Miss Carroll, urged on by the friends of justice and historical verity, had made great efforts rightly to present her case and to get together a wonderful mass of indubitable testimony.
She had been informed of the thorough endorsement of her claim made by the Military Committee and reported by General Bragg, and of the noble and fitting bill which he had prepared. Then came that pitiful little bill and the adjournment of Congress without taking further action upon the claim.
She perhaps did not realize, in the presence of what seemed immediate defeat, that she had performed a great and lasting historical work in putting the whole matter on immovable record; but she certainly realized that, though an angel should come from heaven to testify, it would be useless to expect national recognition. A reaction of discouragement followed, and she was suddenly stricken down by paralysis, which threatened at once to terminate her noble life. For three years she hovered between life and death, no hope being entertained of her recovery. Then the natural vigor of her constitution reasserted itself, and she slowly regained a very considerable portion of health; but any subsequent efforts with regard to her claim, though receiving her assent, had to be made without her personal co-operation, as mental fatigue was imperatively forbidden. She had ceased to hope for any benefit to herself personally from the prosecution of her claim; but, rejoicing in the sense of the great work that she had been providentially called upon to accomplish, she rested in the serene conviction that with the incontestable evidence that had been presented the facts could not be forever buried out of sight, and that ultimately the truths of history would be secure.
When Miss Carroll, who had hitherto been as a tower of strength to her family, was suddenly stricken down, fortune seemed to be at its lowest ebb; but again the Carroll energy and ability came to the rescue. An unmarried sister, with noble devotion, sustained the nation's benefactress. She obtained work in teaching in Baltimore and by hard daily toil provided for her support. But those were very dark days that followed. Then this same brave sister, through the influence of an eminent lady at the White House, obtained a clerkship at the Treasury, at Washington, brought her sister from Baltimore and established her in a little unpretending family home, which she has sustained to this day.
Note.—Owing to the confusion attendant upon Miss Carroll's well-nigh fatal illness and her subsequent removal to Baltimore, a trunk and box marked A. E. C. were left behind at the Tremont House, in Washington.
After the severe three years' prostration ended, Miss Carroll inquired for this trunk and box, and learned that the Tremont House had gone into other hands after the death of Mr. Hill; that all its contents had been sold off, and to this day she has sought in vain to learn what has become of that box and trunk. They contained a great number of letters, a completed history of Maryland, and her materials for several projected works.
Thus, through the cruel neglect she had experienced, the world has lost the benefit of works which, from her exceptional ability and her exceptional opportunities, would have been of inestimable value to our future literature.
If any one knows of the fate of that trunk and box they are requested to send word to Miss Carroll or to the present writer, and if ever that history of Maryland comes to light it will be claimed for Miss Carroll, as there are internal evidences which would establish its identity.
Governor Hicks a few days before his death committed to Miss Carroll all his papers with a request that she would write the history of Maryland in connection with the civil war, and the part performed by him in the maintenance of the Union.
Cassius M. Clay also sent to her his letters and papers desiring that she should write his biography.