Marylanders All

Book excerpt: Marylanders All is an intriguing look at the lives of ten Dorchester County figures of the eighteenth through the twenty-first centuries. These nine men and one woman, as well as many of their family members, influenced local, state, and national events in war- and peacetime. This work makes clear that Dorchester County made historical contributions way out of proportion to its geographic size. In these pages, Brannock and Larson relate the actions of formidable individuals, such as young Lt. John Trippe, USN, who enthralls us with his derring-do in the War with the Barbary States. Dr. Thomas Steele escorted Commodore Matthew C. Perry, when he visited Japan to open it to American trade in 1852. Anna Ella Carroll was a political and legal advisor to Pres. Abraham Lincoln, serving also as a U. S. secret agent and military strategist. Cdr Amos S. Creighton led the Maryland State Fishery Force for thirty years, first coming on board during the waning years of the Oyster Wars on the Chesapeake Bay. Merchant mariner Granville Conway commanded a fleet of 4,000 ships, when he served as operations director of the War Shipping Administration during World War II. Earl Brannock whose research provided the inspiration and factual basis for much of this book is also featured, initially as a young World War II sailor in charge of the bridge of the U. S. S. Chester at the battle of Iwo Jima. So come along on this adventure ride into history and learn about these larger-than-life Dorchester County Marylanders, most of whom went on to national reknown. ___________________________________________ Dorchester County, located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, with Cambridge as its county seat, was established in 1669. As part of the DelMarVa Peninsula, that is sided by the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, Dorchester County has always economically depended upon commercial fishing and agriculture. Hence, Cambridge was home to wealthy Chesapeake Bay and sea captains, shippers, merchants, bankers, doctors, and lawyers who are mainly featured in this work. Local residents also contributed heavily to the nations military heritage, particularly the naval forces. Today many families that are related to the figures in this book and that have resided in the county, since the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, still remain. The county was also home to the legendary figures Harriet Tubman and Annie Oakley who have been covered in numerous mediums, as well as loyal Civil War Gov. Thomas H. Hicks and Col. James Wallace, commander of the 1st Maryland Eastern Shore Regiment, a hero of the battle of Gettysburg. Long recognized locally for its heroic figures, Eastern Shore history is illuminated through the accounts of premier Dorchester Countians presented by Earl Brannock and Kay Larson. Marylanders All is a fascinating read. Historians and generalists alike will be captivated by this parade of giants who, one after the other, take center stage in this skillfully woven narrative of locals who made good. Dr. G. Raymond Thompson, director, The Nabb Center for the Study of the DelMarVa Peninsula, Salisbury (Md.) University ___________________________________________ Read about our featured Maryland heroes: Lt. John Trippe singled out the gigantic Tripolitan as his opponent. In the fight that ensued Trippe was wounded eleven times, breaking his sword and being beaten to his knees. Trippe picked up a half-pike. . .and with a desperate upward thrust struck the enemy dead . . . .[but] another pirate [charged] at him. Marine Sgt. Meredith with a bayonet thrust stopped the attacker in his tracks. Brannock on Trippe, Easton (Md.) Star Democrat, 1997 During World War II, Capt. Granville Conway transformed the War Shipping Administration into an, elastic, fast-moving, thinking, intelligent organization, foreign to every habitual concept of a government organization. Many private industries could take lessons from G