts Bay, 
 shall be attempted to be carried into execution by 
 force in that colony, or if the assumed power of 
 Parliament to tax the colonies shall be attempted 
 to be carried into execution by force, in that or any 
 other colony, that, in such case, this province will 
 
19 
 
 support such colony to the utmost of their power." 
 John Adams in his " Novanglus," written in the 
 latter part of 1774, pays this tribute to Maryland's 
 efforts in the common cause ; he says : " Maryland 
 and the lower counties on the Delaware have 
 already, to show all the world their approbation of 
 the measures of New England, and their determi- 
 nation to join in them, with a generosity, and a wis- 
 dom and magnanimity which ought to make the 
 Tories consider, taken the power of the militia into 
 the hands of the people, without the governor or 
 minister, and established it by their own authority, 
 for the defence of Massachusetts as well as of them- 
 selves." 
 
 But Maryland did not content herself with prom- 
 ises of, and preparation for, future aid to her New/ 
 England sister. Money was liberally subscribed 
 in every county, and several vessels loaded with! 
 provisions were forwarded to Boston and Charles- 
 town. In a Boston paper of August 29, 1774, we 
 find the following notice : " Yesterday arrived at 
 Marblehead, Capt. Perkins, from Baltimore, with 
 3000 bus. of Indian corn, 20 barrels of rye, and 21 
 barrels of bread, sent by the inhabitants of that 
 place for the benefit of the poor of Boston, together 
 with 1000 bus. of corn from Annapolis, sent in the 
 same vessel, and for the same benevolent purpose." 
 
 Maryland thus emphatically countenanced the 
 patriotic acts of Massachusetts, and thus gener- 
 
20 
 
 ously supported her in the distress visited upon 
 her in consequence of those acts. But Maryland 
 herself was not barren of equally stirring and 
 patriotic events ; nor did Marylanders fall one iota 
 behind the men of Massachusetts in the boldness 
 and promptness of their resistance to English 
 tyranny. The fame of the " Boston Tea Party " 
 has become world-wide, and an account of it has 
 come to be considered essential to the completeness 
 of every text-book on American history ; while it 
 is hardly known, even to Maryland's own citizens, 
 that Annapolis was the scene of an event similar 
 to that of Boston, its peer in every respect, and in 
 several its superior. On the 15th of October, 1774, 
 only ten months after the tea was dumped into 
 Boston harbor, a vessel owned by Mr. Anthony 
 Stewart, of Annapolis, and loaded with tea con- 
 signed to an Annapolis firm, arrived at that port. 
 Mr. Stewart, influenced by his British sympathies, 
 paid the duty on the tea, preparatory to having it 
 landed ; this so incensed the patriots of Anne Arun- 
 del county that, after having compelled him to make 
 an humble apology, in a public meeting, for his 
 " act of the most pernicious tendency to the liber- 
 ties of America," they obliged him to lend his 
 presence and assistance in destroying not only the 
 "detested plant" which formed the cargo, but the 
 vessel itself. The brig was run aground, near the 
 Windmill Point, the sails were set, the colors dis- 
 
21 
 
 played, and amidst the acclamations of the multi- 
 tude ship and cargo were burned to the water's edge. 
 "In this deed," says Scharf, "there was no dark- 
 ness, no disguise, no veil of secrecy, no shirking 
 the responsibility, nor attempting to evade the risk 
 of their actions. What was done was done deliber- 
 ately, was done openly, in the face of day and in 
 public meeting, under the very eyes of officials 
 to whom probably every actor was personally 
 known, and who would not fail to note them. 
 Their rights had been contemned, their liberties 
 invaded, their charter violated, and they deter- 
 mined to resist the wrong squarely and at once, be 
 the consequences what they might." Nor was this 
 the only burnt-offering offered up on the shrine of 
 Liberty. Not long after this event, a ship owned 
 by a merchant of Liverpool, and bound from that 
 place to Baltimore with a cargo of salt, and other 
 articles contrary to the non-importation association, 
 ran aground on a shoal in the Chesapeake Bay 
 near the mouth of West River, and she also was 
 burned to the water's edge by the Maryland asso- 
 ciators. 
 
 As Mr. Bancroft has shown, the first suggestion 
 to hold a Continental Congress originated with the 
 Sons of Liberty of New York; but the honor of 
 first making this suggestion in a formal and ef- 
 fective manner, has been generally conceded to 
 "Virginia. Now, upon an examination of the facts, 
 3 
 
it will be seen that Maryland is entitled to an equal 
 share of this honor. Although the Virginia House 
 of Burgesses adopted a resolution, on the 27th of 
 May, 1774, recommending their committee of cor- 
 respondence to invite the other colonies to a gen- 
 eral congress, this letter was not dated until the 
 31st of May ; and on this same day the citizens of 
 Baltimore adopted a similar resolution, and speak 
 of it as if they were the originators of the move- 
 ment. Moreover, the time and place (Philadelphia, 
 September 20th, 1774,) of the meeting was fixed 
 by the Maryland Convention, which with charac- 
 teristic modesty, apologized to Virginia for preced- 
 ing her in making this proposition, saying that she 
 did so because " the limits of our province, and the 
 number of its inhabitants, compared with yours, 
 afforded an opportunity of collecting our general 
 sense, before the sentiments of your colony could 
 be regularly ascertained." 
 
 In the deliberations and acts of this ever mem- 
 orable body, the Continental Congress, Maryland 
 has every reason to be proud of the record made 
 for her by her delegates. Samuel Chase, Charles 
 Carroll of Carrollton, Thomas Johnson, and Wil- 
 liam Paca, are names that would grace the history 
 of any age and land, and their efforts in the pres- 
 ervation of American liberties have cast bria-ht 
 lustre on their native State. 
 
23 
 
 While fulfilling her part in the peaceful meas- 
 ures taken by Congress against British aggression, 
 Maryland proved that she was ready and willing 
 to resort to more warlike means. On April 29th, 
 1775. a day or two before the arrival of the news 
 from Lexington, on hearing that New York City 
 was to be fortified and garrisoned by the British, 
 the Maryland Convention gave their delegates in 
 Congress authority to " proceed even to the last ex- 
 tremity, if indispensably necessary for the safety 
 and preservation of their liberties and privileges." 
 The Convention which met at Annapolis on July 
 26th, 1775, seeing " no alternative but base submis- 
 sion or manly resistance," "approved the opposi- 
 tion by arms to the British troops." 
 
 And now we come to a discussion of the attitude 
 of Maryland toward the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence, — an attitude that has been characterized as the 
 outcome of jealousy, indiff'erence, ruinous conserva- 
 tism, and even cowardice. Of the latter charge, I 
 shall say nothing ; the facts of Maryland's history 
 make words unnecessary. The charges of indiffer- 
 ence and jealousy are also disproved by the same 
 cogent arguments, — the facts already related and 
 yet to be set forth. To conservatism Maryland 
 certainly pleads guilty, and it is her proud distinc- 
 tion that she was conservative at this important 
 epoch ; but it was the best of all conservatism, — 
 what we know and admire now as ' progressive ' 
 
24 
 
 conservatism ; not slavish, nor sluggish, nor ruin- 
 ous, but free and steady, and rational ; neither held 
 back by fear of Britain's vengeance, nor precipi- 
 tated by rash and foolish haste. Maryland has 
 never, at any period of her history, had the slight- 
 est tincture of ' Sans-culottism,' in her make-up, 
 and the debt of our country to the Chesapeake 
 State for that element of ' progress united with con- 
 servatism,' at more than one national crisis, is 
 perhaps greater than is commonly recognized. 
 
 At the beginning of the struggle, Maryland, in 
 common with all the other colonies, was totally ad- 
 verse to political independence from Great Britain ; 
 and on more than one occasion she evinced her 
 loyalty to the King by numerous resolves, addresses, 
 and instructions to Congressional delegates. She 
 was riveted to England by ties of kinship, religion, 
 social relations, business interests, political policy, 
 and, as she conceived, a strong sense of duty ; and 
 ties such as these were not to be broken without the 
 most careful deliberation, and without the most as- 
 sured conviction that such a step would accord with 
 the future welfare of the province as well as with 
 present inclinations ; and they were not broken until 
 the short-sighted tyranny of the Mother Country 
 forced upon the daughter the irresistible conclusion 
 that it would best comport with her own and her 
 people's prosperity for her to sever the maternal 
 connection. 
 
25 
 
 That this conclusion was finally reached by the 
 people of Maryland before it became too late, is 
 largely due to the efforts of Samuel Chase, the 
 " Demosthenes of Maryland," who is said to have 
 anticipated in Congress the regular proposition of 
 independence by a most impassioned and vehement 
 exclamation, that "By the God of Heaven, he owed 
 no allegiance to the King of Great Britain." Chase 
 left Congress in the early part of 1776, hastened to 
 Maryland, summoned county conventions in all the j 
 counties, and assisted by Carroll, through speeches | 
 and circular letters, convinced the people that the | 
 time had come for expressing in words the inde- > 
 pendence which they had already virtually declared > 
 in deeds. This conviction once thoroughly held, the I 
 Marylanders acted with characteristic decision. A l 
 new Convention was elected, which assembled on I 
 the 21st of June, and, on the afternoon of the same 
 day that Moultrie so gallantly repulsed the British 
 fleet in its attack upon Charleston, at the very time 
 that Jefferson was reporting his draft of the Decla- 
 ration to Congress (June 28, 177.6), it empowered its 
 delegates "to concur with the other United Colo- 
 nies, or a majority of them, in declaring the said 
 Colonies free and independent States." ^ 
 
 Five days later, on July 3d, while the Continen- 
 tal Congress was still considering the form of its 
 
 'John Adams writing to Chase, 7, 1, 1776: "Maryland behaved well; 
 Paca, generously and nobly.'' 
 
26 
 
 declaration, the Convention directed the election of 
 a new Convention, "to form a new government, by 
 the authority of the people only;" and on the 6th 
 of July, without waiting for the expected declara- 
 tion of Congress, and before its final ratification 
 could have been known, the Convention formally 
 proclaimed the Independence of the Province of 
 Maryland. 
 
 II. 
 Maeyland and the Allies. 
 
 Having dAvelt at some length on Maryland's 
 share in making possible the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, I shall now, much more briefly, outline 
 her share in the successful maintenance of that 
 independence ; and shall commence with her influ- 
 ence in efifecting foreign alliances. 
 
 It has impressed me as quite remarkable that 
 there should have been such an intimate connection 
 between the foreign allies of the Colonies and Mary- 
 land, — a relationship that was maintained through- 
 out the Revolution, and has been continued in large 
 degree to the present day. We find accounts in 
 the Revolutionary records of banquets given by the 
 citizens of Maryland to all the prominent foreigners 
 in the American service, or of addresses presented 
 to, and received from them. Lafayette, De Grasse, 
 Rochambeau, De Kalb, Pulaski, Kosciusko, and 
 
27 
 
 Paul Jones, were all associated in greater or less 
 degree with Maryland and Maryland people. The 
 relation between Lafayette and Baltimore was es- 
 pecially close; in a letter to Washington just before 
 the Yorktown campaign, Lafayette says : " The 
 State of Maryland have made to me every oifer in 
 their power. . . . The merchants of Baltimore have 
 lent me a sum of about 2,000 pounds, which will 
 procure some shirts, linen over-alls, and a few hats. 
 The ladies will make up the shirts, and the over- 
 alls will be made by the detachment, so that our 
 soldiers have the chance of being a little more com- 
 fortable." ..." My campaign began with a personal 
 obligation to the inhabitants of Baltimore ; at the 
 end of it, I find myself bound to them by a new tie 
 of everlasting gratitude." 
 
 Samuel Nicholson, of Chestertown, was Paul 
 Jones's lieutenant in the battle between the Bon 
 Homme Richard and Serapis. Count Pulaski was 
 made a brigadier-general by Congress, in 1777, and 
 granted permission to raise and command an inde- 
 pendent corps ; this corps he raised in Maryland, 
 chiefly in Baltimore ; and it was at the head of this 
 corps through some of the bloodiest conflicts of the 
 war, that the silken banner waved which is known 
 to the world through the beautiful poem of Long- 
 fellow, and which is still to be seen in the rooms of 
 the Maryland Historical Society. The military 
 renown, won in America by Baron de Kalb, is 
 
28 
 
 inseparably joined with that of the Marylanders 
 under his command ; he was placed at the head of 
 the Maryland Line not long after his arrival in this 
 country, and retained this command until his heroic 
 death at the Battle of Camden, in August, 1780. ^ 
 It is said that De Kalb's dying moments were spent 
 in expressing his praise of the noble Maryland 
 regiment, and his admiration of Gist, and its other 
 gallant of&cers. 
 
 But not only was Maryland closely connected 
 with our foreign allies after their appearance on 
 the stage of the Revolution, but she was also influ- 
 ential in causing these actors to appear. In order 
 to identify Canada with the cause of the American 
 Colonies, or to procure her neutrality at the least. 
 Congress on February 15, 1776, " Resolved, That a 
 committee of three (two of whom to be members of 
 Congress) be appointed to repair to Canada, there 
 ... to assure them, that it is our earnest desire to 
 adopt them into our union, as a sister colony, . . . 
 and to urge the necessity the people are under of 
 immediately taking some decisive step, to put them- 
 selves under the protection of the United Colonies." 
 Of the three commissioners appointed on this dan- 
 gerous and delicate mission, two, Samuel Chase and 
 
 'October 14, 1780, Congress passed a resolution for the erection of a mon- 
 ument to the memoiy of De Kalb in the city of Annapolis, and at a recent 
 day it has been placed by the side of the State House in the "Ancient City" 
 in the form of a statue of the hero ; more a credit to the gratitude of the 
 American people than to the genius of the artist. 
 
29 
 
 Charles Carroll of Carrollton, were Marylanders ; 
 and it was also " Resolved, That Mr. Carroll be 
 requested to prevail on Mr. John Carroll (also a 
 Marylander, and the first archbishop in America) 
 to accompany the committee to Canada, to assist 
 them in such matters as they shall think useful." 
 This mission was unsuccessful, in so far as the active 
 cooperation of Canada was concerned, but this was 
 due, not to the incapacity of the commissioners, but 
 to the defeat of Montgomery's army, the contribu- 
 tions levied on the inhabitants, the invincible oppo- 
 sition of the priests, and more especially, to the 
 inconsistency of the two addresses of Congress : the 
 one to the Canadians declaring "that we hold sacred 
 the rights of conscience, and you may promise to 
 the whole people, solemnly in our name, the free 
 and undisturbed exercise of their religion ; and, to 
 the clergy, the full, perfect, and peaceable posses- 
 sion and enjoyment of all their estates ; that the 
 government of every thing relating to their religion 
 and clergy, shall be left entirely in the hands of the 
 good people of that province, &c., &c. ; " ^ while the 
 other to the People of Great Britain, declares, allud- 
 ing to the "Quebec Act" passed by Parliament, 
 "That we think the legislature of Croat Britain is 
 not authorized, by the constitution, to establish a 
 religion, fraught with sanguinary and impious ten- 
 ets ... . in any quarter of the globe." .... "Nor 
 
 ' Journals, March 20, 1776. 
 
 4 
 
30 
 
 can we suppress our astonishment that a British 
 Parliament should ever consent to establish in that 
 country (Canada), a religion that has deluged your 
 island in blood, and dispersed impiety, bigotry, 
 persecution, murder and rebellion through every 
 part of the world." ^ 
 
 Although the Journals of the Continental Con- 
 gress are entirely silent on the subject of European 
 alliance before the latter part of 1776, we know from 
 a letter of John Adams to Dr. Rush, dated 30th 
 September, 1805, that the first move in this direc- 
 tion was made by a Maryland man. In this letter 
 John Adams says: "Samuel Chase made a motion 
 in Congress in the fall of 1775 to send ambassadors 
 to France. John Adams seconded the motion. 
 You know the state of the nerves of Congress at 
 that time Whether the effect of the mo- 
 tion resembled the shock of electricity, of mes- 
 merism, or of galvanism, the most exactly, I leave 
 you philosophers to determine ; but the grimaces, 
 the agitations, and convulsions were very great." 
 Some idea of the commotion caused in Congress by 
 Chase's proposal may be seen in a speech made on 
 that occasion by the Rev. Dr. Zubly of Greorgia 
 (October 6, 1775) ; in the course of this speech. Dr. 
 Zubly said : " There are persons in America who 
 wish to break off with G-reat Britain. A proposi- 
 tion has been made to apply to France and Spain ; 
 
 ' Journals, October 21, 1774. 
 
31 
 
 before I agree to it I apprehend the man who 
 should propose it would be torn to pieces like De 
 Witt." Chase replied to this speech by declar- 
 ing that there was amongst them on the floor of 
 Congress a Judas Iscariot in the person of J. J. 
 Zubly of Greorgia ; and he produced such ample 
 proofs of his assertion, that Zubly precipitately 
 left Congress, and soon went over to the enemy. 
 
 Having spoken of the part he took in the debate 
 following this motion, Mr. Adams (in the same let- 
 ter) continues : " After all our argumentation, how- 
 ever, we could not carry our motion ; but, after 
 twenty subtle projects to get rid of it, the whole 
 terminated in a committee of secret correspond- 
 ence." 
 
 This Committee of Secret Correspondence was 
 appointed November 29, 1775, and was composed 
 of Harrison, Franklin, Johnson, Dickinson and Jay. 
 " The sole purpose for which the committee was 
 appointed," says the Secret Journals (Vol. II., 
 Foreign Relations), was to "correspond with our 
 friends in Grreat Britain, Ireland, and other parts 
 of the world.'''' Authority was given to them to 
 employ and send out agents on the service. It is 
 noticeable that none of the New England delegates 
 were appointed on this committee (although Han- 
 cock was President of Congress at the time), — 
 probably because, by their support of radical meas- 
 ures, they had made themselves obnoxious to the 
 
32 
 
 more conservative party in Congress ; this reason 
 may be assigned, with equal probability, as an ex- 
 planation of Samuel Chase's absence from this im- 
 portant committee. Of Chase's prominence in the 
 movement towards foreign alliances there can be 
 no doubt. As we have seen, John Adams gives to 
 him the credit of first introducing the question be- 
 fore Congress. A few months later, on hearing 
 that ithe plan of confederation and foreign alliance 
 still met with opposition and delay, he hastened 
 back to Philadelphia to again lend his support to 
 the effecting of these two important objects. The 
 anxiety of his mind lest they should not be carried 
 through is plainly to be seen in a letter which he 
 wrote to Richard Henry Lee at this time: " . . . . 
 I hurried to Congress to give my little assistance 
 to the framing a confederation and a plan for 
 foreign alliance, — both of them subjects of the 
 greatest importance, and which, in my judgment, 
 
 demand the greatest despatch The whole 
 
 might, in my opinion, be settled, if candour, jus- 
 tice, and the real interests of America were at- 
 tended to. We do not all see the importance, nay, 
 the necessity of a confederacy. We shall remain 
 weak, distracted and divided in our councils ; our 
 strength will decrease ; we shall be open to all the 
 arts of the insidious court of Britain, and no for- 
 eign court will attend to our applications for assist- 
 ance, before we are confederated. What contract 
 
33 
 
 will a foreign state make with us when we cannot 
 agree among ourselves? " 
 
 In spite of secret treason and determined oppo- 
 sition to the plan of a foreign alliance, Chase and 
 his supporters finally carried the day, the Secret 
 Committee of Correspondence was appointed (No- 
 vember 29, 1776) , and, as a result of their labors, 
 that Treaty with France was secured, without which 
 the Revolution would hardly have succeeded. Al- 
 though the Treaty was made at the time when 
 Maryland was vigorously maintaining the claims 
 of the Colonies as a whole to the unsettled West- 
 ern lands, and was persistently refusing to accede 
 to the Confederation until those claims should be 
 recognized, the Maryland Assembly unanimously 
 approved the French alliance as equal, honorable 
 and wise, and pledged themselves and the State of 
 Maryland to be bound by the provisions of the 
 Treaty and faithfully to fulfil them as good and 
 true allies. 
 
 In the hour of American triumph, Maryland 
 did not forget Amei'ica's debt of gratitude to 
 France. When the British General and Admiral 
 in May, 1782, informed Washington that they 
 were authorized to negotiate a treaty of peace, the 
 Assembly of Maryland, to show their appreciation 
 of the services rendered by the French allies, " Re- 
 solved, unanimously, That it is the opinion of this 
 State that peace with Great Britain and all the 
 
34 
 
 world is an object truly desirable, but that war 
 with all its calamities is to be preferred to national 
 dishonor. That it is the sentiment of this State 
 that any negotiation for peace or truce, not agree- 
 able to the Alliance with France, is inadmissible ; 
 that every danger ought to be encountered, every 
 event hazarded, rather than sully our national 
 character, or violate, in the least degree, our con- 
 nection with our great and good ally, and that 
 good faith, gratitude and safety forbid any treaty 
 for peace or truce with Great Britain, but in con- 
 junction with France, or with her consent first ob- 
 tained." 
 
 III. 
 
 Maryland in the Aemy. 
 
 The military record of Maryland both on sea 
 and land during the Revolution, is one of which 
 every Marylander should be proud, and upon 
 which he may be pardoned for dilating whenever 
 a suitable opportunity presents itself. The scope 
 of this paper hardly offers such opportunity, but I 
 cannot refrain from outlining the main features of 
 that record. 
 
 In the first place, a Maryland man, Thomas 
 Johnson, first governor of the State, gave to the 
 American army its commander-in-chief, Greorge 
 Washington. Virginia claims Washington as a 
 
35 
 
 native-born citizen ; Massachusetts claims that she 
 gave him to Virginia ; but the indisputable fact re- 
 mains that on the 15th of June, 1775, Thomas 
 Johnson, of Maryland, nominated him as comman- 
 der-in-chief of the Continental army, and that he 
 was upon that nomination unanimously elected to 
 the position. The contemporary accounts of this 
 . event are lamentably scarce and superficial. Tra- 
 dition has preserved, and current histories have 
 repeated, accounts of how the ' Virginians were in 
 favor of Washington's election before he was nom- 
 inated,' and how ' John Adams met Samuel Adams 
 outside of the Congress hall on the very day of the 
 nomination and told him that Washington was the 
 man for the place ; ' but the fact that he was actu- 
 ally nominated and supported by a Marylander 
 has been utterly neglected. On the face of it, this 
 mere nomination seems a sufficiently unimportant 
 service. But when we consider that Washington 
 had not then attained the all engrossing position 
 that he afterwards came to fill in the eyes of the 
 world, that his merits were then comparatively 
 untried, and his name but little known, and then 
 view his nomination through the medium of the 
 inestimable services he afterwards rendered to his 
 country, this service takes on a new aspect, and 
 assumes greatly increased proportions ; so that 
 candor compels us to acknowledge that it was^ in 
 
36 
 
 reality a service eminently influential in the final 
 success of the American cause.^ 
 
 John Adams refers to Thomas Johnson as the 
 nominator of Washington to the position of com- 
 mander-in-chief, placing his name and this service 
 in connection with the greatest names and services 
 of the Revolution ; viz., with those of Washington 
 and the command of the army, Jefferson and the 
 Declaration, Richard Heni'y Lee and the Resolu- 
 tions of June 7, Samuel Chase and the motion for 
 foreign relations.^ 
 
 Maryland, having chosen the general, did not 
 desert him, but, from Boston to Yorktown remained 
 his constant friend and supporter, sharing in hi& 
 victories, and doing much toward sustaining his 
 reverses. In his darkest hours, when Xew York 
 and Philadelphia were in the hands of the British, 
 before the alliance with France, when the army was- 
 famishing and freezing in the camp at Valley Forge,, 
 and when the Conway Cabal was formed by officers 
 in the army and countenanced by members of Con- 
 gress to displace him and substitute Gates, it was 
 Maryland who rallied to the General's support 
 both in Congress halls and on battle fields. 
 
 Charles Carroll of Carrollton, was one of the- 
 warmest friends and advocates of Washington on 
 
 ' Gist saved Washington's life. 
 
 ' Letter to Timothy Pickering, August 6, 1822, and see Letter to Eichardl 
 H. Lee. Works of John Adams, Vol. X, page 396. 
 
37 
 
 the Congressional Conamittee which vindicated him 
 from the charges made by the Conway Cabal. 
 
 Food and clothing were sent from Maryland 
 farms and homes to the soldiers at Valley Forge. 
 Mrs. Margaret Jane Ramsay, wife of the gallant 
 colonel, followed the army from place to place, at- 
 tended by a servant, carrying a chest of medicine, 
 soothing the last moments of soldiers dying on the 
 field of battle, and alleviating the soldiers' sufferings 
 in the small-pox stricken tents of Valley Forge. 
 General Smallwood was sent by Congress to Mary- 
 land to encourage and hasten the raising of new 
 levies, — a task in which he was eminently success- 
 ful. Johnson left Congress, hastened to Maryland, 
 raised a small army, and with it joined Washing- 
 ton's troops. And Chase, on behalf of Congress, 
 published a powerful address to the people of 
 America to counteract the insidious conciliatory 
 bills of the British Parliamentary Commissioners, 
 which were being diligently circulated by the Tories. 
 
 Maryland was one of the free States to whom 
 Congress made its first appeal for soldiers (June 
 14, 1775), and one of the Maryland companies 
 raised in response to this appeal was the first from 
 the south to reach Cambridge, the seat of war (Au- 
 gust, 1775) at that time. Nor was it only on this 
 first occasion that Maryland showed her prompt- 
 ness and willingness in supplying men and provi- 
 sions for the common defence ; throughout the war 
 5 
 
38 
 
 she came liberally and readily to the front in sacri- 
 ficing the lives and money of her citizens, and, 
 without intending any "odious comparison" in the 
 statement. General Smallwood, in a letter to the 
 Maryland Council of Safety (October, 1776), testi- 
 fies "that none of the States have filled their quo- 
 tas of troops but Maryland." And the troops she 
 furnished, proved themselves of the right stuflF. 
 They were confessedly the favorites of Wash- 
 ington ; and the heroes of his first campaign. At 
 the battle of Long Island, when Sullivan's troops 
 had been routed, and when the rest of the Ameri- 
 can army was in most imminent danger of being 
 surrounded and cut off, Greneral Stirling deter- 
 mined upon a sacrifice of a part of his army for 
 the safe retreat of the rest ; selecting a band of less 
 than four hundred Marylanders, he succeeded in 
 keeping at bay a force of five times his number, 
 and thus saved the army. Says Mr. Thomas W. 
 Field, in his " Battle of Long Island " : " The sac- 
 rifice of their lives, so freely made by the generous 
 and noble sons of Maryland, had not been made in 
 vain. An hour, more precious to American lib- 
 erty than any other in its history, had been gained ; 
 and the retreat of many hundreds of their country- 
 men had been secured across the dreadful creek 
 and marsh whose treacherous tide and slime now 
 covered so many of their brave comrades." 
 
39 
 
 The gallantry displayed by the Marylanders in 
 the actions at Kip's Bay and Harlem Heights, was 
 warmly praised by Washington in his letters to 
 Congress. 
 
 At the Battle of White Plains, when the rest of 
 the brigade to which they were attached had re- 
 treated, Colonel Smallwood's regiment sustained 
 the heavy fire of artillery and musketry that was 
 centred upon them, for full half an hour while the 
 brigade was making good its retreat. 
 
 Colonel Moses Rawlings and his Marylanders 
 were the heroes of Fort Washington. 
 
 The gallant defence of Fort Mifl9.in was made by 
 Colonel Samuel Smith of Baltimore, and his Mary- 
 land artillerymen ; in a letter to Congress (17 No- 
 vember, 1.777) informing them of the fall of this 
 fort, Washington says : " I am sorry to inform you 
 that Fort Mifflin was evacuated the night before 
 last, after a defence which does credit to the Amer- 
 ican arms, and will ever reflect the highest honor 
 upon the officers and men of the garrison. The 
 works were entirely beat down ; every piece of can- 
 non dismounted, and one of the enemy's ships so 
 near that she threw grenades into the fort and 
 killed men upon the platforms, from her tops, be- 
 fore they quitted the Island."^ As a reward for 
 his conduct on this occasion. Colonel Smith was 
 presented with a sword by Congress. 
 
 ' Sparks, V, p. 151. 
 
40 
 
 It is related that, at the Battle of Monmouth,^ 
 when Greneral Lee, commanding the advanced corps, 
 was making his treacherous retreat upon the rear 
 division, thus placing the whole army in imminent 
 danger of falling into confusion, and the enemy were 
 within a few minutes' march, Washington called for 
 an officer to check the British advance ; Colonel 
 Nathaniel Ramsay, of Baltimore, promptly pre- 
 sented himself, and the commander-in-chief, taking 
 him by the hand, thus addressed him : "If you can 
 stop the British ten minutes, till I form, you will 
 save my army!" Colonel Ramsay answering, "I 
 will stop them or fall ! " proved as good as his word, 
 and succeeded in keeping the enemy in check for 
 half an hour, until the main division under Patter- 
 son and Smallwood formed, and saved the day. 
 
 One of the two divisions with which General 
 Wayne effected the memorable capture of Stony 
 Point, was led by Major John Stewart, of Mary- 
 land,^ and composed mostly of soldiers of the 
 Maryland Line. 
 
 It was almost entirely through the efforts of the 
 Maryland companies under his command,^ that 
 Major Henry Lee succeeded in capturing another 
 strong British fort on Paulus Hook. 
 
 ' Cf. " Colonel Nathaniel Eamsay," — a monograph published by the Mary- 
 land Historical Society. Fund Publication, No. 24. 
 
 ' Congress awarded a Medal to Major Stewart for his gallantry on this 
 occasion. 
 
 ' See Major Lee's Beport to Congress, for an account of the conduct of the 
 other companies. 
 
41 
 
 This brilliant episode closed the military career of 
 Maryland in the North ; a career adorned through- 
 out by the utmost bravery, endeared through many 
 an inestimable service, graced by many a triumph, 
 hallowed by many a noble death, and unspotted by 
 a single blemish, Nor did Maryland's " Northern 
 laurels turn," like those of Grates, "to Southern 
 willows," but blossomed rather into Southern im- 
 mortelles. 
 
 On the disastrous field of Camden, when all the 
 rest of the army had made a shameful retreat, the 
 two Maryland brigades and the Delaware battalion 
 were left alone to sustain the onslaught of the 
 entire British army, and to share the glorious 
 death of their leader, the gallant Baron de Kalb. 
 Six hundred of the eight hundred Marylanders en- 
 gaged were left dead upon the field. 
 
 The Battle of Cowpens was sustained and won 
 by the " Lion-hearted Howard " and his Maryland 
 regiment. At the close of the day. Colonel Howard 
 is said to have held the swords of seven British 
 officers whom he had taken prisoners, including 
 that of Greneral O'Hara, who had clung to his 
 stirrups asking quarter.^ 
 
 The memorable retreat of G-reene from the Ca- 
 tawba to the Dan was protected by a picked body 
 of Maryland and Virginia soldiers under the com- 
 mand of Colonel Otho H. Williams. It is generally 
 
 'Harper's Magazine, LXV, 23. 
 
42 
 
 admitted that the success of this achievement was 
 due largely to the masterly manoeuvres of the 
 covering party. 
 
 At the Battle of Gruilford, when the Virginia and 
 North Carolina militia had been routed, the First 
 Maryland regiment under Colonels Grunby and 
 Howard, came to the rescue, and succeeded in 
 winning a remarkable victory. Says Judge John- 
 son in his "Life of G-reene" (II, 15), speaking of 
 this battle: "Excepting the infantry of the legion^ 
 and Kirkwood's little corps of Delaware, the first 
 regiment of the Marylanders was the only body of 
 men in the American army who could be compared 
 to the enemy in discipline and experience ; and it 
 is with confidence that we challenge the modern 
 world to produce an instance of better service per- 
 formed by the same number of men in the same 
 time. They did not exceed two hundred and 
 eighty-five in number. Yet, unassisted they drove 
 from the field in the first instance, the thirty-third 
 regiment, three hundred and twenty-two strong, 
 supported by the Jagers and light infantry of the 
 Guards. Before they had yet breathed from the 
 performance of this service, they pierced the flank 
 of the first battalion of the G-uards, and aided by 
 the cavalry of Washington, dissipated a corps far 
 exceeding their own in number, and the very boast 
 of the British nation. Valleys of grape-shot poured 
 
 ' The legion was composed largely of Maryland troops. 
 
43 
 
 through their own ranks by the enemy, and the 
 near approach of two British regiments on their 
 left flank, arrested them in the pursuit ; but they 
 calmly, and in perfect order, returned to their 
 position and exhibited a spirit that seemed only to 
 covet more arduous service. 
 
 The charge of the Maryland Line at the Battle 
 of Eutaw is too well known and celebrated to need 
 commendation here. ^ It was on that occasion that 
 General Greene observes, speaking of the Maryland 
 corps : "I am at a loss which most to admire, the 
 gallantry of the officers or the good conduct of the 
 men. . . . The uncommon intrepidity of Colonel 
 Williams .... exceeded anything I ever saw 
 .... Colonel Howard is as good an officer as 
 the world affords, and deserves a statue of gold, no 
 less than the Roman and Grecian heroes.^" The 
 thanks of Congress were presented' "to the officers 
 and men of the Maryland and Virginia brigades, 
 and Delaware battalion of Continental troops, for 
 the unparalleled bravery and heroism by them 
 displayed, in advancing to the enemy through an 
 incessant fire, and charging them with an impetu- 
 osity and ardor that could not be resisted." 
 
 The troops of Maryland under Gist did good 
 service in the field and trenches of Yorktown, and 
 the executive and State government, generously 
 
 1 Letter 9-12-81. 
 
 » CaldweU, Life of Greene, 175. 
 
 •29 October, 1781. 
 
44 
 
 sustained by the people, were so active in furnish- 
 ing the combined armies with supplies necessary to 
 sustain the siege, as to call forth from Washington 
 the warmest praise and thanks. 
 
 It is somewhat remarkable that the news of the 
 two greatest successes gained by the Americans 
 during the war, namely the capitulation of Bur- 
 goyne and of Cornwallis, should have been carried 
 to Congress and so to the country at large, by Ma- 
 ryland men. The news of Burgoyne's surrender 
 was conveyed to Congress by Major Wilkinson, 
 afterwards General Wilkinson of Maryland ; the 
 joy occasioned by the receipt of these glad tidings 
 may be better imagined than described, consider- 
 ing that they came at a time when the affairs of 
 State were at the darkest, and told of the first 
 great American victory, the turning-point in the 
 War for Independence. 
 
 The news that "Cornwallis is taken" was car- 
 ried with remarkable speed to Congress by Colonel 
 Tench Tilghman, Washington's private secretary, 
 also a Maryland man ; ^ a horse properly capari- 
 soned, and an elegant sword, were presented by 
 Congress to the bearer of these great tidings, — 
 tidings of an event that virtually ended the War 
 for Independence, and it ranks in historic interest 
 with the famous Ride of Paul Revere, the Ride in 
 
 ' Washington says of Tilghman : " He has been in every action in which 
 the main army was concerned, and has been a faithful assistant to me for 
 five years, a great part of which time he refused to receive pay." 
 
45 
 
 which the Grood News was brought from Aix to 
 Ghent, Sheridan's Ride, and Putnam's Ride at 
 Horse Neck. 
 
 Judge Johnson in his life of Greene (II, p. 345) , 
 gives to Captain Wilmot, of Maryland, the credit 
 of being the last American to die in his country's 
 cause in the Revolutionary War; on the 14th of 
 November, 1782, Wilmot, in conjunction with Ko- 
 sciusko, planned and carried into effect an expedi- 
 tion against a party of the enemy's wood-cutters, 
 on James Island, and in it he lost his life. 
 
 It was in Maryland, in the Senate Chamber at 
 Annapolis, that the last scene in the drama of the 
 Revolution was enacted,^ — the surrender by Gen- 
 eral Washington, to the civil authorities, of that 
 sword with which, under God, he had achieved the 
 independence of his country ; an event justly char- 
 acterized as one of the most memorable and extra- 
 ordinary recorded in the history of the world, and 
 one which has cast a bright lustre of historic inter- 
 est upon the capital of our State. 
 
 lY. 
 
 Maryland and the Confederation. 
 
 On the twenty-eighth of June, 1776, Samuel 
 Chase, who has been called " the torch that lighted 
 up the Revolutionary flame in Maryland," hurrying 
 
 1 December 23, 1783. 
 
 •6 
 
46 
 
 from the Maryland House of Delegates in which 
 had just been passed the decree that severed the 
 political bonds uniting the colony to Great Britain, 
 sent the following dispatch to John Adams, then 
 laboring for independence in the halls of Congress : 
 " I am this moment from the House to procure an 
 express to follow up the post, with a unanimous 
 vote of our Convention for independence. See the 
 glorious eifects of county instructions. Our people 
 have fire if not smothered . . . Now for a govern- 
 ment!'''' This last sentiment was an echo of that 
 which prevailed at the moment in the Maryland 
 Assembly ; for in the very Act of dissolving their 
 allegiance to the British Crown, the Assembly made 
 provision for the establishment of a general gov- 
 ernment which should confirm and perpetuate the 
 rights assumed by their Declaration of Independ- 
 ence. 
 
 By this memorable Resolution, the Maryland 
 delegates in Congress were " empowered to concur 
 with the other United Colonies, or a majority of 
 them in . . . forming such further compact and con- 
 federation between them .... as shall be ad- 
 judged necessary for securing the liberties of 
 America ; and this Colony will hold itself bound by 
 the resolutions of a majority of the United Colo- 
 nies in the premises : provided, the sole and exclu- 
 sive right of regulating the internal government 
 
47 
 
 and police of this colony be reserved to the people 
 thereof." 
 
 The task before the new nation was full of danger 
 that threatened disaster, and of problems that 
 seemed to many impossible of solution. In the 
 concise words of James Madison/ it consisted in 
 the establishment of a " system (of government) 
 founded on popular rights, and so combining a fed- 
 eral form with the forms of individual republics, 
 as may enable each to supply the defects of the 
 other and obtain the advantage of both." And 
 such a system was to be formed between thirteen 
 states, differing in extent, wealth and population, 
 as well as in habits, education, and religious opin- 
 ions, and between some of which disputes existed 
 relative to boundaries, imposts, and other matters. 
 Viewed through the medium of subsequent events 
 in our history, the gravity and importance of the 
 situation is apparent. But, however justly "reluc- 
 tant " the people were to undertake the task, their 
 " necessities " were undoubtedly " grinding." The 
 same vital considerations that urged a union of the 
 Colonies, dictated a union of the States. In the 
 darkest hours of the Revolution, surrounded by the 
 clouds of defeat and treason, as yet unaided by any 
 foreign power, threatened with the dire vengeance 
 and pursued by the remorseless energy of an infu- 
 riated King, the people as a whole fully concurred 
 
 1 Elliot, V, 109. 
 
48 
 
 with the sentiment expressed by Franklin, that 
 " they must all hang together, or they would as- 
 suredly all hang separately." And on the other 
 hand, it appeared but too probable that the contend- 
 ing passions and ambitions of separate governments, 
 the mutual jealousies and discordant interests of so 
 many rival powers, would inevitably expose them 
 to a renewal of those scenes of violence which 
 had laid waste the fertile plains of Europe, and 
 drenched them with the blood of countless millions. 
 Groaded on by circumstances threatening such 
 perils, and led by hopes of "common defence, 
 security of liberties, and mutual and general wel- 
 fare," the question of a general government was 
 early broached. As far back as July 21, 1775, 
 Congress having "resolved itself into a committee 
 of the whole to take into consideration the state of 
 America, Dr. B. Franklin submitted to their con- 
 sideration " thirteen proposed articles of confedera- 
 tion. Thomas Jefferson,^ alluding to this proposed 
 plan of union, says : " I approved it highly. He 
 (Dr. Franklin) showed it to others. Some thought 
 as I did ; others were revolted at it. We found it 
 could not be passed, and the proposing it to Con- 
 gress as the subject for any vote whatever would 
 startle many members so much, that they would 
 suspect we had lost sight of reconciliation with 
 Grreat Britain, and that we should lose much more 
 
 1 Jefferson's "Works," IX, p. 303. 
 
49 
 
 ground than we should gain by the proposition. 
 Yet, that the idea of a more firm bond of union 
 than the undefined one under which we then acted 
 might be suggested and permitted to grow, Dr. 
 Franklin informed Congress that he had sketched 
 the outlines of an instrument which might become 
 necessary at a future day, if the minority continued 
 pertinacious ; and would ask leave for it to lay on 
 the table of Congress, that the members might in 
 the meantime be turning the subject in their minds, 
 and hare something more perfect prepared by the 
 time it should become necessary. This was agreed 
 to by the timid members, only on condition that no 
 entry whatever should be made in the journals of 
 
 Congress relative to this instrument " 
 
 The concluding paragraph of these articles is 
 noteworthy for the advanced stage that the mind 
 of Franklin had already attained toward independ- 
 ence.^ It provided that "the union thereby estab- 
 lished is to continue firm, till the terms of recon- 
 ciliation proposed in the petition of the last Congress 
 to the king are agreed to ; till the acts since made, 
 restraining the American commerce and fisheries, 
 are repealed ; till reparation is made for the injury 
 done to Boston, by shutting up its port, for the 
 burning of Charlestown, and for the expense of thi^ 
 unjust war ; and till all the British troops are with- 
 drawn from America. On the arrival of these 
 
 ' See Secret Journals, Vol. I, p. 288. 
 
50 
 
 events, the colonies will return to their former con- 
 nexion and friendship with Britain ; but on failure 
 thereof, this confederation is to be perpetual." 
 
 But the times were not yet ripe for so decisive a 
 step. The subject was not brought before Congress 
 again until June 7, 1776, when the famous twin 
 resolutions of Richard Henry Lee were offered, one 
 of which provided " That a plan of Confederation 
 be prepared and transmitted to the respective Col- 
 onies for their consideration and approbation." 
 
 On June 11, 1776, it was " Resolved, That a com- 
 mittee be appointed to prepare and digest the form 
 of a confederation to be entered into between these 
 colonies; " and on the following day, it was " Re- 
 solved, That the committee to prepare and digest 
 the form of confederation to be entered into between 
 these colonies, consist of a member from each 
 colony." Maryland's representative on this com- 
 mittee was Thomas Stone. 
 
 It was not until Friday, the twelfth of July, 
 1776, that this committee reported a draft of the 
 proposed confederation, consisting of twenty arti- 
 cles. After taking stringent measures for the pre- 
 vention of the circulation outside of Congress of 
 any information concerning the proposed articles, 
 Congress, on Monday, the twenty-second of the 
 same month, resolved itself into a committee of the 
 whole to take the report into consideration. The 
 debate in committee was continued from day to day 
 
51 
 
 until Tuesday, the twentieth of August, when the 
 amended form was reported back to the House. It 
 was now laid aside until the eighth of April, 1777, 
 when the Articles were again taken up, and dis- 
 cussed and postponed from day to day and month 
 to month until November 15, 1777, at which time, 
 having been reduced to Thirteen, they were finally 
 adopted. 
 
 In the long debate in the committee of the 
 whole, from July 22 to August 20, Maryland's del- 
 egates, Samuel Chase in particular, were prominent 
 and influential. It was early in this debate that 
 Maryland entered upon the far-sighted policy by 
 which she was determined to shape her own course 
 in her relations with her sister States, and which 
 was in the end to have such a vital influence upon 
 the establishment and development of the Union 
 itself. It was soon found that a wide diversity of 
 sentiment prevailed among the States on three im- 
 portant points : First, as to the mode of voting in 
 Congress, — whether by States, or according to 
 wealth or population; second, as to the rule by 
 which the expenses of the union should be appor- 
 tioned among the States ; third, relative to the dis- 
 position of the vacant and unpatented western 
 lands. 
 
 In the discussion on the first of these questions, 
 the grasping policy of some States was first mani- 
 
52 
 
 fested.i The Virginia delegates in particular intro- 
 duced three propositions, each having for its object 
 the aggrandizement of the large States in presence 
 of the ballot-box at the expense of the small. The 
 discussion waxed hot, when Samuel Chase, doubt- 
 less hoping to throw oil upon the troubled waters, 
 came forward in the following speech: "He ob- 
 served that this article was the one most likely to 
 divide us of any one proposed in the draught then 
 under consideration : that the larger colonies had 
 threatened they would not confederate at all, if their 
 weight in Congress should not be equal to the 
 numbers of the people they added to the confeder- 
 acy ; while the smaller ones declared against a 
 union, if they did not retain an equal vote for the 
 protection of their rights. That it was of the ut- 
 most consequence to bring the parties together, as, 
 should we sever from each other, either no foreign 
 power will ally with us at all, or the diflferent 
 States will form different alliances, and thus in- 
 crease the horrors of those scenes of civil war and 
 bloodshed, which in such a state of separation and 
 independence, would render us a miserable people. 
 That our importance, our interests, our peace re- 
 quired that we should confederate, and that mu- 
 tual sacrifices should be made to effect a compro- 
 mise of this difficult question. I am of opinion 
 that the smaller colonies will lose their rights, if 
 
 ' See Secret Journals, I, p. 317 ff. 
 
53 
 
 they are not in some instances allowed an equal 
 vote ; and that therefore, a discrimination should 
 take place among the questions which should come 
 before Congress. That the smaller States should 
 be secured in all questions concerning life or lib- 
 erty, and the greater ones, in all respecting prop- 
 erty. I therefore propose that in votes relating to 
 money, the voice of each colony shall be propor- 
 tioned to the number of its inhabitants."^ This 
 proposal failed of its object, however, and the dis- 
 cussion waxed hotter and hotter.^ " Grreat heats, 
 much ill humor, and intemperate declarations 
 were produced from some members. Dr. Frank- 
 lin at length brought the debate to a close with one 
 of his little apologues. He observed ' that at the 
 time of the union of England and Scotland, the 
 Duke of Argyle was most violently opposed to that 
 measure, and among other things predicted that, 
 as the whale had swallowed Jonah, so Scotland 
 would be swallowed by England. However,' said 
 the Doctor, ' when Lord Bute came into the govern- 
 ment, he soon brought into its administration so 
 many of his countrymen, that it was found in event 
 that Jonah had swallowed the whale.' This little 
 story produced a general laugh and restored good 
 humor," and the Article giving each State one vote 
 was finally adopted. 
 
 'See Jefferson's "Works," I, p. 30. 
 
 'See Jefferson's "Works," VHI, 499; I, 31-32. 
 
54 
 
 With respect to the expenses of the union, it was 
 proposed that they should be paid by the States in 
 proportion to the number of inhabitants of every 
 age, sex, and quality (except Indians not paying 
 taxes) in each State, the number to be taken every 
 three years. ^ In the debate in the committee on 
 this proposition, Chase moved to insert the word 
 "white" before "inhabitants," and supported his 
 motion in a strong speech, arguing that slaves were 
 property and should not be counted as people. 
 Chase was ably answered by John Adams, his 
 amendment was defeated, and the Article was 
 reported to Congress in the form originally pro- 
 posed. But when the question came to be discussed 
 in Congress, determined resistance was again offered 
 to the counting of slaves as people and to the ap- 
 portionment of taxes on that basis, and two propo- 
 sitions were made, — one, that such apportionment 
 be based upon the value of all property, except 
 household goods and wearing apparel, within each 
 State ; the other, that the value of all land within 
 each State, granted to or surveyed for any person, 
 together with the buildings and improvements 
 thereon, be the basis of taxation. This latter 
 proposition was "passed in the affirmative," and 
 embodied as Article VIII in the final draft. Owing 
 to the meagreness of available records, it is impossi- 
 ble to say certainly who offered this proposition, 
 
 'See Jefferson's "Works," I, p. 27; Adams' "Works," II, p. 496. 
 
55 
 
 and who supported it in debate ; but from the few 
 recorded speeches in the committee of the whole, I 
 am inclined to credit its proposal to Dr. Wither- 
 spoon, of New Jersey. ^ That State, and all those 
 south of Pennsylvania voted unanimously in its 
 favor (5), against the four northern states, and two 
 (New York and Pennsylvania) divided. 
 
 In Maryland's subsequent objections to the Con- 
 federation, it was proposed that after the words 
 "granted to or surveyed for" in this Article, there 
 be inserted the words "or which shall hereafter be 
 granted to or surveyed for any person." This pro- 
 posal was defeated by a vote of eight to four ; but 
 in it we see an evidence of Maryland's determined 
 and eventually successful stand that the vast vacant 
 territories claimed by a few States should, in some 
 way or another, be made to benefit the United 
 States as a whole. 
 
 And this leads us to a consideration of the third 
 chief point of difficulty in the adoption of the Con- 
 federation, — the question as to the disposition of 
 the vacant and unpatented western lands. 
 
 In the first draft of the Confederation occurred 
 the following Article (XIV): "No purchases of 
 land hereafter to be made of the Indians by colo- 
 nies or private persons, before the limits of the 
 colonies are ascertained, to be valid. All purchases 
 of lands not included within those limits, where 
 
 'See Jefferson's "Works," I, p. 30. 
 
56 
 
 ascertained, to be made by contracts between the 
 United States assembled, or by persons for that 
 purpose authorized by them, and the great councils 
 of the Indians, /'or the general benefit of all the United 
 Colonies y In the discussion over this Article in the 
 committee of the whole, as far back as July 25, 1776, 
 Samuel Chase made a strong fight to have it stand, 
 but the committee refused to report it, and it was 
 accordingly stricken out. Here is apparently the 
 first suggestion that a union of the colonies should 
 be based upon a territorial commonwealth, — a sug- 
 gestion originating with and supported by a dele- 
 gate from Maryland. But more than the suggestion 
 of such a union is to be ascribed to Maryland ; the 
 brunt of the battle for its accomplishment fell upon 
 her. For five years she strove to realize her ideal, 
 and her efforts were eventually crowned with suc- 
 cess. Arguing from the just principle " That in 
 order to render the present union and confederacy 
 firm and perpetual, it is essential that the limits of 
 each respective territorial jurisdiction be ascertained 
 by the articles of confederation," the Maryland del- 
 egates made four unsuccessful endeavors to vest in 
 Congress the right "to fix the western boundaries 
 of such States as claim to the South Sea, and to 
 dispose of all land beyond the boundaries so ascer- 
 tained for the benefit of the United States." These 
 efforts were made for a long time unsupported by 
 the delegates of any other State ; and it was only in 
 
57 
 
 the absence of the Maryland delegates that Con- 
 gress added the clause to the Ninth Article, which 
 provided that no State should be deprived of terri- 
 tory for the benefit of the United States. 
 
 The further steps in Maryland's struggle for the 
 nationalization of the western lands have been so 
 thoroughly treated by Professor H. B. Adams, in a 
 monograph published by the Maryland Historical 
 Society, that I shall dwell no longer upon the sub- 
 ject than to borrow from the work referred to, a 
 sentence summing up the true significance of Mary- 
 land's attitude at this momentous epoch in Ameri- 
 can history. Says Professor Adams : " The credit 
 of suggesting and successfully urging in Congress, 
 that policy which has made this country a great 
 national commonwealth, comj)osed of "free, con- 
 venient, and independent governments," bound 
 together by ties of permanent territorial interests, 
 the credit of originating this policy belongs to 
 Maryland, and to her alone." ^ 
 
 In the objections made by the Maryland Assem- 
 bly to the Confederation, June 22, 1778, were 
 advocated two great American principles, which 
 in view of present political discussion, are worthy 
 of mention ; these are manhood citizenship as op- 
 posed to property qualifications, and protection to 
 home labor as opposed to unrestricted immigration. 
 
 ^ Fund PubKcation No. XI. " Maryland's Influence in founding a National 
 Commonwealth," p. 30. 
 
58 
 
 In Article IV, the Maryland delegates moved to 
 strike out the restriction upon the right of ^paupers 
 to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in 
 the several States ; and they endeavored, also, to fix 
 the maintenance of poor immigrants from one State 
 to another, upon the State whence they emigrated. 
 
 These two endeavors, together with Maryland's 
 chief mission regarding the western lands, were 
 unsuccessful at the time, and so Maryland steadily 
 refused to ratify the Confederation. Finally Con- 
 gress decided that it was " more advisable to press 
 upon those States which could remove the embar- 
 rassments respecting the western country, a liberal 
 sui'render of a portion of their territorial claims." 
 An appeal to that effect was accordingly sent by 
 Congress to the claimant States, which, following 
 the example of New York, authorized their dele- 
 gates to surrender the major part of their claims to 
 the western country. For so doing, these States 
 deserve credit, perhaps, not for being generous, but 
 for not persisting in claims more or less unwar- 
 ranted, at a critical period in the Revolution. 
 
 So much being accomplished, Maryland — " from 
 an earnest desire to conciliate the affection of the 
 sister States, to convince all the world of our unal- 
 terable resolution to support the independence of 
 the United States and the alliance with his Most 
 Christian Majesty, and to destroy forever any 
 apprehension of our friends, or hope in our ene- 
 
59 
 
 mies, of this State being again united to Great 
 Britain "—yielded her objections to the Confedera- 
 tion, and empowered her delegates to subscribe the 
 Articles (February 2, 1781). But, true to the policy 
 which they conceived to be to the interest not only 
 of their own constituents but also of the whole 
 Confederation, the Maryland Assembly in their 
 authorizing Act " declared, that by acceding to the 
 said Confederation, this State does not relinquish, 
 or intend to relinquish, any right or interest she 
 hath with the other united or confederated States to 
 the back country .... And it is further declared, 
 That no article in the said Confederation can or 
 ought to bind this or any other State, to guaranty 
 any exclusive claim of any particular State to the 
 soil of the said back lands, or any such claim of 
 jurisdiction over the said lands, or the inhabitants 
 thereof." On Washington's birth-day, 1781, the 
 delegates of Maryland, John Hanson and Daniel 
 Carroll, took their seats in Congress, with power to 
 sign the Articles and thus remove the last remain- 
 ing obstacle to the long-expected Confederation. 
 The final ratification by the Maryland delegates, 
 and the announcement of the Articles to the public 
 was delayed until March 1, 1781, on which day the 
 delegates from New York formally surrendered to 
 Congress their claims to the western lands. 
 
 There are two facts in connection with this first 
 legal union of the United States, that deserve men- 
 
60 
 
 tion : The author of the Confederation, John Dickin- 
 son, was a Maryland boy, born at Crosia, Talbot 
 County, November 13, 1732 ; and the first President 
 of the United States of America under the Con- 
 federation was John Hanson, also a native of 
 Maryland, and at the time of his election, one of 
 her delegates in Congress.