Leonardtown

Leonardtown. Smugglers, Secessionists, and a Very Brave Man. , In 1860, male voters gathered here at the courthouse to cast their ballots. Before the mid-nineteenth century, voice voting was common, with each voter announcing his choices in front of one and all. Then came paper tickets or ballots colorfully marked as to party. Men here cast their votes in the courthouse, the site of all civic meetings and elections, by selecting a party ballot and dropping it in the glass-sided ballot box in sight of everyone. The "Australian" or secret ballot was not adopted in the United States until the 1890s., William Charles Love, a Chaptico resident, is today considered a very brave man because in the election of 1860 he cast the only vote for Abraham Lincoln in St. Mary's County. He was ambushed on his way home, fighting his way across the bridge out of town. John Breckenridge, the secessionist candidate, was the winner here, so when Abraham Lincoln was elected president, the people of Leonardtown called for secession., On April 23, 1861, in a public meeting here, the residents declared allegiance to the South and resolved to raise $10,000 for weapons and ammunition. Soon, some were smuggling goods and other contraband across the Potomac River to Virginia. Union troops occupied the courthouse and camped nearby in the Sheep Pen Woods near Breton Bay and McIntosh Run. One of the local newspapers, the Beacon, was so full of secessionist commentary that authorities closed it down and jailed the editor. Many of the more vocal residents were imprisoned at Point Lookout., (sidebars) , This ballot box was used here in the 1858 and 1860 elections. In 1708, Leonardtown was laid out on the banks of Breton Bay, and the St. Mary's County court soon was moved here. In 1858, the Maryland State Legislature incorporated the town, still the only incorporated town in the county. On May 3, 1858, 46 white men (out of 164 white and 35 African American residents) elected five town commissioners. - Courtesy St. Mary's County Historical Society, The Old Jail behind you was built in 1876 to replace an antebellum jail on the same foundation. Before the war, freedom seekers who escaped bondage but were captured were confined here. In August 1860, a Black man named Alonzo, who had escaped from the estate of H.G.S. Key, of Leonardtown, was jailed here. He had fled north and concealed himself in a cave to await safe passage to Philadelphia. When he hailed a boat, the captain asked to see his free papers, to which Alonzo replied he left them at home. The captain did not believe that Alonzo was the free man he claimed to be, arrested him, and returned him to bondage.