# Woman of the Century/Anna Ella Carroll

​CARROLL, Miss Anna Ella, political writer and military genius, born in Kingston Hall, the ancestral residence of her father, Governor Thomas King Carroll. Somerset county, Md., 29th August, 1815. Her mother was Juliana Stevenson, the daughter of Colonel Henry James Stevenson, who had come over in the British army as surgeon during the Revolutionary War. Dr. Stevenson, though a stanch Tory, was beloved for the care bestowed by him upon the wounded of both armies. He settled in Baltimore, became greatly distinguished in his profession and built a beautiful residence on Parnassus Hill. Thomas King Carroll married Miss Stevenson in his twentieth year, and Anna Ella was the oldest child of this youthful couple. She early showed a remarkable character, reading law with her father at a youthful age. and following with interest his political career. She soon began to write for the press. Her first published work was entitled "The Great American Battle, or Political
ANNA ELLA CARROLL. Romanism." This was followed by "The Star of the West," describing the origin of our claims to the western territories, their conditions and their needs, and urging the building of the Pacific railroad. Miss Carroll took an active part in the election of Governor Hicks of Maryland, in 1860. and when the Civil War broke out she used her influence to hold Governor Hicks to the Union, thus saving Maryland from secession and securing the safety of the National Capital. Seeing that slavery was at the root of the rebellion, she freed her own slaves at a great sacrifice and gave herself up enthusiastically to the support of the national cause, using her great social influence and her connection with the press to secure the loyalty of her State. Miss Carroll had become a communicant of the Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, of which Dr. Robert J. Breckenridge. a loyal unionist, was pastor. He was a man of great influence and distinction. His nephew, John C. Breckenridge, at one-time a warm friend of Miss Carroll, became a leading secessionist. Immediately after President Lincoln's accession he made a very « lever and violent speech, charging Mr. Lincoln and the North with having made the war. This speech was especially designed to carry Maryland out of the Union. Miss Carroll, perceiving at once its baleful effect Union her own State, determined to answer it, and did so in a pamphlet of consummate ability. By the use of documents in her possession she showed that the Southern leaders from the time of Calhoun had been preparing for the war, and that for ten years previous the whole secession movement had been planned, even in its details. Mr. Lincoln and his cabinet were pleased with that vindication, and the Republican party decided that the pamphlet should be used as a campaign document and sent broadcast over Maryland. Thus encouraged, Miss Carroll herself, mainly at her own expense, printed and circulated 50,000 copies. James Tilghman, of the Union Committee of Baltimore, wrote her that he "set his son at the door of his house in Camden street, and that five-hundred men called for the pamphlet in a single bay, and that these were the one and sinew of the city, wanting to know in which army they ought to enlist." Mr. Lincoln and the war department, perceiving Miss Carroll's ability, engaged her to continue to write in support of the government. At their suggestion she prepared a pamphlet on the war powers of the government. Copies of two editions of this pamphlet may be seen side by side in the bound volumes of manuscript in the Suite department. That paper was followed by one on the "Power of the President to suspend the writ of halieas corpus," and later a paper on "Reconstruction," showing that emancipation could come only as a war measure, the State constitutions giving no opening for emancipation. The examination was made at President Lincoln's express desire. When Miss Carroll was preparing her war papers, it was suggested to her by Sir. Lincoln that sue should go to St Louis and endeavor to form an opinion of the probable success or failure of a most important expedition preparing to descend the Mississippi by means of gun-boats. It was a critical time. The Union armies were costing the government two millions a day, and up to that time had met with little else than defeat. The country was deeply despondent, the failure of the Union cause was predicted and the Kuropean powers were in haste to grant recognition to the Confederacy. Mr. Lincoln and the administration were in the deepest anxiety, fur they felt that defeat upon the Mississippi would be fatal. Miss Carroll repaired to St. Louis, visiting the encampments and examining carefully the topography of the country, conversing with pilots and others. She reported the Mississippi as frowning with fortifications and the tides as unfavorable. She became convinced that the proposed descent by the gun-boats would be fatal, and, inquiring carefully concerning the Tennessee river, it occurred to her that that was the true strategic line. The rebel leaders not having perceived this, it had not been fortified. Miss Carroll called in her friend. Judge Evans, of Texas, who had a rare knowledge of the topography of that part of the country He was struck by the sagacity and wisdom of her plan and advised her to lose no time in laying it before the war department. He assisted her in drawing up a map to accompany her written plan of campaign, and she hastened to Washington, and on 30th November, 1861, taking lioth papers to the war department she laid them before Thomas A. Scott, then assistant secretary of war. explaining her views, Mr. Scott, the great railroad magnate, recognized at ​once the immense importance of her plans and hastened with them to Lincoln, who evinced the greatest delight at the solution of the problem. He called in Benjamin F. Wade, president of the committee on the conduct of die war, telling him that he fell no doubt that this was the true move, but he feared to inaugurate a movement that w as the work of a civilian and a woman. It was decided that the authorship of the plan must be kept secret so long as the war lasted, and urged by Mr. Wade, President Lincoln determined to take the initiative and change the plan of the campaign to the Tennessee. Mr. Stanton was put in office pledged to this measure, and the President was in favor of a plan that promised such fruitful results in the near future. Thomas A. Scott was sent to organize the Western troops, as he testified, to carry out her plans. In furtherance of this secret plan the western armies, to the amazement of the Confederacy, were suddenly transferred from the Mississippi up the Tennessee river. The most brillliant result followed. Fort Henry fell, Fort Donelson was taken, the Confederacy was divided and the rebel armies cut off from their source of supplies. The ultimate triumph of the Federal armies was assured. Great rejoicings took place. President Lincoln issued a proclamation of public thanksgiving, and discussions were held in the Senate and in the House to try to discover how this brilliant plan originated. Miss Carroll sat in the gallery, quietly listening, but made no sign, having been advised that it was absolutely necessary that the authorship of the plan should not be made known. She continued her work, suggesting new moves, by a series of letters to the war department, there placed on rile. When repeated reverses were suffered in attempting to take Vicksburg by the river. Miss Carroll prepared another remarkable paper, accompanied by a map showing the fortifications, proving that they could not be taken from the water and advising an attack in the rear. She took those plans to the war office, and Mr. Wade has testified that they were at once sent out to the proper military authorities, and that the fall of Vicksburg and also of Island No. 10 was in consequence of her sagacious suggestions. On subjects connected with the war, and subsequently on reconstruction. Miss Carroll continued her contributions to the press, but, owing to Mr. Lincoln's untimely death, she was left unrecognized, and she presented in vain her very moderate bill to the government for her work in writing the pamphlets. Thomas A. Scott testified that the writings were authorized by the government, and that the bill was very moderate and ought to be paid, but the application met only neglect. After the war Miss Carroll was advised that she ought to make known her authorship of the plan of the Tennessee campaign, proved by a succession of letters in the keeping of the war department and by the direct testimony of Thomas A. Sou, assistant secretary of war, Hon Benjamin F. Wade, president of the committee for the conduct of the war. Judge Evans, of Texas, and others. Accordingly, in 1871. a military commission under General Howard was appointed by Congress to inquire into the claim. Mr. Scott wrote to the committee, and Mr. Wade and Judge Evans gave their testimony in person. The evidence being incontrovertible, the committee through General Howard, reporting 2nd February, 1871, fully endorsed the claim, but w hen it came to public acknowledgment and award, political influence caused it to be ignored. Again it was brought up in 1872, and Mr. Wilson left it on record, that the claim was "uncontrovertible." Still it was neglected. In 1S79 this claim was again examined by a congressional military committee, who reported through Mr. Cockrell. 18th February, 1879. Although this report was adverse to congressional recognition and award, it admitted the services, both literary and military, even conceding the proposition that "the transfer of the national armies from the banks of the Ohio up the Tennessee river to the decisive position in Mississippi was the greatest military event in the interest of the human race known to modern ages, and will ever rank among the very few strategic movements m the world's history that have decided the fate of empires and people "; and that " no true history can be written that does not assign to the memorialist (Miss Carroll) the credit of the conception." In 1881 a congressional military committee under General Bragg again reported after examining a great array of original letters and testimony. The report confirmed the admission of the claim in the strongest terms, and bills were brought in for the relief of Miss Carroll, now- aged and infirm. But the report was reserved for the last day of Congress, and, like the preceding ones, was utterly neglected. Miss Carroll immediately after was stricken with paralysis For three years her life was despaired of. Although she subsequently rallied, she has remained ever since a confirmed invalid, supported and cared for by her devoted sister. Miss Mary H. Carroll, now working as a clerk in the Treasury office, alter a season of great privation and trial. In 1885 Miss Carroll's case was brought before the Court of Claims, but, owing to her illness, she could take no part in presenting the evidence. However, the papers were such that the Court of Claims gave its moral assent and retransmitted the case to Congress for action thereon, but nothing has yet been done. Fach year a number of petitions are sent in from all over the land, praying Congress for Miss Carroll's recognition and award, and quietly the aged and noble authoress awaits the inevitable recognition of the future. A warm interest being taken in this case by prominent ladies, during the Woman's Council in Washington, in the spring of 1891, the case was brought up and a great desire expressed for an investigation and a biographical account of Miss Carroll. Subscriptions were secured, and a biography with the congressional documents was prepared by Miss Sarah Ellen Blackwell, and printed under the title, "A Military Genius; Life of Anna Ella Carroll, the Great Unrecognized Member of Lincoln's Cabinet."