25 – Fine cool day, Wind high at N.W. Went to Town, return’d to Dinner, busy burning brush & leaves, manuring lawn. Mr. Nicols & Mr. Jese Nicols call’d in the evening & sat about an Hour ~
From the journal of Captain Henry Thompson, February 25, 1814. Courtesy the Friends of Clifton.
Learn more about the invention of the power looms and the growth of industrial textile production in early Baltimore.
24th – Rain all last Night & untill 12 O’Clock this day, but did not clear up until six O’Clock when the Wind chang’d to N.W. & blew very hard. Remain’d at Home all day
From the journal of Captain Henry Thompson, February 24, 1814. Courtesy the Friends of Clifton.
February 24th
Nevis bearing NNW, distance 6 leagues discovered several sail standing in different directions. Made on out to be a ship standing to the westward; gave chase. At 2 P.M. made the chase out to be a frigate when within one and a half miles of her; tacked ship and stood to the southward, the chase immediately bore after us under a press of sail. At half past 5 the chase hauled her wind to the s and e of seeing a brig come out from under the land of Montserrat, which we perceived her to bring to.
From the journal of the Chasseur, excerpted in Baltimore American, June 2, 1814. Maryland Historical Society.
On February 23, 1814, Rear Admiral George Cockburn sailed his flagship the HMS Albion into Lynnhaven Bay marking the return of the British military campaign to the Chesapeake.
The British attacks on coastal Maryland and Virginia towns that earned Cockburn a reputation for brutality in 1813 paused when most of the fleet sailed for Bermuda in September. Returned from the Caribbean after a tour of the Atlantic blockading squadrons, Rear Admiral Cockburn soon resumed the aggressive raids and anticipated grander actions under his new, more aggressive commander in chief Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane.
23rd – Fine day, but cloudy evening and fresh Wind at South – Went to Town, return’d to dinner & found Mrs. Bowly & Fanny, who left us in the evening ~
From the journal of Captain Henry Thompson, February 23, 1814. Courtesy the Friends of Clifton.
On February 23, 1814, Nathaniel Hynson, warden of the Maryland Penitentiary since April 1812 and a prominent cabinet-maker, was replaced by a new warden Benjamin Williams. Williams’ appointment sparked a conflict between the Inspectors of the Penitentiary (a group that included Hezekiah Clagget, John Hillen, James Kemp, George Lindenberger, Isaac McPherson, John Oliver, Henry Payson, George Roberts, Baltzer Schaeffer, Samuel Sterett, and Elisha Tyson) and Maryland Governor Levin Winder documented in a series of letters between the parties.
On January 27, 1814, Benjamin Williams wrote “with concern” to Col. John Thomas in Annapolis sharing that the Inspectors of the Penitentiary objected to his appointment and remarking “should the intrigue of the Inspectors succeed, it would be a ruinous stroke to me.” On January 28, 1814, Baltimore judge Luther Martin wrote directly to Governor Winder, to note Williams’ arrival in Baltimore and object that none of the Inspectors had any prior notice and remarking that Hynson’s character and livelihood was affected by his removal.
The Maryland legislature established the state penitentiary in 1809 with an act declaring that “all prisoners convicted of any crime punishable by confinement in the penitentiary should be placed and kept in solitary cells thereof, and kept on low and [coarse] diet for such a time as the discretion of the court might direct.” The same act also determined that the warden or keeper of the penitentiary “in addition to the salary allowed him by the Legislature, have five per centum on the sale of all articles manufactured by the prisoners in the institution, with the power to appoint his deputies and assistants.” The keeper’s responsibilities included providing “a sufficient quantity of stock and materials, working tools and implements for the employment of the convicts and to contract for the clothing diet and other necessaries for the maintenance and support of the convicts.”
As a member of the Columbian Fire Company and a former member of the Baltimore First Branch City Council, Hynson was a well-known local citizen but likely still struggled from the sudden loss of wages from his position. Hynson may have returned to his trade as a cabinet-maker but, on March 14, 1821, he came back to the Maryland Penitentiary where he took over from Benjamin Williams as keeper until February 9, 1825.
Sources: Scharf, John Thomas. The Chronicles of Baltimore. Turnbull Bros., 1874. pp. 187, 203, 205, 251; Radoff, Morris Leon. The County Courthouses and Records of Maryland. Hall of Records Commission, 1955, p. 249.
22 – Beautiful day – Wind N.W. – Went to Town return’d to Dinner
From the journal of Captain Henry Thompson, February 22, 1814. Courtesy the Friends of Clifton.
