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road president, that Pennsylvania troops were approaching by rail from Harrisburgh to Cockeysville, near Baltimore, and thereupon returned. to the President with this statement, and the President and Gen. Scott ordered that they should be turned back to Harrisburgh. About this date a delegation from the Young Men's Christian Association, re•quested the President should put an end to the unnatural conflict by conceding the demands of the South, and they advised the President that the Federal forces already in Washington should be disbanded, and that no more should be marched through Maryland. The President in reply in substance said that such a course would result in the destruction of the

government and death and captivity. The young Christians protested that they intended no such purpose. The President replied that intent was not material as the effect of their demands could have no other result. To a more formal reply of Gov. Hicks to the same purport, Secretary Seward, on behalf of the administration, responded firmly, but kindly, as follows:

"DEPARTMENT OF STATE, "April 22d, 1861. "His Excellency, THOMAS H. HICKS, "Governor of Maryland.

"Sir: I have the honor to receive your communication of this morning, in which you inform me that you have felt it your duty to advise the President of the United States to

order elsewhere the troops then off Annapolis, and also that no more be sent through Maryland; and that you have further suggested, that Lord Lyons be requested to act as mediator between the contending parties in our country, to prevent the effusion of blood.

"The President directs me to acknowledge the receipt of that communication, and to assure you that he has weighed the counsels which it contains with the respect which he habitually cherishes for the chief magistrates of the several States, and especially for yourself. He regrets, as deeply as any magistrate or citizen of the country can, that the demonstrations against the safety of the United States, with very extensive preparations for the effusion of blood, have made it his duty to call out the forces to which you allude.

"The force now sought to be brought through Maryland is intended for nothing but the defence of this Capital. The President has necessarily confided the choice of the national highway, which that force shall take in coming to this city, to the lieutenant-general, commanding the army of the United States, who, like his only predecessor, is not less distinguished for his humanity than for his loyalty, patriotism and distinguished public services. The President instructs me to add that the national highway thus selected by the lieutenant-general has been chosen by him upon consultation with

prominent magistrates and citizens of Maryland, as the one, which, while a route is absolutely necessary, is farthest removed from the populous cities of the State, and with the expectations that it would, therefore, be the the least objectionable one.

"The President cannot but remember that there has been a time in the history of our country when a general of the American Union, with forces designed for the defense of its capital, was not unwelcome anywhere in the State of Maryland, and certainly not at Annapolis, then, as now, the capital of that patriotic State, and then also one of the capitals of the Union.

"If eighty years would have obliterated all the other noble sentiments of that age in Maryland, the President would be hopeful, nevertheless, that there is one that would forever remain there and everywhere. That sentiment is that no domestic contention, whatever may that arise among the parties of this Republic, ought in any case to be referred to any foreign arbitrament-least of all to the abritrament of an European monarchy.

"I have the honor to be, with distinguished consideration, your Ex

cellency's most obedient servant,

"WILLIAM H. SEWARD."

A majority of the people of Maryland were not Secessionists or sympathizers with secession. Henry Winter Davis, who was born in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1817, graduated at Kenyon College in 1837, studied. law at the University of Virginia, and commenced its practice at Alexandria, Virginia, but here moved to Baltimore in 1850, was elected to Congress from Maryland in 1855, as a Democrat. He voted for Mr. Penington for Speaker, whereupon the then Legislature of Maryland passed a resolution that for so doing he had misrepresented the State and forfeited the confidence of her people. In 1863 he was re-elected to Congress, and was made chairman of the committee on foreign affairs. His bold stand for the Union was largely influential in preventing Maryland from joining the Southern Confederacy. His speeches in connection with his votes in Congress are enduring monuments to his scholarship, legal ability, eloquence and statesmanship. His position upon the question of reconstruction as adopted by Congress, will be seen. in a subsequent chapter.

DR. W. L. STEELE.

DR. W. L. STEELE, one of the most active men in a region and of a time when only the active could command success, has passed through a life filled with varying fortunes, and has had many stirring experiences. He came of an ancestry that was full of vigor and action, his father, Captain William Steele, being a midshipman in the American navy in his earlier days, where he served on the "Chesapeake" when occurred the memorat le battle between that vessel and the "Shannon." He was transferred, as soon as exchanged, to the frigate "Constitution," but soon after the close of the war of 1812, was left a fortune, on the condition that he would leave the navy; and so Past Midshipman Steele resigned his office, and gave himself up to the ways of civil life. He settled at Pendleton, S. C., where, on the 17th of February, 1833, his son, W. L. was born. He passed an uneventful boyhood, and was taught the ordinary branches of education at home, and at eighteen years of age attended Thalian Academy, where he remained two years. He then went to Greenville, S. C., where he taught a private school, and studied medicine for two years more, and then

went to the city of Charleston, where he studied for yet two more years, under Dr. Pocher. He then took a finishing course of three years at the State Medical College, from which he graduated in 1857. He was then appointed surgeon on a railroad, in which position he remained for two years, when an attack of the asthma led him to go to Central City, Col., where he engaged in mining, at the same time practicing his profession. In 1863, he removed to Bannack, Mont., and soon after his arrival Alder Gulch was discovered, and he was the first to go there to investigate for himself. He succeeded in getting a good placer claim, and in company with his brother, ran freight teams; and at the same time carried on the practice of his profession. He was recognized from the first as one of the strong men of the community, a fact that found early illustration in his selection as president of the district; and while holding that office, he condemned to be hanged, two men who had committed murder, but the sheriff put the question to the spectators while under the very gallows, as to whether the sentence should be carried out, and a decision

was given in the negative. These proceedings were not in accord with the methods of settled communities, but were the best and only possible in the wild mining regions of the far frontier, and in the long run there were fewer miscarriges of justice than under the settled forms.

In 1864, Dr. Steele and his brother removed to Last Chance, and paid out $17,000 for mining ground in Grizzley Gulch. The tale, when told in Virginia City, caused a a great stampede to Last Chance. The doctor now disposed of his Virginia City property, and moved on his Grizzley claims, during the summer. "diggings" yielded $500 per day, to each owner. In the fall of this year, he was married to Miss Agnes Forbes, of Helena. In 1866, he bought a farm in Prickley Pear Valley, and, buying stock, ran a freight train from Benton, to various points in the territory, at which business he continued for

The

several years. In 1869, he was elected sheriff on the Democratic ticket, for Lewis and Clark counties. In 1869, he disposed of his outside business, and from that time to this has paid his entire attention to his profession, in which he has ever met with deserved success. He long since took rank as one of the leading physicians of the northwest.

He has also been active in other lines of labor, in these latter years. He served as mayor of Helena during the year 1887; is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and examining surgeon to the Associated Order of United Workmen. He is personally one of the most popular men in the city, noted for his charity, his cordial manners, his interest in all matters relating to the good of the public, and his willingness to aid any good work. Those who know him well, declare that he has not an enemy within the limits of Helena.

EX-UNITED STATES SENATOR GEORGE M. CHILCOTT.

THE death of ex-United States Senator. George M. Chilcott was an event that thrilled the heart of Colorado.

The account of his life and public services, which we give, was taken mainly from the Pueblo Chieftain, His final obsequies were so faithfully detailed by the Rocky Mountain News, that we embody its account entirely. Senator Chilcott was a historical personage, one whose example cannot be followed too closely in all his walks, both private and public. He was born in Trough Creek Valley, Huntington, Pennsylvania, January 2, 1828, and hence at the time of his death was sixty-three years of age. He was brought up on a farm and was educated in the country schools of the day. Early in 1844 he removed with his parents to Jefferson county, Iowa, and worked upon a farm for two years. He afterwards taught school and studied medicine until the spring of 1850. In March of that year he was married to Miss Jennie Cox, who died a few years since universally respected by all who knew her. In 1853 he was nomin

ated by the Whigs for sheriff of Jefferson county, and was triumphantly elected. He removed to Burt county, Nebraska, in 1856, and was shortly afterwards elected to represent the counties of Burt and Cummings in the House of Representatives of the general assembly of Nebraska, which met in session at Omaha in the winter of 1856-57. In 1859 he concluded to emigrate to Colorado, or as it was then called, the "Pike's Peak country," and arrived in Denver in the month of May. He was employed in prospecting in the mountains during the summer, and in the fall following he was elected from the town of Arapahoe to the constitutional convention which met in Denver. Toward the close of the year Mr. Chilcott went back to his family in Nebraska, remained there all winter, returning to Colorado the next spring. He spent the summer of 1860 on Cherry Creek, and in October of that year removed to southern Colorado, taking up his abode in what is now known as Pueblo county. Soon after his arrival here everything he owned, con

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