Evening Star Newspaper, June 22, 1930, Page 82

8 THF. SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JUNE 22, 1930. | e OB County Name Is Montgomery T'ribute iMajor General’s Fame Established in American History, Yet Few Realize Distinguished Origin of Designation for Washington Suburb in Maryland— County Events. “BY JOHN CLAGETT PROCTOR. E speak of Montgomery County so often, and hear the name “Montgomery” mentioned so fre- quently, that one would suppose - most every one knew for whom this important Maryland County was named. However, strange as it might seem, the writer Suspects that just the reverse is true, and that ns 2 matter of fact, but comparatively few peo- ple could answer this question, although the Capital of the Nation itself was to an ex- tent carved out of this county when the Dis- grict of Columbia was formed, back in 1791. With the county of Fairfax to the south of us. a portion of which was retroceded to Nirginia in 1846, it is quite likely that just the opposite conclusion might bz drawn, for most évery one seems to know that it was named for Lord Fairfax, whose American descendant today occupies a seat in the British House of Lords, and yet, why every schoolboy should not know for whom the Maryland county was named, is one of those difficult things we can- not easily answer, and especially is it im- portant that we should know this, when we consider the sacrifice made by this brave man in the interest of free government. Up until 1748, all the territory that in that year became Frederick County, had before then been a part of Prince Georges County. How- ever, as Frederick County soon became more populous, it was deemed expedient also to rearrange this county, and in 1776, Mont- gomery and Washington Counties were formed out of Frederick, though still leaving the last mentioned with sufficient area for its proper development. To Dr. Thomas Sprigg Wooton is given the credit for having introduced, in the Mary- land State Legislature, a bill for the separat- ing of Frederick County, which was finally passed on September 6, 1776, though by a small majority. This bill reads as follows: “Resolved—That, after the first day of October next, such part of the said county of Frederick as is contained within the bounds and limits following, to wit: Beginning at the east side of the mouth of Rock Creek, cn the Potomac River, and running thence with the said river to the mouth of Monocacy, then with a straight line to Parrs Spring, from thence with the lines of the erounty to the beginning, shall be and is hereby erected into a new county called Montgomery County.” OMING into existence as it did, during one of the most tense periods of the American Revolution, it seems quite natural that this county should have been named for that capable and brave soldier and patriot, Maj. Gen. Richard Montgomery, killed in the attempt to capture th: City cf Quebec, Canada, December 31, 1775, and, by the way, we are told that this was the first county in Mary- land to ignore the custom of naming towns and counties after princes, lords and dukes— as Baltimore, Frederick, Arundel and Prince George—adopting in their stead such illus- trious republican names as Montgomery, ‘Washington, Carroll, Howard and Garrett. Montgomery’s death had occurred within Jess than one year when the county 1amed for him was established, and the selecting eof his name proved a most fittinz and sacred tribute to his memory. Like many of the brave officers in the American Revolution, Gen. Montgomery had not resided in the colonies any ccnsiderable length of time, though, as aesoldier in the British army he began his field service in Canada in 1757 and oparticipated cne year Jater in the reduction of Louisburg, 8 Fiench foriress, a veritable Gibraltar, upon which the most scientific enginecring skill had been added to nature, in an effort to make it im- pregnable. In 1759, it is said, he shared in the glorious victory of Gen. James Wolfe at Quebec, where, during the scaling of the Heights of Abraham, that brave and gallant officer lost his life, and here, too, in the at- tack on Quebec in 1775, the brave Montgom- ery sacrificed his all for the same principles that Warren had laid down his life for at Bunker Hill, on June 17, 1775—155 years ago jast week. Incidentally, it does seem wrong that these same principles for which our fathers fought, and for which such men as Montgomery and Warren died, should not be applied to the people of the District of Columbia. For, after all, “taxation witlhout representation” is just as unfair and unjust today as during the reign of George III; just as unfair as it was during that August day in 1774 when the good people of our own Georgetown refused to permit the brigantine Mary and Jane to discharge its cargo of tea, consigned to Robert Peler at that port. . Indeed. is it any wonder that the people of the District should feel degraded, humiliated and embarrassed at their most unfortunate plight, when such incidents as the death of Richard Montgomery—for whom a part of the very District of ColumBia itself was named »whose life was sacrificed upon the altar of American freedom for the enfranchisement of the American people, when they know that they alone, of all the people of the United States are still unable to say what shall be- come of the money they pay in local and Fed- cral taxes? Indeed, the vcople of the District sJmost feel like voicing Lincolr’s sentimywnis Death of Gen. Richard Montgomery during the storming of Quebec. “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, cannot long retain it.” BUT to return to the story. No truer pa- triot ever lived than Richard Montgomery, and no braver soldier ever sacrificed his life than did he. Born in Dublin, Ireland, on December 2, 1736—when George Washington was just four years old—he was the son of Thomas Montgomery of Convoy House, whose children included three sons, namely, Alex- ander, John and Richard, and one daughter. We are told that his family was ‘“highly respectable,” and that Alexander, the first son, commanded a grenadier company in Wolfe's army, and was present at the capture of Quebec; John lived and died in Portugal, and the daughter married Lord Ranelagh. After serving in the British army—a com- mission having been obtained for him in 1754, when he was but 18 years of age—he decided to abandon the king's service, and, accordingly, in 1772 sold his commission, and in January, 1773, arrived in New York, where he purchased a farm. It was here that he either became acquainted with or renewed the acquaintance of, the Clermont branch of the Livingston family. However, whichever way it may have been, we know that it was dur- ing the following July that he married the eldest daughter of Robert R. Livingston, then one of the judges of the Superior Court of the province. From the very day that Montgomery first landed in New York, it is apparent that he became actively interested in the political af- fairs of the Colonies, for we find that in April, 1776, he was elected a member of the delega- tion from the County of Dutchess to the first provincial convention held in New York, and it was while thus serving that the National Congress commissioned him one of the eight brigadier generals provided for by that body. Montgomery was only one of many capable Irishmen who threw in their lot with the cause of the colonists and who rendered con- spicuous service in establishing American lib- erty. He had not sought this distinction and only accepted it as a duty he felt he owed to his adopted country. Ir a letter he wrote to a friend soon afterward we find him saying: “The Congress having done me the honor of electing me a brigadier general in their service, is an event which must put an end for awhile, perhaps forever, to the quiet scheme of life I had prescribed for myself; for, though entirely unexpected and undesired by me, the will of an oppressed people, compelled to choose be- tween liberty and slavery, must be obeyed.” THE attack upon Quebec in which Mont- gomery was killed took place early on the morning of December 31, 1775. John Arm- strong, his brother-in-law, who served as Sec- retary of War during the second administra- tion of President Madison and who has written an excellent biography of Richard Montgomery, has this to say of that <~lier's death and the incidents immediately leading up to that most unfortunate occurrence: “A council of war was accordingly convened, and to this the general submitted two ques- tions: ‘Shall we attempt the reduction of Quebec by a night attack? And if so, shall the lower town be the point attacked?” Both questions having been affirmatively decided, the troops were ordered to parade in three divi- sions at 2 o'clock in the morning of the 3lst of December; the New York regiments and part of Easton’s Massachusetts Militia, at Hol- land House; the Cambridge detachments on Lamb’s company of artilleries, with one field piece, at Capt. Morgan’s quarters; and the two small corps of Livingston and Brown, at their respective grounds of parade. “To the first and second of these divisions were assigned the two assaults, to be made on opposite sides of the lower town; and to the third, a series of demonstrations or feigned attacks in different parts of the upper. “Under these orders, the movement began between 3 and 4 o'clock in the morning, from the Heights of Abraham. Montgomery advanced at the head of the first division by the river road, round the foot of Cape Dia- mond to Aunce ou Mere; and Arnold, at the head of the second, through the suburbs of St. Roque, to the Sault de Matelots. Both columns found the roads much obstructed by snow, but to this obstacle on the route taken by Montgomery were added huge masses of ice, thrown up from the river, and so narrow- ing the passage round the foot of the promon- tory, as to greatly retard the progress and disturb the order of the march. “These difficulties being at last surmounted, the first barrier was approached, vigorously attacked and rapidly carried. A moment, and but a moment, was now employed to re-excite the ardor of the troops, which the fatigue of the march and the severity of the weather had somewhat abated. ‘Men of New York! ex- claimed Montgomery, ‘you will not fear to fol- low where your general leads—march on;’' then placing himself again in the front, he pressed eagerly forward to the second barrier, and, when but a few paces from the mouths of the British cannon, received three wounds which instantly terminated his life and his labors. Thus fell, in the first month of his fortieth year, Maj. Gen Richard Montgomery. “The fortune of the day being now decided, the corpse of the fallen general was eagerly sought for and soon found. The stern character of Carleton’s habitual temper softened at the sight; recollections of other times crowded fast upon him; the personal and professional merits of the dead could neither be forgotten nor dis- sembled, and the British general granted the request of 1ieut. Gov. Cramahe to have the body decently inlerred within the walls of the city. “In this oriet story of a short and useful life, we find all the elements which enter imto the composition of a great man and distin- guished soldier; ‘a happy physical organiza- tion, combining strength and activity, and en- abling its possessor to encounter laborious days and sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, all ~hanges of weather, and every variation of climate.’ To these corporeal advantages was added a mind, cool, discriminating, energetic, and fearless; thoroughly acquainted with man- kind, not uninstructed in the literature and sciences of the day, and habitually directed by a high and unchangeable moral sense. “That a man so constituted should have won ‘the golden opinions’ of friends and foes is not extraordinary. The most elogquent men of the British Senate became his panegyrists; and the American Congress hastened to testify for him, ‘their grateful remembrance, profound respect, and high veneration.’” I IKE so many accounts of events happening 2 during the Revolutionary War, the intense excitement of the time was responsible for the different versions we find today of the death of Richard Montgomery. One account, how=- ever, that the writer feels worthy of adding to what has already been said, was published many years ago by Louise Livingston Hunt, most likely in some way related to the wife of Gen. Montgomery. This author tells us: “It was 4 o'clock in the morning of De- cember 31, 1775, during a violent snow-storm, that the attack on Quebec was made. The little American Army had undergone inex- pressible hardships during the campaign, and the soldiers were half starved and half naked. It took all the magnetic power of Montgomery to stir them into renewed action. ‘Men of New York,’ he exclaimed, ‘vou will not fear to follow where your general leads: march on!® Then placing himself in the front, he almost immediately received the mortal wound which suddenly closed his career. “Thus fell Richard Montgomery, at the early age of 37. Three weeks before his death he was promoted to the rank of major general. Young, gifted, and brave, he was mourned throughout the country, at whose altar he had offered up his life—apparently in vain; for fate decided the battle in favor of the British. “The story that he was borne from the field of battle by Aaron Burr, under the continued fire of the enemy, has always been received with doubt. It may now, upon the highest authority, be pronounced to be without foun=- dation. “It was rumored, but not ascertained by the British for some hours, that the American gen eral had been killed. Anxious to ascertain, Gen. Carleton sent an aide-de-camp to the seminary, where the American prisoners were, to inquire if any of them would identify the body. A field officer of Arnold's division, whe had been made priscncr near Sault au Matelot barrier, accompanied the aide-de-camp to the Pres de Ville guard and pointed it out among the bodies, at the same time pronouncing in accents of grief a glowing eulogism on Mont- " gomery’s bravery and worth. “Besides that of the general, the bodies of his two aides-de-camp were recognized among the slain. All were frozen stiff. Gen. Mont- gomery was shot through the thigh and through the head. When his body was taken up, his features were not in the least dis- torted, bhis countenance appeared serene and