^ '^"^ "^mm-- 
 
 
 THE 
 
 ANNUAL ADDRESS, 
 
 DELIVEEED BEEOIIE THE 
 
 Mapland Historical Society, 
 \ 
 
 v^y On the Evening of December 17th, 1866, 
 By Hon. WILLIAM F. GILES, 
 
 BALTIMORE: 
 
 Printed by John Murphy & Co 
 
 182 Baltimore Street. 
 18 67. 
 
 ■iSJ\P <T'(t» 
 
 
 «^*;>- 
 
THE 
 
 ANNUAL ADDRESS. 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 Maryland Historical Society, 
 
 On the Evenin"; of December 17th, 1866 
 
 , X^JV/V/, 
 
 By Hon. WILLIAM R GILES, 
 
 BALTIMORE: 
 
 Printed by John Murphy & Co^. 
 
 182 Baltimore Strekt. 
 18G7. 
 

ANNUAL ADDRESS. 
 
 To live in the memory of those who shall survive us, 
 is not to die. To be remembered when w^e are "gone, 
 has been an animating motive Avith the men of every 
 day and of every generation. This sentiment has mani- 
 fested itself in a thousand ways. It is seen in the 
 countless efforts that man has made to blunt the iron 
 tooth of time, and save from oblivion his name and 
 the record of his life. It speaks to us from the mag- 
 nificent cemeteries of earths mightiest cities, as from 
 the secluded country grave-yard where " the rude fore- 
 fathers of the hamlet sleep." It appears in all that 
 our race has done throughout its long history, to link 
 and bind the perishing scenes of earth, to an immor- 
 tality which belongs alone to the deathless spirit. From 
 the pyramids and catacombs of Egypt's earliest civili- 
 zation ; from the hieroglyphics which cover the long 
 resting places of her embalmed dead ; from the sculp- 
 tured monuments and statues of Grecian and Roman 
 art ; from all that man has done in the olden time, to 
 perpetuate his name and the memory of his life with 
 those who should survive him, how clear and full to us 
 is the evidence of the presence of *this all pervading 
 sentiment and yearning of the human heart. This 
 voice, which comes to us so clear and unbroken from 
 the dead j^ast, is re-echoed by the living present. Else 
 why so many journals; so many auto-biograj^hies ; so 
 man}'^ efforts that we make to link our names to some- 
 thing of earth that seems more enduring and abiding 
 than ourselves ? It seems therefore to be an ever pre- 
 sent desire in the human breast, that " although our 
 
4 
 
 bodies moulder, we would have our memories liA^e" — 
 placed there, no doubt, by the wisdom and goodness of 
 our Creator, that it might ever be to man an incentive 
 to a life of active benevolence and noble action. That, 
 as he was seeking to place his life and his character 
 before the judgment of posterity, he should adorn them 
 with * those unselfish and noble actions which alone 
 could assure to him the approval of that distant and 
 therefore impartial tril)unal. We can thus perceive, 
 that this motive could not but act most beneficially in 
 forming the characters and shaping the lives of men. 
 And what has it not enabled him to accomplish and 
 endure in all the ages that are past ? To escape the 
 common fate, "^o die and he forgotton^'' genius and 
 learning are ever putting forth their mighty energies. 
 The ambitious heart in every age, yearning for immor- 
 tality, has foregone all the enjoyments of the present. 
 It is therefore alike due to noble and unselfish action, 
 as to our own sense of gratitude, and the yearnings of 
 our own hearts, that the men of every day should 
 preserve and transmit to posterity, the materials for 
 true and impartial history. That they should preserve 
 the fleeting records of the lives of great and good men 
 who have been an honor to our race ; and the light and 
 joy of the nation which was blessed by their presence. 
 This duty has been but imperfectly discharged in the 
 ages that are past. And as a consequence of this 
 failure, how much of the material for history and biog- 
 raphy has been swept away by the stream of time. 
 How much has l^een destroyed by the Avars which have 
 desolated our earth, or has mouldered away and been 
 lost and forgotten. During that long night which 
 shrouded Europe, from the passing away of the Roman 
 Empire to the dawn of modern civilization, how many 
 (we know not) of the manuscripts and records of that 
 
remarkable people were trodden beneath the foot of 
 Rome's Barbarian conquerors ? 
 
 The library of Ptolemy Fhiladelphus, at Alexandria, 
 contained, according to Gellius, 100,000 volumes, all in 
 rolls. This was burnt by Csesar's soldiers. Constan- 
 tino and his successors established a magnificent library 
 at Constantinople, which in the eighth century was said 
 to contain 300,000 volumes. They were destroyed by 
 the order of Leo Isaurus. In the latter part of the 
 fourth century, the library at Alexandria was again 
 destroyed. And we have marvellous accounts of the 
 extent and value of the last Alexandrian Library, 
 destroyed by the Saracen conqueror Amrou, in the 
 seventh century. AVhen we remember that this all 
 took place before the invention of printing, and that 
 of the many thousand volumes destroyed in these 
 libraries, there were but few if any duplicate copies in 
 the world, we can form a faint estimate of the loss that 
 history, science and art sustained by the destruction of 
 these A^aluable depositaries of the learning of the age. 
 Archbishop Spalding of our city, in a lecture on the 
 origin and history of libraries, says, " that it is a fact 
 no less undoubted than it is lamentable, that the great 
 body of ancient books has been lost. That we are not 
 perhaps at this day in possession of one-tenth part of 
 the standard works which were once classical in Greece 
 and Rome. That of one hundred and forty books 
 which it is known that Livy wrote, only thirty-five 
 now remain. Yarro, the most learned of the ancient 
 Romans, is known to have written no less than five 
 hundred volumes, of which but two have come down 
 to our day. Dionysius Halicarnassus wrote twenty 
 books of Roman Antiquities, of which but eleven are 
 extant. Of the forty books of history composed by 
 Polybius, but five now remain ; while of the same num- 
 
6 
 
 ber by Diodoriis Siculiis, but fifteen have reached our 
 time. And Avho that has read the charming lives by 
 Plutarch, has not regretted the entire loss of more 
 than half of that beautiful collection." 
 
 Such is the account which is given us of the destruc- 
 tion of Roman literature alone. And what a loss would 
 it have been to the Continental nations of Europe, and 
 the jurisprudence of every land, if the great code of 
 the Emperor Justinian and his Pamlects had not been 
 discovered in the twelfth century. They had slept the 
 sleep of ages, having disappeared in the latter part of 
 the sixth century. For all that we now possess, avc arc 
 largely indebted to the piety and devotion to learning, 
 of that Church, wdiich had superseded the w^orship and 
 idolatry of the last Great Empire ; and had erected her 
 religious establishments in so many parts of the earth, 
 once governed by Rome. 
 
 They had, not only in the ritual of their Church, pre- 
 served the language of that mighty people in its purity, 
 but their monasteries were the only secure depositories 
 of the manuscripts and works of the learned, for some 
 five centuries ; from the close of the sixth to the com- 
 mencement of the eleventh century. For, during most 
 of this long period, there were no public libraries out- 
 side the Church ; and few private collections. But 
 almost every Cathedral and many monasteries had 
 their libraries ; in which, during the middle ages, so 
 many works of classic literature that had survived the 
 wreck and pillage of Rome, were saved. And not 
 only did the Church save from destruction much of 
 the learning and literature of the old world ; but to the 
 life of seclusion, retirement, and j^atient industry of the 
 monks of that period, we are indebted for the multi- 
 plied copies of the most valuable manuscripts. Some 
 of these libraries contained manv thousand volumes. 
 
The monastic library of Novalese in Piedmont, con- 
 tained more than 6,000 volumes ; that of St. Benedict, 
 sur-Loire in France, 5,000, and that of Spanheim, in 
 Germany, had upwards of 2,000 volumes. These com- 
 prised works of all ages and countries, and on all sub- 
 jects. So that when the art of printing was invented by 
 John Gruttenberg, in the fifteenth century, there were 
 manuscript copies of many of the most precious works 
 of antiquity in almost every country of Europe, ready to 
 be set up in type, and sent by the magic of the printing 
 press, over the world. 
 
 To show how valuable and extensive are some of 
 these collections, I will only mention the library of the 
 Vatican at Rome, founded by Pope Hilary, in the sixth 
 century. It contained in 1848, besides 400,0CK) printed 
 volumes, 80,000 manuscripts, entirely matchless any- 
 wdiere else. Some of these manuscripts go back to the 
 third century, and are therefore the earliest books 
 known to exist. But the best and most reliable mate- 
 rials for history, are more liable to perish, and be lost 
 and forgotten, than these works even in manuscript, of 
 the learned of any age. 
 
 They are, the newspapers of the day : the letters of 
 prominent men who take an active part in the public 
 transactions, the pamphlets in which public affairs are 
 discussed ; and the private journals of individuals. 
 Pitkin, in his preface to the political and civil history 
 of the United States, says : " The numerous publica- 
 tions relating to individuals who acted a conspicuous 
 part in the political scenes of this x:>eriod, not only give 
 the characters of the individuals themselves, but also 
 furnish many important historical facts." He again 
 remarks : " Much of the Revolutionary history of the 
 United States, is only to be found in the private papers 
 of those who were principal actors during that period : 
 
8 
 
 and whenever the letters of General Washington, and 
 the papers left by Samuel Adams, John Adams and 
 Thomas Jefferson, shall be given to the public, a great 
 addition will be made to the stock of materials for 
 American History. ' ' 
 
 Thus wrote this historian in 1828. Since which period, 
 these letters and papers have been published ; and we 
 can now fully endorse the remark of Mr. Pitkin : 
 Every one, we think, wdll arise from the perusal of 
 the letters of Washington, with the conviction, that he 
 had never before, truly known the difficulties and trials 
 of that great struggle ; and had no full conception of 
 the character and ability of its matchless leader. And 
 what a flood of light do the letters and jiapers of John 
 Adams, Samuel Adams and Jefferson, throw upon the 
 great questions which agitated the American people of 
 that day ; and which led iinall}^ to the separation of the 
 colonies from the mother-country. If these letters and 
 papers had been lost or destroyed, how much of valua- 
 ble data for the history of that noble contest would 
 have passed away, Avithout the hope of ever having 
 their place supplied. Of the proceedings of the Con- 
 vention, which at a later period of our history as a 
 nation, formed our present noble Constitution, how 
 little was known until the publication of the notes of 
 debate, taken by Mr. Madison, and j^urchased and 
 published by Congress, in 1839. And even at this day, 
 how much of our early colonial history can only be 
 found in the musty and decaying records of our public 
 offices. 
 
 From an interesting report made in January last, to 
 the Governor of this State, by Gen. Mayer, to whom 
 the State Papers of Maryland had been submitted for 
 examination and classitication, I make the following 
 extract : 
 
9 
 
 '' The ante-revolutionary papers now submitted to 
 me are in a ver}^ fragmentary and decayed, as well as 
 imperfect and unconnected condition. It is manifest, 
 that large portions of them were either entirely lost, or 
 so injured by mildew as to have been long since thrown 
 away. Some of the bundles literally dropped to pieces 
 in attempting to open them." And this might have 
 been the condition of all our public papers, if the Legis- 
 lature had not, by resolution, in 1846, deposited with 
 your Society for safe-keeping, several bound books and 
 many valuable papers belonging to the archives of the 
 State. A Trust which has been faithfully discharged 
 by the Society to the present time. If, therefore, public 
 documents and State papers, in the archives of your 
 Government are so liable to injury and loss, what must 
 be the inevitable fate of that most precious source of 
 true and impartial history, the letters and papers of 
 prominent men of any age, if left to the chances of 
 private and family preservation. In our young, but 
 rapidly developing country, where our people seem to 
 be as migratory as the Phoenicians, of old, what chance 
 for the preservation of such relics, unless we can gather 
 them into some safe depositories like ours, wdiere they 
 will be guarded and preserved. To meet this want 
 and supply this deliciency. Societies, such as this, have 
 been established. 
 
 Ours was incorporated on the 8th March, 1844 ; and 
 its objects, as expressed in its charter, was " to collect, 
 preserve, and diffuse information relating to the civil, 
 natural, and literary history of the State of Maryland, 
 and American history and biography, generally." How 
 well and faithfully it has fulfilled certain of these duties, 
 let your library of historical works, your very extensive 
 collection of Colonial manuscripts, records and journals, 
 and your gallaries attest. The catalogue of the manu- 
 
10 
 
 scrii)ts, uiai)s, medals, portraits, etc.. of- the Society, 
 forms a book of forty-live pages, and the whole presents 
 a collection most interesting to every Marylander: and 
 whi«h will remain a safe depository upon which future 
 historians may rely in their search after truth. Of 
 the original twenty-two incorporators of this Society, I 
 am happy to know, that now. after the lapse of twenty- 
 two years, ten still survive, many of whom are, as they 
 ever have been, among the most honored and useful 
 members of the Association. Their love for and devo- 
 tion to the objects of our Society, seems to have exjieri- 
 enced no abatement in the lajise of so many years. 
 And now. with all our valuable collections : with a 
 library of over lO.OUU volumes, of choice works, and 
 quite full in the historical Department ; with our com- 
 modious and beautiful rooms : with nearly three hun- 
 dred members, composed largely of the young and the 
 active, (who may reasonably count uj^on many years of 
 usefulness.) with ample resources for all the current 
 expenses of the association : and with a permanent fund 
 for our publication and other expenses, the gift of one of 
 nature's nobleman : a bright future awaits this Society, 
 if the spirit which led to its formation, and has hereto- 
 fore directed its oj^erations, shall continue to preside 
 in its counsels. 
 
 And is their not every thing in the circumstances 
 attending the settlement and subsequent progress of 
 our State, to cause us to love her history and her insti- 
 tutions. Do not her sires in every trying hour of their 
 country's history, challenge our admiration, and call 
 upon us, not to permit the laurels which encircle their 
 brows to fade, or their bright fame to be covered by 
 the dust of time. The seeds of liberty Avere to be found 
 in the Charter of our State. For it secured to those 
 who might emigrate, an independent share in the legis- 
 
11 
 
 lation of the province ; of which the statutes were to be 
 established with the advice and approbation of the 
 majority of the freemen or their deputies. 
 
 Representative Government was thus indissolubly 
 connected with the fundamental charter. Of George 
 Calvert, who first projected the Colony, and to whom 
 the Charter was to have been granted, Bancroft, in 
 his history of the Colonies, says : " He deserves to be 
 ranked amono- the most wise and benevolent lawyers of 
 all ages. He was the first in the history of the Chris- 
 tian World, to seek for religious security and peace by 
 the practice of justice, and not by the exercise of power ; 
 to plan the establishment of popular institutions with 
 the enjoyment of liberty of conscience ; to advance the 
 career of civilization by recognizing the equality of all 
 christian sects." He died before he received his patent, 
 but it Avas granted and confirmed to his son, Cecilius 
 Calvert, who, succeeding to his father's fortune, carried 
 into execution that father's intentions in reference to 
 the colony he proposed to settle. The right of every 
 colonist to be present either in person or by deputy, in 
 the Legislature, and perfect religious freedom Avere the 
 two memorable features in the character of the Mary- 
 land institutions. Listen to the oath prescribed for 
 her Governor: ''I will not by myself or any other, 
 directly or indirectly, molest any person professing to 
 believe in Jesus Christ, for or in respect of religion." 
 'Tis true ! that in after years, the religious intolerance 
 which prevailed so long in the mother country, ex- 
 tended to Maryland, and led here to the establishment 
 of one sect, and provision for its support by law. The 
 General Assembly, in 1692, passed an act establishing 
 the Episcopal Church, and dividing every County into 
 parishes, and laying taxes for the support of its minis- 
 ters. And the usual history of all State religions was not 
 
12 
 
 varied in this instance. Other sects and denominations 
 were denied the liberty of free, public worship. But 
 these disabling statutes w^ere soon removed, except in 
 the case of the Roman Catholics, who remained subject 
 to their unjust provisions until the era of our revolu- 
 tion. It is a sad comment upon our poor human 
 nature, that, in a colony Avhich was established by the 
 members of this Church, and which grew up to power 
 and happiness under their mild government, they 
 alone, of all outside the pale of the Church of England, 
 should have remained the only victims of religious in- 
 tolerance for so many years. The Convention of this 
 State which met in 1776, in the bill of rights, which 
 jirefaced the Constitution they framed, restored that 
 religious liberty wdiich had been the pride and honor 
 of Maryland in its early history. Article 33, says : 
 " That as it is the duty of every man to worship God in 
 such manner as he thinks most acceptable to him, all 
 persons professing the Christian religion are equally 
 entitled to protection in their religious liberty ; where- 
 fore, no j^erson ought by any law to be molested in his 
 person or estate on account of his religious persuasion 
 or profession, or for his religious practice," &c. It was 
 a great act as far as it went, and worthy of the great 
 men who planted their Government upon such free 
 and ennobling i)rinciples. But they left their Hebrew 
 brethren still disfranchised. It was reserved for our 
 day, to cancel this injustice. By the act of Assembly 
 of 25th February, 1825, and its conlirmation by the 
 succeeding Legislature, all disabilities upon that ]ior- 
 tion of our fellow-citizens were removed. J5ut although 
 religious intolerance prevailed for a time in our State, 
 there was something in the character and genius of its 
 people, which deprived it of its worst features. Xo 
 fagot and stake, no dungeons, no galloAvs or whipping- 
 
13 
 
 post, for any act of religious worship ever disgraced 
 the soil of Maryland. Descended from a member of 
 that peaceful sect who found in this Colon}^, freedom to 
 worship God after their simple form of devotion, I feel 
 it to be no less a duty than it is a privilege, to refer on 
 this occasion to that noble spirit of Christian toleration 
 which, (with the exceptions I have mentioned,) has 
 been the honor and the wise policy of our good State. 
 And I commend it in all its full scope and meaning, 
 to the men of this generation. The form of man's 
 adoration of his Creator and the mode and manner of 
 the worship he renders Him, should be ever held sacred 
 and beyond the reach, not only of human legislation, 
 but of every species of attack, persecution or censure. 
 With an open Bible and a free press, wdiicli is our glori- 
 ous inheritance, religious errors, like all others, may 
 well be left to the domain of reason and argument. jVo 
 form of religion has ever been destroyed by persecution. 
 It has been no less eloquently than truly said, that the 
 blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church. If 
 our early Colonial history be full of interest and satis- 
 faction to every Marylander, that satisfaction and in- 
 terest is deepened and increased w^hen we contemplate 
 the great part the}^ acted in our struggle for indepen- 
 dence. At its commencement she was ranked by Burke, 
 an impartial' observer, with Virginia, as one of the lead- 
 ing Colonies of the Continent. In his celebrated speech 
 "on Conciliation with America," arguing against the 
 policy and the injustice of the system of taxing the 
 Colonies then pursued by the British Parliament, he 
 said, "He must be grossly ignorant of America, who 
 thinks that without falling into this confusion of all 
 rules of equity and policy, you can restrain any single 
 Colony, especially Virginia and Maryland, the central 
 and most important of them all." And her sires in that 
 
14 
 
 eventful stru.i2:g-le, did justiee to the high eharacter of 
 their State ; so that at its close, Maryland still held the 
 prominent i^osition assigned her by the English orator 
 and statesman. But of the leading lyart taken by the 
 statesmen of Maryland, in that able discussion of the 
 rights of the Colonies, that war of words and pamphlets, 
 which preceded the clash of arms, how little is known 
 to the men of our day. How many of this generation 
 know anything of Daniel Dulaney, the younger, and 
 of his great argument against the Stamp-Act. In his 
 day, no orator or lawyer Avas more widely known than 
 he. And now, his name seems to have passed from 
 the memories of men ; knoAvn and remembered only 
 by the members of his own profession who may have 
 read his great opinions published in the first volume 
 of our Maryland Reports ; opinions considered in his 
 day of as high authority as judicial decisions ; and 
 therefore properly appended to the reports of the 
 earlier decisions of our Courts. And of the men from 
 Maryland who, as her representatives, signed the Dec- 
 laration of Indei)endence, but little is known b}' the 
 great body of their countrymen ; who to day, are reap- 
 ing the benefits of their great and heroic act. Eighty- 
 four pages in Sanderson's biography of the signers, and 
 a ])rief memorial of Mr. Carroll, read some years since 
 before this Society, by one of its members, is all that 
 has ever been written of them to my knowledge. 
 And wliat is now kiKnvn of the able statesmen of this 
 Colony, who in 1775 and 76, discussed the great and 
 important questions of that day, with an ability not 
 surpassed in any of the Colonies ; and who guided and 
 directed this Colony from its state of vasalage and de- 
 pendence, through the troubled waters of revolution, to 
 its place as one of the indei)endent States of the new 
 Confederacy. In the several conventions which met at 
 
15 
 
 Annapolis, at that eventful period we ever find promi- 
 nent, the names of Chase, Tilghman, the two Carrolls, 
 Paca, Plater and Goldsborough. They were the com- 
 mittee elected by ballot to whom was committed the im- 
 portant duty of preparing a bill of rights and form of 
 government for the infant State. And that they and 
 the convention did their duty well, is seen in the fact, 
 that the form of government they then prepared, re- 
 mained as the constitution of the State for sixty-two 
 years. In the twenty-eight years that have elapsed 
 since its repeal, we have had three constitutions form- 
 ed, and it has been the opinion of many, that Ave have 
 'not improved on the work of our fathers. Tliey did 
 their work well, and gave us liberty regulated by laAv ; 
 the amj^le protection of individual rights by an impar- 
 tial judiciary ; and the LegislatRi^ and paramount pow- 
 er of the government, committed to a body who should 
 meet annually to consult and act for the great interests 
 of the State. The memory of such men we should 
 treasure up ; and we should ever feel that it is a duty 
 we owe them, for what they did, to make their names 
 and lives familiar as household words. In the study 
 of their thoughts and the contemplation of their deeds, 
 we shall find ourselves escaping from the seltishness and 
 partizanship of the day, in our efforts to attain that 
 noble and unselfish patriotism Avhich animated them, 
 and glowed in all they said and did — We should return 
 from the contemplation of their lives, purer and better 
 men. They were with the advance in that great strug- 
 gle for freedom and the rights of man. 
 
 Before the declaration of July 4th, 1776, made in 
 Philadelphia, was knoAvn in Maryland ; and nearly a 
 month before it was engrax^jC ^^nd signed, these men of 
 Maryland and their colleagues in the convention, had 
 put forth their Declaration of Independence. On the 
 
16 
 
 ()tli of. July, 1770, tlie convention caused to be entered 
 on their journal a declaration which, after a recital of 
 their wrongs, and an eloquent vindication of their rights, 
 closes in the following language, "For the truth of these 
 assertions we appeal to that Almighty Being, who is 
 emphatically styled the searcher of hearts, and from 
 whose omniscence nothing is concealed. Relying on. 
 His Divine protection and affiance, and trusting to the 
 justice of our cause, we exhort and conjure every citizen 
 to join cordially in defence of our common rights, and 
 in maintenance of the freedom of this and her sister 
 Colonies." And when the clash of arms came, the sons 
 of ^laryland answered this appeal ; and made good this* 
 declanition upon many a battle lield of the revolution. 
 And from no subject of contemplation can we derive 
 more gratification, than from a review of the heroic part 
 taken by the men of our vState, in that war which re- . 
 suited, after long years of suifering and trial, in the in- 
 dependence of the Colonies. ■ 
 
 In June, 1770, the Maryland Convention resolved, \ 
 that that Province would furnish a flying camp of & 
 thirty-four hundred men to act in the middle depart- 
 ment ; that is, from the Province of New York to . ' 
 Maryland ; to be divided into four battalions of nine 
 companies each. The convention elected the officers of 
 the battalions then about to be raised. And on July 
 0th, 177(), the day the convention made its declaration 
 of independence, Col. Smallwood, who had been elected * 
 colonel, was ordered by the convention to proceed im- 
 mediately with his battalion to Philadelphia, and put 
 himself under the orders of Congress, and the Conti- 
 nental officer commanding there. And also, that four 
 independent companies from Talbot, Kent, Queen 
 Anne's and St. Mary's counties, ]u-oceed immediately 
 to tiie same destination and put themselves uiuler the 
 
17 
 
 comniaiid of Col. Smallwood, subject to the further or- 
 ders of Congress. And so prompt was their obedience 
 to this order, that on the lltli of the same month, six 
 companies of the battalion, stationed at Annapolis, and 
 three companies stationed at Baltimore Town, the wdiole 
 under the command of Col. Smallwood, started on their 
 march to Philadelphia. They reached the Continental 
 army about the 1st of August, in time to act an heroic 
 part on the bloody field of Long Island. 
 
 In Lord Sterling's report to General Washington, 
 of this disasterous battle, dated August 29th, 1776, he 
 says, (after describing the position taken by the forces 
 under his command,) " in this position we stood can- 
 nonading each other, till near eleven o'clock, when I 
 found that Greneral Howe with the main body of the 
 army was between me and our lines, and I saw that the 
 only chance of escaping being all made prisoners, was 
 to pass the Creek near the Yellow Mills ; and in order 
 to render this more practicable, I found it absolutely 
 necessary to attack a body of troops commanded by 
 Lord Cornwallis, posted at the house near the Upper 
 Mills. This I instantly did, with about half of Small- 
 wood's regiment, first ordering all the other troops to 
 make the best of their way through the creek." Look 
 at that little band of five hundred young Marylanders 
 on that disasterous field, thus thrown forward as the 
 forlorn hope, t(j hold in check the whole British army, 
 numbering many thousands, to give time to their fellow- 
 soldiers to esca2)e. See them wheeling, and led on l)y 
 their heroic leader, attacking the advancing British 
 with unparalleled bravery. It was a contest which 
 could result to these young soldiers, only in death or a 
 long captivity in the prison ship ; but they never fal- 
 tered, and Lord Sterling says they made five or six 
 several attacks on the British column. Washington's 
 
18 
 
 eac'le eye was on them, and as they rushed on lie ex- 
 chiinied, "J/y (rod, what brave men must I this day lose^ 
 They seemed likely to drive back the foremost ranks of 
 the British ; and when forced to give w^ay by overwhelm- 
 ing numbers, they rallied and renewed the contest. 
 They were surrounded but they still fought on ; and were 
 nearly all cut to pieces, or taken prisoners, Nine only 
 succeeded in regaining the American lines. I wish I had 
 their names. They should be inscribed on the muster- 
 roll of fame. These young martyrs of liberty should 
 not sleep unwept and unhonored in their early graves. 
 They should take their places in men's memories with 
 Warren and the heroes who fell at Lexini>-ton and Con- 
 cord. And time, which buries in oblivion so much of 
 human achievement, should year after year, only fresh- 
 en the laurels which cluster around their brows. 
 
 The biographer of General Greene says of him ; that he 
 was contined to his bed in the City of jVew York, with 
 a fever, Avithin hearing of the sound of the battle on 
 Long Island ; and that he was much disturbed when 
 intelligence reached him of the reverses experienced by 
 the troops lately under his command ; but when in- 
 formed of the terrible slaughter sustained by Col. 
 Smallwood's regiment, his favorite Corps, composed for 
 the most part of young men of family, and in a high 
 state of discipline, he burst into tears ; declaring that 
 superadded to the amount of private sorrow, which that 
 disaster must occasion, the cause of freedom had ex- 
 perienced in it, a loss which no time could repair. 
 And at the battle of White Plains the shattered rem- 
 nant of Smallwood's heroic regiment was again in the 
 hottest of the fight, the bravest of the brave. 
 
 The organization of this flying camp was so defective 
 in many respects, that it was disbanded in Dec, 1776, 
 and a brigade of regular troops to be attached to the 
 
10 
 
 Continental army, was raised by Maryland. This brig- 
 ade was composed largely of the men and officers of 
 the flying camp, and was placed under the command 
 of Smallwood, appointed a Brigadier-General early in 
 1777. In the spring of this year, this brigade to be 
 ever afterwards known and celebrated in history, as the 
 ^''Marfjland Line,^^ joined the Continental army under 
 the Commander-in-Chief in the Jerseys. They fought 
 well at Brandy wine and Germantow^n, though separated 
 from their gallant leaders, Smallwood and Gist. Those 
 two officers had been detailed by the Commander-in- 
 Chief to proceed to Maryland ; and take charge of the 
 militia, suddenly called out to join in the defence of 
 Philadelphia. The Maryland Line then formed into 
 two brigades, was placed under the command of Gen- 
 eral Sullivan, and in those two bloody actions, gained 
 for itself a character for discipline, valor and endur- 
 ance, which was never tarnished in its subsequent 
 history. It/ remained with the army under Washing- 
 ton during the years 78 and 79, sharing in all its trials, 
 privations and patient endurance. In the spring of 
 1780, when it became necessary to send reinforcements 
 to the South, the Maryland Line with the Delaware 
 troops were selected. On the morning of the 17th of 
 April, 1780, with the Baron Be Ivalb at their head, they 
 left Morristown in Xew Jersey, and commenced their 
 long march to join the army of the South. They were 
 soldiers worthy of such an heroic leader, and w^ell did 
 their after history justify the selection made by Wash- 
 ington on this occasion. At Camden, Eutaw and Cow- 
 pens, they gained for themselves imperishable renown ; 
 and nobly sustained their early reputation for coolness 
 in the hour of danger. On the disasterous field of Cam- 
 den, after the flight of the militia, except one regiment 
 from North Carolina, commanded by Col. Dixon, the 
 
20 
 
 ^Maryland Line with this brave regiment of Dixon's, 
 were left alone to oppose Cornwallis' army, surpassing 
 them in numbers and already flushed with a certainty 
 of triumph. Says the biographer of ({reene, " this 
 heroic remnant of the arm}" under the command of 
 De Kalb, Grist, Smallwood, AYilliams, HoAvard and 
 Dixon, fought with intrepidity and desperate resolu- 
 tion." They could not save the day ; but wrote their 
 fealty and their devotion to liberty on that crimsoned 
 Held, with the heart's blood of the invader's legions. 
 Their gallant leader fell, covered with wounds. Con- 
 gress thought proper, after this reverse, to recall Gen- 
 eral Gates, and General Greene was appointed to the 
 command of the Southern army. He assumed the 
 duties of that important position on the 3d of De- 
 cember, 1780 ; and such was the universal confidence 
 in him, and such his great abilities as a military 
 leader, that he was soon able to resume the oifensive, 
 and early in January, 1781, he was able to dispatch 
 Morgan with part of the Maryland Line, under Col. 
 Howard, Col. Washington's dragoons and a few militia 
 to take position on the British left. This movement 
 led to the battle of the Cowpens, on the 17th January, 
 in which the ^larylanders with Washington-'s dragoons, 
 bore an honorable j^art, and at a most critical period, 
 by their gallantry, saved the day ; and gained for their 
 country a decisive victory. On the celebrated and 
 masterly retreat of General Greene through Xorth 
 Carolina, the heroes of the Cowpens, now led by Otho 
 Holland Williams, one of Maryland's bravest sons, 
 protected the rear of the American army. Forgetful of 
 themselves and bent exclusively on the preservation of 
 those they were appointed to protect, these brave 
 troops confronted difficulty and danger, and submitted 
 to privation and hardship with a perseverance and a 
 self-devotedness rarely equalled in tlie records of war. 
 
21 
 
 They never relaxed their vigihmce until Greene had 
 placed the river Dan between his exhausted trooj^s and 
 the advancing- British. When Greene again entered 
 South Carolina, the Maryland Line was with him, and 
 participated, on the 8th September, in the bloody battle 
 at the Eutaw Springs, which closed in a glorious triumph 
 for the American arms. General Greene, in his des- 
 patch to Congress, describing the crisis of the engage- 
 ment, says : "In this stage of the action, the Virginians 
 under Lieut. Col. Campbell, and the Mar^danders under 
 Col. Williams, were led on to a brisk charge, with trailed 
 arms, through a heavy cannonade and a shower of mus- 
 ket-balls. jSTothing could exceed the gallantry and 
 firmness of both otficers and men upon this occasion. 
 They preserved their order, and pressed on with such 
 unshaken resolution that they bore down all before 
 them. The enemy were routed on all quarters." Thus 
 did the sons of ]Maryland answer the appeal of the Con- 
 vention of their State, and nobly sustain Maryland's 
 declaration of independence of the 6th July, 1776. Of 
 their gallant leaders how little is known by the men of 
 this generation ! Two brief memoirs by members of 
 this society, one of the Baron De Kalb, and the other 
 of Gen. Williams, and two brief sketches of Williams 
 and Howard in the National Portrait Gallery, are all 
 that have been specially done, to my knowledge, to 
 transmit the memory of their heroic 'lives to posterity. 
 Who knows anything now of Gen. Gist, or Col. Gunby, 
 or Col. Josias Carvill Hall ? And how little is compara- 
 tively knowni by the men wdio now crowd our streets of 
 the great part taken by the brave and gallant Howard 
 in the war for our independence. Massachusetts has 
 been more just to the memory of her illustrious dead; 
 she does not permit their names to be forgotten, or their 
 sacrifices for their country to pass from the memories of 
 
22 
 
 men. Our libraries contain many biographies of her 
 distinguished men, distinguished either in the camp, at 
 the bar, or in the senate chamber. Her sons of the 
 present day have been in this particuhir just to their 
 fathers and true to themselves. They have thus placed 
 before the coming generations the bright examples of 
 the lives of her illustrious men. Through these biogra- 
 phies they live again, and ever teach their countrymen 
 the lessons of devoted and self-denying patriotism. Let 
 the 3^oung men of Maryland, members of this society, 
 from the ample provisions laid up in our archives, be 
 as true and as just to the great dead of our own State. 
 There is no field of labor from which they will return 
 with a richer reward, or with more purified and elevated 
 feelings ; there is no surer way of re-kindling the fires 
 of patriotism in our own bosoms, than by the study of 
 the lives and sacrifices of the great statesmen and heroes 
 of the past generation. Let memory recall the great 
 facts attending our struggle for liberty, and the sacrifices 
 which our fathers so cheerfully made in that day of 
 trial ; and it will do more to strengthen our love for our 
 country than any contemplation of its present greatness ; 
 for it is ever true that historic memories fire a people 
 with valor and patriotism. If our love for its wise and 
 and noble constitution is orowing faint and feeble, let 
 us visit Marshfield, and recall the eloquent and un- 
 answerable defence of the Constitution bv its ^-reat 
 expounder. One of the sadest signs of the times is the 
 fact, that for the last twenty years the old-fashioned 
 celebrations of the 4tli of July, by orations upon the 
 acts and men of the revolution, seems to be no longer 
 the fashion. A late writer upon the " Decline of the 
 Koman Republic," says : " All political systems contain 
 within them the principles of their own death ; and 
 political progress, as we call it, is only the slower rocid 
 
23 
 
 to that end to which all human institutions, so far as we 
 have had experience, must come at last." I would not 
 take so gloomy view of human institutions. I would 
 be more inclined to agree with Sir James Mackintosh, 
 " Experience may, and I hope does, justify us in expect- 
 ing that the whole course of human affairs is towards a 
 better state." But let us remember, that when a nation 
 foro-ets her illustrious dead, the shadows of decay are 
 already falling on her. 
 
 When the war of our revolution broke out in 1776, it 
 found a young man living in the immediate vicinity of 
 Baltimore Town, on his own patrimonial estate, with 
 everything around him that wealth and high social 
 position could give to render his home attractive. But 
 he put the joys of home and the sweet intercourse of 
 social life aside. He turned his back upon them all for 
 a season ; for above them all he heard, and answered, 
 the cry of his suffering country. When Maryland first 
 called her sons to her standard, and formed her flying 
 camps, he left his home, to be a dweller there no more 
 until the independence of his country should be recog- 
 nized, and a position gained for her amid the nations of 
 the earth. He was then in the tw^enty-fourth year of 
 his age, and the Convention discerning his merit at that 
 early day, appointed him a Captain in the regiment 
 placed under the command of Col. Josias Carvill Hall. 
 This regiment being disbanded, for the reason I have 
 heretofore stated, after a few months' service, and the 
 seven regiments having been raised and organized by 
 Maryland to be attached to the Continental army, the 
 young Captain was appointed Major in the fourth regi- 
 ment, under his former commander Col. Hall. 
 
 Entering the room in which the business meetings of 
 this society are held, you will see his portrait, imme- 
 diately over the full length likeness of Lord Baltimore. 
 
24 
 
 His commission is dated the lOtli of April, 1777. On 
 the 1st of June, 1779, he was appointed Lieut. Col. of 
 the Fifth, and after the battle of Ilobkick's hill, he suc- 
 ceeded to the command of the Second regiment, upon 
 the death of Lieut. Col. Ford. Every Marylander who 
 studies the history of the revolution, will feel proud 
 and grateful that Col. John Eager Howard belonged to 
 our State. He* will rejoice that in her day of trial, 
 she had such a son to defend her cause, and to lead 
 her regiments to battle, and so often to victory. The 
 division to which his regiment was attached at Ger- 
 mantown, behaved with great bravery on that bloody 
 field ; and around and in front of the large mansion, 
 known as Chew's house, again and again repulsed 
 the enemy. The house was on that day garrisoned 
 by a British regiment ; and was of course the sub- 
 ject of frequent attacks by the Americans, until the 
 thick fog and smoke hid everything from view. And 
 here I would mention one of those romances in real life 
 which history sometimes presents to our view. This 
 old mansion before which our young officer cheered on 
 his unflinching soldiers to the thickest of the fight, and 
 from whose windows the bullets flew so fast that periled 
 his life at every moment, was to become to him in after 
 years most dear. AVhen the purple tide of war had 
 swept by, and peace and independence had blessed the 
 land, our young soldier was to seek and find in it his 
 future bride and the mother of his children. 
 
 In the l)attles of White Plains, Monmouth and Ger- 
 mantown. he displayed that unflinching courage which 
 ever afterwards so distinguished him. He went Soutli 
 with the Maryland Line, and at Camden, Cbwpens and 
 Eutaw Springs, he exhibited a gallantry and firmness 
 which no danger could shake, and a decision of charac- 
 ter and clearness of judgment which no complications 
 
Z-) 
 
 of battle or sudden emergencies could embarrass. He 
 was one of those heroic spirits in whom General Greene 
 reposed his hopes, in his noble determination to re- 
 cover the South or perish in the attempt. In Howard 
 he found a spirit Avorthy of his friendship and confi- 
 dence, and he gave them to him in no stinted measure. 
 
 The battle of Eutaw Springs was fought on the 8th of 
 September, 1781. Greene, writing to a friend in Mary- 
 land, in November of the same year, says : " This will 
 be handed to you by Col. Howard, as good an officer as 
 the world affords. He has great ability, and the best 
 disposition to promote the service. My own obligations 
 to him are great, the public's still more so ; he deserves 
 a statute of gold, no less than Roman and Grecian 
 heroes. He has been wounded, but has happily recov- 
 ered." He gained his brightest laurel at the battle of 
 the Cowpens, where, assuming to himself the responsi- 
 bility of the act, he wheeled his regiment and charged 
 upon the advancing British column, superior to his own 
 command, and at the point of the bayonet swept them 
 from the field. And this is the first time in the history 
 of the war, in which the bayonet was successfully used 
 by the American troops. And on the red field of Cam- 
 den, when the militia of Virginia and T^orth Carolina 
 had given way, and Gates had given up all for lost, 
 and had left the field, Col. Howard distinguished him- 
 self with those who stood their ground and prevented 
 the utter destruction of the American forces. 
 
 After the close of the war, to whose successful issue 
 his services in tlie field had so largely contrilnited, he 
 returned to his home near our city, to enjoy the repose 
 and quiet of domestic life. But like his beloved Com- 
 mander-in-chief, those great qualities of ardent patriot- 
 ism, clearness of judgment, and firmness of purpose 
 which had so distinguished him in the field, were no 
 4 
 
2<; 
 
 less ncccssai'v to the civil government just starting upon 
 its untrod path, and Col. Howard was not permitted to 
 remain long in the seclusion of his own home. In 
 November, 1788, he was elected Governor of this State, 
 succeeding his old commander Gen. Smallwood. And 
 he was re-elected for the two following years ; sub- 
 sequently, in the autumn of 1796, he was elected to the 
 Senate of the United States, and remained a member of 
 that body until the 4tli of March, 1803. In November, 
 179o, he was offered by Washington the office of Secre- 
 tary of AVar, which he declined on account of delicate 
 health ; and two years afterwards, when in view of a 
 threatened war with France, Washington was called 
 on again to lead the armies of his country, he named 
 Col. How^ard for the office of Brigadier-General. He 
 lived to a good old age, and was permitted *to see the 
 full fruition of all his hopes for his beloved country. 
 He lived to see the small town of Baltimore, of less 
 than ten thousand souls at the close of the war, expand 
 to a city of seventy-two thousand inhabitants, and be- 
 ginning rapidly to encroach upon the stately park 
 which surrounded his paternal mansion. He died on 
 the 12th of October, 1827, in the 76th year of his age, 
 respected and reverenced by the men of his native 
 State, who had looked up to him as a connecting link 
 between the two centuries. I recollect, as a student of 
 law, marching with the long and imposing civil and 
 military procession which follow^ed his remains from his 
 residence at Belvidere, to the Episcopal Cemetery, in 
 the Western part of the city. When the news of his 
 death reached the far off South, the j^eople of the State, 
 on whose soil many of his heroic actions during the war 
 had been performed, shared the general grief at his loss: 
 When the Legislature of South Carolina met in the 
 winter following, it passed unanimously, the following 
 
27 
 
 beautiful tribute to his memory. " It becomes a grate- 
 ful people to cherish and perpetuate the memory of the 
 brave and good ; to remember with gratitude their 
 services, and to profit by their bright example. 
 
 "The heroic band of the revolution who fought that 
 we might enjoy peace, and conquered that we might in- 
 herit freedom, deserve the highest place in the grateful 
 affections of a free people. 
 
 "Among the master-spirits who battled for independ- 
 ence, we are to remember with veneration the late 
 patriotic and venerable Col. Jno. Eager Howard. His 
 illustrious name is to be found in the history of his 
 country's sufferings and the annals of his country's 
 triumphs ; in the day of peril and of doubt, when the 
 result was hid in clouds, when the rocking of the battle- 
 ments was heard from Bunker Hill to the plains of 
 Savannah, when danger was everywhere, and when 
 death mingled in the conflict of the warrior, Howard 
 still clave to the fortunes of the struggling Republic. 
 Of all the characters which the days of trial brought 
 forth, few are equal, none more extraordinary. He was 
 his country's common friend, and his country owes him 
 one common inextinguishable debt of gratitude. kSouth 
 Carolina, with whose history his name is identified, is 
 proud to acknowledge the obligation." And then, after 
 a brief recital of his achievements in the battles of the 
 South, it closed with the following resolutions : 
 
 " Resolved., therefore, That it was with feelings of pro- 
 found sorrow and regret that South Carolina received 
 the melancholy intellio'ence of the death of Col, Jno. 
 Eager Howard of Maryland ; 
 
 " Resolved, That the State of South Carolina can never 
 forget the distinguished services of the deceased ; 
 
 ''^Resolved, That the Governor be requested to trans- 
 mit a copy of these proceedings to the Governor of 
 Maryland, and to the family of Col. Howard." 
 
28 
 
 These resolutions present the speetacle of one State 
 sliaring in and sympathizing with the sorrows of a sister 
 State at the death of a distinguished son, whose loss both 
 so deeply regretted. And to show in what estimation 
 he was held by the country at large, the President of 
 the United States (Mr. John Quincy Adams) attended 
 his funeral. 
 
 I haye given this brief sketch of Col. Howard to show 
 to the younger members of this Society that we have on 
 the roll of Maryland's distinguished sons, many whose 
 lives and characters well deserve their study, and the 
 eitbrts of their young and vigorous pens. In no way is 
 history taught or learned so well as by biography; and 
 he who prepares himself to write of the life and char- 
 acter of any of earth's great benefactors, will, when his 
 work is done, find himself with a thorough knowledge 
 of the general history of the country or period in which 
 his subject has lived and acted. 
 
 I have said nothing upon this occasion of the great 
 battles and contests of our late deepl}^ to be regretted 
 civil war. I would not tread upon the ashes of the late 
 conflagration. The time to write the history of the 
 (ireat IlehelUoii has not yet come. All we should do is, 
 to collect and preserve the data and material from 
 which some future Prescott, wdien passion shall subside, 
 and the causes which led to it shall be removed from 
 the field of politics, may give the world a clear and im- 
 partial history, in which he shall " nothing extenuate 
 nor set aught down in malice." All that I would say 
 is, that wherever in this contest which so often divided 
 the meiubers of the same household, the sons of Mary- 
 land were found, they exhibited the same heroic courage 
 which the history of our country shows, their fathers 
 possessed in the days of the revolution. And all I 
 think will now rejoice, that Maryland at its close stands 
 
29 
 
 where she stood at its commencement, one of the central 
 states of a great confederacy. 
 
 Maryland, land of my birth, my father's land ; may 
 thy i^rosperity be as enduring as thy granite hills ; and 
 thy justice and thy actions be ever as clear and un- 
 sullied as the streams which leap from thy mountain 
 sides. May thy civil and religious freedom know no 
 abatement in all the ages that shall come ; but may'st 
 thou ever remain, " ilie land of the free,'''' as thou hast 
 ever been ^''the home of the brave ^ 
 
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