Levin Winder (September 4, 1757 – July 1, 1819) in Baltimore, Maryland. During the Revolutionary War, he was appointed major of the 4th Maryland Regiment, finally attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel at war's end. After the war, he served with the Maryland Militia at the rank of brigadier general.
Winder served as the 14th governor of the state of Maryland in the United States from 1812 to 1816. He also served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1789 to 1793.
Life
Levin Winder was born in Somerset County on September 4, 1757, the son of William and Esther (Gillis) Winder, and a descendant of John Winder, who had emigrated from England in 1665. As a young man, he prepared to practice law until the outbreak of the war prevented him from doing so. Instead, he joined the army and on January 2, 1776, the Convention of Maryland appointed him a first lieutenant under Nathaniel Ramsey in the Fifth Company of the Maryland Line. On December 10 of the same year, he was promoted to captain, while on April 17, 1777 he became a major in the Fourth Regiment. He became a lieutenant colonel in the Second Regiment on June 3, 1781, subsequently transferring to the First Regiment, and was discharged from the service on November 15, 1783. Shortly thereafter, Winder was admitted as an original member of The Society of the Cincinnati of Maryland.
After his return home, he became a farmer on a large scale on his estate near Princess Anne. He never again resumed his law practice, even though he did devote many years of his life to public service.
For the next ten years, Winder devoted his attention to the operation of his plantation. On May 13, 1790, he married Mary Staughton Sloss. They had three children, all of whom survived their father.
In 1794, following the reorganization of the militia, Governor Lee appointed Winder a major general. In August of the same year, as the result of discontent which culminated in the Whiskey Rebellion, the President ordered the militia to enforce the federal laws to collect the tax upon distilled spirits. The Governor, consequently, ordered the militia to march to Western Maryland to prevent the insurrection from spilling over into Maryland from Pennsylvania. By the time the troops arrived, the rebellion had been quelled, and since Winder's force was not needed, he returned home where he was discharged from further duty.
In 1796, Winder made his first attempt at public office. In that year Somerset County chose him as one of its senatorial electors. He seems to have been inactive politically for several years. In 1801, 1806, and 1811, he again represented his county as a senatorial elector. In November 1806, his county elected him to the House of Delegates, where he served three terms. During the session of 1808, the Federalist majority chose him as its speaker.
As a Federalist, Winder opposed the declaration of war against Great Britain. After the Federal Republican and Commercial Gazette had published its anti-Republican editorial and the Republicans had failed to prosecute those responsible for the resulting riot, the Federalists under Winder, capitalized on popular reaction to capture the governorship. He qualified as an anti-war governor on November 23, 1812, bringing to the office with him an overwhelming majority of Federalist delegates. The Senate, however, was controlled by the Republicans.
Winder, after the British fleet had commenced its depredations in the Chesapeake Bay, attempted unsuccessfully to obtain help from the national government for the defense of the State. Winder hoped, although in vain, that the national government would have given Maryland 'some assurance of future protection and security.' He defined the State's relationship to Washington as one in which the national government would "protect each state against invasion . . . and for that purpose every necessary power is delegated to the national authorities. The means of defence reserved to the state governments are very limited and their powers in the conduct of a war defined." He went on to say that the 'defence of the union and of the several parts of it have been committed to the general government, that all expenses incurred in affording protection by the various states, ought to be reimbursed by the United States.