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

The next troops to reach Maryland were the Eighth Massachusetts, under General B. F. Butler. They went from Perryville to Annapolis on the 21st and landed at the Naval Academy, although Governor Hicks advised the General against it, telegraphed to the same effect to the Secretary of War and addressed a letter to the President asking him to order elsewhere the troops then off Annapolis and to send no more through Maryland. He also suggested to the President that Lord Lyons, the British Minister, be requested to act as mediator between the North and South. General Butler seized the railroad, restored such portions as had been demolished or obstructed and got his troops to Washington without opposition.

During this period of turmoil and excitement the business of Baltimore was almost at a standstill. All communication by rail with the North and East had been stopped by the burning of the bridges, telegraph wires had been cut, and the mails were interrupted. The buoys in the harbor had been removed. Passions after awhile began to cool and merchants demanded that the avenues of trade should be reopened.

On April 24, a special election was held for members of the Legislature. The Governor had called an extra session, and the seats of Baltimore city were vacant because of the expulsion of the delegation at the session of 1860. Only one ticket was nominated, that of the States Rights party, and it was elected without opposition. It was such a delegation as the city never sent the General Assembly before or since. It was composed of John C. Brune, Ross Winans, Henry M. Warfield, J. Hanson Thomas, T. Parkin Scott, H. M. Morfit, S. Teackle Wallis, Charles H. Pitts, William G. Harrison, and Lawrence Sangston.

The Mayor and the police authorities were indefatigable in their efforts to restore quiet. By authority of a special ordinance the Mayor prohibited the display of flags of all kinds except on the Federal Government buildings, as they tended to cause excitement. On May 5, General B. F. Butler occupied, with two regiments, the Relay House, and on the 13th he entered Baltimore, which was then as quiet as it is to-day. He occupied and fortified Federal Hill and issued a proclamation treating the city as conquered territory. For this achievement, which was entirely unopposed, he was made a major-general of volunteers.

From this time began a series of outrages upon the citizens of