The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1928-03-01
was an al

OuJeOuS, ana almost unDelIS tuly Sd
lcious. For proof, just see where
he planted the seat of government.
Had he considered only his own conve-
nience, he might have set it in his own
dooryard at Mount Vernon, there to
lay her cornerstones without fatigue
and watch at ease the newborn capt.
tai grow.
But, more farseeing than some who
since have sat in high places, he could
realize that it must expand, what with
more and more Congressman and Of
fceholders, until it inevitably would
Overspread Mrs. Washington's flower
beds and the noble box hedges, and
might even encroach upon the stately
mansion itself. Moreover, there were
his friends in Maryland to be thought
of.
If you will borrow map and ruler
from your schoolboy son, you will
readily see that the City of Washing
ton could be no nearer than it is to
Baltimore and Annapolis and still be
on the Potomac. This last was essen
tial that future Presidents might have
a navigable river on which to sail and
entertain their friends.
Evidently real affection existed be-
tween the General and the good folk
of Baltimore. He seems always to
have stopped here on his journeys be-
tween Mount Vernon and the North
The city was delighted to see him and
invariably did him well, fed him hand
somely and hardly ever let him get
away without complimentary cad
DRESS" for it was day of great po
likeness with pen and ink. Perhaps
he could have done with little less
of this, for it meant that he must sit
down and write out an equally courte
Gus reply, no matter how much time
might press.
But Maryland gave him more than
banquets. In wars stern days there
were always Marylanders near on
whom he placed reliance. Thomas
johnson, later to be Governor of the
State, was the first to nominate him
for commander-in-chief of the armies
before the Continental Congress, then
sitting in Philadelphia, June Is, ITS.
was in Baltimore, to which the
ngress had removed before the adj
ncing itish, that the delegates,
.gef oalousies and chickering's
The common peril, gave
ictatorial powers for
mis- was on December
Ind the sessions were being
IN a three-story brick building at
baltimore; Liberty and Sharps streets.
A tablet on the bank wall there now
marks the place.
The Maryland Line had stood be-
tween Washington and complete dis
aster at Long Island, when section
of Smallwood's Regiment, under Ma
jor General Mordecai Gist, had flung
itself on the oncoming British, check
ing the red wave and giving the rest
of the army a chance to escape the
deadly trap. Then it was that their
general stood and watched the sacri-
fee, saying, Great God, what must
my brave boys suffer today!" At
Yorktown in his triumph, Tench
Tilghman, the Marylander, was at his
side as aide-2c- camp, and to him was
granted the honor of riding to Phila
delphia with the tidings that the in
FAINT republic, born in agony, was at
last assured of life. And finally, it
was in Maryland's capital that the
general sheathed his sword.
Truly there was fellowship be-
tween the man and the State. Mary
land and Virginia were sisters and the
people spoke the same language. 1t
must have felt like home to him here
after the alien speech and ways of
New York and Philadelphia.
Washington doubtless knew other
parts of the State before he became
so we'll acquainted with Baltimore. In
1853, when he was but 81, he was sent
by the Virginia Governor to see what
the French in the northwest were up
to. He found out only too accurately,
and next year had to go again with
troops behind him, and very badly he
Jared. His route took him over an
old Indian trail, which had become a
road when he and his soldiers finished
with it. 1t later came to be known
as Braddock's Road, from that i'll
fated warriors march on Fort Du-
quesne, but it might better have borne
the name of Washington, for he pre-
ceded Braddock by year, and the
latter may we'll have wished he had
never trodden it.
1t led f Creek, which now
des w rom Geol gyetovl,
the J.. sites of Rock lille,
Clarksburg and Urbana, to Freder-
lex; over the top of Braddock noun
tain, from which one of the loveliest
views in Maryland may be had; over
the Blue Ridge and down to Williams
port, where it crossed the Potomac.
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