Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 29.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

On the afternoon of Friday, April 19, 1861, at 4 o'clock there was a great mass-meeting in Monument Square. Speeches were made by Dr. A. C. Robinson, Mayor Brown, William P. Preston, S. Teackle Wallis, John E. Wethered, Robert L. McLane and Governor Hicks. The people were counseled to rely upon the authorities, which would protect them. The invasion of the city and the slaughter of citizens were denounced. Mr. Wallis said it was not necessary to speak. ‘If the blood of citizens on the stones in the street does not speak,’ he said, ‘it is useless for man to speak.’ His heart, he said, was with the South, and he was ready to defend Baltimore. The Governor made his famous declaration that he would suffer his right arm to be torn from his body before he would raise it to strike a sister State. That night ex-Governor E. Louis Lowe made a speech to a great gathering in front of Barnum's Hotel. The streets were thronged with people discussing the events of the day and many citizens walked the streets with muskets or guns in their hands.