USA > Maryland > Washington County > Hagerstown > A history of Washington County, Maryland from the earliest settlements to the present time, including a history of Hagerstown > Part 13
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About the time of Jonathan Hager's death tlie first school of which we have any record, was established in Washington County. In 1776, Bartholomew Booth, a clergyman of the Church of England, obtained from Lord Baltimore a grant of a tract of twenty acres of land which he called Humpfield. He had come to the county some time before that, but the exact date is not known. Not long afterwards he obtained a large tract, over eleven hundred acres, which he called Dele-
mere, on both sides of the Antietam at its junction with Beaver Creek, and here he established a school which soon became widely known as a most excellent one, attracting pupils from many differ- ent localities .. Robert Morris wrote to him, in November, 1727, that "the high reputation you have acquired by your institution for the education of youth must naturally create a desire in many parents to have their sons admitted into so proni- ising an Academy, and I am amongst those who admire your character and wish my son to partake the advantages of instruction from so accomplish- ed a gentleman." Mr. Morris understood that the number of pupils received was limited and he therefore wrote to make application for the admis- sion of his son. At that time, it appears, no school books were published in this country and Mr. Morris was at a loss for some for his son who was not yet eight years old, and was just begin- ning the study of Latin. He promised Mr. Booth to send to Europe for some books as soon as pos- sible. Benedict Arnold sent his two sons to Mr. Booth's school in 1779 .*
Justice Washington of the Supreme Court of the United States also received his earlier educa- tion at Delemere. A portion of the building occu- pied by Mr. Bootli as a dwelling and school house is still standing. It was built of logs on a
*The following letter is preserved by the de- scendants of Mr. Booth:
Phila., May 29th, 1779.
Dear Sir:
Being in daily expectation of sending my sons to you, has prevented my answering your favor of the 2d of April before. I am extremely happy in committing the care of their Education to a Gentle- man so universally esteemed and admired, not in the least doubting your care and attention to them in every particular. Let me beg of you my Dear Sir to treat them in the same manner as you would your own; where they deserve Correction, I wish not to have them spared. They have been for sometime in this City which is a bad School, and my situ- ation has prevented my paying that attention to them I otherwise should have done. If they have contracted any bad Habits they are not of long standing, and I make no doubt under your care they will soon forget them. I wish their Education to be useful rather than learned. Life is too short and uncertain to throw away in speculation on subjects that perhaps only one man in ten thousand has a genius to make a figure in. You will pardon my dic- tating to you, Sir, but as the fortunes of every man in this Country are uncertain I wish my sons to be Educated in such a manner that with prudence and industry they may acquire a fortune in case they are
deprived of their Patrimony as well as to become useful Members of Society.
My Taylor has disappointed me and sent home their clothes unfinished. I am therefore under the necessity of sending them undone or detaining the Waggon. I cannot think of doing the latter and must beg the favor of you to procure their clothes finished and some new ones made out of my old ones. I must beg you to purchase any little matters necessary for them. I have enclosed three hundred dollars out of which you will please to give as much to spend as you think Proper, with this condition that they render to you a Regular Account as often as you think necessary of their Expenses, a copy of which I shall expect they will transmit to me, this will learn them Economy and Method so neces- sary in almost every thing in Life.
If there is any Books wanting I beg you to pur- chase them, and whenever you are in want of money to draw on me-
I shall expect they will write me frequently-of this they will doubtless want reminding.
I have the honor to be with great respect and esteem
Dear Sir Your most obedient Humble Serv't.
B. ARNOLD.
Rev'd Mr. Booth.
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beautiful eminence overlooking the Antietam and within sound of its rushing waters over the bed of limestone rocks. Later, a large brick residenee was built, a portion of the older building being utilized.
Mr. Booth not only taught school and man- aged his large estate of broad and fertile acres but ministered for a long time to the Episcopalians of the Valley. He was the first, and for some time the only elergyman of that Church in the Valley. A Chapel was built before St. John's
Church in Hagerstown, in what is still ealled Chapel Woods, near the College of St. James. The spot is marked by a few remaining tombstones which have been torn from the graves they were designed to indicate and the writer saw them not long ago piled up in a fence corner to make room for the plow. This building was stand- ing up to about fifty or sixty years ago; the last interments in the graveyard were those of the Malotte family, who were buried their between 1830 and 1840.
Old Fahrney Church, Boonsboro District. Union Church Now Stands on the Original Site.
11!
Fahrney Home of the Aged, in Boonsboro District, Under Management of the German Baptists, or Dunkards.
CHAPTER VI
HE outbreak of the War of American In- dependenee found our Valley wonderfully increased in population and wealth. Towns and villages had been laid out, the rich soil had been brought under cultiva- tion and the high prairie grass had been turn- ed under by the wooden plow of the time. Roads had been made, and the streams spanned by bridges. The waters of the Antietam and Cono- cocheague were turning numerous mill wheels. There was some manufacturing, and two or three iron furnaces were in blast. A considerable trade had sprung up between Hagerstown, which was already the principal town in the Valley and the surrounding country reaching far to the west and into the Valley of Virginia.
Among the inhabitants were many who were leading men in the Province, and many who after- wards distinguished themselves by fighting their country's battles, of whom we shall see more later. The people were hardy, brought up to endure hard- ship, vigorous in frame, tireless on the march and wonderfully expert in the use of the rifle. No- where did patriotic fervor manifest itself more than in Washington County. Possibly the knowl- edge that their homes were entirely safe from any visitation or invasion by the British Army may have made them more fearless than they would have been had they been in constant fear of retri- bution. But independent of this, there were other causes combining to make our people ardent pa- triots. The great mass of them were not of Eng- lish blood, and never had any of that feeling of filial affection for the Mother Country which made so many Tories in the eastern part of the
of Province. Many of them were the Scotch-Irish who had been expatriated and brought with them feelings of bitter resentment against England. The life they led, and the Indian fighting many of them had done, fitted them in an eminent degree for the arduous life of the Continental soldier, and enabled them to sustain hardships and want and hunger and cold such as would have demoral- ized the armies of almost any nation.
The passage of the stamp aet, March 22, 1765, at once kindled the patriotie flame in the breasts of our people. At Frederick Town, the stamp distributor was burnt in effigy in August. That year the Governor ealled the Legislature together and among the delegates from this portion of Fred- erick County were Joseph Chapline, the founder of Sharpsburg, a gentleman of wealth and high character and one of the largest landed proprietors in the Valley; and the brave old Col. Thomas Cressap, who had threatened upon a former ocea- sion to mareh to Annapolis at the head of his rifle- men and bring the Assembly to their senses. It was this Legislature which appointed delegates to the first Continental Congress.
In November, Court convened at Frederick City. John Darnall, the clerk of the Court, refused to issue any processes or to perform any official act which required the use of stamped paper under the stamp act, he not being provided with such paper. The Court thereupon ordered that all business should be transacted upon unstamped paper re- gardless of the act of Parliament and in defiance of it ; and that all the officers of the Court should proceed with their avocations as usual. The Court then went on to justify its order, upon the ground
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
that there had been no legal publication of the act of Parliament, and further, that there were no stamps yet to be procured. Darnall still refused to proceed with the business and was thereupon committed to the custody of the sheriff for con- tempt of Court. In a short time, however, he sub- mitted, paid his fine and was discharged. This defiant action of the Court, which was composed of twelve Justices, among them being several prominent citizens of the Hagerstown Valley, caused general rejoicing. It was celebrated in Frederick by an elaborate funeral, the Stamp Act being the corpse. \ full description of the cere- monies has been preserved in the columns of the Maryland Gazette of December 16, 1765.
In May, 1766, the Stamp Act was repcaled and in June of the following year the Act of Par- liament imposing a tariff tax upon glass, tea, paper, and painters colors was passed. In November, this act went into effect and was immediately followed by the formation of anti-importation societies all through the Provinces, our own community being in no way behind the others in their patriotic de- termination to drink no tea. In 1773, Jonathan Hager was elected to the Assembly, and along with the other delegates from Frederick County, signed an address to Charley Carroll of Carrollton, thank- ing him for the stand he had taken in opposition to the Governor of the Province in his virtual as- sumption of legislative powers in endeavoring by proclamation to provide for fees for the support of public offices and of the clergy.
The first public meeting of conscquence held during the Revolutionary times within the present limits of Washington County, was at Elizabeth Town, July 2, 1771. Of that meeting the Mary- land Gazette gives us the following account :
"On Saturday, the 2d of July, 1774, about eight hundred of the principal inhabitants of the upper part of Frederick County, Maryland, assem- bled at Elizabeth Town, and being deeply impress- ed with a sense of the danger to which their nat- ural and Constitutional rights and privileges were exposed by the arbitrary measures of the British Parliament, do think it their duty to declare publicly their sentiments on so interesting a sub- ject, and to enter into such resolutions as may be the means of preserving their freedom. After choosing John Stull, Esq., their Moderator, the following resolves were unanimously entered into :
"I. That the art of Parliament for blocking up the harbor of the Town of Boston, is a danger-
ous invasion of American liberty, and that the Town of Boston is now suffering in the common cause and ought to be assisted by the other Col- onies.
"II. That the stopping of all commercial intercouse with Great Britain will be the most effectual means for fixing our Liberties on the footing we desire.
"III. That a general Congress of Delegates from the several Colonies to effect a uniform plan of conduct for all America is highly necessary, and that we will strictly adhere to any measure that may be adopted by them for the preservation of our Liberties.
"IV. That the surest means of continuing a people free and happy is the disusing all luxu- ries, and depending only on their own fields and `flocks for the comfortable necessaries of Life.
"V. That they will not, after this day, drink any tea, nor suffer the same to be used in their families, until the act for laying duty thercon be repealed.
"VI. That they will not after this day, kill any sheep under three years old.
"VII. That they will immediately prepare for manufacturing their own clothing.
"VIII. That they will immediately open a subscription for the relief of their suffering brethren in Boston.
"After choosing Jolin Stull, Samuel Hughes, Jonathan Hager, Conrad Hogmire, Henry Sneb- ley, Richard Davis, John Swan, Charles Swearin- gen, Thomas Brooke, William McGlury and Eli Williams as a committee they proceeded to show their disapprobation of Lord North's conduct with regard to America, by hanging and burning his Effigy, after which a subscription was opened for the relief of the Poor of Boston. In consequence of the Fifth Resolve, a number of mercantile Gen- tlemen solemnly declared they would send off all the Tea they had on hand, and that they would not purchase any more until the Act laying a duty thereon be repealed, among which number was a certain John Parks. This John Parks was com- pelled by the committee to march bareheaded with torch in hand and set fire to a chest of tea he had imported. The Maryland Gazette of December 22, 1774, gives this account of the affair:
"Ten Burning in Frederick County :- The Committee for the upper part of Frederick County, Md., having met at Elizabeth Town, on the 26th of November, which was the day appointed for the
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OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, MARYLAND.
delivery of John Parks' chest of tea, in conse- quence of his agreement published in the Maryland Journal of the 16th ult.
"After a demand was made of the same, Mr. Parks offered a chiest of tea, found on a certain Andrew Gibson's plantation, Cumberland County, Pa., by the committee for that place, which tea he declared was the same he promised to deliver.
"The committee are sorry to say that they have great reason to believe, and indeed with al- most a certainty, that the chest of tea was in Cumberland County at the time Parks said upon oath it was at Chestnut Bridge.
"After mature deliberation, the committee were of the opinion that John Parks should go with his hat off, and lighted torches in his hand, and set fire to the tea, which he accordingly did, and the same was consumed to ashes, amongst the acclamation of a numerous body of people. The committee were also of the opinion that no further intercourse should be had with the said Parks. Every friend to liberty is requested to pay due attention to the same.
"Voted, the thanks of this committee to that of Cumberland County, for their prudent and spirited behavior upon this occasion.
"Signed by order of committee. "JOIIN STULL, President.
"N. B. The populace thought the measures adopted by the committee were inadequate to the transgression, and satisfied themselves by breaking Park's door and windows."
The appeal for the relief of the people of Boston met with a liberal and prompt response. The Continental Congress which met in Philadel- phia September 5, 1774 adopted a plan "for car- rying into effect the non-importation, non-con- sumption and non-exportation policy agreed upon. This looked to certain provincial assemblages and the people of Frederick County held a meeting at the Court House in November, and appointed rep- resentatives for that County. Among these repre- sentatives the following names of citizens of our own County appear: Thomas Cramphin, Jr., Thomas Cressap, Joseph Chapline, Christian Orn- dorff, Jonathan Hager, Conrad Hogmire, Henry Snavely, Samuel Hughes, Joseph Perry, Eli Wil- liams. Several of these gentlemen were included in a committee of correspondence.
The next move, to which, events had been rap- idly hastening, was the arming of the people and the formation of military companies. The Pro-
vincial convention made the recommendation and also recommended the raising of £10,000 to carry this policy into effect. The amount apportioned to Frederick County was £1,333.
On the 24th of January, 1775, another meet- ing was held in Frederick City and a committee of observation was appointed, with full powers to carry the resolves of the American Congress and of the Provincial Convention into execution. A committee was also appointed in each "Hundred" to raise the funds expected from the County. For Salisbury Hundred the committee was Jonathan Hager, Henry Snavely and Jacob Sellers. For Sharpsburg, Joseph Chapline and Christian Orn- dorff. For Upper Antictam, Jacob Funk, Conrad Hogmire, Joseph Perry and John Ingram. For Lower Antietam Thomas Hog, Henry Butler and Thomas Cramphin. For Conococheague, David Jones, Isaac Baker and Jacob Friend. For Elizabeth, John Stull Otho Holland Williams, John Swan and John Rench. For Fort Frederick, Ezekiel Cox. A committee was also appointed to contract for powder and lead. It was also resolv- ed that "in order that a committee of observation may be more conveniently chosen, and a more proper representation of the people may be had, the several collectors in each Hundred are desired to give notice to those qualified by their estates to vote for Representatives, of some time and place of meeting in the Hundred to elect members for a committee agreeably to the following regulation : When the number of taxables two hundred and amounts to not more than four hundred the District shall elect three members." These mem- bers were to constitute committees of observation for their respective districts, and thereafter the general committee of observation which had been appointed at the former meeting was to dissolve. At this meeting delegates were also appointed to attend a' provinical convention to be held at An- napolis the following October. Among these del- egatcs were Jacob Funk, Joseph Chapline, John Stull and Thomas Cramphin. The final resolution strictly enjoined that no violence be done the person or property of anyone, but that all grounds of complaint be referred to the committee.
This Committee of Observation exercised all the functions of government during the turbulant and disorderly times from the date of its organiza- tion to the formation of the State Government in 1777. It executed the laws and tried and decided causes. That a committee of citizens, responsible to
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
no one and with no appeal from their decisions, should have exercised their great powers with such a spirit of moderation and justice and wisdom is enough to give each one of them a distinguished place in the history of the County. The Fresi- dent of this Committee was John Stull of Hagers- town, a man of German birth. His speech was broken English. IIe was a man of remarkable force of character, of excellent judgment and a strict sense of justice. He became so accustomed to deciding causes and the people became so accus- tumed to looking up to him for guidance with firm confidence in his ability and rectitude, that it seemed the most natural thing that he should be a member of the Court which under the first consti- tution was composed of a law Judge and the Jus- tices of the Peace, as soon as the County was or- ganized. In practice he did great violence to legal distinctions and technicalities in his pursuit of the main question. Many anccdotes are told of him when sitting in judgment in the old Court House, which stood many years ago in the centre of the public square surmounting the Market House. A man was tried before him for stealing a horse. The judge soon found that he was un- questionably guilty, but the proof also showed that the offence had been committed on the north side of Mason and Dixon's line. The prisoner's coun- sel, Mr. John Thompson Mason, of course insisted that the court had no jurisdiction but the Judge insisted that the man was guilty and should be punished. Mr. Mason on his side, insisted that no Maryland authority had any right to inflict the punishment and that if it did so, the man might still be arrested in Pennsylvania and punished there. "We will see about dat" remarked his Honor, as Mr. Mason left the room to fetch his authorities. Upon his return with an armful of books, he found his client tied to the whipping post beneath the Court House and the sheriff lash- ing his bare back. He went into the court room in such a passion as the circumstances would war- rant but got only scant comfort. Judge Stull coolly informed him that the fellow had without doubt stolen the horse and had been whipped for it and now the thing was over. Associated with Judge Stull on the bench was Chief Justice Clag- ett, a lawyer of ability upon whom devolved all matters requiring any technical knowledge of law.
Eli Williams, whose name appears so fre- quently among those patriots who were endeavor- ing to promote the independence was a younger
brother of Gen. Otho Holland Williams. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and attained the rank of Colonel. He was for many years after the war the clerk of the Circuit Court for Wash- ington County, a position in which his son, Otho Holland Williams, succeeded him. One of his daughters became the wife of Chief Justice John Buchanan, and so for many years two brothers, Judges John and Thomas Buchanan, sat together on the bench in Hagerstown, while the father-in- law of the Chief Justice was the clerk of the Court.
In the work of enlisting men in the militia companies the Committe of Observation was met by a plea of religious scruples which prohibited many from engaging in war. Thereupon the com- mittee determined "that it is highly reasonable that every person who enjoys the benefit of their religion and protection of the laws should contribute either in money or military service." Accordingly the payment of two shillings and six pence per week was imposed upon all who were prevented by their religious principles from en- listing. Upon the arrival of the news of the first conflict with the British troops in the north there was a general movement for enlistment and volun- teers came forward with eagerness to serve their country. Of the two companies raised by Fied- erick County. then, of course, including Washing- ton, Michael Cressap was captain of the first, with Thomas Warren, Joseph Cressap, Jr., and Richard Davis, Jr., lieutenants. Of the second company Thomas Price was captain, and Otho Holland Williams lieutenants. These officers were appoint- ed by the Committee of Observation. The eom- panies were to march forthwith and join the Con- tinental Army at Boston. A braver, more hardy and more efficient body of men never marched to the defence of their country. Inured to every species of hardship-many of them schooled in the dreadful conflicts of the Indian Wars, skilled in Indian warfare and hardened to Indian discipline, with marvelous skill in the use of their rifles, they gave ample promise of their subsequent brilliant career during the war.
Capt. ('ressap's company was composed of a hundred and thirty of these backwoodsmen. They started on their long march to Boston, armed with tomahawk and rifle, dressed in dcer skins and moc- casins and treading as lightly as the savages tliem- selves. They needed no baggage train nor equip- ments, save their blankets in which they wrap- ped themselves at night and then slept around
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their fires as contentedly as if they had been comfortably housed. As they marched to the field they could easily procure game in almost sufficient quantities for their support, and this, along with a little parched corn was the only provision they had. Before marching, these men gave the people of Frederick Town an exhibition of their marksmanship. A man would hold the target in his hand or between his knees for the others to aim at,-such was their confidence in their own skill. Not only did they practice in the ordinary way but assumed various postures, show- ing in all circunstances the same skill.
These two companies, with Capt. Morgan's company enlisted in the neighborhood of Shep- herdstown Va., were the first troops from the South to reach the field. A writer, in August, 1775, described them upon their arrival as "re- markably stout and hardy men, many of them exceeding six feet in height. They are dressed in white frocks or rifle shirts, and round hats. These men are remarkable for the accuracy of their aim, striking a mark with great certainty at two hundred yards distance. At a review a company of them, while on a quick advance, fired their balls into objects of seven inches diameter at the distance of two hundred and fifty yards. They are now stationed on our lines, and their shot have frequently proved fatal to British officers and soldiers, who expose themselves to view, even at more than double the distance of common musket shot." Such a fcat with the clumsy rifles of that time was a very different matter from the practice with the improved weapons of today. Nothing could exceed the satisfaction of the com- mander-in-chief upon the arrival of this contin- gent upon whom he could always rely, part of them coming from his own State. These Mary- land troops, with the other companies from this State, were the first and almost the only ones of the Continental Army to cross bayonets with the best veterans of Europe. They charged the British lines with the bayonets a number of times before the end of the war, and when they did so never failed to carry all before them.
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