Anna Ella Carroll facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Anna Ella Carroll
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Anna Ella Carroll, 1815–1894
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Anna Ella Carroll
August 29, 1815 |
| Died | February 19, 1894 (aged 78) |
| Resting place | Old Trinity Church, Church Creek, Maryland |
| Occupation | Pamphleteer and advisor to 16th President Abraham Lincoln |
| Parent(s) | Thomas King Carroll and Julianna Stevenson |
Anna Ella Carroll (born August 29, 1815 – died February 19, 1894) was an important American political activist. She wrote many pamphlets and worked as a lobbyist. She also advised President Abraham Lincoln's team during the American Civil War (1861-1865).
Contents
Early Life and Education
Anna Carroll was born in 1815 in Maryland. Her family was wealthy and well-known. Her father, Thomas King Carroll, was a large farm owner and served as Maryland's governor. Her great-grandfather, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, signed the United States Declaration of Independence.
Anna was the oldest of eight children. Her father taught her a lot, likely including law. This special education helped her get involved in politics, which was mostly a male world back then.
To help her family, Anna started a school for girls at their home. Not much is known about her life between the ages of 20 and 35.
Starting a Political Career in the 1850s
Anna Carroll became active in national politics in the 1850s. This happened after her father got a job from President Zachary Taylor. She later joined the American Party, also known as the Know Nothing Party. This was a time when many political parties were changing.
In Maryland, many immigrants, especially Irish and German Catholics, arrived. They came during the Great Famine in Ireland and the 1848 Revolutions in Germany. This led to competition for jobs and housing. The Know Nothing party in Maryland was against immigrants and Catholics, but they were also pro-Union and pro-labor.
Anna Carroll wrote articles and pamphlets. She campaigned against city corruption and what she saw as too much political influence from certain groups. In 1856, she supported Millard Fillmore, the Know Nothing candidate for president. Fillmore won only in Maryland, thanks in part to her efforts.
For the 1856 campaign, Anna Carroll published two books: The Great American Battle and The Star of the West. She also wrote important pamphlets like "The Union of the States." In 1857, she was a key writer for Governor Thomas Holliday Hicks of Maryland. He said her writings helped him win. She also wrote articles for newspapers under the name "Hancock."
Helping During the Secession Crisis
When Abraham Lincoln became president in 1860, Anna Carroll freed her own slaves. She then worked hard to stop Southern states from leaving the Union. She also helped keep Maryland loyal to the Union.
After Lincoln's election, several Southern states decided to secede. These were states with many slaves. In early 1861, the Confederate government was formed. During this time, Carroll advised Governor Hicks on ways to find a compromise in Congress. She also sent him important information about Confederate plans. This information may have prevented an attack on Washington, D.C., if Maryland had seceded.
In the summer of 1861, Carroll wrote a pamphlet. It was a response to a speech by Senator John C. Breckinridge. He argued that Lincoln had broken the Constitution by calling up state armies and stopping certain legal rights. Carroll's pamphlet explained that Lincoln's actions were allowed by the Constitution. She said that as the nation's leader, Lincoln could use his powers to enforce federal law. This included his role as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The Lincoln administration shared her pamphlet widely. By 1862, she wrote three more pamphlets supporting the government's actions during the war.
Anna Carroll's Role in the Civil War
In late 1861, Carroll traveled to St. Louis. She was working with a secret agent named Judge Lemuel D. Evans. She also gathered information from a librarian whose brother was a Confederate general.
Anna Carroll then spoke with a riverboat pilot, Captain Charles M. Scott. She asked him about the Union's plan to invade the South using the Mississippi River. Scott told her that the plan was not good. He said it would take years to open the river because of many strong defense points.
Carroll then asked Scott about using the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers instead. Scott gave her important details about these rivers. Based on this information, Carroll wrote a memo to the Assistant Secretary of War and the Attorney General. She suggested changing the invasion route from the Mississippi to the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers.
Around the same time, Major General Henry Halleck was planning a similar move. On January 30, 1862, Halleck ordered General Ulysses S. Grant to attack Fort Henry and Fort Donelson on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. These forts fell in February 1862. These were the first major Union victories in the Civil War.
At the time, Anna Carroll's role in this plan was kept secret. After the war, she gave credit to Captain Charles Scott. Years later, Assistant Secretary of War Scott and Senator Wade confirmed her important role to Congress.
During the rest of the war, Carroll worked with Lincoln on issues about freeing slaves. She advised Lincoln against issuing the Emancipation Proclamation at first. She worried it would make Southern Unionists stop supporting the Union. However, she also wrote that Lincoln had the constitutional right to free slaves as a temporary war measure. This was because it would help weaken the rebellion. She believed a permanent change would need a constitutional amendment.
Life After the War and Death
After the war, Anna Carroll continued her political writing. She was active in the Republican Party in Maryland.
After 1870, she spent much time trying to get paid for her wartime writings. She believed the government owed her $5,000. She went through twenty years of hearings in Congress. Most military committees supported her, but no bills were passed to pay her. She filed a claim in court in 1885, but it was denied. Despite this, women's rights groups supported her. They even had a biography written about her in 1891.
Anna Ella Carroll died on February 19, 1894, at age 79. She is buried at Old Trinity Church in Maryland, next to her family. Her gravestone says, "A woman rarely gifted; an able and accomplished writer."
In 1959, a monument was put up for Carroll. It calls her "Maryland's Most Distinguished Lady." It also says she "conceived the successful Tennessee Campaign and guided the President on his constitutional war powers."
What People Think Now
For a long time, Anna Carroll was seen as a hero for women. People believed her contributions were ignored because she was a woman. However, some scholars have questioned her story. They argue that she was more of a "self-promoter" than "the woman who saved the Union."
New research in 2004 looked at more historical records. These materials generally support her role in the Tennessee River campaign, but suggest it might have been slightly less central than she claimed. A plan similar to hers was published in the New York Times before she said she sent her plan to the War Department. Historians continue to study her exact impact.
See also
In Spanish: Anna Ella Carroll para niños
