Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/149

This page needs to be proofread.

CARROLL.


CARROLL.


personally investigated the scene of the proposed operations, and made a study of the topography of the country, and reported that the unfortified Tennessee river and not the Mississippi was the true key to the situation. Her letters, explana- tory maps, and invaluable geographical and topo- graphical information resulted in her plan being adopted, and the land and naval forces were massed on the Tennessee. Fort Henry, Fort Don- elson, Colimibus, Bowling Green, Pittsburg Land- ing and Corinth, one after another, fell into the hands of the Federals ; Missouri was saved, and Kentucky and Tennessee brought back into the Union. She also suggested the final plans adopted by the war department which resulted in the capture of Island No. 10, and the siege and capture of Vicksburg which opened the way to the gulf. It was deemed ■wise at the time to keep secret the fact that this campaign had been conceived by a civilian and a woman. Mr. Lin- coln's death prevented his acknowledgment of the credit, and though Miss Carroll had ample documentary proof of the validity of her claim, which was acknowledged by several congres- sional military committees to be " incontroverti- ble, ' ' no further action A\*as taken in the matter, and Miss Carroll was dependent for support in her declining years upon her sister, a clerk in the treasury department at Washington. See A Militai'y Genius : Life of Anna Ella Carroll, the Great Unrecognized Member of Lincoln's Cabinet, by Sarah Ellen Blackwell (1891). She died Feb. 17, 1894.

CARROLL, Charles, of Carrollton, signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born at Annapolis, Md., Sept. 19, 1737; son of Charles and Elizabeth (Brooke) Carroll. His grandfather, Charles CarroU, was of a good Irish family, and immigrated to Maryland in the year preceding the revolution in England, which terminated in the dethronement of James II. When about eleven years old he was sent bj' his father to the college of St. Omer in France, where he remained until 1753. He then spent a year in a college at Rheims, going thence to Paris, where he studied at the College of Louis le Grand. All these col- leges were taught by Jesuits. In 1758 he went to England and studied law in the Inner Temple for a few years, returning to America in 1765. At the breaking out of the revolutionary troubles he took a decided stand in su])port of the rights of the colonists. In 1774 he was made a member of the committee of correspondence, and in the following year was appointed one of the commit- tee of safety established by the legislature. He also served in the convention which formed the constitution of the state. In 1776, in conjunc- tion with Benjamin Franklin. Samuel Chase, and his cousin, the Rev, John Carroll, afterwards


archbishop of Baltimore, he was sent to Canada to persuade the inhabitants of that section of America to unite with the provinces which had thrown otf their allegiance to England. On his return he took his seat in the convention of Mary- land. Finding that the convention had in- structed their delegates in Congress not to vote for independence, Mr. CarroU exerted all his influence to change their decision, which they did, and they elected him a member of the Conti- nental Congress on July 4, 1776. Two days later the state of Maryland was declared free and in- dependent. Mr. Carroll took his seat in the Con- tinental Congress on July 18, 1776, and, on August 2, he affixed his signature to the Declaration of Independence. His term in Congress ended on Nov. 10, 1776, and in the following month he became a member of the first senate convened in his native state. In 1777 he again served in Congress, and in 1788 was chosen the first U. S. senator from Maryland, under the constitution, taking his seat in New York, April 30, 17ts9. His short term expired March 3, 1791. and he was re-elected, and resigned in 1793, when he was suc- ceeded by Richard Potts. He returned to Mary- land, where he was elected to the state senate, and remained in that body ten years. He was one of the first directors of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad company, of which he laid the foundation-stone July 4, 1828. He was married in June, 1768, to Mary, daughter of Col. Henry Darnall, by whom he had one son, Charles Car- roll, and two daughters, Mrs. Harper and Mrs. Caton. He was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, and died in Bal- timore, Md., Nov. 14, 1832.

CARROLL, Daniel, patriot, was born in Prince George's county, Md., in 1756. He acquired a classical education, and engaged in agricultural pursuits on his estate, which afterwards became a part of the city of Washington, D. C. From 1780 to 1784 he was a delegate from Maryland to the Continental Congress. He was also a dele- gate to the convention that framed the Federal constitution. In 1788 he was elected a represen- tative from Maryland to the 1st U. S. Congress, and served from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1791. He was active in securing the establishment of a seat of government, and in 1791 was appointed by President Washington a commissioner to locate the District of Columbia and the capital city. He died at " Duddington," his mansion house, near Washington, D. C, in 1829.

CARROLL, John, R. C. archbishop, was born at Upper Marlboro, Prince George's county, Maryland, Jan. 8, 1735; son of Daniel and Eleanor (Darnall) Carroll. His father and grandfather came from Ireland in the reign of James II. and settled in Maryland. His education was begun