Marylanders All: Ten Unsung Heroes of Dorchester County

By C. Kay Larson and Earl E. Brannock

Marylanders All is an intriguing look at the lives of ten Dorchester County figures of the eighteenth through the twenty-first centuries. These nine men and one woman, as well as many of their family members, influenced local, state, and national events in war- and peacetime. This work makes clear that Dorchester County made historical contributions way out of proportion to its geographic size.

In these pages, Brannock and Larson relate the actions of formidable individuals, such as young Lt. John Trippe, USN, who enthralls us with his derring-do in the War with the Barbary States. Dr. Thomas Steele escorted Commodore Matthew C. Perry, when he visited Japan to open it to American trade in 1852. Anna Ella Carroll was a political and legal advisor to Pres. Abraham Lincoln, serving also as a U. S. secret agent and military strategist. Cdr Amos S. Creighton led the Maryland State Fishery Force for thirty years, first coming on board during the waning years of the Oyster Wars on the Chesapeake Bay. Merchant mariner Granville Conway commanded a fleet of 4,000 ships, when he served as operations director of the War Shipping Administration during World War II.

Earl Brannock whose research provided the inspiration and factual basis for much of this book is also featured, initially as a young World War II sailor in charge of the bridge of the U. S. S. Chester at the battle of Iwo Jima.

So come along on this adventure ride into history and learn about these larger-than-life Dorchester County Marylanders, most of whom went on to national reknown.

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Dorchester County, located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, with Cambridge as its county seat, was established in 1669. As part of the DelMarVa Peninsula, that is sided by the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, Dorchester County has always economically depended upon commercial fishing and agriculture. Hence, Cambridge was home to wealthy Chesapeake Bay and sea captains, shippers, merchants, bankers, doctors, and lawyers who are mainly featured in this work. Local residents also contributed heavily to the nations military heritage, particularly the naval forces.

Today many families that are related to the figures in this book and that have resided in the county, since the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, still remain. The county was also home to the legendary figures Harriet Tubman and Annie Oakley who have been covered in numerous mediums, as well as loyal Civil War Gov. Thomas H. Hicks and Col. James Wallace, commander of the 1st Maryland Eastern Shore Regiment, a hero of the battle of Gettysburg.


Long recognized locally for its heroic figures, Eastern Shore history is illuminated through the accounts of premier Dorchester Countians presented by Earl Brannock and Kay Larson. Marylanders All is a fascinating read. Historians and generalists alike will be captivated by this parade of giants who, one after the other, take center stage in this skillfully woven narrative of locals who made good.

Dr. G. Raymond Thompson, director, The Nabb Center for the Study of the
DelMarVa Peninsula, Salisbury (Md.) University



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Read about our featured Maryland heroes:

Lt. John Trippe singled out the gigantic Tripolitan as his opponent. In the fight that ensued Trippe was wounded eleven times, breaking his sword and being beaten to his knees. Trippe picked up a half-pike. . .and with a desperate upward thrust struck the enemy dead . . . .[but] another pirate [charged] at him. Marine Sgt. Meredith with a bayonet thrust stopped the attacker in his tracks. Brannock on Trippe, Easton (Md.) Star Democrat, 1997

During World War II, Capt. Granville Conway transformed the War Shipping Administration into an, elastic, fast-moving, thinking, intelligent organization, foreign to every habitual concept of a government organization. Many private industries could take lessons from G

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781493150717

C. Kay Larson

In Civil War author C. Kay Larson´s new work of fiction, South Under a Prairie Sky: The Journal of Nell Churchill, U.S. Army Nurse & Scout, our teenaged heroine grows up in Monmouth, Illinois in the antebellum era. Nell begins her journal entries in 1856, as unrest breaks out in Kansas over the slavery issue. Her relatives flee the state and take refuge at the Churchill farm home, finally settling in Monmouth. In real life, Nell Churchill was Larson’s great-great grandmother’s niece who was born in nearby Biggsville, ca. 1896. In this work she is moved back in time to the Civil War era and transformed into a composite fictional character. Monmouth was taken as Nell’s hometown as Larson’s aunt’s family, the Winebrights, resided there until the 1990s. George A. Winebright enlisted in the 83rd Illinois Infantry Regiment as a young German immigrant. As an independent scholar and a Civil War buff since childhood, for the last twenty years, Larson has been researching and writing on women’s military history. Her previous publications have included articles on the women Civil War soldiers and Great Necessities: The Life, Times, and Writings of Anna Ella Carroll, 1815-1894, on Lincoln’s political/legal advisor. Her Civil War website is titled: “Springing to the Call: A Documenatary View of Women in the American Civil War.” The idea for Nell’s journal resulted from the posting of the website. Larson realized that if she made a composite character of the women described, she would have a very good storyline for a fictional work. After graduating from high school, Nell attends Knox College in Galesburg, one of the first open to women. She becomes involved in the political questions of the day and follows the 1858 senate and the 1860 presidential campaigns in which Abraham Lincoln is a candidate. Her family also aids in the running of underground railroad stations for fugitive slaves. Family tradition has it that the Winebright farm was part of the network of stations in the area. Nell’s brother and cousins attend Monmouth College. Uncle Sylvester Churchill is the town doctor. He is taken after Larson’s ancestor who was a doctor in nearby Kirkwood in the 1870s. Shortly after the Civil War breaks out in 1861, Nell’s brother and cousin enlist, as later do their brothers-in-law. Nell and Sylvester join medical teams in Tennessee after the battle of Shiloh. She becomes the protege of the legendary Sanitary Commission agent, Mary "Mother" Bickerdyke of Galesburg, Illinois, who is presented as herself in the book. In the fall of 1862, Nell is enrolled as an army scout by Gen. William S. Rosecrans, commander, Army of the Cumberland. She completes two important undercover missions into Confederate lines. Nell also finds romance, falling in love with a dashing Swedish-American cavalry officer from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Although a fictional account, virtually every incident in the book is fact-based. Featured town, county, college, and political events have been taken from private papers, local documents, histories, and newspapers. Nurse memoirs were culled for facts and poignant stories. Scout accounts are largely based on the exploits of Pauline Cushman, U.S. scout for the Army of the Cumberland, and Pinkerton Detective Hattie Lawton, as well as accounts of female scouts noted in the official war records. Larson affords a wide view of the Midwest, also incorporating scenes from her home state of Wisconsin, as well as Chicago and St. Louis. All sources are referenced in the Underbook that adds facts and commentary. The facts of the military deaths of two Larson relatives, David Salter and John Shook, are featured in the work. Wyatt Earp and John Wayne’s ancestors, all of whom lived in Monmouth, add color. SEE WHAT READERS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT: SOUTH UNDER A PRAIRIE SKY South Under a Prairie Sky is a captivating blend o

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Copyright © 2014 by Earl E. Brannock.

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Rev. date: 03/21/2014

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Cover design by C. Kay Larson.

Painting: New Providence [Island] Invasion, by V. Zveg.

Navy Art Collection. Earl Brannock photograph.

Courtesy: Brannock.

CONTENTS

Illustrations

Preface

Chapter 1 Capt. William Hallock of the Continental Navy

Chapter 2 Lt. John L. Trippe, USN, in the War with the Barbary States

Chapter 3 Dr. Thomas B. Steele, USN, with Commodore Matthew C. Perry in Japan, 1852

Chapter 4 Anna Ella Carroll, Civil War Secret Agent

Chapter 5 Dr. J. Alexander B. Muse, USA, Civil War Surgeon

Chapter 6 Brig. Gen. William S. Muse, USMC in the Spanish-American War, 1898

Chapter 7 Cdr. Amos S. Creighton, Maryland State Fishery Force, 1907-1951

Chapter 8 Capt. Granville Conway, War Shipping Administration, World War II

Chapter 9 Dr. Thomas A. Flowers Mr. Dorchester County, 1923-2005

Chapter 10 Earl Brannock, Iwo Jima, February 1945

Bibliographical Essay with Index Keywords

About the Authors

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Spirit of 1776

Commodore Esek Hopkins, commander, Continental Navy

American Helldiver banks off aircraft carrier, U. S. S. Hornet, World War II

Lt. John L. Trippe, USN

Commodore Stephen Decatur, USN

Trippe in engagement with Barbary pirate

Dr. Thomas B. Steele, assistant surgeon, USN

Commodore Matthew C. Perry, being received in the port of Tokyo Bay

Adm. David G. Farragut lashed to mast, commanding attack on Mobile Bay

Anna Ella Carroll portrait. Gift of niece Nellie Calvert Carroll

Gov. Thomas King Carroll, Maryland (Democrat-1830)

Edwin M. Stanton, secretary of war, 1862-1865

Dr. J. Alexander B. Muse, USA

Johanna O’Conor Muse

U. S. Marine Hospital, New Orleans

Brig. Gen. William S. Muse, USMC, as a lieutenant

Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island

Adm. William T. Sampson, commanding, U. S. Navy fleet, Santiago, Cuba, 1898

Cdr. Amos S. Creighton, Maryland State Fishery Force

S. S. Dupont, flagship, Maryland State Fishery Force

Newspaper coverage of Gold Life Saving Medal rescue by Dupont crew

Capt. Granville Conway, director, War Shipping Administration

Torpedoed U. S. Merchant Marine vessel, 1941-1945

B-25 bombers stored on board a tanker superstructure, awaiting shipment during World War II

Thomas A. Flowers, Mr. Dorchester County

Tom Flowers enjoying Chesapeake Bay crabs

Poster: Annie Oakley, rifle sharpshooter

Earl Brannock on leave with future wife, Shirley Sullivan, World War II

U. S. S. Chester

International Yachting Fellowship of Rotarians Commodore Earl Brannock, Monaco 1975

Dedicated to the officers and crew of the U. S. S. Chester

who served during World War II

PREFACE

After I retired from my business career in the early 1980s, I decided to open a small maritime museum, dedicated to the history of Dorchester County and the U. S. Navy in general. The research I and my wife, Shirley, conducted over the next thirty years has resulted in the publication of this book. Without Shirley’s untiring assistance, I could not have completed this work.

Having lived in Cambridge all my life, I had learned about some of our heroes at a young age: the Muse family whose houses still stand here; Anna Ella Carroll whose nieces taught her story in local schools; and, of course, I worked with my uncle, Amos Creighton who commanded the Maryland State Fishery Force. Other figures, we researched at the Maryland and Dorchester County Historical Societies, the U. S. Marine Corps Historical Division, the U. S. Naval Academy, Navy Department libraries, Navy Yard Museum, the U. S. Naval Institute, and the National Archives. In the case of William Hallock, his ship logs were captured by the British, so I had access to them when I traveled to England, while helping to organize Operation Sail in 1976. Tom Flowers was one of my best friends and he and I consulted with each other on our work. Overall the research for this book was a grand adventure, as was all the collecting we did for the Brannock Maritime Museum of Cambridge, Maryland.

I have a number of persons and organizations to thank for this work: the staffs of the institutions noted above, as well as that of the Dorchester County library. Phil Brohawn; Jane, Ann, and Dean Flowers; and Carolyn and Elliot Conway contributed biographical, anecdotal, and photographic material. C. Kay Larson has worked long hours researching additional material, writing, and editing this tract in a short time. Frank A. Bittner has helped to compile and organize material. Frank, Ray Lowry, and Andrew Todd have assisted with editorial, technical, and logistical support.

Earl Brannock

Cambridge, Maryland

image%202%20(Chapter%201).jpg

The Spirit of 1776. Tradition has it that this painting depicts

the Baltimore recruitment parade for the first two Continental Navy ships.

National Archives.

CHAPTER 1

image%201%20Maryland%20Flag.jpg image%201%20Maryland%20Flag.jpg image%201%20Maryland%20Flag.jpg

Capt. William Hallock

of the Continental Navy

On October 13, 1775, the Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, voted to purchase two merchant ships that would be the first commissioned vessels in the Continental Navy. This number was increased to four at the end of October. On December 22, Esek Hopkins of Rhode Island was named commodore of the small fleet and captains were appointed.

The first two vessels that got underway, Wasp and Hornet, were both eventually commanded by Capt. William Hallock of Dorchester County. Hallock was a fifth generation American, descending from Peter Hallock of Southold, Long Island, New York.

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Genealogical and historical data show that the Hallock family had been part of a Puritan exodus from Boston, headed by Theophilius Eaton, a prosperous merchant and Rev. John Davenport who formed a joint stock company. They and their parishioners emigrated to Connecticut. Eaton was named chief magistrate of the New Haven colony in 1639. For a period New Haven governed Southold where the Hallocks established themselves.

A little known fact of this pious era is that two Puritan colonies were planted in Virginia and Maryland. During the first half of the seventeenth century, the Virginia governor contacted Boston ministers, requesting that a group come south, hoping to take advantage of their work ethic and business acumen. For the next number of years, there was much coming and going, but eventually a colony developed in Norfolk.

By 1642, however, Virginia, as a whole, had not proven itself to be a very viable colony. It was disorderly and comprised a sickly settlement of barely 8,000 souls, rather resembling a lumber camp. The English Civil War was in full throes with the aristocracy under threat from Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Puritan Army. Taking advantage of these events, Gov. Lord William Berkeley began to invite members of the royalist aristocracy and gentry to Virginia, an exodus that lasted to roughly 1670.

As Royalists, these cavaliers also swore to defend Anglican rule. Thus in an effort to enforce Anglican conformity, Berkeley purged all nonconformists from Virginia. Three hundred of the Norfolk Puritan group were granted asylum in Maryland and established themselves on the Severn River at Annapolis, in 1649.

Historically Puritan families moved together, so it seems clear that the Hallock family moved to Maryland to join the Norfolk group and perhaps other New England families that had emigrated south. Names such as Adams, Glover, Hubbard, Martin, Parker, and Smith that appear on mid-nineteenth century Dorchester County voters’ lists are evidence of this heritage.

These colonists would have been moving in with Anglicans, Catholics, Huguenots, and Scot- and Anglo-Irish Presbyterians. The Presbyterians were also strong dissenting puritans. Given the puritans’ history of battling Anglican and Catholic kings, they were more than likely to take up the patriot cause during the American Revolution. William Hallock, thus, followed a strong religious tradition in choosing to be a rebel. Moreover, the puritan culture, which emphasized education and commerce, would help mold Eastern Shore society and its economy for centuries to come.

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Returning to the tale of our two ships, the October 1775 Continental Congress legislation was the first of a number of measures that established a naval force to support the army and defend the coasts. Specifically on October 5, a committee was appointed to develop means to intercept two British warships that intelligence indicated were carrying military stores. Beyond the October purchases, in November the recruitment of two battalions of marines was sanctioned and a set of naval regulations was passed. Also in November the Congress declared British warships legitimate targets for capture, in response to their raids un coastal towns.

The 1775 legislation, however, did not sail through the Congress without foaming up some rancor among members. During a heated 10-day debate, delegates argued the cost and feasibility of creating a fleet to take on the Royal Navy, the most powerful in the world. Some conservative Southerners averred that the costs would be prohibitive and thought the New Englanders were just fulfilling their suspicions of being Northern outside money-grubbers (Southern wealth lay in land and slaves).

However, nothing succeeds like success. After Gen. George Washington took over command of the Continental Army in July 1775, he authorized attacks on British supply ships, as did the Congress. Shortly fifty-five prizes were taken, but the individual state navies were weak. Chairman of the Board of War and Ordnance John Adams of Massachusetts, however, knowing the colonies’ lifeblood was at stake, led the effort to convince members of the necessity of a unified force and was elated when the navy bills passed. Samuel Chase of Annapolis cast the deciding vote in favor of the creation of the squadron. Congress later authorized the construction of thirteen new Continental frigates.

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In the final analysis, the Continental Congress had little choice regarding sea power. As of March 31, 1774, Parliament had passed, and King George III had signed, the Boston Port Act, the first of the Coercive Acts that closed the port of Boston to all imports and exports, except military stores and foodstuffs. The government was reacting to a long string of civil disorders that culminated in the Boston Tea Party. In this fray, disguised Sons of Liberty dumped more than 300 East India tea chests into the harbor to protest the company’s special privileges that undercut local trade. To point out the obvious, the port was closed by British warships

The fundamental reason these trade and tax issues so enflamed all thirteen colonies, beginning with the passage of the Stamp Act in 1765, was that all classes quickly perceived that Parliament might be viewing America as just a fiscal milk cow. At any time, for any reason, MPs could start the milk flowing again with new taxes, and the Americans would have no say in the matter. So the issue was about money, as well as rights of Englishmen, which Americans considered themselves to be. Further, over more than one hundred years, the colonists had developed largely, self-governing polities and strong economies, and weren’t sure they wanted to be part of, or help fund, King George’s empire.

In an effort to defuse the Boston standoff, in early July 1775, the Continental Congress passed the Olive Branch Petition that professed loyalty to King George and sought reconciliation. However, later in the month, the body rejected Lord North’s plan for peace that fell short of independence. And so in September 1775, King George issued a proclamation declaring the colonies in open rebellion. In December, another proclamation ordered the closure of all colonial commerce, to be enforced by the Royal Navy, which constituted an act of war.

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With King George declaring open naval war, Congress really had to respond in kind, which Washington’s navy was already doing. Reacting quickly to the October legislation, Baltimore merchants financed the purchase of the schooners Scorpion and sloop Falcon, renamed Wasp and Hornet, respectively. The names were chosen to signify to British officers that the Americans could deliver stings.

Local shipyard laborers set to work to refurbish the vessels as warships. Wasp was fitted with eight 4-pounder guns and Hornet with eight 2-pounders. Meanwhile in Philadelphia, Lt. John Paul Jones had hoisted the ensign of the Pennsylvania flagship Alfred on December 3, 1775. As tokens of comradeship, the Philadelphians sent down two flags for Wasp and Hornet. These banners were paraded through throngs of patriotic well-wishers to help recruit crews that were quickly assembled.

As noted previously, William Hallock was first put in command of Wasp, and William Stone, of Hornet. Little is known of Stone, but most likely he was a relative of the William Stone who succeeded Lord Baltimore as governor of his proprietary colony.

Thus in mid-January 1776, Wasp and Hornet sliced through the ice in Baltimore harbor, escorting a convoy of merchantmen. The warships’ job was to break the British blockade of the Chesapeake and Delaware bays.

As the convoy ventured down the Chesapeake, it gathered additional ships, many carrying tobacco, the money crop in the region. At the time our captains were not only threatened by the British blockade, but by the aggressive royalist Virginia governor, Lord Dunmore. His ships had attacked and burned parts of Norfolk on New Year’s Day 1776.

Those who believe the British carried out gentlemanly warfare during the Revolution have it backward. They considered the Americans rabble, not worthy of equal treatment. Many argued ship crews should be hanged as pirates, as they were not recognized legal belligerents. Continental prisoners-of-war were subjected to the most brutal treatment, even murder; so Continental ship crews had a lot on the line when going up against the Royal Navy and their loyalists.

In any case, Hallock’s convoy cleared the Chesapeake Bay capes, running past the British cruisers and sent the merchant ships safely on their way. The Wasp and Hornet then turned north to join the fleet of Commodore Esek Hopkins. Thus the two vessels from Maryland became the first to get underway for active operations, flying the flag of the new, unified Continental Navy.

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Given William Hallock’s New England heritage, he would find his new boss, Rhode Islander Hopkins, a kindred spirit. Hopkins was a sea captain and in 1775 had been appointed head of Rhode Island’s armed forces. Given its 400-mile coastline, Rhode Island’s economy depended upon the seafaring trade.

Rhode Islanders also were accomplished smugglers. They refused to pay duties on sugar cane products, the source of their brisk trade with the French West Indies. By selling their processed and manufactured goods in the Caribbean, they were able to bring home cargoes of molasses, used in distilling rum, a staple during colonial times.

To avoid duties, upon entering port a master paid a penalty tax