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 34
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All through the history of the County ean be traeed a constant spirit of reform. The most persistent reformers were the temperanee soeieties. Nothing could quench their zeal or dampen their ardor. And the immense amount of whiskey drink- ing was a constant demand for some movement in opposition. In November, 1828. a large num- ber of farmers met at the C'ourt House and formed a temperance society. Daniel Reichard was elected president, and Samuel M. Hill secretary. The first step they proposed was to abandon whis- key in the harvest and hay fields and to inerease wages to the amount the whiskey would cost. A genuine temperance exeitement was started, which lasted nearly two years. Many storekeepers . joined the society and abandoned the sale of whis- key in their stores, and it was gravely announeed as the crowning triumph of the movement that at two taverns in Clearspring and two west of North Mountain, the practice of tippling on Sunday had been abandoned. Ira Hill's enthusiasm took the form of rhyming and he published some verscs
bidding adieu to whiskey for a year and perhaps forever. Connected with this movement, and per- haps stimulated by it, was a Methodist revival. A call for subseriptions to build a Methodist Church in the town was issued as early as 1827. Boons- boro beeame ambitious to become the seat of a college which was proposed by the Baltimore An- nual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church and in January, 1830, a public meeting was held to promote the seheme.
Among the Aets of Assembly passed in 1829 was one incorporating a railroad from Williams- port to Hagerstown, and one to provide for build- ing a bridge aeross the Antietam on the road from Williamsport to Hess'es Mill.
All through the early years of Jackson's ad- ministration, there was intense exeitement in this County over his acts. His vetoes of bills appropri- ating money for publie improvements nearly affeeted Washington County. The Maysville turn- pike veto put an end to the sanguine and well- founded expectation of making the canal a govern- ment work and a great national highway. Then the stock held in the Canal by the United States was voted to make General Eaton, one of the President's so-called "kitchen cabinet" president of the Canal-electing him, as charged by the Whigs, by the influence of the Administration.
Another act which greatly exasperated the Whigs of Washington County was the removal by the President of Casper W. Wever from the position of Superintendent of the National road. James Hampson. of Zanesville, Ohio, received the appointment. The exeitement and indignation of the Whigs ean scarcely be deseribed. The bitter- ness of the Whig newspaper knew no bounds and the leading articles each week was about "King Andrew I." Indeed there was but little else in the newspaper than criticism and vituperation of Jackson The editor of The Mail had an uphill work in his delenee, and it ean scarcely be denied that many of his admirers fell off. The postmas- ter at Williamsport, it was said, was ordered to deposit his receipts in a bank in Chambersburg, rather than in the Hagerstown Bank, where they had been deposited theretoforc, because the latter was a Whig bank. But when it eame to the ap- pointment of a postmaster for Hagerstown, the whole population was in a state bordering on frenzy. The candidates for the position were Thomas Kennedy. William Fitzhugh, D. H. Schnebly and Frederiek Humriehouse. A vote of
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the people was taken, and the largest number was given to Frederick Humrichouse. But none of these candidates received the appointment. The old postmaster, O. H. W. Stull, was removed and Dr. Howard Kennedy received the coveted prize. Dr. Kennedy had graduated in medicine a year and a half previously, and had settled in Williams- port to engage in the practice of his profession. Upon being appointed postmaster he came to Hag- erstown to live. The Whigs were deeply incensed at the removal of Mr. Stull and the Whig paper published å letter which William Anniba, the let- ter carrier, had addressed to Postmaster General Barry, reproaching him bitterly for compelling him to abandon his livelihood by the appointment he had made.
Every line of the Presidents message of De- cember 1829, which was brought on horseback seventy-one miles from Washington, a part of the road being very bad, in five hours, was roundly denounced. So bitter was the personal feeling against Jackson, that when he came with his fam- ily to Hagerstown in June, 1830, on his journey to Tennessee the Whigs declared they "were mortified that the conduct of a I'resident of the United States, or rather the President of a party in the United States, should have afforded cause for the cold, indignant, determined, manifestation of in- difference with which he was greeted in Hagers- town. Notwithstanding handbills announcing his approach, were freely circulated-notwithstand- ing strenuous exertions were made to get up an excitement and to arouse the people-notwith- standing the splendid state and style in which the President travels, well calculated to attract the curiosity of the crowd-notwithstanding all this, few individuals could be found, in our town, "so poor as to do him honor." He arrived-he passed along our streets-he tarried within our borders- Yet all was still and silent-no commotion-no movement among the people-no manifestation of feeling such as the presence of a great and good man is naturally calculated to inspire-none of that spontaneous evidence of public regard which the arrival of such men as President Washington and President Monroe, amongst us, called forth. As if conscious of the deadly injury which his hostility to internal improvements has inflicted upon our whole section of country-a section whose high hopes he has utterly blasted-our whole population, as if by a common consent, with but camparatively few exceptions, seemed to have
withdrawn from the approach of President Jack- son, as they would have done from that of the pes- tilence that walketh at noon day."*
A very different reception, according to the same authority awaited the great Whig, Henry Clay, when, six months after Jackson's visit, he drove up to the Globe tavern in his private car- riage. Mrs. Clay, who had lived some years in the house a few doors from the tavern, and her little grandchild, accompanied Mr. Clay. A pub- lic meeting was held at the Court House, and an address, prepared by a committee which went to Clearspring to meet him, was presented. Among the large numbers who called upon him at the Globe, was a procession of a hundred and twenty mechanics, led by Capt. Zwingler. Mr. Clay was then on his way to Baltimore, where he was nom- inated a few weeks later for the Presidency. In his haste to go forward on his journey, he left liis carriage at the Globe and proceeded in the stage. But the Whigs deceived themselves greatly, judg- ing from these outward appearances, for the elec- tion of 1832 showed that the Hero of New Orleans was as popular as ever. The campaign contest was waged bitterly all through the cholera scourge, but when election day came, the tide had set so strongly in favor of Jackson that his opponents in the County lost heart and almost abandoned the fight. Jackson carried the County by a vote of 1,931 to 1,364 for Clay. The Whigs indulged in the most gloomy forebodings of the future of the country, until a new excitement arose, partisanship was forgotten, and for once all united in an earnest support of the President. Two weeks after the election, the Sccession niovement took place in South Carolina and Jackson issued his famous proclamation. Instantly there was a bustle of military preparations. Stump speakers declared to deeply excited audiences, that the times were portentious. In January 1833 the Union Rifle Company was organized. The Franklin Blucs and the First Hagerstown Infantry Company were called together and a great meeting was held at the Court House presided over by John Witmer with Alex. Neill, W. D. McGill and R. M. Tidball as vice-presidents, which resolved that the President's course be approved, and that no legislation to appease South Carolina should be passed.
Whilst these political movements were in progress there was a steady onward movement in improvements and prosperity. In 1829 there was a determined effort to erect a Market House in
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Williamsport. On the 24th of June in that year, the cornerstone of a Lutheran Church was laid in that town by Friendship Lodge of Masons. On the first day of the following year Daniel Weisel, then a young lawyer and afterwards a Judge on the bench of the Court of Appeals, and Thomas Trice, began the publication of the "Williamsport Banner and Weekly Advertizer." It was an ex- cellently conducted journal, but did not continue many years. In Hagerstown there was a special effort for better streets, and a tax of twenty-five cents was levied for that purpose, and in 1831 a law was passed granting universal suffrage at town elections. Previously to that time, there was a property qualification. Notwithstanding the fact that in 1830 the whieat crop was greatly dam- aged by Hessian fly, and many fields had to be ploughed up and planted in eorn, and that before harvest wheat brought only 68 to 70 eents per bushel, corn 30 cents, potatoes 18 to 20 cents, beef veal and pork, 5 or 6 eents, the fact that Hagers- . town was an important town on the great through route to the West, brought considerable prosperity. Many buildings were erected, and every artisan in the town was occupied. Arthur Johnson, Thomas Martin and William Price started a cut- lery factory, and a large cotton mill on the Antie- tam was projected. Many persons were engaged in silk culture, and thousands of Mulberry trees were planted.
In November, 1831, Engineer C'ruger of the Chesapeake and Ohio C'anal was in town to begin a survey of the Antietam and Conococheague Creeks, with a view to making them navigable. It was hoped to run boats from Chambersburg into the Canal at Williamsport. Public meetings were held to encourage this project and some work was actually done on the Antietam ; not far from Ha- gerstown, some of the masonry can still be seen. In Pennsylvania these schemes had the warm sympa- thy of the people, but they desired more than a navigable creek. Petitions for a railroad from Harrisburg to Williamsport were poured in upon the Legislature of that State. At Williamsport, the petitioners said, the road would connect with the great Western Canal, the Baltimore and Ohio railroad and the Baltimore and Westminster road, which it was then supposed would soon reach Williamsport, but which in fact did not enter that town for nearly a half century. Late in 1831 apprehensions were felt that after all the Balti- more and Olio railroad would not come through
the heart of Washington County, aeeording to the original design, and meetings were held in Boons- borough and Hagerstown to urge the company to seleet that route. When the railroad finally left Hagerstown far to the right, and the Canal was opened to Williamsport, the most important trade of Hagerstown, that of flour and grain, was almost entirely diverted to Williamsport and thence to Georgetown, instead of going in wagons from Hagerstown to Baltimore. There was great eon- sternation in Hagerstown over this condition which, as was always the case, found expression by means of public meetings. Resolutions were adopted in Hagerstown and Boonsborough, urging the construction of a railroad to Hagerstown, so that this important trade could be regained.
From 1820 to 1830 the population of Wash- ington County had increased from 23,065 to 25,- 235. The increase in Hagerstown during this decade had been about 20 per cent .- from 2,751 to 3,351; Sharpsburg from 656 to 756; Smithsburg from 136 to 219; Cavetown from 105 to 183. In 1830 Hancock had 367, Clearspring 374, Leiters- burg 208, Williamsport 859, Boonsboro 707, Funkstown 641. The town of Boonsboro along with Slifers, Hallers and Allabaugh's additions, was incorporated in May 1832. The corner-stone of the Methodist Church in Smithsburg was laid Sep- tember 3, 1831, and in March, 1832, the church built in Clearspring by the Lutheran and Re- formed people was completed. In Hagerstown in 1830 John Craddock was making Allen's Thresh- ing Machines. Many persons in various parts of the county were also making these machines and Craddock claimed that they were infringing on his patent. A few years later, Obed Hussey who shares with McCormick the honor of inventing reapers, was selling his machines in Hagerstown. He had two kinds, one for work on rough or stony ground, and the other, which was different in some of its details. for smooth fields. One ma- chine Hussey kept to hire to farmers to eut wheat by the acre. Among the taverns and tavern keep- ers about this time were the Columbian Inn, a few doors from the Court House, kept by C. C. Fechtig ; the Swan Tavern was on North Potomae street ; the Union Inn, on the southwest corner of the Square was kept by Mary and Daniel Sehleigh; the Rising Sun Tavern, opposite the Lutheran Church on Potomac street, was then and for many years the favorite resort of teamsters, and its spacious yard was always filled with the
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great express wagons from the West. At this time it was kept by Philip Householder. The Globe Tavern was kept in 1830 by Daniel Schnebly .* In May of that year the stables of that hostelry were burned, and it contained 1800 bushels of oats at the time. Notwithstanding this disaster, Schnebly gave notice that he could still accommo- date forty horses. It was in connection with this nre that public complaint was made of the apathy of citizens in working the engine, and a periodical call for a new fire company was made. One sar- castic individual proposed a fire company of women, remarking that they always did the best service at fires. In Williamsport, William Boullt kept the Potomac Hotel and the Smithsburg Inn passed from the proprietorship of John Russell to Daniel Flory, who supplemented this business by that of chair making. John Chase kept the Re- formed Tavern at Cavetown, and entertained many parties visiting the cave. In 1830, Hagerstown was visited, like Hamlin of old, by hordes of rats. The editor of one of the newspapers complained that they were in the cellars, garrets, kitchens and parlors, in the cupboards and meat houses, and he expected soon to have them invading the beds. It was of no avail for one person to destroy them, for the places of those killed would be immediately filled by a new invasion. A day was therefore set apart for a general and determined onslaught.
In August, 1831, a band of players presented at the theatre in the Town Hall a play which was then popular in New York, "Tom and Jerry, or Life in London." This was followed up by "The Taming of the Shrew." A portion of the hall was reserved for the accommodation of "people of col- or." It is a curious fact that the term negro was seldom used. The name was very offensive to these people and so considerate were people here of the sensibilities of their slaves that they
were nearly always spoken or written of as "people of color." Such tender regard has long since passed away.
During these years many prominent citizens of the County passed away. Many of themn had served their country in the war of the Revolution, and some were conspicuous in the State. Among these latter was General Samuel Ringgold, of Fountain Rock, who died at the residence of Wil- liam Schley, his son-in-law, in Frederick, on the Sth day of October, 1829, at the age of 67 years. Samuel Ringgold, the son of Thomas Ringgold and Mary Galloway, was born in Kent County in 1762. In 1792 he married a daughter of Gen.Cadwalla- der, and about that time removed to an estate of seventeen thousand acres of land in Washington County, known as Conococheague Manor. Upon this splendid estate he built the mansion house of Fountain Rock. The architect of this elegant res- idenee was Benjamin H. Latrobe, the designer of the Capitol at Washington, whose grand-daughter, Mrs. Henry Onderdonk, is now its mistress-it having been converted into the College of St. James in 1842. Here General Ringgold lived in luxury, and entertained his friends in the best possible style. Among his friends were numbered many distinguished men. He had not been long in Washington County before he went to the front as one of the leading people. He served many years as Justice of the Levy Court, and was on many important committees. He was made Brig- adier General of the State Militia and upon sev- eral occasions had a well drilled force to offer to the President. He was a strong supporter of Jefferson in his policies. Whilst he was a inem- ber of the State Senate, Edward Lloyd brought in a bill conferring universal suffrage and this bill received Ringgold's warm support although at the time he was one of the wealthiest, and in his
*The following is an advertisement of the Globe Tavern in 1825:
THE GLOBE TAVERN. AND Stage Office.
. After the 15th of the present month, the above establishment will be conducted by the subscriber, who has laid in a large assortment of
The Choicest Liquors.
His table will always be furnished with the best the markets can afford; his bedding, furniture, &c. will be of the first quality; and his house will be attended by the best of servants-In short, no pains will be spare'd to make the Globe Tavern as comfortable a stopping place as any other in the country, and on
terms suited to the times. To Stage Passengers the subscriber would say, that every thing that he can do to make them comfortable will be done; a sober and attentive hand is engaged, whose duty it will be to attend the stage passengers, arranging the baggage, and to guard against exchanges and loss of baggage, which so frequently happen at stage offices when the different Stages meet.
A few Boarders will be taken at the above estab- lishment, by the month or year, on moderate terms. DANIEL SCHNEBLY.
Hagers-town, Md., March 12, 1825.
N. B. A. Hack, Gigs and Horses,
Will be constantly kept at the Globe for the accom- modation of the public.
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HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
private life, one of the most aristocratic men in the State. He also took a prominent part as Sena- tor in reforming the Judiciary. With an internilo- sion of two years, from 1815 to 1817, he represented the district in Congress, from 1810 to 1821 having been elected five terms. Being a member of Con- gress at the time, he earnestly favored the declar- ation of the war of 1812 with Great Britain, and was a strong supporter of Monroe's administration. The first time Ringgold was a candidate for Con- gress in 1996, he was defeated by George Baer, Jr., of Frederick. This defeat was accomplished by exciting the prejudices of the German population. One George Jennings said on the stump that he had heard Ringgold say there was not a German in the County fit to go to the Legislature. In this campaign 'Thos. Sprigg had been offered the Democratic or Republican nomination but had declined to run. In 1820, Gen. Ringgold was one of the commission to buy a lot and build a new Court House in Hagerstown. He was a meni- ber of the Episcopal Church, and at the sale of pews in St. Jolin's Church in November; 1197, he paid the highest price. For a time he served as vestryman of the church. Gen. Ringgold was twice married. His second wife was Maria Antio- nette Hays, a grand-daughter of President Madi- son. The marriage ceremony was performed in the White House. Many children sprang from these two marriages. Among these were the dis- tinguished Major Samuel Ringgold who died on the field of Palo Alto in Mexico; George H. Ring- gold of the U. S. Army, who died in California in April 1864, when deputy paymaster-general; Fay- ette, who was once minister to Peru; Rebecca, who married Dr. Hay, of Chicago; Ann Cadwallader the wife of William Schley; and Cadwallader Ringgold of the Navy, who died in 1862, with the rank of rear-admiral. General Samuel Ringgold, by his expensive establishment and lavish hospital- ity, becanie poor towards the end of his life. Farm after farm was sold off his great manor, until all was gone. He lies buried in a neglected enclosure at Fountain Rock, along with Maria his wife, three sons who died young and two brothers. There is a superstition that each night, as the clock strikes twelve, the rattle of wheels, the sound of horses' hoofs. and the rustling of silk dresses may be heard at the imposing front entrance of Foun- tain Rock. These sounds are supposed to be pro- duced by the spirit of Ringgold, driving a phantom coach to the door of his old home. General Ring-
gold's second wife was a lady of rare beauty and accomplishments and brilliant in conversation. Whilst a widow she built the house on Washington street opposite Prospect, afterwards owned by Judge French, for a home, but her widowhood lasted only three years. In 1832 she married R. M. Tidball of Winchester, Va. The two lived for a number of years in their home in Hagerstown. In 1860, Mrs. Tidball, being again a widow, removed to San Francisco and there spent the remainder of her days with her son, Col. George Hay Ringgold, paymaster in the Army. She died October 27, 1815, at the age of eighty-five years.
In one respect, Benjamin Galloway was like Ringgold. Ile was an intensely earnest Demo- crat in his politics but his democracy extended no further. Galloway died in Hagerstown in August, 1831, at the age of seventy-nine years.
Possibly there are some citizens of Hagerstown now living who can remember an eccentric old gentleman with long white hair, with elegant man- ners and courteous demeanor, who lived in the stone house at the corner of Washington and Jon- athan streets, now the residence of Edward W. Mealey. He was somewhat convivial, and very fond of writing for the newspapers. He generally wore a blue coat the pockets of which were filled with newspapers and manuscript. It was difficult for an acquaintance to pass him on the street. He was anxious to declaim upon politics, or to read his latest communication to the Torch Light or his last poem, to-anyone who was willing to listen to him. This gentleman was Benjamin Galloway, for nearly forty years one of the best known and most conspicuous citizens of the County. Gallo- way was born in England in 1752, was educated at Eton and received a legal education at the Temple in London. Throughout the contentions between the home government and the Colonies which led to the war for Independence his sympa- thies were with the Colonists, and before the dec- laration of hostilities he embarked for America and settled in Anne Arundel County. He was a member of tlic first State Legislature and, at- tracting attention by his zeal for the patriot cause, he, although but twenty-five years of age, received the appointment of Attorney General in the new government. 'This office he held but a very short time, not more than a month, when he resigned. This unfortunate resignation returned to torment Galloway at every politcal controversy into which he entered, and he was never out of them. It was
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charged each time that the office of Attorney Gen- eral had been renounced because of timidity, or because he was secretly a Tory. These accusations were furiously repelled. He had resigned, he said, only in deference to the commands of a timnid father. Galloway married Miss Henrietta Chew, of Washington County, and removed from Anne Arundel to reside on "Chew's farm" near the Potomac, six miles below Williamsport. There he was living in 1798. His republicanism was so pronounced, that in that year, when war with France seemed unavoidable, during a temporary absence from his home, a report was circulated that he sympathized with the French against his own government, and had declared lis intention of joining them if they landed on our soil. This report he denounced in the newspaper as the work of a calumniator and a villain. In 1800, he had removed to Hagerstown, and occupied a house owned by Nathaniel Rochester. In 1802, he re- ceived the appointment of Associate Justice for Washington County, but shortly resigned the office. He was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church, and for a time a vestryman of the parish. All through his life he was a ceaseless agitator. He was constantly a candidate for the legislature, and several times for elector of the Senate. In 1822, he was elected, and made a diligent member. Again in 1823 he was elected after a fierce cam- paign, at the head of the "Christian ticket," in opposition to the removal of the disabilities of the Jews. He was a ceaseless and voluminous writer for the newspapers, and gave and received many trenchant blows. One of his favorite ob- jects of assault was the banks. The prevailing system of banking he declared to be nothing more than public swindling and called and addressed a public meeting on this subject. While a young man at Annapolis, he became intimately acquaint- ed with John Park Custis, Mrs. Washington's son, who was then a student at St. John's College. In December 1772, upon receiving a warm invitation from Washington, he accompanied young Custis home, and spent the Christmas holidays at Mount Vernon. Of that visit, Galloway used to relate the following anecdote :
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