History of Maryland

Author's Preface

The editor of the work which it is the purpose of these brief preliminary words to present to the public for its suflferance and, it is hoped, a measure of satisfaction, has held in mind during his labors certain facts which he conceived to be fundamental in his undertaking.

Conformity of style and literary usage was regarded as important. Following the line of least resistance, he undertook to adapt the style of Mr. McSherry to that of his own rather than to affect a manner of writing which to him would have been forced and unnatural, and certainly to the reader clumsy and unrewarding. Numerous verbal changes have therefore been made throughout the text. A certain fulsomeness which appears especially in the eulogies in the work has been corrected. These and similar literary changes embrace the greater part of the exercise of the editorial function up to the chapter which relates to the close of the Revolutionary War. From that period to the end of the work the story was too meager to have linked to it the great subsequent events of Maryland's history. It thus became necessary to rewrite the work from that point, although in so doing everything of the author's has found incorporation, although not always in situ. A comparison with the original work will show the large extetit of the amplification which was found to be necessary.

The part of the book for which the writer is wholly responsible he would prefer to submit without a word other than one of acknowledgment of indebtedness to the authors to whom he makes reference in his foot notes ; especially those who have illuminated particular facts of Maryland's history by scholarly monographs.

To Mr. William Morse Keener, LL. B., he makes grateful acknowledgment for services in the reading of proof and otherwise relieving him of irksome features of his task.

If the complete history of Maryland herewith offered to the reader

shall be found a fairly satisfactory treatment of its subject and shall

fill a mission of usefulness in enlarging popular knowledge of the

State's great past and shall serve to inculcate patriotic sentiments in

the rising generation he shall feel that he has not worked in vain.

Bartlett Burleigh James.

Baltimore, April 20, 1904.

HISTORY OF MARYLAND.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

The discovery of America in 1492,' by Christopher Columbus, at a time when the chivalry of Spain was in its brightest and latest glory, threw open to the brave spirits fresh from the conquest of Granada, and the victorious battle fields of Italy, a new world, full of wild adventures, of novel wonders, and teeming, in their fancies, with measureless riches. The graceful forms of a strange race, whose complexions were tinted with the hues of the sun, the gorgeous specimens of their wealth and their works of art, displayed before the admiring court of Ferdinand and Isabella, turned all hearts towards this El Dorado of the west; and the discovery of the beautiful isles of the great gulf, was followed by the conquest of Mexico and of Peru by the exploration through the swamps of Florida and the plains of Louisiana in quest of the fabled waters of perpetual life — expeditions wilder than any ever sketched out before in the fancy of the novelist, or the song of the minstrel, sometimes crowned with success, ofttimes disastrous in the extreme.

The rich mines of the south, its fertile soil spontaneously producing alike the necessaries and luxuries of life ; its beautiful sky and its balmy air, similar to, but surpassing their own, allured the Spaniard and the Portugese, who never once turned their steps to the colder climate and the temperate skies of a more northern latitude; a century passed before another I'ace, from a congenial land, shaped their course towards that people, excelling in wealth, in freedom, in the arts, the dwellers in the more enervating countries of the south.

But the one was fostered and cherished by the blasting kindness of a royal hand — the other grew up, untended and unheeded, breasting the storms, providing for its own safety, protecting itself and gaining from use the strength of manhood, even in its early infancy. The Spaniards cast their lot amongst a semi-civilized race, whom they subdued, and with whom they intermingled their blood ; and became a royal government over a conquered people. The English came to build up their empire in a wild, uncultivated forest, with a savage foe around them. Thus it was that the mingled race of the north, composed, as in time it came to be, of many different peoples, gathered the best features from each. The colonists of Spain, carefully nursed by the crown, and swaddled into weakness and effeminacy, deteriorated by commingling with an inferior race.

Scarcely had the report of the wonderful discoveries of Columbus reached the court of Henry the Seventh, of England, before the spirit of adventure awoke in that kingdom, and an expedition was planned by a citizen of Venice, domiciled in England, Giovanni Caboto — or John Cabot, as he is usually called — for the purpose of exploring a more convenient route to the Indies, a portion of which the recent Spanish acquisitions were supposed to be. Many delays occurred from the want of sufficient aid to undertake the voyage, and it was not until a short time before the death of John Cabot that the. king consented to further the enterprise, by issuing his license, dated on the 3d of February, 1498, authorizing him " to seize upon six English ships in any port or ports of the realm of England, of 200 tons burthen or under, with their requisite apparatus, &c."* Upon the death of his father, Sebastian Cabot applied to the king for assistance to carry out the design. He was furnished with one ship at the royal expense ;- while three or four more were fitted out by the merchants of Bristol. In May, 1498, the fleet weighed anchor, and after several weeks sailing due west, discovered land, which they

* Bozman's Maryland, vol. i, p. 12.

called Newfoundland. A few days after, they made another island, which they named St. John. Still pursuing a western course, Cabot reached the main land, just in season to contest with the Spanish navigators the honor of having first touched the Continent of America. He coasted along the newly discovered shores as far south as the thirty-eighth degree of north latitude, when his provisions falling short, and a mutiny breaking out among the sailors, he was compelled to put about and steer for England, where he arrived in safety. It is highly probable that Cabot, in this voyage, discovered and touched upon the Atlantic coast of Maryland, which lies within the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth degrees. The eastern shore of Worcester county was, therefore, the last portion of the continent which he visited. Several abortive attempts were made to follow up the discoveries of Cabot, but during the remainder of the reign, the spirit of enterprise appeared to have died away, or turned to other objects. In the meanwhile, the French, Spanish and Portugese prosecuted their discoveries with unabated zeal and complete success. Giovanni Verazzini, a" Florentine, in the service of France, made three voyages of discovery along the coast of North America, the second of which, in 1524, afterwards became famous, as the foundation of much of the French claims to their extensive possessions in the New World. But the only interest which these explorations have to the student of Maryland history, lies in the fact that the Florentine was the second navigator who passed along the shores of that state, and the first to cross the mouth of the Chesapeake. The bay itself was discovered in 1585 by Governor Lane of the first colony of Virginia. Yet this vast inlet was not traversed for some years. It is said that Captain Bartholomew Gilbert, in 1603, was the first to enter and explore it.

Somewhat more than a century passed, from the discovery of North America by Cabot, before any successful attempt was made by the English to colonize it. These enterprises are, to a certain extent, connected with the history of Maryland, and therefore need to be touched on here. In the year 1606 the London and Plymouth Companies were formed and, by letters patent issued on the tenth day of April in that year, the portion of the Continent lying between the thirtyfourth and forty-fifth degrees north latitude, was granted to them in nearly equal shares, — the territory from the firstmentioned degree to the forty-first being assigned to the London, and from the thirty-eighth to the forty-fifth to the Plymouth Company ; and, as by this provision there was a territory of three degrees in extent which was common to both, it was further specified, that the party who first settled within this region, thus overlapped by the two grants, should possess the coast fifty miles each way from the point of settlement, and one hundred miles to the interior, while no settlement was to be made by the other company within one hundred miles thereof.

The London Company immediately began their preparations, which, although they were completed somewhat later than those of the Plymouth Company, were productive of greater results. The fleet consisting of a vessel of one hundred tons, one of forty and one of twenty, with one hundred and five colonists on board, set sail from Blackwall, on the Thames, on the 19th of December, 1606, under the command of Capt. Christopher Newport.* He carried sealed instructions which were not to be opened until his arrival in Virginia. After encountering many difficulties and delays, the ships had nearly reached their destination at Roanoke, when on the 26th of April, they were driven by a violent storm into the Chesapeake. Here Captain Newport opened his instructions, which provided for a council of seven for the government of the colony. In the early part of Mny they began to explore the James river, and having received a beautiful peninsula from an Indian chief, they laid the foundation of Jamestown on the 13th of May, 1607.

The new colonists suffered much from scarcity of provisions, frequent attacks of the savages, and internal dissen-

Bozman, vol. i, p. 99.

sions; and, but for the prudence and energy of Capt. John Smith, would very probably have met with the same evil fate which befell former settlements. At length, however, the arrival of two ships from England laden with supplies, relieved their present necessities and increased their numbers by seasonable reinforcements. But instead of seeking in the cultivation of the soil the true wealth of the earth, the Virginians turned their whole attention to gathering cargoes of glittering sands for the returning ships. In vain Smith remonstrated ; the discovery of this imaginary gold had intoxicated them, and they scorned the humbler but surer resources of agriculture. The consequences were soon felt in a growing scarcity of food.

Smith was not idle. Turning his eyes towards that vast inland sea near whose mouth they were situated, he judged rightly that an exploration of its shores would open extensive resources to the colonists, by means of trade with the Indians. On the 2d of June, 1608, in an open boat, accompanied by a physician. Dr. Russel, six gentlemen and seven soldiers, he departed from the fort at Jamestown on this daring expedition. They boldly struck across the bay, and having discovered Smith's Islands, made the eastern shore, and were directed by two Indians whom they found there, to the habitation of the Werowance, or chief of their tribe, at Accomac. Departing thence, they examined many creeks and harbors, discovered some islands, which they named Russel's — now known as Watts' Islands, and after naming several points, at length reached the river Wighcocomo or Wighco, supposed to be the Pocomoke, whose mouth afterwards became the southern point of boundary in the charter of the province of Maryland. After suffering from lack of water, and being driven about by storms, they entered the Nanticoke river, called by the Indians Cuskarawaock, where the natives assembled in large numbers to oppose their landing. A few shots proved sufficient to disperse them. In the course of several days, however, a good understanding was established and the Indians vied with each other in supplying the wants of the strangers, considering a lo HISTORY OF MARYLAND.

few beads an ample remuneration for all they could bestow. Not satisfied with the appearance of the eastern shore, they passed out through Hooper's straits, or the Straits of Limbo, as they named them, and stood directly for the cliffs on the western coast, along which they sailed thirty leagues northward, finding no inhabitants. They were now some distance above the Patapsco, which river they described as navigable for ships, and named Bolus, supposing the red and white earth upon the banks to be bole armoniack. They had already been in their open boat fourteen days, and their provisions were much damaged by water, and the men themselves, worn out with laboring at the oars, besought their captain to return. He succeeded in persuading them to continue the exploration three or four days ; at the end of which time several of the men falling sick, and the complaints of the remainder becoming louder, Smith, after having reached as far north as Poole's Island, steered towards the south. On the 1 6th of June they discovered the Potowmac, or Patawomek, up which they sailed about thirty miles, where after meeting with a hostile reception, they landed on the Virginia shore. From this place, about Nominy Bay, they continued up the river, touching at various points, until they had passed the present site of Washington, " having gone as high as they could in their boat." Here they were met by savages in canoes, loaded with the flesh of deer, bears and other animals, of which they obtained a portion. After many adventures, they reached Jamestown in safety, on the 21st of July, one month and nineteen days from the date of their departure.

Not satisfied with the results of his expedition, the indefatigable Smith fitted out another, being accompanied by most of those who had been with him on the first. They set out on the 24th of July, 1608, and made directly towards the mouth of the Patapsco. Thence they proceeded to the head of the bay and explored the entrances of the Susquehanna, Northeast, Elk, and Sassafras rivers. The banks of the Susquehanna and the Sassafras or as Smith called it the Toghwogh, they found inhabited. On the bay they met seven or

HISTORY OF MARYLAND. ii

eight canoes of Massawomek Indians who prepared to assault them ; they, however, by signs, obtained an amicable conference. They sailed up the Sassafras, where the natives received them with the greatest kindness, danced before them, and offered them fruits and furs. There they learned that the Susquehannas, residing on the river of the same name, were considered to be the most warlike and powerful tribe of that region. Having fully explored the head of the bay, and the Susquehanna as far as they could penetrate, which was to the point called Smith's Falls, they returned to Virginia after an absence of three months.* In 1620, the bay was again explored by Mr. John Pory, who visited several towns belonging to the savages inhabiting its shores.f

The Virginia Company, having become dissatisfied with their charter, petitioned the king for a new one, which was accordingly issued on the 23d of May, a. d. 1609. By it the king granted and confirmed to them " all those lands, countries and territories, situate, lying and being in that part of America, from Point Comfort all along the sea coast northward two hundred miles," and to the same extent southward, " and all that space and circuit of land lying from the sea coast of the precinct aforesaid, up into the land throughout, from sea to sea, west and north-west, and all the islands lying within one hundred miles along the coast of both seas of the precinct aforesaid."

Three years after, in 161 2, finding new powers necessary, the Company applied for a third charter, which was issued to them on the 12th of March, 1611-12 and was confirmatory of the second charter. Disputes having arisen in the Company, the crown became hostile to its continuance, and a writ of quo warranto was issued against it in November, 1623. In May, 1624, judgment was given against the Company in King's Bench, and its charters forfeited. The administration of its affairs was taken tmder the immediate control of the

* Smith in Bozman — the notes of Bozman upon him, vol. i, pp. 105 crown, the settlement reduced to a royal government, and a commission issued by the king to a provisional council for the direction of its affairs. Thus the extensive territory, heretofore granted to the late London Company, reverted to the crown and became the subject of grants for the erection of new provinces.

Among those who had become interested in the London or Virginia Compan}?^, under its second charter, in 1609, was Sir George Calvert. He had been educated at Trinity College, Oxford, where he took his degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1597 and finished his education by a tour on the Continent. On his return he obtained an office at the court, under Sir Robert Cecil, one of the principal secretaries of state. In 1617 he was knighted by the king, having been appointed one of the clerks of the privy council. In 1619 he became one of the secretaries of state, an office which he filled with honor to himself and great profit to his sovereign, whose high estimate of his services was proved by the grant of a pension of one thousand pounds a year, which he bestowed upon him in 1620. In the warm debates in the House of Commons, where he represented, first Yorkshire, in I620, and, subsequently, the University of Oxford he aKvays maintained the rights and protected the interests of the king, and that monarch, afterwards, did not fail to prove his grateful recollection of his loyalty. Sir George Calvert had early engaged in the schemes of colonization of that period, and upon the dissolution of the Virginia Company, of which he had been a member, he was named by the king one of the royal commissioners to whom the goverrmient of that colony was confided.

Up to this time he had been a Protestant, but in 1624, having become unsettled in his religious convictions, he renounced the Church of England, and embraced the faith of the Catholic church. Moved by conscientious scruples, he determined no longer to hold the office of secretary of state, which would make him, in a manner, the instrument of persecution against those whose faith he had adopted, and tendered his resignation to the king, informing him that "he was now become a Roman Catholic, so that he must be wanting in his trust or violate his conscience in discharging his office." The king was moved by his honest avowal, and while he accepted his resignation, continued him as a member of his privy council for life, and soon after created him Lord Baltimore, of Baltimore in Ireland. ^^ ^^^ C/i^vC't.K

The laws against the Catholics in England were partictilarly severe, and rendered it impossible for such persons to practice their religion in quiet and safety. Sir George Calvert, although he was assured of protection from the gratitude and affection of the king, determined to seek another land and to found a new state, where conscience should be free and every man might worship God in peace and perfect security.* It was a grand and noble design, and he set about perfecting it. At first he fixed his eyes on Newfoundland, in the settlement of which he had been interested. Having purchased a ship, he sailed with his family to that island in which, a few years before, he had obtained a grant of a province under the name of Avalon.** Here he only resided two years, when finding the climate and soil unsuited for the establishment of a flourishing community, he determined to seek a more genial country in the south. Accordingly, in 1628, he sailed to Virginia,! with the intention of settling within the limits of that colony, or more probably to explore the uninhabited country on its borders, in order to secure a grant of it from the king. Upon his arrival within the jurisdiction of the colony, the authorities tendered him the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, to which, as then framed, he could not conscientiously subscribe. Lord Baltimore refused to take them, but prepared a form of oath of allegiance which he and all his followers were willing to accept. His proposal was rejected, and being compelled to leave their waters, he explored the Chesapeake t McMahon, 193.

above the settlements.^ He was pleased with the beautiful and well-wooded country, which surrounded the noble inlets of the great bay ; and determined there to found his principality, assured that he had selected a territory possessing all the elements of future prosperity — fertile in soil, tra\->ersed by majestic rivers, and enjoying a climate unsurpassed upon the continent. He returned to England to obtain a grant from Charles I, who had succeeded his father, James I. Remembering his services to his house, Charles directed the patent to be issued. It was prepared by Lord Baltimore himself; but before it was finally executed, that great and good man died, and the patent was delivered to his son Cecilius, who succeeded as well to his noble designs, as to his titles and estates.

The charter was issued on the 20th of June, 1632, and the nev/ province, in honor of Queen Henrietta Maria, was named Terra Marios — Maryland.

The charter was a grant from the king to Lord Baltimore, and his heirs and assigns, of all the territory lying within the limits set forth, with extensive jurisdiction and powers of government over it. The rights of the settler were fully provided for in this instrument. The power of making laws was jointly vested in the people or their representatives, and the lord Proprietary — the title conferred upon Lord Baltimore — although extraordinary power was reserved to the latter, or his governor, in cases of sudden emergency, when the people or their delegates could not be well assembled. The province was forever exempted from taxation by the crown, except with its own consent, and many other important privileges v/ere secured. The eclesiastical laws of England with regard to churches and chapels, in so far as they related to the matters of consecration and presentation were extended to the colony, but the question of state religion was left untouched, and therefore within the legislative power of the colonists themselves. The king reserved to himself one-fifth of the gold and silver which might be found in the province, and the yearly

JBozman, vol. i, pp. 255-258; McMahon, 9.

tribute of two Indian arrows. Having thus a noble territory, with his rights and the prosperity of his future state secured by a liberal charter, Lord Baltimore prepared to establish his first settlement in Maryland. He fitted out two vessels, which he named the "Ark" and the "Dove," and collected a body of two hundred emigrants, nearly all of whom were Catholics and gentlemen of fortune and respectability, who desired, like himself, as had his father, to flee from the spirit of intolerance which pervaded England, and to rear their altars in freedom in the wilderness.* The colonists were accompanied by two Jesuit priests, Fathers Andrew White and John Altham, and were placed under the command of Leonard Calvert, whom his brother, the Lord Proprietary, had appointed Governor of Maryland, intending to remain in England for the present to superintend in person the interests of the settlement in its infancy, and to send out additional emigrants.

*Burnap; Bozman; McMahon.

t Relatio Itineris in Marylandiam — Bozman, vol. 2, p. 26.

Chapter I. The First Settlement Of Maryland

"On the 22d day of November, 1633, being St. Cecilia's day, the 'Ark' and the 'Dove' weighed anchor from Cowes, in the Isle of Wight." The pious pilgrims " placed their ships under the protection of God, imploring the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, of St. Ignatius, and all the guardian angels of Maryland,"* for the success of the great enterprise which they had undertaken. They left behind them the homes, in which they had been born, their friends and relatives, to face the dangers of the sea, and the perils and hardships of a wilderness, in order to plant the seed of freedom and religious liberty ; to secure to themselves and their chilrden the inestimable privilege of worshiping God according to the dictates of their consciences. It was a mighty undertaking; standing out, in history, as an era in the progress of mankind.

The pilgrims narrowly escaped the Needles, a series of breakers at the extremity of the Isle of Wight, but, relying on the protection of God, they drove boldly out to sea under a strong and steady breeze. No sooner had they escaped this peril, than the fear of capture by the Turks, whose cruisers were then a terror to all Christian nations, kept them in constant alarm for the safety of the "Dove," which was neither so good a sailer, nor so well manned and armed as the "Ark." After a time they were joined by a London merchantman, the "Dragon," well armed, and bound for Angola, and, thus being relieved by the strength of their fleet from all fear of danger, they continued their voyage in high spirits, " making the air and sky resound with the clangor of trumpets."

* Relatio Itin., &c. Father White's manuscript is the authority for this whole chapter. 16

On the evening of the 25th of November, the wind veered around to the north, and a violent storm arose. The crew of the Dragon, fearing to encounter its full furv, changed their course and steered for England, while the company on board the Dove, dreading the effect of the furious tempest upon their little bark, yet unwilling to abandon the enterprize, notified the officers of the larger vessel that if thev were in danger of .shipwreck, they would haijg out a light' from the mast head. The captain of the Ark, knowing the strength of his vessel, bore steadily on his course. In the middle of the night the storm increased in violence, and the crew of the larger vessel, beheld with dismay two lights suspended from the mast head of the pinnace. But they were unable to afford their comrades any assistance; and, in a few moments, these lights disappeared, and with sorrowful hearts they gave up the little Dove, and her gallant crew, as lost. When morning at length broke over their long and dreary night, there was no sign or vestige of the Dove upon the waters. The storm still raged with somewhat diminished fury, and during the three succeeding days, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the Ark was tossed about by contrary winds, making little headway. At length, on the night of the third day, the rain began to descend in torrents, and a sudden blast of the tempest split the mainsail from top to bottom. The vessel, having unshipped her rudder, was driven about at the mercy of the waves. The minds of the bravest were filled with fear, for the Ark seemed about to be engulfed in the raging billows The pilgrims betook themselves to prayer; and many strove^ by the sacrament of penance, to prepare themselves to meet the fate which now seemed inevitable. But the violence of the storm began to abate. At length the sea became calm, and the remainder of the voyage, which extended through a period of three months, was pleasant and prosperous.*

After passing the Madeira Islands, the pilgrims became alarmed at the appearance of three supicious looking vessels, which were bearing down towards them. The captain imme-

* Narratio Itineris, &c.

diately cleared his ship for action, but the supposed pirates soon changed their course and disappeared. They continued on their voyage, and touched at the Fortunate, or as they are now called, the Canary Islands. The governor consulted with the principal officers and gentlemen as to the best mode of loading the ship with a return cargo, so as to repay part of the expenses of the expedition, which had been borne entirely by Lord Baltimore. At first they determined to steer for St. Christopher's, then changed their destination towards Bonavista, one of the Cape de Verde Islands, and a great mart for salt ; but after sailing two hundred miles, fearing their provisions would fall short, they altered their course for the Barbadoes, where they arrived on the 5th of January, 1634, O. S. Their reception was cold and inhospitable, and the people demanded extravagant prices for the provisions which they desired to purchase. They now learned that a Spanish fleet way lying at Bonavista, and that, had they persisted in their original intention, their capture would have been certain. At the Barbadoes, too, a conspiracy amongst the slaves to massacre their masters, and to seize the first ship which should touch at the island, had just been discovered. Theirs being the first, would have fallen a sacrifice but for the timely discovery of this plot.

There was yet one dark cloud hanging over their prosperity — the disappearance of the pinnace. Imagine, then, their joy when she bore in sight after a separation of six weeks. On the night of the terrific storm which parted them, the Dove, after having shown her signal, no longer able to breast the storm, had changed her course and taken refuge in the Scilly Islands, whence, the ship Dragon bearing her company as far as the Bay of Biscay, she sailed in pursuit of the Ark, and at length overtook her at the Antilles.