History of Baltimore, Maryland, from its founding as a town to the current year, 1729-1898, including its early settlement and development; a description of its historic and interesting localities; political, military, civil, and religious statistcs; biographies of representative citizens, etc., etc, Part 63

Author: Shepherd, Henry Elliott, 1844-1929, ed. 4n
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: [Uniontown? Pa.] S.B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1344

USA > Maryland > Baltimore County > Baltimore City > History of Baltimore, Maryland, from its founding as a town to the current year, 1729-1898, including its early settlement and development; a description of its historic and interesting localities; political, military, civil, and religious statistcs; biographies of representative citizens, etc., etc > Part 63

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When their bodies were exhumed in Greenmount they were placed in new cof- fins and removed to the Maryland Insti- tute, where they lay in state, surrounded by a military guard. On the 13th a mam- moth procession paraded through the streets; the coffins were born upon a fu- neral car. In the rear were hacks contain- ing relatives of the two deceased young men. Those of Daniel Wells were numer- ously represented; but one person related to McComas was present. The line passed down Baltimore street to Aisquith street, and north along that street to the square. Dr. John McCron impressively prayed and Mayor Swann spoke on behalf of the city. The set oration was delivered by Judge John C. Legrand, a connection of McCo- mas; it was not an oration to inspire the audience and failed to do so.

Six miles from Baltimore, on the spot where the advance party under Major Up- ton Heath met the advance party of the British under General Ross, who was by a collision of the forces killed, is another of Baltimore's monuments. It is intended to

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HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

perpetuate the memory of Aquilla Ran- dall, who fell there. The Mechanicals Company, under Captain Benjamin C. Howard, marched to the ground, Monday, July 28, 1817. Colonel Heath, Colonel Barry, Major Stewart and others joined them there. The monument, under the su- pervision of Lieutenant Townson, of the company. The officers of the regiment, who were invited guests, and the men of the company, were drawn up in front of it and addressed by Captain Howard. Af- ter the oration three volleys of fire arms were fired over the monument.

The following inscriptions appear. On the north side:

"Sacred to the Memory of Aquilla Randall, who died in bravely defending his country and his home. On the memorable 12th of September. 1814, Aged 24 years."

On the south side:

" How beautiful is death when earned by virtue."

On the east side:

" In the skirmish which occurred on this spot between the advanced party under Major Richard K Heath of the 5th Regiment. M. M. and the front of the British column Major General Ross, The Commander of the British Forces Received his Mortal wound."

On the west side:

" The First Mechanical Volunteers commanded by Captain Benjamin C Howard. In the 5th Regiment. M. M. Have erected this monument as

a tribute of their respect for the memory of their gallant brothers in arms."

For a long time the monument, which stands in the middle of the country road, was uncared for. It is now watched over and sacredly guarded by a lady owning the tavern on the roadside opposite to which it stands. The marble has been painted white to prevent its crumbling, the lettering hav- ing been traced in black.

On Broadway, opposite the building in which Edgar Allan Poe died, stands the Odd Fellows Monument. It is fifty-two feet in height and is intended to perpetuate the name and fame of Thomas Wildey, the founder of the order which he instituted in America. The base of the monument is surmounted by a Doric column, which is in turn surmounted by a statue representing the care of orphanage.

On an elevation, in the grounds of the Samuel Ready Institute, on North avenue, is a shaft constructed out of brick and cov- ered over with cement, which is in the neighborhood of sixty feet in height. It is claimed to be the first monument erected in the United States to Columbus. A doubt has been advanced to mar the gen- uineness of the claim, it being said that the former owner of the estate was a famous horseman and buried a favorite steed named Columbus upon the spot now mark- ed by this stately monument.

CHAPTER XVIII.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MR. A. LEO KNOTT, WITH A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE POLITICAL CONDITION OF MARY-

LAND FROM 1861 TO 1868.

Mr. A. Leo Knott is a native of Frederick county, Maryland. He received the first rudiments of a classical education in St. John's College, Frederick, an institution of learning founded and conducted by the Jesuits and of considerable note and promi- nence in its day.

On the removal of his family to Baltimore he entered St. Mary's College in this city. This College was founded in 1791 by the celebrated Sulpician Order of French Catholic Priests, who had taken refuge in Maryland from the storms of the French Revolution. From this institution, after a six years' course, Mr. Knott was graduated with honor; and he subsequently received from it the degree of A. M. St. Mary's Col- lege enjoyed a high reputation among the educational establishments of our country, and numbered among its alumni some of the most distinguished citizens of our own State, as the late Archbishop Eccleston, Governors Bradford and Bowie, the Hon. S. Teackle Wallis, Hon. J. H. B. Latrobe, Hon. Frederick W. Pinkney, Hon. Re- verdy Johnson, Jr., as well of other States as Governor Roman, Hon. Charles W. Villèrè, of Louisiana, and Hon. Donelson S. Caffrey, now United States Senator from that State.

After his graduation Mr. Knott entered

on the study of the Law in the office of the late Hon. William Schley, a lawyer of emi- nent standing in his profession and of exten- sive practice. While pursuing his profes- sional studies Mr. Knott found it necessary to devote a portion of his time to teaching. He was for a period of two years assistant professor of Greek and Mathematics in his Alma Mater, and subsequently established and for some time conducted a classical school near St. John's Church, in Howard county, known as the Howard Latin School.

Admitted to the bar of Baltimore he formed a partnership with Mr. James H. Bevans, which was dissolved after an ex- istence of two years, since which time Mr. Knott has continued in the practice of his profession in this city, with the exception of a brief interval when he filled an important office in the city of Washington. In 1867 he was nominated by the Democratic party as its candidate for the responsible position of State's Attorney for Baltimore City, and was elected without opposition. He dis- charged the duties of this office with such fidelity and acceptance that in 1871 he was renominated and re-elected for a second term of four years, and again renominated and re-elected for a third term in 1875. While holding this office Mr. Knott tried many important cases, both of a civil and a criminal character; some of them involving interesting and important questions of con- stitutional law, among them the question of

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HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

the constitutionality of the law of Maryland, taxing the bonds of other States and of mu- nicipalities without the State held by our citizens; the constitutionality of which was upheld in the Court of Appeals and in the Supreme Court of the United States; and also the question of the constitutionality of the laws passed by Congress to enforce the XIV and XV amendments to the Constitu- tion, then recently declared as adopted and which were known as the Force Bill. In a letter dated Ann Harbor, November II, 1879, written to Mr. Knott by Judge Thomas Cooley, that eminent jurist and writer on constitutional law expressed his approval of several of the points made by Mr. Knott in a brief in the case of State of Maryland vs. Snyder and others in the United States Circuit Court before Judge Bond against the constitutionality of the provisions of the Force Bill imposing on Federal Judges the duty of appointing supervisors of election and superintending their conduct in the discharge of the duties as supervisors, on the ground that these provisions did not prescribe any judicial duty or function either at common law or under the grant of judicial power contained in the Second Section of Article III of the Constitution, and that they were an usur- pation of the appointing power vested ex- clusively in the President by the Second Section of Article II of the same instru- ment.

Upon his retirement from this office in 1880, he resumed the general practice of his profession. In 1882 the nomination for a seat on the Bench of Baltimore City was of- fered him by the Independent party on what was then known as the New Judge ticket, but this nomination was declined by him.

In political views and sympathies Mr. Knott has always been a consistent mem- ber of the regular Democratic party; though sometimes in local elections, and when the principles and policies of the party of his choice were not in issue, he has exercised his rights as a citizen and supported inde- pendent nominations; of these vital princi- ples and policies, however, he has been in National and State elections a firm and an undeviating supporter.

In 1859 he took part in the reform move- ment in this city which culminated in the deliverance of our State and City from the hands of the Know-Nothing party. In the memorable campaign of 1860, Mr. Knott first took an active part in politics. Seeing the division of his party on the issues raised in the Democratic National Convention, which assembled in Charleston, in April, 1860, inevitable, he determined to investi- gate and decide for himself on which side the right lay and whither duty called him. For this purpose he made several visits to Washington in the interval between the ad- journment of the convention at Charleston and its reassembling in Baltimore and listened to the discussions in the Senate on the famous resolutions reported by the Committee of Thirteen on the subject of slavery in the Territories, the rights of the people of the States therein, and the policy pursued by the Democratic party with rela- tion to this exciting question. He was pres- ent at the great debate between Judge Douglas and his celebrated antagonists, Mr. Davis, Mr. Benjamin and Mr. Toombs. He became convinced that whatever might be the abstract right of secession-if there were any such right at all under the Consti- tution-the circumstances of the situation

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HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

and of the country did not justify or call for its exercise; that the attempt could only lead to civil war and bloodshed; and that the se- cession of the Southern States from the Democratic party meant, and must neces- sarily by the irresistible logic of events lead to, the secession of those States from the Union. On the split in the Democratic party, which subsequently took place at the Front Street Theatre, Baltimore, (where Mr. Knott was in attendance as a member of the Committee of Arrangements on the part of the Democratic City Convention) he ac- tively and warmly espoused the cause of Judge Douglas, not only as the regular Democratic nominee entitled to the support of the party, but because he believed that nominee best represented the principles and traditions of the Democratic party; and for the further reason that the election of Judge Douglas would constitute the only barrier against disunion and civil war. But the dis- ruption of the Democratic party at Balti- more had assured the success of the Re- publican candidate. Mr. Lincoln was elected. And then in rapid succession trans- pired those events which every student of history, every intelligent inquirer into the motives and springs of human conduct, every impartial observer of events, who could keep his mind free from the heats and delusions of the hour, foresaw would hap- pen. The Southern States, one after the other, with the exception of the border States, Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, passed ordinances of secession and went out of the Union; the Government of the Confederate States was launched into being at Montgomery, Ala., and war between the States was begun. After the

war became flagrant, however, and the choice lay between the belligerent North and the belligerent South, Mr. Knott's feel- ings and sympathies were with his State and section, whatever may have been the inclinations of his judgment as to the ulti- mate result of the conflict, and he declined to unite with the Republican, or as it was then designated in Maryland, the Uncon- ditional Union party. He felt convinced that, whatever might be the professions then put forth by that party, or the patriotic motives which might inspire its members, the course of events then rapidly develop- ing would sweep that party sooner or later on to a course of policy and to the adoption of measures towards the Southern States, outside of the Constitution, and which neither his judgment nor his conscience could approve. Events justified this con- viction.

It was believed by many at the time, that, if peace could be preserved for ninety days, and the people of both sections have time and opportunity fully to realize the gravity of the situation into which they had been plunged by rash and intemperate leaders:

" Daring pilots in extremity,

Pleased with the danger, when the waves went high ;"

they would repudiate that leadership, and war with its inevitable horrors would be averted, and the Union preserved.

But the extremists on both sides were eager to precipitate the conflict ; the ultra se- cessionists, in the belief that the firing of the first gun would sunder forever the bonds of the Union; the abolitionists, that it would prove the death-knell of slavery. Wide as the poles apart on every other public ques-

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HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

tion, these two parties, numbering but a small faction of the whole people, were one in the sentiment that a blow must be struck. They were gratified; but at what a cost of blood and treasure! Events demonstrated that the abolitionists were wiser and more far-seeing in their forecast of the results of the conflict. For after all with them were the irresistible tendencies of the times, the deep irreversible drift and current of public sentiment throughout the civilized and Christian world; whatever might be the political considerations and commercial in- terests which might for a time be arrayed on the other side.

THE REVIVAL AND REORGANIZATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN MARYLAND IN 1864.

The Adoption of the Constitution of 1864.

In 1864, the Democratic party of Mary- land, which had been suppressed by the Federal troops during the Civil War, was reorganized under the leadership of ex- Gov. Thomas G. Platt, Judge Richard B. Carmichael, Col. John F. Dent, Oliver Mil- ler, Oden Bowie, Col. James T. Briscoe and others, at a meeting held in the city of An- napolis in February of that year. At this meeting Mr. Knott was present by invita- tion and took part in its deliberations. A committee was formed to carry out the purposes of the meeting. This committee afterward became merged in a State Central Committee to take charge of the interests of the Democratic party of the State, of which committee Col. (afterwards Gov.) Oden Bowie was made chairman and Mr. Knott

was appointed secretary. This committee, which gradually attracted to its active men- bership many of the most distinguished Democrats of the State, aimed: First, to prevent, if possible, the success at the polls of the call for a convention to frame a new Constitution for the State. A bill providing for the submission of such a call to the peo- ple was then pending in the Legislature and was, as anticipated, subsequently passed by that body. This measure was opposed by the Democratic party on the grounds that no fair election could be held under the cir- cumstances in which the State was placed; that the convention, if assembled, would not represent the sentiments or interests of the people, but rather the passions and antagon- isms engendered by the conflict of arms in the midst of which we were; that the politi- cal disabilities, which had already been im- posed on the people by legislative enact- ment and military authority, would, there was reason to believe, be incorporated in the organic law which would be framed by that convention, and that the Constitution of the State, which should be the inviolable charter of a people's rights, would thus be perverted into a permanent instrument of tyranny and oppression.

Secondly: To put the Democratic party of the State in full accord with the Demo- cratic party of the country as constituting the only safeguard of the rights, liberties and interests of the people, seriously men- aced by the radical and revolutionary influ- ences which had secured the supreme con- trol of the Republican party. This object derived additional significance from the con- sideration that events now portended the ul- timate, if not speedy, overthrow of the Con- federate government.

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HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

Thirdly: In the event of the adoption of the proposed Constitution by the disfran- chisement of its opponents, to begin at once an agitation against the proscriptive features and political disabilities which the friends and advocates of that measure open- ly avowed it was their intent and purpose to insert in the instrument, and which were inserted according to their program, and to prepare the public mind at some time in the near future, either for an entire change of the organic law or for the removal of its proscriptive and obnoxious provisions.

In the first of these objects this commit- tee failed. Their efforts to bring out a full vote against the call for a convention and subsequently against the adoption by the people of the Constitution, which was the offspring of that body, were frustrated by the simple but effective expedient of dis- franchising a large part of the Democratic vote of the State.

On the IIth of June, 1864, Mr. Knott as secretary of the committee appointed at An- napolis, published in the daily papers of Bal- timore a call addressed to the Democratic voters of the city, requesting them to meet in their respective wards, and to send five delegates from each ward to a City Conven- tion to be held at Rechabite Hall. Among other business it was the duty of this con- vention, when assembled, to send a delega- tion to represent the city in the Democratic State Convention, called under the same au- thority, to meet in Baltimore on the 16th of June. It was the first call issued to the Democratic party of the State since the beginning of the war.

Both the City and State Conventions as- sembled in pursuance of this call and were fully attended. This City Convention met

at 5 o'clock in the afternoon at Rechabite Hall, on the corner of Gay and Fayette streets. That hour was selected because it was not deemed safe or prudent under exist- ing conditions to hold the meeting in the evening. Dr. John Morris presided, and among the members of the convention were William Kimmel, Albert Ritchie, J. A. L. Mc- Clure, Edward J. Chaisty, Jr., John T. Gray, Mr. Joseph S. Heuisler, Augustus Albert, J. Q. A. Robson, John Strible, Dr. Milton N. Taylor, Jesse Morrison, William Black, George F. Thompson, James E. Carr, Rob- ert Renwick, William H. Perkins, James R. Brewer, Bartholomew Smith and Samuel I. Smith. The State Convention met at the New Assembly Rooms on the corner of Hanover and Lombard streets; Col. Oden Bowie was chairman. The latter body sent a delegation to represent the Democracy of the State in the National Democratic Con- vention, which was to meet in Chicago on August 27, 1864. Mr. Knott was a dele- gate to these three, City, State and National Conventions. He took an active part in their respective proceedings and was chair- man of a local committee for Baltimore City appointed by the State Convention.

The National Convention nominated Gen. George B. McClellan and Hon. George H. Pendleton as the candidates of the Demo- cratic party for the offices of President and Vice-President of the United States. For reasons growing out of the action of General McClellan in our State at the beginning of the war, in carrying out the orders of the President for the arrest of several distin- guished citizens of our State, holding at the time official positions, a most arbitrary and high-handed proceeding, his nomina- tion was unacceptable to some of the Demo-

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crats of the State; and several gentlemen who had taken part in the movement now fell away from it. But the Democratic State Convention, which assembled in Baltimore on the 29th of September, ratified these nominations with great unanimity. Subse- quently on the 28th of October, 1864, an- other Democratic State Convention met in Baltimore and put an electoral ticket and full State ticket in the field. At the head of the electoral ticket were the Hon. William Schley, of Baltimore, and John R. Franklin, of Somerset.

Hon. Ezekiel F. Chambers, of Kent county, was nominated as the Democratic candidate for Governor and Hon. Oden Bowie, of Prince George county, as candi- date for Lieutenant Governor, and Hon. Bernard Carter as Attorney General, and H. Lingen Jarrett, Comptroller. At a Dis- trict Convention held in Baltimore on the 29th of October, 1864, Mr. Knott was nomi- nated as the Democratic candidate for Con- gress for the Third Congressional district. Early in October an active canvass had al- ready been begun in support of the candi- dates of the Democratic party for Presi- dent and Vice-President, and also for the purpose of arousing and concentrating public sentiment against the Constitution, which had just been framed by the State Convention, and which was to be submitted to the people, at an election specially provided in that instrument to be held in the city of Baltimore on the 12th day of October, 1864, and in the counties on the 12th and 13th days of the same month. The campaign now proceeded with additional spirit and vigor. The State was then under military rule, and both the State and City governments were wholly in

the possession of the Republican party. For these reasons, though it was a well-known fact, and conceded even by the very violence of the measures resorted to defeat it, that the Democratic party was in a majority in both State and City the outlook was not encour- aging. But a duty was to be performed without regard to results, and under circum- stances the most adverse a gallant fight was made.

Meetings were called and the city and State partially canvassed. But mobs fre- quently dispersed these meetings and as- sailed the citizens who attended them. The offices of several Democratic newspapers were raided by soldiers, the property de- stroyed and their editors arrested and im- prisoned. Some of these gentlemen were sent beyond the lines; others compelled to take oath of allegiance and to give security against the publication of unauthorized news of the army movements or of what was then termed "disloyal sentiments." What were "disloyal sentiments" was not defined by any law or left to be determined by judi- cial tribunals. The definition of the phrase layaltogether in the breast of the commander of the military department, to be applied by him in each case as he thought fit, or of the Secretary of State, or of War, or of the Pro- vost-Marshal, or of a policeman sometimes, or of an informer who always wore the cap of invisibility and consequently of irrespon- sibility; he might be your dearest friend or your dearest enemy. There was a notable instance of this sort of partisan violence in the case of a Democratic mass meeting at- tempted to be held at Maryland Institute Hall, Baltimore, on the 4th of November, 1864. There was a large attendance. Gen. Lewis Wallace (he of Ben Hur fame) was

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then in command of the military depart- ment. Induced, it was said by information given him by some local politicians as to the character and objects of the meeting, he had ordered a company of Federal soldiers to take possession of an armory (situated on the corner of Baltimore and Frederick streets and belonging to avolunteer military oganization of the city). About 8 o'clock, just as the meeting was called to order by Mr. (now Judge) Albert Ritchie, the chair- man, some of these soldiers mingled with the mob, which wholly unchecked by the police, of which there was a large number scattered through the audience, broke into the Hall and quickly dispersed the meeting. Some of the officers and speakers of the meeting were compelled to seek safety by escaping by means of a rope from the rear hatchway of the Institute on Second street. Two of the gentlemen who made their exit from the Hall in this suddenly improvised manner received painful injuries.

The absurd story reported to have been told General Wallace on this occasion, was that those who got up the meeting intended to seize this armory and the guns and am- munition stored in it and attack the United States forces then garrisoning the city with the view of creating a diversion of troops from the Army of the Potomac, and thus aid the cause of the rebellion. It is almost im- possible to believe that General Wallace could have been imposed upon by so trans- parent and preposterous a falsehood which would seem to have exceeded the utmost bounds of credulity. But in those days of internecine strife and civil confusion there was no invention of fear or malice too ab- surd for belief by those who wished to be- lieve and who at the same time wished to

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Author: Shepherd, Henry Elliott, 1844-1929, ed. 4n Publication date: 1898 Publisher: [Uniontown? Pa.] S.B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1344

Author: Shepherd, Henry Elliott, 1844-1929, ed. 4n
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: [Uniontown? Pa.] S.B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1344