George H . Steuart ( militia general ) Major General George H Steuart ( 1790 – 1867 ) was a United States general who fought during the War of 1812 , and later joined the Confederate States of America during the Civil War . His military career began in 1814 when , as a captain , he raised a company of Maryland volunteers , leading them at both the Battle of Bladensberg and the Battle of North Point , where he was wounded . After the war he rose to become major general and commander - in - chief of the First Light Division , Maryland Militia . During John Brown ' s raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859 , Steuart personally led a detachment of militia , and , as the prospect of civil war drew closer , he was among those who lobbied unsuccessfully for Maryland to secede from the Union . In 1861 , at the start of the Civil War , Steuart left his home state of Maryland and joined the Confederacy , though at 71 years of age he was by then considered too old for active service . This did not prevent him from personally riding with Lee ' s army and even being captured at the First Battle of Manassas . He is sometimes confused with his eldest son , Brigadier General George H . Steuart , who fought for the Confederacy at a number of major battles , eventually surrendering with General Robert E . Lee at Appomattox in 1865 . Steuart died in 1867 , his health and fortune ruined by his devotion to the Southern " lost cause " . Early life . Steuart was born in Anne Arundel County , Maryland , on November 1 , 1790 , the eldest son of Dr James Steuart of Annapolis ( 1755 – 1846 ) , and Rebecca Sprigg , who were married on November 4 , 1788 . James Steuart was a physician who served in the Revolutionary War , and was the son of George Hume Steuart ( 1700 – 1784 ) , a Loyalist politician and tobacco planter who was colonel of the Maryland horse militia under Governor Horatio Sharpe . The young Steuart grew up partly at Sparrow ' s Point , his family ' s plantation in the Chesapeake Bay , and partly at their residence in West Baltimore , a substantial estate known as Maryland Square . Later he studied at and graduated from Princeton University . Steuart also had a younger brother , Richard Sprigg Steuart , who grew up to become a physician and was an early pioneer of the treatment of mental illness . War of 1812 - Bladensburg and North Point . When war broke out between the United States and Great Britain , Steuart ( then Captain Steuart ) raised a company of Maryland volunteers , known as the Washington Blues , part of the 5th Maryland Regiment commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Sterrett . They saw action at the Battle of Bladensburg ( August 24 , 1814 ) , where the Americans , including the 5th Regiment , were routed by the British . Although the 5th had " evinced a disposition to make a gallant resistance " , it was flanked by the redcoats and forced to retreat in some disorder . After the battle , British forces entered Washington , D . C . , and set fire to a number of buildings in the city . Steuart ' s regiment fought better at the Battle of North Point ( September 12 , 1814 ) , where the militia were able to hold the line for an hour or so before making a fighting retreat during which Steuart was wounded . Some of the militia regiments , such as the 51st , and some members of 39th , broke and ran under fire , but the 5th and 27th held their ground and were able to retreat in reasonably good order having inflicted significant casualties on the advancing enemy . Corporal John McHenry of the 5th Regiment wrote an account of the battle : Although North Point was a tactical defeat for the Americans , it would prove a turning point in the War of 1812 . The British took significant losses , including their commanding officer Major General Robert Ross , and , lacking the strength to take the city of Baltimore , they eventually withdrew . Post - war career . Steuart was soon promoted to lieutenant - colonel of the 5th Regiment , and after the war he trained as a lawyer , being listed in the Baltimore City Directory of 1816 as Attorney - at - Law . He was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates for Baltimore in 1827 and 1828 , serving two one - year terms , and in 1835 he stood unsuccessfully for election to Maryland ' s 4th congressional district , running as an independent candidate . In around 1827 or 1828 his portrait was painted by the Baltimore portrait painter Philip Tilyard . First Light Division formed . In 1833 a number of Baltimore regiments were formed into a brigade , and Steuart was promoted from colonel to brigadier general . From 1841 to 1861 he was Commander of the First Light Division , Maryland Volunteer Militia . Until the Civil War he would be the Commander - in - Chief of the Maryland Volunteers . The First Light Division comprised two brigades : the 1st Light Brigade and the 2nd Brigade . The First Brigade consisted of the 1st Cavalry , 1st Artillery , and 5th Infantry regiments . The 2nd Brigade was composed of the 1st Rifle Regiment and the 53rd Infantry Regiment , and the Battalion of Baltimore City Guards . In 1843 Steuart reviewed his troops and those of a visiting regiment from Pennsylvania at Camp Frederick , accompanied by Governor David R . Porter of Pennsylvania and various senior officers . The event was attended by " an immense concourse of spectators " , and was commemorated in a lithograph published in the same year . On July 19 , 1844 , the Boston City Greys visited Baltimore , and marched in parade with various companies of the 53rd Regiment . Steuart hosted a party for the visiting militia , which was held at his family estate in West Baltimore , known as Maryland Square . The event was celebrated by extensive coverage in the Baltimore American and , like the previous year ' s visit from Pennsylvania , was commemorated in a lithograph . Steuart also appears to have formed an acquaintance with the social reformer Dorothea Dix , who in July 1850 was his guest at Steuart ' s country residence Sparrow ' s Point on the Chesapeake Bay . Also a guest was the Swedish feminist and activist Fredrika Bremer , who wrote in a letter to her sister Agathe : " Late in the evening I sat in the most beautiful moonlight with Miss Dix on the veranda of General Stuarts ' [ sic ] house , looking towards the shining river and the wide Chesapeake Bay , listening to the story of her simple yet remarkable life " . Dix was a campaigner for better treatment of the mentally ill , a subject which was also the life ' s work of Steuart ' s brother , the physician Richard Sprigg Steuart . Also among Steuart ' s social circle was the writer Washington Irving , who was a regular guest at Maryland Square . Know - Nothing elections . During the mid - 1850s public order in Baltimore was threatened by the election of candidates of the Know Nothing party . In October 1856 the Know Nothing Mayor Samuel Hinks was pressed by Baltimorians to order Steuart ' s militia in readiness to maintain order during the mayoral elections , as violence was anticipated . Hinks duly gave Steuart the order , writing that he should " hold yourself with your command , or such portion thereof as you may deem necessary , in readiness to march at a moment ' s warning , fully armed and equipped for active service " . In response , Steuart ordered his men to " assemble in marching order " on November 4 and await further orders . However , perhaps fearful of greater violence , the mayor soon rescinded his order . On October 31 he met with Steuart and requested that the general make his soldiers ready , but not assembled , and Steuart duly countermanded his original order . On polling day violence soon broke out , with shots exchanged by competing mobs . In the 2nd and 8th wards several citizens were killed , and many wounded . In the 6th ward artillery was used , and a pitched battle fought on Orleans St between Know Nothings and rival Democrats , raging for several hours . The result of the election , in which voter fraud was widespread , was a victory for the Know Nothings by around 9 , 000 votes . In 1857 , fearing similar violence at the upcoming elections , Governor Thomas W . Ligon ordered Steuart to hold the First Light Division , Maryland Volunteers in readiness . Ligon carried a " painful sense of duty unfulfilled " owing to the violence of the previous year , and was determined to maintain order . However , Mayor Thomas Swann successfully argued for a compromise measure involving special police forces to prevent disorder , and Ligon once again balked at the use of military force . He did not formally rescind the order to Steuart ' s militia , but rather proclaimed that he did not " contemplate the use , upon that day of the military force which I have ordered to be enrolled and organized . " This time , although there was somewhat less violence than in 1856 , the results of the vote were again compromised by the use of force and intimidation . Mayor Swann was duly re - elected , albeit in a heavily disputed ballot . Slavery and the coming of the Civil War . Steuart ' s family were slaveholders and strong supporters of the South ' s " peculiar institution " , although they supported the gradual abolition of slavery by voluntary means . In 1828 Steuart served on the board of managers of the Maryland State Colonization Society , of which Charles Carroll of Carrollton , one of the co - signers of the Declaration of Independence , was president . Steuart ' s father , James Steuart , was vice - president , and his brother Richard Sprigg Steuart was also on the board of managers . The MSCS was a branch of the American Colonization Society , an organization dedicated to returning black Americans to lead free lives in African states such as Liberia . The society proposed from the outset " to be a remedy for slavery " , and declared in 1833 : In around 1842 Steuart inherited from his uncle William Steuart ( 1754 – 1838 ) " 2 , 000 acres , in several tracts of land , the best of which was Mount Steuart ; and 125 slaves " , becoming himself a substantial landowner and slaveholder . In 1846 his father James Steuart died , and he inherited Maryland Square , his family ' s mansion in the western suburbs of Baltimore . John Brown ' s raid on Harper ' s Ferry . In 1559 Steuart ' s militia participated in the suppression of John Brown ' s raid on Harpers Ferry , an abortive attempt to ignite a slave rebellion . Steuart personally led six companies of Militia : the City Guard , Law Greys and Shields Guard from Baltimore , and the United Guards , Junior Defenders and Independent Riflemen from the city of Frederick . The departing Baltimore militia were cheered on by substantial crowds of citizens and well - wishers . After Harper ' s Ferry , militias in the South began to grow in importance as Southerners began to fear slave rebellion inspired by Northern Abolitionists . The following year , in a letter to the National Intelligencer on November 19 , 1860 , Steuart congratulated the editors on their support for the Fugitive Slave Acts , and set out his own support for the Supreme Court ' s 1857 decision to uphold slavery in the case of Dred Scott v . Sandford . He also criticized the recent election of then President - elect Abraham Lincoln on a platform opposed to slavery . Steuart argued for " the invalidity of Lincoln ' s election , because of the negro votes cast and counted for him in the states of New York , Ohio , and Massachusetts " . In 1861 , as war grew closer , Steuart established a family trust , administered by four of his sons , in order to look after his large family . The trust income consisted chiefly of ground rents from his estates . Civil War . By April 1861 it had become clear that war was inevitable . On April 16 Steuart ' s eldest son , George H . Steuart , then an officer in the United States Army , resigned his captain ' s commission to join the Confederacy . On April 19 Baltimore was disrupted by riots , during which Southern sympathizers attacked Union troops passing through the city by rail , causing what were arguably the first casualties of the Civil War . Steuart ordered his militia to assemble , armed and uniformed , to repel the Federal soldiers , as Steuart himself was strongly sympathetic to the Confederacy , along with most of his senior officers . It is possible that he may even have contemplated an invasion of Washington DC . Perhaps knowing this , and no doubt aware that public opinion in Baltimore was divided , Governor Thomas Holliday Hicks refused to order out the militia . Steuart ' s eldest son commanded one of the city militias during the disturbances of April 1861 and , in a letter to his father , the younger Steuart wrote : Steuart ' s brother , the physician Richard Sprigg Steuart , was also in Baltimore during the riots and he held a somewhat different view of the state of public opinion in the city : Steuart and his son made strenuous efforts to persuade Marylanders to secede from the Union , and to use the militia to prevent the occupation of the State by Union soldiers . But by April 25 his efforts had become largely defensive . In a letter of the same date he wrote to Governor of Virginia John Letcher stating that he was : Steuart ' s efforts to persuade Maryland to secede from the Union were in vain . On April 29 , the Maryland Legislature voted 53 – 13 against secession . and the state was swiftly occupied by Union soldiers to prevent any reconsideration . Flight to Virginia . The political situation remained uncertain until May 13 , 1861 when Union troops occupied the state , restoring order and preventing any further move to secession , and by late summer Maryland was firmly in the hands of Union soldiers . Arrests of Confederate sympathizers soon followed , and General Steuart fled to Charlottesville , Virginia , after which much of his family ' s property was confiscated by the Federal Government . Maryland Square was seized by the Union Army and re - named Camp Andrew after Massachusetts Governor John Albion Andrew , a noted abolitionist . Union troops were quartered in Steuart ' s mansion and Jarvis Hospital was soon erected on the grounds of the estate , to care for Federal wounded . Steuart was not alone in fleeing to Virginia to join the Confederacy . Many members of the newly formed Maryland Line in the Confederate army would be drawn from Steuart ' s Maryland militia , though at age 71 Steuart was personally judged too old for active service . Despite this , he spent much of the war following the Confederate army and was present at or near a number of battles , including Gettysburg , and the First Battle of Manassas , where he was so close to the fighting that he was actually captured by Union forces . Fortunately , when it was discovered he was not a serving officer in the Confederate army he was soon released . The cost of war . Steuart is often confused with his eldest son , Brigadier General George H . Steuart , who rose rapidly in the Confederate command , distinguishing himself at the First Battle of Manassas and fighting for the South at many battles including Cross Keys , Winchester and Gettysburg . Wounded , captured and exchanged , the younger Steuart would eventually surrender with General Lee at Appomattox . Local residents in Baltimore would come to know father and son as " The Old General " and " The Young General " . Steuart ' s third son , Lieutenant William James Steuart ( 1832 – 1864 ) , also fought for the Confederacy . During the Battle of the Wilderness he was severely wounded in the hip , and was sent to Guinea station , a hospital for officers in Richmond , Virginia . There , on 21 May 1864 , he died . A friend of general Steuart at the University of Virginia wrote to his bereaved father : Steuart ' s brother , the physician Richard Sprigg Steuart , chose not to leave Maryland , remaining in his home state throughout the war , though his open support for the Confederacy meant that he too became a fugitive from the federal authorities . Baltimore resident W W Glenn described him as living in constant fear of capture : General Steuart corresponded regularly with a friend , Sally J . Newman , in Hilton , Va . during course of the war . In these letters , which are held by the Maryland Historical Society , Steuart deplores Negro suffrage and the general condition of the country . After the war . Steuart ' s dedication to the " Lost Cause " of the Confederacy would prove a disaster for him and his family . Although Maryland Square was restored to him after the war , neither he nor his children would live there again . Jarvis hospital was closed in 1865 , at the war ' s end , and in the summer of 1866 the buildings were auctioned off , permitting successful bidders 10 days from the date of auction in which to remove their purchases from the grounds . After the war Steuart travelled to Europe , but returned to Maryland in 1867 , where he died on October 21 , 1867 , age 77 . He is buried at Greenmount Cemetery , Maryland , along with his wife , eldest son and other members of his family . Family life . Steuart married Ann - Jane Edmondson in Baltimore on May 3 , 1836 . They had 10 children : Legacy . Perhaps not surprisingly , as Maryland had remained loyal to the Union , there is no monument to Steuart in his home state . Maryland Square was demolished in 1884 , and little trace of his mansion , or Jarvis Hospital , remains today . However , in 1919 the Sisters of Bon Secours themselves opened a hospital , their first in the United States , at 2000 West Baltimore Street , very near the location of the former Jarvis Hospital . The Bon Secours Hospital continues to flourish today , and forms an important part of the modern neighbourhood , which still retains the name of Steuart Hill .