The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1876-06-17
LOCAL "REMINISCENCES.
A LEGEND OF MARYLAND.
CAN OWRE TRUE TALE"
CHAPTER vi.
CHAPTER vi.
A BORDER CHIEFTAIN.

BORDER CHIEFTAIN.
| have now to pursue the narrative of
my story as | find the necessary material
in the old Council Journal. | shall not
incumber this narrative with literal ex-
tracts from these proceedings, but give the
substance of what | find there, with such
illustration as | have been able to CLEAN
from other sources.
Colonel George Talbot, whom we recog-
nize as the first named in the commission
of the nine Deputy Governors and of the
Privy Council, seems to have been special
favorite of the Proprietary. He was the
grandson of the first Baron of Baltimore,
the Secretary of State of James the First.
His father was an Irish baronet, Sir George
Talbot of Cartown in Kildare who had
married Grace, one of the younger sisters
of Cecilius, the second Proprietary and
father of Charles Calvert. He was, there
fore, as the commission describes him, the
cousin of Lord Baltimore, who had now
invested him with leading authority in
the administration of the government.
He was born in Ireland, and from some
facts connected with his history infer that
he did not emigrate to Maryland until after
his marriage, his wife being an Irish lady.
That he was a man of consideration in
the Province, with large experience in it's
affairs, is shown by the character of the
employments that were intrusted to him.
He had been, for some years before the
departure of Lord Baltimore OH his visit to
/ England, a conspicuous member of his
Council. He had, for an equal length of
time, held the post of Surveyor General,
an office of high responsibility and trust.
But his chief employment was of a military
nature, in which his discretion, courage,
and conduct were in constant requisition.
| He had the chief command, with the title
aud commission of Deputy Governor, over
the northern border of the Province,
region continually exposed to the inroads
of the fierce and war-like tribe of the
"Sasguesahannocks.''
The country lying between the Susque-
hanna and the Delaware, that which now
comedies with parts of Hartford and Cecil
counties in Maryland and the upper por-
ton of the State of Delaware, was known
in those days as New Ireland, and was
chiefly settled by emigrants from the old
kingdom whose name it bore. This region
was included within the range of Talbot's
command, and was gradually increasing in
I
tered over a line of some seventy OF eighty
miles from east to west, and slowly ell
croaching upon the thick wilderness to the
north, where surly savages lurked and
watched the advance of the white man with
jealous anger.
The tenants of this tract held their lands
under the Proprietary grants, coupled with
a condition, imposed as much by their own
necessities as by the law, to render active
service in the defense of the frontier as
local militia. They were accordingly Or
ganized on a military establishment, and
kept in state of continual preparation to
repel the unwelcome visits of their hostile
neighbors.
A dispute between Lord Baltimore and
William Penn, founded upon the claim of
the former to a portion of the territory
bounding on the Delaware, had given oc-
casion to border feuds, which had imposed
upon our Proprietary the necessity of build
ing and maintaining a fort on Christiana
creek, near the present city Of Whining
and thara al fa,r IL
houses or smaller fortified strongholds
along the line of settlement towards the
Susquehanna. These forts were garrisoned
by small force of musketeers maintained
by the government The Province was
also at the charge of a regiment of cavalry,
of which Talbot was the Colonel, and parts
of which were assigned to the defense of
this frontier.
If we add to these a corps of rangers,
who were specially employed in watching
and arresting all trespassers upon the ter
ritory of the Province, it will complete our
sketch of the military organization of the
frontier over which Talbot had the chief
| command. The whole or any portion of
UlllS ioiCe Coulu Dc dSSeluDleu Ill a lew
hours to meet the emergencies of the time.
Signals were established for the muster of
the border. Beacon fires on the hills, the
blowing of horns, and the despatch of run
ners were familiar to the tenants, and often
called the ploughman away from the fur
row to the appointed gathering place
Three musket shots fired in succession
from 4 lonely cabin, at dead of night,
awakened the sleeper in the next home
stead; the three shots, repeated from house
to house, across this silent waste of forest
and field, carried the alarm onward; and
before break of day hundred stout yeo-
men, armed with cutlass and carbine were
on foot to check and punish the stealthy
foray of the Sasquesahannock against the
barred and bolted dwellings where mothers
rocked their children to sleep, confident in
the protection of this organized and effec-
tive system of defense.
In this region Talbot himself held
manor which was called New Connaught,
and here he had his family mansion, and
kept hospitality in rude woodland state, as
man of rank and command, with his
retainerS and friends gathered around him.
| This establishment was seated on Elk river,
and was, doubtless, fortified position. l
picture to my mind a capacous dwelling
house built of logs from the surrounding
forest; its ample hall furnished with imple-
ments of war; pixies carbines, and basket
hilted swords, mingled with antlers of the
| buck, skins of wild animals, pumage of
birds, and other trophies of the hunters
craft the large fireplace surrounded with
hardy woodsmen, and the tables furnished
with venison, wild fowl, and fish, the COM
mon Injuries of the region, in that prodi-
gal profusion to which our forefathers were
accustomed, and which their descendants
still regard as the essential condition of
hearty and honest housekeeping. This
mansion | fancy surrounded by a spacious