Governor
Edwin Warfield

The Guilford area of Howard County has a rich history and the story behind local place names provides much more context to our history.  As part of a research effort on local public space names to look into the origin, use, and association with slavery or oppression per the Howard County Public Facilities and Spaces Commission, some of this research is shared here, and on our FB Group.  Please provide feedback with corrections or additional information. 

Edwin Warfield was the 45th Governor of Maryland (1904-1908).  There are standard biographical sources for Governor Edwin Warfield including the Maryland State Archives biographical series by Frank White 1 and a more candid biography by Heinrich Ewald Buchholz. 2

Below is a brief but notable summary about Governor Edwin Warfield.  

Summary

There is much to admire about former Governor Edwin Warfield, but like his predecessors to the Governorship from Howard County, his views on race was not one of them.  Edwin Warfield epitomized the myth of the lost cause and benevolent slave owner.  His family was split in loyalties during the Civil War with two older brothers fighting  for the Confederacy, one who died as a result, and he was the driving force in creating a memorial to Howard County's Confederate soldiers.  He was lionized in the press as a wonderful and kind man to the slaves who raised him.  But 50 years later, one former slave  still referred to him as "Marse Edwin" (Marse was the same as Master). 

Edwin Warfield (1848-1920) grew up on his father’s, Albert, plantation called “Oakdale” in Howard County. 1 Born in 1848, Warfield was raised with his family’s slaves for 16 years although there was no record of him owning slaves himself because he was not of age.  In 1850, his father Albert Gallatin Warfield owned 9 slaves. 3 but it is not known how many slaves were kept on the plantation or associated family plantations nearby.  

The Benevolent Enslavers? Yet still called Marse.

In a much heralded reunion at the Oakdale estate with several of his family's former slaves in 1902, Edwin Warfield recalled the former slaves telling stories about how wonderful life was on the Warfield plantation and his memories of how happy the slaves were, especially during the fun times of corn husking and wheat harvesting where they sang songs during those "times of frolic".  He was so pleased that slavery would not return but said that "that the negro progressed under that institution from the condition of a man-easting savage to a state at least of semi-civilization."  He must have been beaming with pride. 4 

One of the former slaves present was Charles Asa Harriday, who thanks to our local historians Beulah Buckner and Harts M. Brown, was able to capture his story from Mr. Harriday's descendants. 5  Despite the benevolence of the Warfield family, Mr. Harriday was never taught to read or write and his story, said to be recorded in 1914, was dictated by a co-worker of his at the US Department of Treasury.  Mr. Harriday recounted very pleasant days under the ownership by the Warfield's and almost 50 years after the abolishment of slavery in Maryland he still referred to former Governor Warfield as his master.  There was nothing but praise reported by Harriday and he is said to have kept in touch with the former Governor and master on a regular basis. He said that "The Governor has always been mindful of all the colored that belonged to his grandfather and his father, keeping at Cherry Grove what he calls "The Log Book" which he prizes very highly, in which is the date of birth and the history of each slave belonging to the Warfield family."

Another former slave of the Warfield family was Oliver Cromwell Gilbert. 6 His memories of slavery to the Warfield family were not as pleasant and he escaped his slavery in 1848, the year that Edwin Warfield was born.  Gilbert's story is an impressive and moving one.  He wanted his former owners and their descendants to know he was a man of worth, education and a vocal abolitionist.  Gilbert would speak of his experiences and wrote letters to the Warfield family including the former Governor.  When he was invited back to the former plantation his thoughts included the pride he had in escaping slavery and becoming a free man.

"Going back to Dixie after an absence of thirty years to the place where I was born. . . . When I left there I was very coarsely dressed in rags. Now that I am a freeman, I want those who are still at the old home, let them see what freedom has done for me...I got out of the carriage and walked up to the front door. Not as a poor, old slave expecting 9&30 lashes, but as a man."

Mr. Gilbert began his correspondence with the former Governor in 1896 and it lasted close to his death in 1912.  While it was clear that some of Edwin Warfield's ancestors, especially the Watkins family, were not exactly kindly to the slaves, there was a paternalistic and family feeling that the former Governor had to his family's former slaves. Was this truly benevolence, pity, or something else.  Knowing how the former Governor truly felt about Black people shows little sympathy for their plight and paternalistic pride in how they could prove themselves worthy of participating in civilization as long as they knew their place.  Please read these materials and offer your own opinion.

 The Politics and Racial Views of Edwin Warfield

Edwin Warfield was a Democrat as was mentioned during his purchase of the Ellicott City Times in 1882 which would “continue as a ‘steadfast advocate and exponent of the cardinal doctrines of the Democratic Party’” 7.  In 1886 he resigned as editor and business manager of the Times and focused his energy on the “Daily Record” – a newspaper published in Baltimore containing financial and other news 8.

In 1899, Warfield lost the Democratic nomination for governor due to last of support by Gorman and other influential party members.  But he won the nomination in 1903 and the eventual Governorship in 1904 running on a platform of White Supremacy and disenfranchisement of the Black voter. 9

In Warfield’s 1903 speech accepting the nomination for Governor he said:

“Therefore I take my stand firmly upon that plank in the platform of our party which declares that the “political destinies of Maryland should be shaped and controlled by the white people of the State.’ And I appeal to all citizens, irrespective of party, who love and honor the State, to lend their earnest and active support in this contest for the supremacy of the white race, for the cause of civilization and good government.”

“The question as presented, and which the voter must decide at this election, is a plain, practical, business one, and goes home to every white householder and taxpayer in Maryland.  It is whether the government of this great Commonwealth shall be intrusted [sic] to a party more than one-half whose voters is composed of this ignorant race, or the party comprising in its ranks a vast majority of our white people. [Cheers]” 10

This news article 10 continued:

“The platform upon which Governor Warfield was nominated contained this plank…

‘We believe that the political destinies of Maryland should be shaped and controlled by the White people of the State, and which we disclaim any purpose to do any injustice whatsoever to our colored population we declare without reserve our resolute purpose to preserve in every conservative and constitutional way the political ascendance of our race”.

Warfield has somehow been given credit for his opposition to the Poe Amendment which would greatly limit the Black vote through a literacy test, supported by Senator Gorman, but his opposition was not because of oppressing the Black voter.  There was a procedural issue that could be viewed as limiting the role of the Governor and it would also limit the vote of the “illiterate” White voter, while in much smaller numbers.  This resulted in Warfield not supporting the Poe Amendment, but rather supporting the Straus Amendment (1908) instead after he left office. 11

Shufelt 2000) 12 wrote that

“Former Democratic Governor Warfield, who had declined to support the Poe amendment actively, made an early and enthusiastic commitment to the Straus amendment, even arguing, astonishingly, that the amendment's written test would benefit African Americans by encouraging them to learn more.  He toured the state, speaking in favor of disfranchisement because, he argued, African Americans were an ignorant and illiterate mass of voters who should never have been enfranchised under the federal Constitution.”

It should also be noted that Warfield was in favor of repealing the 15th amendment that guaranteed voting rights for Black.  In a 1905 speech in New York he stated that the 15th amendment should be abolished in favor of State’s rights and

“had the negro shown a disposition to discriminate in voting and to exercise an intelligent judgement in casting his ballot on public questions, the opposition to him would never have developed. But few of them have shown any desire to improve their condition, mentally, morally or financially, and the great majority of them are no better able to exercise the right of suffrage intelligently and discriminately today than were they were first given that sacred privilege.” 13

The Lost Cause of Edwin Warfield

Southern sympathies in Howard County have been duly noted and in the case of Edwin Warfield, two of his brothers joined the Confederacy to fight against the United States. Edwin's brothers Albert Gallatin Warfield, Jr. (October 6, 1843 -December 25, 1883) and Gassaway Watkins Warfield (November 28, 1846-January 14, 1865) were both privates in Company A of the 1st Maryland Cavalry.  14, 15

Gassaway was still just 17 when he enlisted and within a month he was taken prisoner at Moorefield, VA on August 7, 1864 and was confined in the Military Prison at Wheeling, VA before being sent to Camp Chase, Ohio where sadly he died of pneumonia in 1865.14  His oldest brother Albert enlisted two years earlier than Gassaway and was taken prisoner on December 24, 1862 at Winchester, VA and transferred from the prison at Cumberland to the one in Wheeling before being sent to Camp Chase, Ohio, as Gassaway had been.   Albert was exchanged on March 28, 1863 and was taken prisoner again in May and confined to Fort McHenry, MD.  The remark on the form was "Bushwacker".  Albert was again listed to have been captured a few more times, presumably released in an exchange before each event. 15

It must have been extremely difficult for the young Edwin to lose his brother Gassaway and to hear of Albert's experiences.   Edwin's sympathies would have been with his brothers and he apparently never forgot them. He sought to honor them after their deaths, as well as the other Howard Countians who fought for the Confederacy, having to believe that it was an honorable war. Knowing it was about slavery may have hardened his views about Blacks as expressed above.  

In 1899 Edwin Warfield hosted a confederate reunion at his Oakdale home.  It was the start of discussing building a monument in Howard County to honor the confederate soldiers (see articles to the right). In 1911 the former Governor led a meeting to further discuss the plans which were stalled by World War 1, but picked up again by Edwin's son, Edwin Warfield, Jr. On   September 23, 1948 the monument was erected and stood until 2017.16

While it is understanding why Edwin Warfield felt the way he did, his actions were still contrary to many of his countrymen who did not share his sentiments.  It was complicated as most family matters are. 

Sources

1 White, F.F. Jr. 1970. The Governors of Maryland 1777-1970.  The Hall of Records Commission. 1970. Annapolis MD. p 233-236.  Excerpted at https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/001400/001476/html/msa01476.html

2 1908. Heinrich Ewald Buchholz. , Governors of Maryland from the Revolution to the Year 1908 Baltimore, Williams & Wilkins Company, 1908 pp. 268-275.  https://www.google.com/books/edition/Governors_of_Maryland/CPsMAAAAYAAJ?hl=en

3 1850 slave census. Maryland: Slave schedules, Allegany, Anne Arundel, and Baltimore counties, City of Baltimore and Calvert, Caroline, Carroll, Cecil, and Charles Counties (NARA Series M432, Roll 300). Accessed from FamilySearch 4-30-2021.

4  1912 April 13.   Tells of Slave Life: Former Governor.  The Baltimore Sun. p. 16.

5 Fernald, Jody and Gilbert, Stephanie, "Oliver Cromwell Gilbert: A Life" (2014). University Library Scholarship. 75. https://scholars.unh.edu/library_pub/75

6 Fernald, Jody. 2011. “In Slavery and in Freedom: Oliver C. Gilbert and Edwin Warfield Sr.”. Maryland Historical Magazine, Summer 2011.

7 The Aegis & Intelligencer. Bel Air, Maryland.  15 Sep 1882, Fri · Page 2. Accessed via Newspapers.com 4-30-2021.

8A History of the Daily Mail. https://thedailyrecord.com/welcome-ad/?retUrl=/a-history-of-the-daily-record/ accessed 4-30-2021

9 Calcott, M.L.  1969. The Negro in Maryland Politics 1870-1912” Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore MD . 199. (See Chapter 5 “The Disfranchisment Movement, 1900-1912”.

10  Mr. Warfields Speech of Acceptance at Mr. Airy. The Aegis & Intelligencer - Bel Air, Maryland. 2 Oct 1903, Fri · Page 2. Downloaded on Apr 30, 2021. Accessed via Newspapers.com 4-30-2021.

11 The Democratic Advocate. Westminster, Maryland.  · 25 Mar 1905, Sat · Page 2. Accessed via Newspapers.com 4-30-2021.

12  Shufelt, G.H. 2000. Jim Crow among Strangers: The Growth of Baltimore's Little Italy and Maryland's Disfranchisement Campaigns. Journal of American Ethnic History , Summer, 2000, Vol. 19, No. 4 pp. 49-78. Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of the Immigration & Ethnic History Society Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27502613

13  The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland) · 28 Feb 1905, Tue · Page 4 Downloaded on Apr 30, 2021

14 National Archives at Washington DC; Washington, DC. USA; War Department Collection of Confederate Records; NARA film publication #:: M598; Record Group: War Department Collection of Confederate Records; Record Group Number: 109 https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1124/images/M598_27-0046?usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&pId=166759

15 National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations From the State of Maryland; Series Number: M321; Roll: 6 https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid=2322&h=121156949&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=8054

16 Magill, Kate. 2007. Where did it come from? The history of Howard County’s Confederate monument. Howard County Times. Aug 28, 2017 . https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/howard/columbia/ph-ho-cf-monument-history-0831-story.html