The family of Samuel Hoffman, a prosperous Baltimore merchant, was noted for its southern sympathies. After the patriarch’s death in 1852 those sentiments endured in the family mansion on West Franklin Street. His wife, Elizabeth, organized groups to sew garments for Confederate soldiers; his son, Richard, fought alongside Stonewall Jackson.
So it was no surprise that when a brief telegram arrived at the Hoffman home on July 23, 1864, announcing the death of Union General James Birdseye McPherson, that it was greeted with glee: For, against her family’s wishes, Samuel Hoffman's daughter Emily was to wed the young Buckeye.
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