[164]
have been foremost in the brunt of a terrible war. Her business men had large interests in the North as well as the South, and hesitated to stake all upon the issues of war; so, at first, she stood for neutrality, and denied the Federal troops the right to pass through her territory without her consent.
When, in defiance of this right, Massachusetts troops were marched through the streets of Baltimore and her citizens were shot down in cold blood, the whole State became aroused, and would, if they could, have joined the South in her attempt to resist the invasion of her soil, by recourse to arms.
In Baltimore the excitement was intense, and the offer of volunteers far exceeded the ability of the authorities to arm them.
General George H. Stewart, commanding the troops in Baltimore, appealed at once to Virginia for arms, in a letter sent by L. P. Bayne and J. J. Chancellor, who, in delivering it said: ‘The people of Baltimore and the citizens of Maryland, generally, were united in at least one thing, viz: that troops volunteering for Federal service against Virginia or other sister Southern States, should not pass over the soil of Maryland if they could prevent it.’
This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
Memoir of
Jane
Claudia
Johnson
.
A paper read by
Charles
M.
Blackford
, of the
Lynchburg Bar
, before the
Tenth
annual meeting of the
Virginia State Bar Association
, held at old
Point Comfort, Va.
,
July
17
-
19
,
1900
.
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