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153 CARROLL, Miss Anna Ella, political writer and military genius, born in Kingston Hall, the ancestral residence of her father, Governor Thomas King Carroll. Somerset county, Md., 29th August, 1815. Her mother was Juliana Stevenson, the daughter of Colonel Henry James Stevenson, who had come over in the British army as surgeon during the Revolutionary War. Dr. Stevenson, though a stanch Tory, was beloved for the care bestowed by him upon the wounded of both armies. He settled in Baltimore, became greatly distinguished in his profession and built a beautiful residence on Parnassus Hill. Thomas King Carroll married Miss Stevenson in his twentieth year, and Anna Ella was the oldest child of this youthful couple. She early showed a remarkable character, reading law with her father at a youthful age. and following with interest his political career. She soon began to write for the press. Her first published work was entitled "The Great American Battle, or Political

Romanism." This was followed by "The Star of the West," describing the origin of our claims to the western territories, their conditions and their needs, and urging the building of the Pacific railroad. Miss Carroll took an active part in the election of Governor Hicks of Maryland, in 1860. and when the Civil War broke out she used her influence to hold Governor Hicks to the Union, thus saving Maryland from secession and securing the safety of the National Capital. Seeing that slavery was at the root of the rebellion, she freed her own slaves at a great sacrifice and gave herself up enthusiastically to the support of the national cause, using her great social influence and her connection with the press to secure the loyalty of her State. Miss Carroll had become a communicant of the Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, of which Dr. Robert J. Breckenridge. a loyal unionist, was pastor. He was a man of great influence and distinction. His nephew, John C. Breckenridge, at one-time a warm friend of Miss Carroll, became a leading secessionist. Immediately after President Lincoln's accession he made a very « lever and violent speech, charging Mr. Lincoln and the North with having made the war. This speech was especially designed to carry Maryland out of the Union. Miss Carroll, perceiving at once its baleful effect Union her own State, determined to answer it, and did so in a pamphlet of consummate ability. By the use of documents in her possession she showed that the Southern leaders from the time of Calhoun had been preparing for the war, and that for ten years previous the whole secession movement had been planned, even in its details. Mr. Lincoln and his cabinet were pleased with that vindication, and the Republican party decided that the pamphlet should be used as a campaign document and sent broadcast over Maryland. Thus encouraged, Miss Carroll herself, mainly at her own expense, printed and circulated 50,000 copies. James Tilghman, of the Union Committee of Baltimore, wrote her that he "set his son at the door of his house in Camden street, and that five-hundred men called for the pamphlet in a single bay, and that these were the one and sinew of the city, wanting to know in which army they ought to enlist." Mr. Lincoln and the war department, perceiving Miss Carroll's ability, engaged her to continue to write in support of the government. At their suggestion she prepared a pamphlet on the war powers of the government. Copies of two editions of this pamphlet may be seen side by side in the bound volumes of manuscript in the Suite department. That paper was followed by one on the "Power of the President to suspend the writ of halieas corpus," and later a paper on "Reconstruction," showing that emancipation could come only as a war measure, the State constitutions giving no opening for emancipation. The examination was made at President Lincoln's express desire. When Miss Carroll was preparing her war papers, it was suggested to her by Sir. Lincoln that sue should go to St Louis and endeavor to form an opinion of the probable success or failure of a most important expedition preparing to descend the Mississippi by means of gun-boats. It was a critical time. The Union armies were costing the government two millions a day, and up to that time had met with little else than defeat. The country was deeply despondent, the failure of the Union cause was predicted and the Kuropean powers were in haste to grant recognition to the Confederacy. Mr. Lincoln and the administration were in the deepest anxiety, fur they felt that defeat upon the Mississippi would be fatal. Miss Carroll repaired to St. Louis, visiting the encampments and examining carefully the topography of the country, conversing with pilots and others. She reported the Mississippi as frowning with fortifications and the tides as unfavorable. She became convinced that the proposed descent by the gun-boats would be fatal, and, inquiring carefully concerning the Tennessee river, it occurred to her that that was the true strategic line. The rebel leaders not having perceived this, it had not been fortified. Miss Carroll called in her friend. Judge Evans, of Texas, who had a rare knowledge of the topography of that part of the country He was struck by the sagacity and wisdom of her plan and advised her to lose no time in laying it before the war department. He assisted her in drawing up a map to accompany her written plan of campaign, and she hastened to Washington, and on 30th November, 1861, taking lioth papers to the war department she laid them before Thomas A. Scott, then assistant secretary of war. explaining her views, Mr. Scott, the great railroad magnate, recognized at