The State House At War

The Maryland State House has been the setting for dramatic turns in the history of Maryland and the nation. Over the years, all of the nation’s wars have in some way impacted the building and the politics that take place within it. During the War of 1812, the State House dome was even used as a lookout while the British fleet raided the Chesapeake Bay. Situated at the center of Annapolis, which is home to the United States Naval Academy as well as Maryland’s capital, it would be difficult for the Maryland State House to not play a prominent role in the home front.

Photograph of procession on Maryland Avenue, with the State House in the background, dated 1859-1906. Copy by Marion E. Warren, Marion E. Warren Collection, Maryland State Archives, MSA SC 1890-02-3244.

In honor of Veteran’s Day, we will take a moment to reflect on the State House and its consequential role in the Revolutionary War effort.

"All Eyes Being Fixed on Washington:" Washington Resigning Leaves the State House

This past Monday, a team of conservators and professional art handlers from Artex Fine Art Services worked with the Department of General Services and the Maryland State Archives to remove Edwin White's Washington Resigning His Commission from the State House. The painting, part of the state-owned art collection managed by the Maryland Commission on Artistic Property and completed in 1859, will undergo major conservation over the course of the next year, and will return to the State House in conjunction with the completion of the restoration of the Old Senate Chamber. This masterpiece has hung above the grand staircase of the Maryland State House since 1904, when it had been moved from its original home in the Old Senate Chamber.

Artex staff works to remove Washington Resigning from its place on the grand staircase. Maryland State Archives, 4 November 2013.

An army of art handlers from Artex worked carefully for several hours to first remove the painting from the wall and lower it to the floor. The canvas was then removed from the frame, and the disassembled frame was carried piece by piece downstairs where it was wrapped for safe transport. The canvas, meanwhile, was secured in cardboard and plastic, and carried out of the State House through a window in the original part of the State House. A specialty contractor removed the window to accommodate the painting; they reinstalled it immediately after the painting was out of the building. Once outside, the canvas and the frame components were loaded into a truck for transportation to the conservators’ studios.

Major Anniversaries at the State House

Washington's resignation is far from the only piece of significant history to have occurred in the Maryland State House.  Today the State House celebrates two anniversaries of significant events in Maryland's history: the first occupancy of the current State House, and Maryland's abolition of slavery.

On November 1, 1779, two hundred and thirty-four years ago, the Proceedings of the House of Delegates recorded "Monday, November 1, 1779, being the day appointed for a receiving of the General Assembly, appeared at the Stadt-house, in the city of Annapolis."[1] This entry marks the day that the legislature first moved into the third and current State House, and making today the start of the building's current streak of continuous occupancy--the longest such streak in the nation. 

A conjectural image of the third State House when it first opened. Even though the legislature had begun to occupy the State House in 1779, the roof was not finished until nearly a decade later. By 1788, the dome had been redone and completed by architect, Joseph Clark. Sketch by Elizabeth Ridout, Maryland State Archives, MSA SC 1444.

The current State House that the delegates moved into in 1779 was not the first State House built on top of Annapolis' State Circle. In fact, there had been two prior. The first, constructed in 1695, was short-lived and burned down in 1704. The second was completed in 1709, and had begun to show its age after sixty years of use. In 1769, William Eddis, the Surveyor of Customs in Annapolis, wrote, "The public buildings do not impress the mind with any idea of magnificence...nothing expressive of the great purpose to which it is appropriated; and by a strange neglect; is suffered to fall continually into decay."[2]

The Keeper of the State House

It is difficult to look through the Maryland State Papers of the late eighteenth-century without coming across Jubb Fowler's name. A skilled carpenter, messenger to the Governor and Council, and caretaker of the Maryland State House, Fowler, like many Annapolitans of the Revolutionary period, had multiple jobs. However, according to Dr. Edward C. Papenfuse, Jubb Fowler is the only laborer of late eighteenth-century Annapolis to have gained significant upward economic mobility in his lifetime.[1]

Jubb Fowler was born on November 14, 1735 to Benjamin and Helen Fowler of Anne Arundel County. The Fowlers were a farming family, who had settled in Anne Arundel County a short time before Benjamin Fowler's birth in 1717. While there is no record of Jubb Fowler ever having married, he did have one daughter, Frances.

The James Brice House, 42 East Street, Annapolis, MD, where Jubb Fowler worked as a carpenter during its construction. Photograph by Marion E. Warren. Courtesy of the Maryland Historical Trust.

Jubb Fowler first appeared in Annapolis in 1767 as a carpenter for employer James Brice's house, now a National Historic Residence. After Fowler's initial work, Fowler and Brice appear to have maintained a professional relationship. In 1769, the pair advertised together in The Maryland Gazette for two runaway indentured servants. Fowler also borrowed money from Sarah Brice on several occasions, as recorded in the Brice account books.[2] 

Artisans of the State House: The Ironmaster

On October 19, 1785, exactly two-hundred twenty-eight years ago tomorrow, the auditor general recorded a payment of ₤21.7.9 to "Simon Ratalick" for iron work to a public pump.[1] This seemingly unremarkable entry was actually one of several state payments to Annapolis "ironmaster" (or blacksmith), Simon Retallick. Throughout the 1780s and 1790s, Retallick completed various projects for the Maryland State House, including the dome's famous lightning rod.

In the first of several upcoming features on the lives of the artisans who worked on the Old Senate Chamber, today's entry will look at a local blacksmith whose work at the State House can still be spotted by any passersby today.

Simon Retallick was born circa 1752 in the town of St. Issey in Cornwall, England to Richard and Elizabeth Retallick. The Retallicks of Cornwall appeared to have been from a long line of skilled craftsmen. Little is known about Simon's youth until, at the age of 22, he registered himself as a blacksmith traveling to Annapolis as an indentured servant on board the Peggy Stewart.

The Peggy Stewart made history upon its arrival in the port of Annapolis in 1774 with a cargo of tea. By that time, Annapolis had adopted a policy of refusing any ship that carried tea to unload any of its cargo. However, a significant part the Peggy Stewart's cargo included approximately fifty indentured servants on board, who would likely not survive a return voyage to England. While the people of Annapolis debated what to do with the vessel, the indentured servants, Retallick among them, were forced to await their fate aboard the ship. After several days, the indentured servants were released, and the ship was famously burned on October 19, 1774 in what is remembered as the "Annapolis Tea Party." This early rebellion was captured in Francis Blackwell Mayer's The Burning of the Peggy Stewart, on display in the Old House of Delegates Chamber.

The Burning of the Peggy Stewart by Francis Blackwell Mayer, 1896, Maryland State Archives, MSA SC 1545-1111.

Union Card Found in OSC Chimney Breast

On October 4, 2013, the construction workers made an exciting discovery in the chimney of the Old Senate Chamber. Lodged between the bricks was an old piece of paper that turned out to be a union card from the Bricklayer's Union of Maryland #5 dated April 1904. On the back of the card was a handwritten note that said, "Built by C. H. Obery Jr., Jos. Holland, July 29, 1906."

This card is almost certainly a remnant of the 1905 renovations of the State House under architects Baldwin and Pennington, which notably included the addition of the New Annex. The State House Building Commission also worked on the restoration of the Old Senate Chamber. Among the extensive renovations to take place in the chamber in 1905, the fireplace, which had been torn out in 1858, was rebuilt.

Workers uncovered a piece of paper in the chimney breast of the Old Senate Chamber, 4 October 2013.

Vicki Lee, Senior Conservator of the Maryland State Archives, inspects the union card in the chimney breast, 4 October 2013.

Molly Ridout's Letter

Out of the few written descriptions of George Washington's resignation, one of the most significant is Molly Ridout's letter to her mother. As we mentioned in last week's post, Molly's letter is the only known account written by a woman in attendance.

Molly Ridout's letter to her mother, Anne Tasker Ogle, 16 January 1784. Maryland State Archives, MSA SC 358-1-2.

On January 16th, 1784, thirty-eight year old Molly Ridout wrote to her mother, Anne Tasker Ogle. Molly had the letter delivered "by a frigate that went from this

place [Annapolis] to Brest [France] this you will certainly receive as it goes by a Gentleman that carrys a Copy of the definitive Treaty [of Paris] ratified by Congress."