Carroll, Anna Ella
military genius, author, was born Aug. 29, 1815, in Somerset county, Md. She was sent by President Lincoln to St. Louis to endeavor to form an opinion of the probable success or failure of a most important expedition preparing to descend the Mississippi by means of gunboats. She reported the Mississippi as frowning with fortifications and tides as unfavorable. She recommended the use of the Tennessee river as the true strategic line.
In furtherance of this secret plan the western armies, to the amazement of the confederacy, were suddenly transferred from the Mississippi up to the Tennessee river. The most brilliant result followed.
Fort Henry fell, Fort Donaldson was taken, the confederacy was divided, and the rebel armies cut off from their source of supplies. She was the author of The Great American Battle, or The Contest between Christianity and Political Romanism; The Star of the West, or National Men and. National Measures; The Union of the States; The War Powers of the General Government; and The Relation of the National Government to the Revolted Citizens Defined. She died in 1894.