Representative John Carlyle Herbert

John Carlyle Herbert (August 16, 1775 – September 1, 1846) was an American lawyer, planter, military officer in the War of 1812, and politician who served as a legislator in both Virginia and Maryland, as well as a U.S. Congressman representing Maryland’s 2nd congressional district from 1814 to 1818. Born in Alexandria, Virginia, at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, he was the son of Scottish-born merchant William Herbert (1743–1818) and Sarah Fairfax Carlyle Herbert (1757–1827). Through both parents he was connected to prominent Tidewater and Northern Virginia families. His father, a leading merchant in Alexandria, served on the Fairfax County Committee of Safety and supplied provisions to General George Washington’s army. On his mother’s side, Herbert was related to the Fairfax family, whose members included the 7th and 8th Lords Fairfax of Cameron, holders of the Northern Neck Proprietary and Loyalists during the Revolution. His maternal grandfather was John Carlyle, a prominent Scottish-born merchant and one of the founders of Alexandria.

Herbert’s extended family reflected the divided loyalties of the Revolutionary era. His mother’s half-brother, Rev. Bryan Fairfax, a close friend of George Washington, ultimately became the 8th Lord Fairfax of Cameron and the first American-born member of the House of Lords, though he spent his later years at his plantation, Mount Eagle, in Fairfax County, Virginia. Bryan Fairfax and his descendants did not inherit the Northern Neck Proprietary, which passed instead to his cousin Robert Fairfax, the 7th Lord Fairfax, who left it to his nephew Rev. Denny Martin. Martin, remaining in England, eventually sold the extensive Virginia lands to a group that included attorney and future Chief Justice John Marshall after prolonged litigation over land rents. Another of Bryan Fairfax’s sons, Ferdinando Fairfax, sympathized with the American patriots. Herbert’s siblings also occupied notable positions in regional society: his sister Margaret Herbert (1785–1858) married her first cousin Thomas Fairfax, son of Bryan Fairfax; another sister, Sarah Herbert, married Rev. Oliver Norris and remained in Alexandria with their mother; and other sisters included Anne, Eliza, and Lucinda Herbert. His brother William Herbert became a merchant and banker and was elected mayor of Alexandria.

As was customary for members of his social class, Herbert received private instruction in his youth before pursuing higher education. In 1794 he attended St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, an institution that drew many young men from prominent families in the region. After his studies there, he returned to Virginia and read law, gaining admission to the Virginia bar. Around 1795 he began practicing law in Richmond, Virginia. Shortly after the establishment of the new federal city, he returned to northern Virginia, where Alexandria became part of the District of Columbia until 1847. His legal training and family connections facilitated his entry into public life at a relatively young age.

Herbert’s political career began in Virginia. In 1798 he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates representing Fairfax County. His service in the Virginia legislature placed him within the early generation of post-Revolutionary leaders grappling with the political and economic development of the new nation. In 1805 he married Mary Snowden, daughter of Maryland planter Thomas Snowden and his wife Ann, and soon afterward he relocated to Prince George’s County, Maryland. There the couple established themselves on a plantation known as “Walnut Grange” near Beltsville. They had thirteen children, many of whom died young. Among the surviving children, their daughter Mary Virginia Herbert (1816–1857) married Thomas Triplett Hunter and remained in Maryland, while their daughter Emma Herbert (1818–1874) married Rev. William Bryant (1800–1846) and moved to southwestern Virginia, where they raised a family that included a son named John Carlyle Herbert Bryant; some of Emma’s descendants later returned to Alexandria.

After his move to Maryland, Herbert continued his legal practice and became a substantial planter, operating his estate with enslaved labor. By the 1810 federal census, his household in Prince George’s County included seven white residents and forty-five enslaved people. A decade later, he owned forty-six enslaved individuals, reflecting his status as a significant slaveholding planter in the region. By 1840, the last census taken during his lifetime, the number of enslaved people he held had declined markedly, possibly as a result of providing dowries and property settlements for his daughters. Herbert entered Maryland politics in 1808, winning election to the Maryland House of Delegates. He was reelected several times and served in that body until 1813. During his final two terms, in 1812 and 1813, he was chosen as Speaker of the House of Delegates, underscoring his influence within the state’s Federalist leadership.

Herbert also held a military role during the War of 1812. He recruited and commanded a cavalry unit known as the Bladensburg Troop of Horse, serving as its captain. This troop was associated with the defense of the Washington area during the British campaign that culminated in the Battle of Bladensburg in August 1814, a key engagement preceding the burning of Washington. His wartime service enhanced his standing in Maryland and contributed to his subsequent election to national office. In 1814 he was elected as a Federalist to represent Maryland’s 2nd congressional district in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1815, to March 3, 1819. As a member of the Federalist Party representing Maryland, he contributed to the legislative process during two terms in office, participating in debates and decisions during a formative period in the early republic. During the Fifteenth Congress he served as chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia, a position that reflected both his legal background and his familiarity with the capital region.

After declining to seek further terms in Congress, Herbert retired in 1820 to his estate “Walnut Grange” in Beltsville, where he resumed his legal practice and continued to manage his agricultural operations. He remained active in Maryland politics and public affairs. From 1824 he served as a presidential elector from Maryland, participating in the contentious presidential election of that year. He later returned to state office as a member of the Maryland State Senate, serving from 1826 to 1830. In addition to his political and professional activities, Herbert was involved in local religious life. He played a role in the formation of Zion Parish, now St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Laytonsville, Maryland, which remains an active congregation and reflects his engagement with the Episcopal Church, the traditional denomination of many Tidewater and Chesapeake gentry families.

John Carlyle Herbert died on September 1, 1846, in Buchanan, Botetourt County, Virginia, while visiting his daughter Emma and her family in southwestern Virginia. His body was returned to Maryland, where he was interred at Greenmount Cemetery in Baltimore, a burial ground that became the resting place for many of the state’s political and social leaders. His life and career spanned the Revolutionary generation through the antebellum period, encompassing service in two state legislatures, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the militia during the War of 1812, as well as decades as a lawyer and planter in Virginia and Maryland.