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Diana Kohn is Takoma Park's unofficial historian. Diana is also a longtime environmental activist who works at the Institute for Environmental Energy Research. |
Samuel Sprigg Carroll: From Gettysburg to Manor Circle
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A few of Takoma Park's earliest residents had memories from boyhood of being chased out of the orchards around Manor House by an eccentric old man with wild hair. That man was none other than Major General Samuel Sprigg Carroll, memorialized in the name of Old Takoma's main street, Carroll Avenue. Samuel's house and land--now Manor Circle--was a small portion of the Carroll family's vast holdings, which stretched from the Chesapeake to the Potomac, from Annapolis to what is now Capitol Hill.
Colonial Ancestors
Charles Carroll the Settler, founder of the family fortunes, set sail from Great Britain in 1688, bound for the colony of Maryland. He left an England unfriendly to his Irish Catholic faith, taking the post as Attorney General, with the intention of restoring the family honor. Over the years until his death in 1712, he accumulated vast tracts of land around Baltimore, Annapolis (822 acres), Anne Arundel (10,000 acres), and Prince George's (500 acres). |
Samuel Spriggs Carroll, as captured by Matthew Brady. Fondly referred to as "Old Brick Top," he was well-liked by his men. His quick action on the second day at Gettysburg won back the heights at Cemetery Ridge and helped ensure Union victory. |
By the time Samuel Sprigg Carroll was born on September 21, 1832, the tangled Carroll family network included Charles Carroll of Annapolis; his son, Charles Carroll of Carrollton (wealthiest of the signers of Declaration of Independence, and the only Catholic), plus cousins Daniel Carroll of Rock Creek (one of two Catholics to sign the Consitution) and John Carroll, later Archbishop, who founded Georgetown. Sam's father was William Thomas Carroll, clerk of the Supreme Court, and his mother was Sally Sprigg, daughter of a Maryland Governor. The small estate Sam inherited on the Prince George's-Montgomery border just north of D.C., was ultimately incorporated into the City of Takoma Park.
Unlike other Carroll family members, who were political movers and shakers, Samuel's small measure of fame rests on his military exploits, especially at Gettysburg. Although he graduated 44th in a class of 49 from West Point, his consequent conduct on the battlefield garnered considerable praise.
Barely 28 as war broke out in 1861, Carroll was referred to affectionately as "Old Brick Top" for his thinning red hair. The exhaustive records of the Civil War cite him for his "quickness and dash" and "fearless and energetic action," with a voice "like the blast of a trumpet worth a whole regiment itself as a reinforcement when ordering a charge." While many commanders were cited for unwillingness to engage, Carroll was singled out as brigade leader who would attack "whenever he got a chance and of his own accord."
Carroll received a serious chest wound in the fall of 1862, which plagued him the rest of his life and sidelined him during the Battles of Manassas and Antietam. The following spring he was given command of the 977 men of 2nd Corps Brigade, but remained Colonel Carroll.
Road to Gettysburg
In early June 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee pushed into Pennsylvania as part of his plan to encircle Washington D.C. Just days before the celebration of America's independence, and quite by accident, Confederate General A.P. Hill's column chanced to encounter Union troops in the southern Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg. Spurred into action, Lee and Union commander General George G. Meade immediately ordered their respective troops to converge on the village.
Over the next three days, 160,000 soldiers would confront each other in the wheat fields and hills of this rural crossroads, resulting in 51,000 casualties and the bloodiest battle of the war. The ultimate Union victory was incredibly slim. Among the right men in the right places who made the difference was Samuel Sprigg Carroll.
Carroll and his men arrived at the battle scene by forced march on Day Two, and on orders from Gen. Winfield Hancock, took up their position on the road between Cemetery Ridge and Cemetery Hill facing heavy Confederate fire. Neither side could gain an advance, until finally, at dusk, Confederate Gen. Jubal Early changed tactics and moved to take the Northern-fortified heights on Cemetery Ridge. Initially, the Rebels were successful, pushing Union troops under General O. Oliver Howard out of their batteries.
The sounds of the increasing intense warfare alerted General Hancock on the road below to the danger, and he instantly recognized the need to send a brigade to support Howard. His choice: "Send Carroll."
Sam was quick to act, perhaps in part because General Howard was not just another general, but in fact a close friend. (They had been compatriots since West Point and later shared a double house with their respective wives and children while on duty in Washington in 1860, prior to the outbreak of war. When Howard suffered the loss of his arm in an 1861 battle, he recuperated under the care of Carroll's mother.)
Responding to Hancock's command to join the fray on the heights, Carroll immediately mobilized a rescue, despite the fact that the moon hadn't yet risen and it was pitch dark. Organizing his three regiments into narrow, deep columns, he sent them up the hill in quickstep. Soldiers later described "throwing away knapsacks and blankets in order to keep up with the mad dash." Following the sound of heaviest gunfire, Carroll headed directly to the most vulnerable spot, his clarion voice urging them on: "Front face! Charge Bayonets! Forward, double-quick! March! Give them hell!" Although the darkness made climbing the hill difficult, it provided cover for his men.
As Carroll's men approached the Confederate lines, Brig. General Harry Hays hesitated to return fire, unsure in the dark whether these were Rebel reinforcements or the enemy. Not until three rounds had been fired and the front lines were close enough together could he distinguish the trefold "II" emblem on the caps of the approaching men, and realized they were indeed the enemy. By then it was too late. Not only did Carroll overpower the entrenched Confederates, but his arrival encouraged many of Howard's retreating troops to rejoin the fight and re-establish Union control of the heights.
Union Victory
Position secured, Carroll sought leave to return to Hancock's division, but was ordered to stay put by Howard, who said, "I can't trust anyone else to hold." Ironically, taking up this defensive position meant that his men were not part of the next day's confrontation with Pickett's charge.
Commanders on the scene wrote, "too much credit cannot be given to Carroll and his command for the gallant manner in which they went to relief of troops on our right." Carroll's men also felt they had saved the day, and loudly boasted about that fact for the rest of their lives. Even if the boast is slightly overplayed, the fact that the Union recovered the high ground contributed in no small way to the Union success on Day Three. It broke Lee's offensive drive, and proved the turning point in the war, despite two more long years of fighting.
Colonel Carroll led his 2nd Brigade through the fall and winter, until his active military career came to an end on May 12, 1864, at Spotsylvania when a bullet shattered his arm. Ironically, it resulted in his promotion to Brigadier General. He remained a soldier after the Confederate surrender, until disabilities from his war wounds forced his retirement in 1869. Once again, he was promoted and left the army as a Major General.
Photo Courtesy Ron Greybill |
Manor House: This house once sat alone in the circular drive still called “Manor Circle.” A small corner of the vast Carroll estates, it was home to Major General Samuel Sprigg Carroll until his death in 1893. Later occupants included Seventh-Day Adventist leader Ellen White and several generations of students attending the Washington Missionary College (now Columbia Union College). |
Carroll returned home to Manor House, on the high ground just off what was then Sandy Spring Road, but which now bears his name. When the railroad came through in 1878, a stop was included where the road crossed the tracks. He survived just long enough to witness the arrival of Gilbert and his sylvan suburb, and to scare a few young boys. Succumbing to pneumonia in 1893, Sam was buried in Georgetown's Oak Hill Cemetery. His mother Sally Sprigg survived him by four years.
Little is known of his wife or children, although Gilbert did buy land from a Carroll daughter. Ten years later the house was in Seventh-Day Adventist hands, serving as both the temporary residence of church leader Ellen White and as dormitory space until the first Washington Missionary School buildings were completed.
For the next 60 years, the house sat quietly, falling into neglect. Efforts to create a Carroll Park failed, and in 1960 the City Fire Department took over the property and burned down the house as a training exercise. (Blair House in Silver Spring suffered a similar fate.) A ten-story apartment building now occupies the site and the neighborhood association is named "S.S. Carroll." Maybe some of General Carroll's "charge the bayonets!" spirit still lingers to inspire Takoma Park activists.
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Map of Gettysburg, July 1 -3, 1863, from War, Terrible War, by Joy Hakim. |
Diana Kohn is Education Chair of Historic Takoma. Additional research for this article provided by Sabrina Baron, President of Historic Takoma, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the heritage of Takoma Park, MD and Takoma DC. For more on Carroll's Civil War exploits including a bibliography, see www.historictakoma.org.
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