XXXI THOMAS HOLLIDAY HICKS When considering the Civil War period of Maryland history, before an attempt is made to draw conclusions as to the worth of this public official or of that, full account must be taken of the peculiar conditions which existed in the Old Line state in ante-bellum days and during the first months of the conflict. Part of the population was prepared to support the southern cause, should the problems which were agitating the nation be brought to an issue of arms, and an equal number of Marylanders were unconditionally with the north. Both of these elements were, according to their conscience, in the right, and Maryland has honored each alike for the course which it pursued. Francis Thomas, who served his state as chief magistrate, responded to the attack on Fort Sumter by raising a regiment of 3000 soldiers and offering its service to Lincoln. On the other hand Enoch Louis Lowe, who also served as governor, openly advocated that Maryland should secede and join the Confederacy. Had Francis Thomas been governor of Maryland in 1861, the state might have known the sway of a second Parson Brownlow; or had Mr. Lowe been chief magistrate, then Governor Letcher, of Virginia, would possibly have had an official co-laborer for secession in the borderland. But Mr. Hicks, who at best was a temporizer, was state executive. In approaching Hick's life the bitterness with which certain of his contemporaries judged his course must not influence too greatly the student's judgment; nor must the excessive flattery which, for obvious reasons, was poured forth by northern orators at the time of his death be accepted at its face value. Mr. Hicks was governor of Maryland during the most critical days of the state's history and he had, in a greater measure than was ever accorded another chief magistrate of the state, an opportunity to engrave in glorious and indelible letters his name upon the commonwealth's history as well as upon that of the nation at large. But, at a time when to falter was to blunder fatally, Hicks faltered. Although his early sentiments seemed favorable to secession, it is possible that at the outbreak of the war he was opposed to the cause of the south; nevertheless, when called upon to decide on which side be stood, Hicks revealed what might be termed a border allegiance, and permitted the militia of the federal government to assume the rôle of converting him, by force, into a unionist. Posterity has less cause to find fault with him for this than he himself might have had to regret his action. If he was as strongly unionist as he later professed, then by having uttered the same sentiments before Butler came to Baltimore that he did after the arrival of that Union general, he might have vied with Mr. Andrew, of Massachusetts, for the place of first honor among the Union "war governors.' Thomas Holliday Hicks was almost sixty years of age when he became governor. He was born on September 2, 1798, the eldest boy in the large family reared by Henry C. and Mary (Sewell) Hicks, who lived on a farm in Dorchester county several miles from East New Market. Hicks attended a subscription school in the neighborhood of his home until he had reached an age when he desired to go out into the world for himself. He made his initial appearance as a public official in the humble capacity of town constable. But that he filled this position satisfactorily would seem to receive certification from the fact that in 1824, at the age THOMAS HOLLIDAY HICKS 173 of twenty-five, Mr. Hicks was elected sheriff of his county. Later he purchased a farm on the Choptank river and subsequently abandoned the plow and removed to the southern part of the county, where, in 1833, he entered upon a mercantile career at Vienna. Mr. Hicks was a member of the 1836 senatorial electoral college-that famous body made up of the so-called “glorious 19 Van Buren electors" and 21 whigs-he, of course, being among the latter. In the same year he was chosen a member of the general assembly; and the legislature, in 1837, named him and Mr. Pratt as members of the last governor's council in Maryland. In the next year, when the council was abolished by the reform act, Mr. Hicks was appointed register of wills for Dorchester county. From 1838, when he became register, until 1851, when under the new constitution the office was made elective, he served by successive appointments in this position. In 1850 he was one of the representatives from Dorchester county to the constitutional convention which was to devise a new form of government for the commonwealth. He again assumed the duties of register of wills in 1855, and continued in the office until his election as governor. Mr. Hicks was the American or know-nothing candidate for governor in 1857. The democrats nominated as their standard-bearer John C: Groome. Under the arbitrary rule of the know-nothings, however, the democratic candidate had little chance of success, since Baltimore was overwhelmingly against him. Although Ligon had been. assured that everything would be done to prevent any conflict between the voters, the election was but a repetition of the earlier disgraceful affair when municipal officers were chosen. And not only did the know-nothing party carry the city for Hicks, but the state also gave him a majority, and the general assembly, as a result of the election, was strongly know-nothing. Mr. Hicks became governor on January 13, 1858. His administration witnessed the period of preparation for the Civil War and the beginning of that conflict; and his own service to the state is remembered chiefly in so far as Maryland affairs were affected by the seccession movement. Had Governor Hicks sincerely and fearlessly opposed secession, not even the southern historian could find fault with his anti-secession sentiments; or had he been favorable to the south, he would have needed no apologies for his choice. The questions, however, arise—and upon their solution must depend the regard in which Marylanders generally will hold Mr. Hicks-whether his professions throughout were insincere and if, at the crucial moment, he was guilty of cowardice, no matter what his real convictions. Although he was opposed to any move which would precipitate the nation into a sectional conflict, he gave expression on December 6, 1860, in a letter to a Prince George's countian, to the following secessionist sentiments: "If the Union must be dissolved let it be done calmly, deliberately and after full reflection on the part of the united south. *** After allowing a reasonable time for action on the part of the northern states, if they shall neglect or refuse to observe the plain requirements of the constitution, then, in my judgment, we shall be fully warranted in demanding a division of the country." Governor Hicks was in Baltimore when the Massachusetts troops, passing through the city on April 19, 1861, were set upon by the people of the city. After the close of that day of violence and bloodshed the state executive and Mayor Brown of Baltimore were visited by Marshal Kane and ex-Governor Lowe, who wished to have the railroad bridges leading into Baltimore burned, that they might thereby prevent a repetition of the day's tragedy, should the federal government seek to send the several thousand troops then reported near Cockeysville through Baltimore. THOMAS HOLLIDAY HICKS 175 Governor Hicks, Lowe recorded in his report of the interview, said: "Well, I suppose it must be done,' or words of precisely that import, to which the mayor replied, substantially: 'Governor, I have no authority to act beyond the city limits, and can do nothing in this matter except by your direction. Shall the bridges be destroyed?' Governor Hicks emphatically and distinctly replied in the affirmative." But in later days, when Governor Hicks wished to clear himself of the charge of having countenanced a burning of the bridges, he denied absolutely the testimony of Lowe, Kane and Mayor Brown, and sought to make himself out a good and unconditional Union man. And yet he left proof of how closely he approached an approval of secession, for in his communication to Lincoln, April 22, 1861, he wrote: "I feel it my duty most respectfully to advise you that no more troops be ordered or allowed to pass through Maryland, and that the troops now off Annapolis be sent elsewhere; and I most respectfully urge that a truce be offered by you so that the effusion of blood may be prevented. I respectfully suggest that Lord Lyons be requested to act as mediator between the contending parties of our country." * This was in April, 1861, and in October, 1863, Mr. Hicks, in a letter to Governor Bradford could find the courage to pen the words: "My God! How unfortunate it is that men in high places should say one thing one day and another the next day. * * Oh! what unfortunate times we have fallen on, and yet amid our perplexity we must not relax our efforts to do good. I feel sometimes like giving it up, but then I know it is what these unprincipled men desire and I determine anew that, if fall I must, I will fall fighting for the right. I publicly and privately proclaim myself for an emancipationist. I am honestly. My judgment is so -policy leads to it. I am in favor of putting the slaves in |