How a Cecil captain may have outfitted, celebrated the First President

Those who chose to lounge on the couch in front of the electronic thought killer — otherwise known as the television — were treated to a barrage of rather tasteless commercials hawking products courtesy dancing, rapping and even leap-frogging actors dressed to resemble presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

It is quite likely the unsettling image of our first president performing a slow groove rap to convince consumers to purchase a car will leave a permanent and painful mental scar on our collective psyche. But the tradition of a day of celebration in honor of Washington dates far back in Cecil County, not quite to Washington’s time, but close. It all began in 1802 and a former village known as Calvert.

In 1802, Leonard Krauss, a German immigrant who was born Feb. 3, 1760, in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, moved south from Pennsylvania to Cecil County. He settled on one of the Nottingham Lots at Calvert and there he built, from bricks made on his own land, a tavern known as Cross Keys Tavern. The tavern was quite popular as it was on the busy road between the ferryboat crossing at Creswell’s Ferry — to be named Port Deposit in a bit over a decade — Lancaster, Philadelphia and other points north of Cecil.

Krauss had served as a private in the Continental Army under Gen. George Washington, and greatly admired his commanding officer. In fact, he admired him so much that Krauss may have begun the tradition of celebrating Washington’s Birthday while he was a barkeep in Lancaster. After he erected his tavern, his annual celebration certainly drew folks from throughout the region to the crossroads hamlet to toast the First President and enjoy good food, music and dancing. The tavern was easily accessible to them, even in the days of wagon rutted roads, as Cross Keys was also a stagecoach shop midway between Baltimore and Philadelphia.

The story has it that Krauss, along with his wife, Mary Loechler Krauss (1773-1854), who was lovingly known to one and all as “Polly,” threw a wonderful party in honor of Washington. Polly was known to prepare lavish and hearty meals and to serve trays filled with Krauss’s exclusive brews and blends while dancing a lively jig about the tavern. Certainly the couple’s children were called upon to assist in serving libations, greeting customers and keeping the table fully laden — Polly and Leonard were the parents of a brood of 17 children after all.

Though Krauss served as a private under Washington, he was called by most who knew him as “Captain.” Many have assumed wrongly that it was an “honorary” designation from the locals, not unlike that bestowed upon a certain “Colonel Sanders” in Kentucky. But Cecil’s Krauss earned the title, which was bestowed upon him in 1810 by Maryland’s Gov. Edward Lloyd. In that year, the 50-year old Krauss organized a company of militia and headquartered the men at his tavern, using his farmland for drill and training. His militia were sworn in and ready to serve as the saber rattling intensified in the build up to the War of 1812.

Another story is widely spread about Captain Krauss and his relationship to Washington that is proudly retold by Krauss descendants to this day. It is known that Krauss was quite skilled as a tailor, and some surmise his wife was equally adept with the needle. Tax records show that Krauss raised sheep on his property for wool and inventories indicate equipment to spin wool and make cloth. Therefore the oft repeated and passed down legend that Krauss was George Washington’s tailor is not as fanciful as some might think. It is quite likely that he did, indeed, tailor clothing for Washington and even possible that the fabric he tailored was of his own making on his farm in Calvert.

What is highly doubtful, however, is whether or not Washington wore the suit and performed a Colonial version of the “Dougie” to entice folks to go shopping for his birthday.