| Notes |
- From A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789 (Edward Papenfuse et al):
-- Was a law student prior to his service in the Revolutionary War.
-- Active in Masonic Lodge #37 in Princess Anne from 1782. Grand Master 1814-1815.
-- Lower House, Somerset Co, MD 1789, 1790, 1791-1793 (speaker), 1806, 1807, 1808-1809 (speaker), 1809.
-- Trustee of Washington Academy, Somerset Co, 1797-1819
-- Senate elector, Somerset Co, 1796, 1801, 1806, 1811
-- 1st Lieutenant, Fifth Company, Smallwood's battalion, Jan 1776
-- Captain, 1st MD Regiment, Dec 1776
-- Major, 4th MD Regiment, 1777
-- Wounded and taken prisoner at Battle of Camden, 1780, exchanged in 1781
-- Transferred to 1st MD Regiment, discharged 1783
-- Major General, 2nd Division, Maryland Militia, commissioned 1794
-- 1812, elected Governor of MD
-- Stands on major issues: Favored the adoption of education for all people. While opposed to war with the British in 1812, Winder pushed for legislation to outfit the militia to protect Maryland. When he realized the national government would not provide these funds, he noted that ïf the expenses of a war waged by the national authorities are to be borne by the States, it is not difficult to foresee that the state treasury will soon be exhausted, and the annihilation of the state governments must soon follow."
-- Died of a liver complaint between July 1 and Aug 3, 1819, in Baltimore.
-- Wealth at death: TEV, $17,266.01 current money, including 53 slaves, 84 oz. plate, 26 books, and "the late Gen. Washington's campaign chest". FB, $8,715.23. Land: at least 2,027 acres in Somerset Co, 2 lots in Vienna Town, Dorchester Co, and 4 lots in Washington (now Allegany) Co.
The Baltimore Sun, 4/9/1950: Men In The Street: The Winders by William Stump
Winder Street, a wide thoroughfare in conception, but a cindered alley in reality, is named for one of Maryland's prominent men in the War of 1812.
Just which one, city records fail to reveal.
Located in an area where nearly every street bears the name of a hero of that war, Winder street may be named for Levin Winder, Maryland's governor during the war, or for his cousin, Gen. William Henry Winder, the man who led Maryland's troops to the worst defeat of the war.
The Governor, who armed the State when President Madison refused to do so, who aroused the fighting spirit of the citizens, and who helped plan the successful battle of North Point, was regarded as a hero; the General, whose failure at Bladensburg led to the burning of Washington, was not.
It seems logical, therefore, that the State commission that named Winder street -- some time between 1818 and 1823 -- intended to honor the Governor.
There is irony in Levin Winder's reputation as a hero of the war, for originally he was opposed to fighting the British. This was not surprising -- he was a spokesman for the Federalist party, which was very much against the war.
For their stand, the Federalists were decidedly unpopular, especially in Baltimore. In fact, the Republicans -- as the Democrats were called in those days -- went so far as to burn the offices of a Federalist newspaper.
That act had a strange effect, though, for instead of hurting the Federalists, it turned public sentiment, especially in the counties, in their favor. As a result, Winder, the Federalist majority leader in the House of Delegates, [copier skipped some material, alas! AW]
...the war, Winder was aroused by subsequent British raids on Maryland soil, and appealed to the President to arm the State. The President would not, on the grounds that Maryland was Federalist-controlled. So Winder called a special session of the General Assembly and demanded that the members give him enough money to buy arms.
Those arms, under Levin Winder, who as governor was commander in chief, defeated the British at North Point. As far as most Marylanders felt, the victory made up for the earlier defeat of Gen. William Henry Winder at Bladensburg.
General Winder was in complete command at Bladensburg. The fault for the defeat, in the final analysis, was his. Most historians believe that he was incompetent, and had no business leading the militia.
After the war, General Winder returned to his prosperous law practice in Baltimore. He lived as a respected citizen, and when he died, the citizens, forgetting or not blaming him for Bladensburg, buried him with a great deal of cermemony.
That was in 1824, a year after a map showing many proposed streets, among them Winder, was published. The street was envisaged as a fine thoroughfare, running west from the Middle Branch of the Patapsco to a point near Fort McHenry.
Today, though, no signs mark Winder street, for it is a dirty, unpaved alley extending from Light street on the east to a trash heap near Hanover street. Lost in the wilderness under the Hanover street bridge, it takes up again at Race street, and extends through the plant of the B.&O. property. Few people who work in the area have ever heard of Winder street.
In many ways, the lives of the Governor -- he died in 1819 -- and the General were similar. Both men were born in Somerset county, of well-to-do parents. Both were educated as lawyers. Both saw active and bloody military service -- Levin at Long Island and Camden in the Revolution, William Henry at Stony Point and Bladensburg in the War of 1812. Both were prominent men. But Levin Winder was the luckier one.
[Official certificate]
JOHN ADAMS, President of the United States of America, To all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting:
Know ye, That in pursuance of the act of Congress passed on the first day of June 1796, entitled "An Act regulating the grants of Land ; for Military services, and for the society of the United Brethren for propagating the gospel among the Heathen;" and of the several acts supplmentary thereto passed on the second day of March 1799, and on the eleventh day of February and first of March 1800, there is granted unto Levin Winder a Lieutenant Colonel in the late army of the United States in consideration of his military services; four certain tracts of land estimated to contain each, One Hundred acres being Lots number fix, six, eight, nine of the second quarter of the second Township in the Nineteenth Range of the Tract appropriated for satisfying Warrants for military services; surveyed and located in pursuance of the acts above recited; To have and to hold the said described tract of land, with the appurtenances thereof unto the said Levin Winder and to his heirs and assigns forever, subject to the conditions, restrictions and provisions contained in the said recited acts. In Witness whereof, the said John Adams, President of the United States of America, hath caused the Seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed, and signed the same with his hand, at the City of Philadelphia on the thirtieth day of April in the year of our Lord 1800; and of the Independence of the United States the twenty fourth. (signed) John Adams. By the President, Timothy Pickering, Secretary of State.
[Note: Apparently, although he never lived on this land, Levin left this land to his children; son William Sydney's will was probated in Ohio, as was William's widow Araminta's.]
From Baltimore Association of Commerce, 1926:
Lietenant Colonel Levin Winder
Battles of Long Islnad, Camden; Governor of Maryland During War of 1812
He was educated for the legal profession, but at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War aspoused the cause of his country. Although only 18 year of age, he was appointed on January 2, 1776, first lieutenant in Capt. Nathaniel Ramsey's company of Smallwood's First Maryland Battalion of the Flying Camp. Upon the reorganization of the army in December 1776, he was appointed captain of the First Maryland Regiment of the Maryland Line in the Continental Army. He was Captain Ramsey's Lieutenant at the time of the battle of Long Island. On April 17, 1777, he was appointed a major in the FOurth Maryland Regiment, commanded by Lieut. Col. Thomas Woolford, which on August 16, 1780, formed part of Brigadier General Gist's brigade in the battle of Camden, in which Lietenant Colonel Woolford and Major Winder were taken prisoners. On April 27, 1781, while still a prisoner, Major Winder was promoted to lietenant colonel of the Fifth Maryland Regiment. Upon his exchange in June, 1781, he immediately resumed his sudties with that regiment. On January 1, 1783, he was transferred to the First Maryland Regiment and served until April 12, 1783.
After the war he retired to his estate near Princess Anne, Somerset county, Maryland. From 1789 to 1793 he represented Somerset county in the House of Delegates of Maryland and was Speaker of the House from 1791 to 1793. In 1793 he was also a Presidential elector of Washington on his second election to the presidency. In 1806 he was again elected to the House of Delegates of Maryland and served until 1809. In November, 1807, he was unanimously elected Speaker and on December 25, 1808, the House passed a resolution thanking him for the ability, attention and impartiality with which he performed the various duties as Speaker. From 1812 until his death in 1819 he was senior major general of the Maryland Militia. In 1812 he was elected Governor of Maryland, which office he held until 1815. During the War of 1812, as Governor of Maryland, he rendered herculean services on behalf of a defensive warfare, and when the national Government failed to provide Maryland with proper protection against foreign invasion, he called the Maryland Legislature in extra session and requested that it take such action as would place in his hands the means of securing the proper defense of the State. The Legislature immediately appropriated sufficient funds and both Baltimore and Annapolis were, in consequence, garrisoned at the expense of Maryland. He immediately took up with Major General Smith, of Revolutionary fame, and other military geniuses the organization of Maryland and Baltimore defense. It was during his administration as governor that "The Star-Spangled Banner" was written by Key.
In 1814 he was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Maryland. As grand master he performed, on July 4, 1815, the Masonic ceremonies in Baltimore at the laying of the corner-stone of the first monument erected to Washington. He died in Baltimore July 1, 1819.
- (Research):1810 census
1 male under 10 (1801-1810) Edward
1 male 10-15 (1795-1800) William Sydney
1 male 45+ (before 1765) Levin
1 female 16-25 (1785-1794) Mariana
1 female 45+ (before 1765) Mary
53 slaves
|
1757 - 1819 (61 years)
[3, 4, 5] 
