part of Baltimore county went on increasing. In 1628, David Jones erected his homestead near the junction of the stream (which now bears his name), and tidewater, and has, by some, been considered as the first settler. Charles Carroll, the agent of the lord proprietary, became a land holder in the neighborhood. In 1711, he sold 31 acres of his portion of "Cole's Harbor," to Jonathan Hanson, whose

South view of Washington Monument, Baltimore.

memory was preserved in the old building at the corner of Holliday and Bathstreets, which was once a mill. "Cole's Harbor" was the tract of land on which the town of Baltimore was originally laid out, containing about 550 acres, and divided into two equal parts by the rapid current of Jones' Falls. That part of the city now occupied by Howard, Eutaw, and Paca-streets, and the buildings thereon, was sold by the original patentee in 1688, for 5,000 pounds of tobacco, to George

Eager, the maternal grandfather of Col. John E. Howard, of revolutionary

memory.

In 1726, according to the returns of the surveyor of Cole's Harbor, the present site of the city contained, besides the mill above mentioned, of two dwellings with out houses, tobacco houses, and other appurtenances of the farm houses of that period. The land is described as middling in quality, and but one half cleared. The place had as yet received no name, and the ships which traded with the surrounding country never, at this time, ascended the Patapsco; but, lying at anchor at North Point, received their cargoes from the rivers which emptied into the bay in the vicinity. When the head of tide began to attract attention as the proper site for a fair and promising town, it was upon the southern, and not the northwestern branch, that it was proposed to be placed. This tract was owned by Mr. John Moale, who supposed there were iron mines on his territory; and when he learned that the attempt was about to be made to put a town upon his property, he hastened to Annapolis, which by this time had become the seat of government, and by his influence as a member of the legislature defeated the plan.

Excluded from the level land, those persons interested in forming a new town were obliged from necessity to seek the site of Baltimore, under the hills and amid the marshes of the north-western branch of the river; and accordingly an act of the legislature was passed, in 1729, authorizing the "erection of a town on the north side of Patapsco, in Baltimore county, and for laying out in lots sixty acres of land, in and about the place where one John Fleming now lives." Fleming was a tenant of Mr. Carroll, and resided on the east side of South Charles-street, 125 paces from the corner of Market-street. This sixty acres of land were purchased of Charles and Daniel Carroll, at the rate of forty shillings an acre, which the commissioners had the privilege of paying for in tobacco, at the rate of a penny a pound. The town received its name from Lord Baltimore, the proprietary, who in his turn had borrowed his from a seaport so called, in the county of Cork, in Ireland.

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Long-street and Calvert-street were the principal streets in the town. The first is now Baltimore-street, and the latter retains its original name. About the period of Braddock's defeat, for security against the enemy the town was surrounded by a board fence, with two gates for carriages and one for foot passengers. It stood, it is said, for four or five years, when it became a prey to the wants of the needy inhabitants." In 1752 Mr. John Moale took a kind of view or plan of the town; according to this representation there were at that time twenty-five houses, four of which were of brick. The brig Philip and the sloop Baltimore, represented in Moale's view, were the only sea-vessels then belonging to the town. Learning does not appear to have been forgotten: for at this period (1752), the Maryland Gazette, published at Annapolis, contains an advertisement for a schoolmaster of "a good sober character, who understands teaching English, writing and arithmetic," and who, it is added, "will meet with very good encouragement from the inhabitants of Baltimore town, if well recommended."

The commissioners, who had the management of the town affairs, were authorized to hold two annual fairs, on the first Thursday of May and October. This the inhabitants were not slow to avail themselves of, as occasions of barter and for merry-making; and during its continuance the goers and comers were privileged from arrest on civil process in these gatherings. These fairs continued until the revolution, when, "pursuant to the recommendation of congress, the committee of observation prohibited the fair then approaching, by desiring the inhabitants to abstain from such assemblages, as well as from horse-racing, cock-fighting," etc.

The following notice of Baltimore is from Eddis' Letters from America, published in London, 1792. Mr. Eddis was the surveyor of customs, etc., at Annapolis, and in his letters gives a variety of occurrences, from 1769 to to 1777 inclusive:

"Within these few years some scattered cottages were only to be found on this spot, occupied by obscure store-keepers, merely for the supply of the adjacent plantations. But the peculiar advantages it possesses with respect to the trade of the frontier counties of Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland, so strongly impressed

the mind of Mr. John Stephenson, an Irish gentleman, who had settled in the vicinity, in a medical capacity, that he first conceived the important project of rendering this port the grand emporium of Maryland commerce. He accordingly applied himself with assiduity to the completion of this plan. The neighboring country being fertile, well settled and abounding in grain, Mr. S. contracted for considerable quantities of wheat; he freighted and consigned them to a correspondent in his native country; the cargoes sold to a great advantage, and returns were made equally beneficial. The commencement of a trade so lucrative to the first adventures, soon became an object of universal attention. Persons of a commercial and enterprising spirit emigrated from all quarters to this new and promising scene of industry. Wharves were constructed, elegant and convenient habitations were rapidly erected, marshes were drained, spacious fields were occupied for the purposes of general utility; and within forty years from its first commencement, Baltimore became not only the most wealthy and populous town in the province, but inferior to few on this continent, either in size, number of inhabitants, or the advantages arising from a well-conducted and universal commercial connection."

During the revolution the spirit of enterprise began to show itself in Baltimore: capital gradually centered here, privateers were fitted out with success, and as thriving a trade was kept up, particularly with the West Indies, as the circumstances would allow. Soon after the peace of 1783, a number of German merchants settled in Baltimore, and created a market here for tobacco. A trade was opened with Holland: flour was exported to the West Indies, and wheat was sent in considerable quantities to Spain and Portugal. Indian corn became an article of commerce, being brought to Baltimore from the various rivers of the bay in the country "small craft," and thence sent abroad. The troubles of other countries contributed to the advancement of Baltimore in wealth and population. Many of the inhabitants of St. Domingo flocked to Baltimore during the period of the French revolution, and brought much capital with them. The wars in Europe which followed, threw much of the carrying trade into the hands of the people of the United States, among whom those of Baltimore obtained their full proportion. The extensive inland navigation of Chesapeake Bay had excited at an early period an emulation in the construction of vessels for this purpose, until the art of building swift sailing schooners was carried to great perfection. These vessels, now called "Baltimore Clippers," were found perfectly suited to the West India, and even the European trade, and became, in the hands of intelligent merchants, the instruments of extraordinary enterprise. "The eluding of a blockade and a quick voyage, turned the cheapest produce sent from Baltimore into gold; and the Baltimore Clipper' was always the midas that effected the transmutation." *

The site of Baltimore abounded with springs: many of these have disappeared before the progress of improvement. In addition to the artificial supply afforded by the water-works, these springs furnish the inhabitants with a sweet and good water of a pleasant temperature, at all seasons of the year. The City Spring, near the Battle Monument, is composed of several springs collected together, which anciently flowed from beneath the brow of the precipice that overhung Jones' Falls, when the latter stream retained its original direction, and passed over what is now Calvert-street, between Saratoga and Pleasant-streets. Vessels, it is stated, of considerable burden, were built and launched on tide-water at the place now occupied by the City Spring. When Calvert-street was graded, in 1810, the lot now occupied by this spring was purchased, and, under the direction of Peter Hoffman and Jesse Hollingsworth, the present appropriate buildings were erected, and the grounds about them improved.

The following account of the Battle of North Point, and the Bombardment

* Many of the historical items respecting Baltimore were taken from a small work entitled "Picture of Baltimore," published by F. Lucas, about the year 1832.

of Fort McHenry, in September, 1814, is from M'Sherry's History of Maryland:

Having triumphantly despoiled the capital of the Union, Gen. Ross turned his eyes upon the flourishing and wealthy city of Baltimore. Anticipating his design, the governor had ordered the militia of the state to hold themselves in readiness, and large bodies were marched to the city for its defense. About seven hundred regulars, several volunteer and militia companies, from Pennsylvania and Virginia, increased their strength to about fifteen thousand men. They were commanded by Gen. Samuel Smith, who had distinguished himself in the revolution by his gallant defense of Fort Mifflin. One division of the army was confided to Gen. Winder, the other to Gen. Stricker. As soon as it was announced that the British were approaching the city, the militia, irritated by the disaster at Bladensburg, and the sacking of Washington, flocked in from all quarters, in such numbers that neither arms, ammunition nor provisions could be supplied them, and the services of many were necessarily declined. As it was expected that the enemy would land and attack the town from the east, heavy batteries were erected on the high grounds in that direction, and an entrenchment thrown up, in which the main body of the militia were posted. On the water side, the city was defended by Fort McHenry, garrisoned by a thousand men under Major Armistead; two small batteries were erected on the south side, while the channel was obstructed by a number of sunken vessels.

On the 11th of September, 1814, the British fleet, numbering fifty sail, entered the mouth of the Patapsco; and on the twelfth, a force of five thousand men was landed at North Point, fourteen miles from Baltimore. Gen. Stricker was ordered forward with three thousand two hundred men, to oppose their progress. His force was composed of the fifth regiment, under Col. Sterritt; the sixth, Col. McDonald; the twenty-seventh, Lieut. Col. Long; the thirty-ninth, Col. Fowler; the fifty-first, Col. Amey; one hundred and fifty riflemen, under Čapt. Dyer; one hundred and forty cavalry, under Lieut. Col. Biays, and the Union artillery with six field-pieces. In the regiments of this brigade were incorporated Spangler's York, Metzgar's Hanover, Dixon's Marietta, and Quantril's Hagerstown uniformed volunteers. He took a position about eight miles from the city, his right resting on Bear creek and his left covered by a marsh; the fifth and twenty-seventh regiments formed the first line; the fifty-first was posted three hundred yards in the rear of the fifth, and the thirty-ninth in rear of the twenty-seventh; the sixth was held in reserve. The artillery, six four-pounders, was planted in the center on the main road, and a corps of ritlemen pushed in advance as skirmishers. The rifles soon fell in with the van of the enemy, and a sharp skirmish ensued, in which the British commander-in-chief, Gen. Ross, was killed Col. Brooke, the second in command, still continued to advance, and, at half past three, the action commenced with the main body by a heavy cannonade. Gen. Stricker ordered his artillery to cease, until the enemy should get within close cannister range; and brought up the thirty-ninth on the left of the twenty-seventh, while the fifty-first was ordered to form at right angles with the line, resting its right near the left of the thirty-ninth. The fifty-first, in attempting to execute this order, fell into confusion, which, however, was soon remedied. The enemy now advanced upon the twenty-seventh and thirty-ninth, and the action became general. The fifty-first, having imperfectly recovered from its confusion, failed to keep its ground; and, having delivered a scattering fire, broke in disorder. Its retreat threw the second battalion of the thirty-ninth into some confusion; but the whole line, undismayed by the desertion of the fifty-first, maintained its ground with the greatest firmness-pouring in a destructive fire upon the advancing columns of the enemy. The artillery reopened with terrible effect upon their left, which was opposed to the fifth, while that gallant regiment proudly sustained the laurels it had won at Bladensburg. This close and hot fire was kept up without intermission for nearly an hour, in the face of a foe more than treble their numbers; for the American line, reduced by the desertion of the fifty-first, and unaided by the sixth in reserve, numbered only fourteen hundred men. Their volleys were deadly, for they fired not only by order, but each man at his mark, and the front ranks of the enemy were frequently observed throwing themselves upon the ground to avoid its unerring destruction.

Finding that his force, uncovered on its left flank, was no longer able to make head against the superior strength of the enemy, and having accomplished the main object of his detachment, by the severe check he had given them, Gen. Stricker ordered his line to retire to the position of the sixth, his reserve regiment. This was accomplished in good order; but the fatigued condition of the troops who had been in action, and the exposed position which he occupied, determined the general to fall back still nearer to the city. The enemy, crippled by the severe contest, did not attempt pursuit; and the brigade, feeling that it had gathered the benefits of a victory, assumed its position near the lines, panting for another struggle with the invader. Although the American loss was heavy, it bore no comparison to that of the enemy. Adjutant James Lowry Donaldson, a member of the

legislature, fell in the hottest of the conflict. Lieut. Andre was killed. Capt. Quantril, of Hagerstown, Capt. Stewart, Major Moore, Lieut. Reese, Joseph R. Brookes and Ensign Kirby were wounded. Major Heath was wounded, and had two horses killed under him. The American loss was twenty-four killed, one hundred and thirty-nine wounded, and fifty prisoners-a total of two hundred and thirteen. The loss of the enemy was nearly twice as great; and among their killed was their leader, Gen. Ross, who, in conjunction with the notorious Cockburn, was the destroyer of the capital, and who had boasted that he would take up his winter quarters in Baltimore.

On the morning of the 13th of September, the British made their appearance within two miles of the entrenchments, on the Philadelphia road, as if endeavoring to gain the flank of the American position; but, baffled by the skillful maneuvers of Gen. Smith, after throwing forward a reconnoisance and threatening the lines in front, they retired toward their former position, deterred from the attempt by the strength of the works.

Having thus failed to take the city by land, the enemy hoped that an attack by water would be more successful, and on the evening of the 13th, the fleet began to bombard the fort, its main defense. The garrison was composed of three companies of United States' artillery, and three volunteer city companies, under Capt. Berry, Lieut. Pennington and Capt. Nicholson, besides six hundred infantry-in all about one thousand men, under Col. Armistead. For a time the brave garrison were compelled to receive the fire of the fleet in silence, anchored, as it was, two miles from the fort, and beyond the reach of its guns. At length, however-some confusion being created in the south-west bastion by the bursting of a bombseveral vessels were brought within range to follow up the supposed advantage; but the batteries immediate

FORT MCHENRY.

ly opened upon them with such effect that they were driven back to their former position. At this safe distance they poured a continuous storm of shells upon the gallant defenders of the fort, who held their posts in stern silence, ready to repulse any nearer approach. During the night, several rocket vessels and barges, with fourteen hundred men, supplied with scaling ladders, passed silently by the fort and entered the Patapsco. Little dreaming of the resistance of the six and ten-gun batteries, the foe already reveled in anticipation in the plunder of the captured city, when suddenly, as they drew opposite the six-gun battery, Lieut. Webster, its commander, opened upon them with terrible effect. The fort and the ten-gun battery also poured in their fire, and for two hours a furious cannonade was kept up, while the heavens were lighted up with the fiery courses of the bombs from the fleet and barges. The havoc was dreadful. One of the barges was sunk, and the cries of the wounded and drowning could be plainly heard upon the shore. The rest, in the utmost confusion, and having suffered a heavy loss, retreated precipitately to the fleet.

Thus baffled by land and water, Admiral Cockburn and Col. Brooke determined to abandon the expedition; the troops were embarked on the 15th, and, on the 16th, the hostile fleet dropped down the Chesapeake, leaving the liberated city filled with joy at her triumphant preservation, mingled with sorrow for the gallant sons who had died to defend her.

Admiral Cockburn continued his exploits on the bay shore, burning and destroying the property of the defenseless citizens for some time longer, and threatening the towns on the coast; but he at length withdrew. The gallant defense of Baltimore saved the other Atlantic cities from attack; its successful termination raised the spirits of the people, and renewed their confidence in themselves-proving that, when led by brave and skillful officers, they need not dread to encounter any equal force of their veteran enemy

The celebrated poem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," was written by Francis S. Key, a lawyer, of Baltimore, at the time of the bombardment of Fort McHenry. He had been sent with a flag of truce, to Admiral Cockburn, to effect the release of some captive friends, and was himself detained on board of a cartel until after the attack.