Maryland 1-1 ST P Historical Magazine a. CfQ N n5' < 00 zo 00 Published Quarterly by the Museum and Library of Maryland History The Maryland Historical Society Fall 1989 THE MARYLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY OFFICERS AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES, 1988-89 Samuel Hopkins, Chairman Brian B. Topping, President Bryson L. Cook, Secretary and Counsel Mrs. Charles W. Cole, Jr., Vice President E. Mason Hendrickson, Treasurer Mrs. David R. Owen, Vice President Leonard C. Crewe, Jr., Past President Walter D. Pinkard, Sr., Vice President J. Fife Symington, Jr., A. MacDonough Plant, Vice President Past Chairman of the Board Truman T. Semans, Vice President Together with those board members whose names are marked below with an asterisk, the persons above form the Society's Executive Committee H. Furlong Baldwin (1991) Milton H. Miller (1991) Gary Black, Jr. (1992) Jack Moseley (1989) Clarence W. Blount (1990) John]. Neubauer, Jr. (1992) L. Patrick Deering (1991) James O. Olfson, Arme Anmdel Co. (1991) Jerome Geckle (1991) Mrs. Price Phillips, Worcester Co. (1991) C. William Gilchrist, Allegany Co. (1989) J. Hurst Pumell, Jr., Kent Co. (1991) Louis L. Goldstein, Calmrt Co. (1991) George M. Radcliffe (1989) Kingdon Gould, Jr., Houard Co. (1989) Dennis F. Rasmussen (1990) Benjamin H. Griswold, III (1991) Howard P. Rawlings (1992) Arthur J. Gutman f799/j Adrian P. Reed, Queen Anne's Co. (1991) Willard Hackerman (1991) G. Donald Riley, Jr., Carmll Co. (1991) E. PhiUips Hathaway* (1991) John D. Schapiro* (1991) Louis G. Hecht (1989) Jacques T. Schlenger (1989) Michael Hoffberger (1989) Miss Dorothy Scott (1992) William S. James, Harford Co. (1991) Jess Joseph Smith, Jr., Richard R. Kline,* Fredrick Co. (1989) Prince George's Co. (1991) Charles McC. Mathias (1990) John T. Stinson (1989) Robert G. Merrick, Jr. (1991) Bernard C. Trueschler (1991) F. Grove Miller (1992) Thomas D. Washbume (1990) J. Jefferson Miller U (1992) Dates note expiration of terms COUNCIL, 1988-89 George H. Callcott Charles E, McCarthy III Mrs. Charles W. Cole, Jr. James L. Nace P. McEvoy Cromwell Charles E. Scarlett III Alan N. Gamse Dorothy Mcllvain Scott Louis G. Hecht Mary Virginia Slaughter Mrs. Jay Katz James F. Adomanis Bayly Ellen Marks Mrs. Aristides C. Alevizatos Barbara Wells Sarudy, Karen A. Stuart, Acting Director Library Director Jennifer F. Goldsborough, Judith Van Dyke, Chief Curator Education Director HIST VOLUME 84 FALL 1989 ITS \ ^ CONTENTS "A Revolution More Extraordinary": Bishop John Carroll and the Birth of American Catholicism 195 by Thomas W. Spalding An American Catholic in Victorian England: Louisa, Duchess of Leeds, and the Carroll Family Benefice 223 by Grace Donovan Research Notes and Maryland Miscellany 235 William Smith: Godfather and First President of St. John's College, by Arthur Pierce Middkton John McDowell, Federalist: President of St. John's College, by Charlotte Fletcher Defending Baltimore in the War of 1812: Two Sidelights, by Scott S. Sheads "This Present Time of Alarm": Baltimoreans Prepare for Invasion, by Barbara K. Weeks Religion, Patriotism, and Poetry in the Life of Francis Scott Key, by Sam Meyer Book Reviews 275 Snigger, Maryland, A Middle Temperament, 1634-1980 by James A. Henretta Dowell, Gnat Houses of Maryland, by Travis C McDonald, Jr. Brooks and Parsons, Baltimore County Panorama, by Jane C Sween Beauchamp, ed., A Private War: Letters and Diaries of Madge Preston, 1862-1867, by E. Susan Barber Silverman, Unseen Harvests, by Adele V. Holden Beeman, Botein, and Carter, eds., Beyond Confederation: Origins of the Constitution and American National Identity, by Jean R. Soderland Boles, ed.. Masters and Slaves in the House of the Lord: Race and Religion in the American South, 1740-1870, by Jean R. Soderlund Siegel, The Roots of Southern Distinctiveness: Tobacco and Society in Danville, Virginia, 1780-1865, by Whitman H. Ridgway Crofts, Reluctant Confederates: Upper South Unionists in the Secession Crisis, by James C Mohr Matter, If It Takes All Summer: The Battle of Spotsylvania, by Stanfield S. McClure Bennett, The Party of Fear: From Nativist Movements to the New Right in American History, by Larry Madaras ISSN-0025-4258 Copyright 1989 by the Maryland Historical Society. Published in March, June, September, and December. Second Class postage paid at Baltimore, Maryland and at additional mailing offices: POSTMASTER please send address changes to the Maryland Historical Society, 201 West Monument Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, which disclaims responsibility for statements, whether of feet or opinion, made by contributors. Composed and printed by The Sheridan Press, Hanover, Pennsylvania 17331. Books Received 289 News and Notices 291 Maryland Picture Puzzle 295 Editorial Board JOSEPH L. ARNOLD, University of Maryland, Baltimore County JEAN H. BAKER, Goucher College GEORGE H. CALLCOTT, University of Maryland, College Park Lois GREEN CARR, St. Mary's City Commission CURTIS CARROLL DAVIS, Baltimore, Maryland RICHARD R. DUNCAN, Georgetown University BARBARA JEANNE FIELDS, Columbia University ROBERT L. HALL, University of Maryland, Baltimore County JOHN HIGHAM, Johns Hopkins University RONALD HOFFMAN, Universiry of Maryland, College Park EDWARD C. PAPENFUSE, Maryland State Archives ROSALYN M. TERBORG-PENN, Morgan State University ROBERT J. BRUGGER, Editor ROBIN D. STRAHAN, Managing Editor MARY MANNDC, Art Editor MELINDA K. FRIEND, Assistant Editor and Advertising Manager Editorial Assistants CHARLES BARKER, PATRICIA A. CRAMER, JANE CUSHING LANGE, AND NANCY D. WEST ZANOVA MICKENS, Circulation Manager Associate Editors JOHN B. WISEMAN JANE C. SWEEN LOU ROSE JOHN R. WENNERSTEN Frostburg Montgomety County Calvert County University of Maryland, State University Historical Society Historical Society Eastern Shore Editor's Comer This issue completes our 1989 celebrations by marking the bicentennial of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baltimore, the bicentennial of St. John's College, and the 175th anniversary of the Battle of North Point, defense of Baltimore, and Key's writing the "Star Spangled Banner." Any one of these events might make a special number of itself. The following essays—one of them excerpted from a book due out later this fall—should at least provide readers some interesting glimpses at these large topics. Jo Ann E. Argersinger has served as book review editor of the magazine for almost two years and given so generously of her time that even we who know of her energy and self-discipline have marvelled. She now departs to begin a term in the provost's office at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. I am sad to see her leave and thank her for all her professional help and moral support. Cover design: Detail from Alfred Jacob Miller's "Bombardment of Fort McHenry, Sept. 13-14, 1814" (c. 1830). Painting in oils, Miller based his interpretation on his father's eye-witness account of the British attack. (Maryland Historical Society.) "A Revolution More Extraordinary": Bishop John Carroll and the Birth of American Catholicism THOMAS W. SPALDING X he period between the Peace of Paris in 1763 and the adoption of the Constitu- tion in 1789 was formative not only for the United States but also for the Roman Catholic Church in the new republic. A key figure in the organization of his church in this Revolutionary era was John Carroll. To him would fall the task of adjusting an ancient faith to a new and strange political configuration. In the process he would create a tradition that would make the Catholic Church in the United States exceptional.1 At the end of the French and Indian War Bishop Richard Challoner, the vicar apostolic of the London District, sent a report to Rome on the state of the church within his jurisdiction. It included the English-speaking colonies of the New World. In Pennsylvania the Catholic religion was officially tolerated, he explained. "In Maryland, the laws are opposed to it as in England; however, these laws are rarely put into execution and usually there is a sort of tacit toleration." Some 16,000 Catholics were in Maryland, about half of whom approached the sacra- ments.2 They were served by some twelve Jesuits. In Pennsylvania four Jesuits served 6,000 to 7,000 Catholics. "These religious," the bishop added, "manifest great zeal and lead edifying lives." They also ministered to the few Catholics in the adjoining regions of Virginia and New Jersey.3 The successful conclusion of the French and Indian War brought a sense of relief in Maryland that proved a boon to Catholics. Nowhere was the altered attitude toward them more apparent than in the silence that greeted the burst of Catholic construction in the years immediately following the war. Two missions were estab- lished and several churches built. The Jesuits' residence at Bohemia, Cecil County, was in a ruinous state, and they decided to create a new mission farther south rather than rebuild. The long journey to the Catholic congregations of Talbot and Queen Anne's counties, Father Joseph Mosley explained, "had broken the constitution of every one who went down to [them}." In August 1764 Mosley himself was assigned the task of making the new foundation near Tuckahoe in Talbot County. It would be the loneliest and most demanding of the Jesuit missions in Maryland.4 For the growing number of Brother Spalding teaches history at Spalding University, Louisville, Kentucky. This fell Johns Hopkins will publish his The Premier See: A History of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, 1789-1989- 195 MARYLAND HISTORICAL MAGAZINE VOL. 84, No. 3, FALL 1989 196 MARYLAND HISTORICAL MAGAZINE Catholics in western Maryland, served from both Conewago and St. Thomas Manor, the Jesuits decided to establish a center at Frederick Town. In October 1765 John Gary deeded three lots to Father George Hunter, still the superior in Maryland, for a token five shillings, and in 1766 the Society spent over £300 on a brick church.5 In Charles County Father Hunter built a more commodious residence at St.