Governor Carroll is described in the annals of the State as "one of the best men Maryland has ever produced," a man of character unsullied and of lofty integrity.
At the breaking out of the civil war Mr. Carroll was already an elderly man. At first his sympathies were with his own section, but after the attack on Fort Sumter they were steadily enlisted for the National cause, though he foresaw that its triumph would lead to the destruction of his own fortunes and those of his children.
Most of the slaves had been left on the plantation, but some had always been considered the especial property of each of his children.
Thus Anna Ella Carroll had her own group. At the very outset of the war she fully realized that slavery was at the root of the rebellion, and she at once liberated her own slaves and devoted her time, her pen, and all her resources to the maintenance of the National cause. She immediately commenced a series of writings of such marked ability that they speedily attracted the attention of Mr. Lincoln and the Administration. Governor Hicks, too, placed in a situation of unusual difficulty, turned to his able friend for consultation and for moral and literary support.
Jefferson Davis, who was aware of Miss Carroll's great literary and social influence, wrote to her early in the secession movement adjuring her to induce her father to take sides with the South.
"I will give him any position he asks for," wrote Mr. Davis.
"Not if you will give him the whole South," replied Miss Carroll.
A visitor to her in 1861 says: "Her room was lined with military maps, her tables covered with papers and war documents. She would talk of nothing but the war. Her countenance would light up most radiantly as she spoke of the Union victories and the certainty that the great Nation must win an ultimate success."
When fresh news from the army came in she would step up to one of her charts and, placing a finger on a point, she would say: "Here is General ——'s detachment; here is the rebel army; such and such are the fortifications and surrounding circumstances; and she would then begin thoughtfully to predicate the result and suggest the proper move."
We will give a sketch of the situation in the early days of the secession movement, mainly in the words of Miss Carroll's own able account, afterwards published by order of Congress.