John Leeds Barroll

John Leeds Barroll. Publisher Accused of Treason and Exiled. , John Leeds Barroll first walked these courthouse grounds as a prominent Kent County lawyer before becoming a newspaper publisher. He was admitted to the bar in 1852 and served as the county State’s Attorney, 1854–1856, then founded the Kent Conservator in 1859. Federal officials deemed treasonous an 1863 article reprinted in Barroll’s newspaper from the St. Mary’s Beacon, of Leonardtown, Md. Gen. Robert C. Schenck ordered a company of the 2nd Regiment Eastern Shore Volunteer Infantry to Chestertown, and Barroll was arrested on April 17. James L. Downs, the author of the original article, was arrested at the same time. In a May 5 letter to the Richmond Enquirer, Barroll and Downs described being held at Baltimore’s Fort McHenry and raged about their treatment. “We had not been allowed even a form of a trial, nor officially notified of the charges against us,” they wrote. , The pair were moved to Harpers Ferry and then marched to Winchester, Va., and finally to Newtown, Va. There they were released with a note that read “Guards pass James L. Downs and J. Leeds Barroll through the Federal lines, never again to return, under the penalty of being treated as spies.” Barroll eventually returned to Chestertown, however, and became involved in local politics, being elected to the Chestertown Town Commission in June 1866. He died an untimely death at age 36, on Aug. 6, 1866. His death notice reported that he went to bed that evening “in usual health,” and was found dead the next morning., [Captions:] , John Leeds Barroll (1830-1866), a prominent lawyer and publisher, is buried at Shrewsbury Cemetery, Kennedyville, Md., While John Leeds Barroll was exiled to the Confederacy, his 2-year old daughter, Elleonora Lennox, died on Christmas Eve 1864. After learning of her death months later, Barroll wrote this letter to his wife Elleonora., Elleonora Keene Horsey Barroll (1835-1905) married John Leeds Barroll on December 5, 1854. They had five children, two of them dying before the age of five. She is buried beside him.