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April 19th, 1861.
[from the Baltimore, Md., sun, July 24, 25, 1901.]
A record of the events in
Baltimore, Md., on that day.
Conflict of the Sixth Massachusetts regiment with citizens.
Of the 215,000 people who resided in
Baltimore on April 19, 1861, there are perhaps not 50,000 remaining here to this day. Of the thousands who took part in the attack upon the
Massachusetts troops as they passed through the city on that eventful day, or who witnessed the attack, but few remain.
To the great mass of our people the riot of April 19 is simply an event of history.
Men who were born here since it occurred have arrived at middle age, and those who were in the melee can now look back upon that time of intense excitement as calmly and dispassionately as upon the assault upon the
British troops at
Lexington, on April 19, 1775.
Much has been said and written about the strange coincidence in the date of the first bloodshed in the two most momentous conflicts of modern times.
But the coincidence of dates is the only similarity between the two events.
The minute men of
Massachusetts who attacked the
British soldiers April 19, 1775, had long looked forward to the event, and were prepared and armed for it. The people of
Baltimore were suddenly confronted with an army of armed men whom they regarded as enemies and invaders, and upon the impulse and fury of the moment, made an assault upon them.
This attack was entirely unpremeditated.
On April 18, when the rumor reached the city that troops would arrive during the afternoon by the
Northern Central road, a meeting of ‘Southern Rights’ men, of which
Albert Ritchie and
G. Harlan Williams, were secretaries, was held at the
Taylor building, on Fayette street, near
Calvert, and while it was not determed to offer resistance to the passage of the troops through the city, yet a resolution offered by
Mr. Ross Winans was of a bold and somewhat threatening character.
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Arrival of recruits.
A battery of artillery and several hundred
Pennsylvania recruits arrived at Bolton Station about 2 o'clock on April 18.
The recruits were without uniforms and some of them almost without clothing.
A few carried flint-lock rifles, but most of them were unarmed.
A great crowd of people was at the station to meet them.
The regulars marched to
Fort McHenry, and the volunteers went down Howard street to
Camden Station.
Not finding a train there, they continued on to
Mount Clare, where a train was made up to carry them to
Washington.
Several thousand people, all laboring under intense excitement, met the troops at Bolton Station and followed them to
Mount Clare.
All the way there was a riotous demonstration.
Marshal Kane was there with 120 policemen, and while he succeeded in preventing any serious breaches of the peace, he could not stop the mouths of the people, who hissed, jerred and ridiculed the volunteers.
The march through the city was rapid, and the troops were protected on either flank by files of policemen.
The mob sang ‘Dixie,’ cheered for ‘
Jeff.’
Davis and the
Confederacy, and while the troops were getting into the cars at
Mount Clare, there was pandemonium, and two bricks were hurled at them.
But the train pulled out at 4 o'clock without any really serious trouble.
Opposing sentiment.
In the meantime the population of
Baltimore was in a very feverish condition.
The Southern rights men raised a large Confederate flag at the intersection of Greenmount avenue and Chase street and fired a salute of 100 guns in its honor.
But the sympathy of the people was not as yet entirely with the
Confederate cause.
A party of young men carried a swivel to the top of
Federal Hill to fire a salute of fifteen guns in honor of the secession of
Virginia.
After a few shots had been fired a party of workingmen from the neighboring shops charged upon them and tumbled the gun into the river.
At the corner of
Baltimore and North streets several young men appeared wearing badges representing the
Confederate flag.
They were quickly surrounded by a crowd, who demanded that they should remove them.
The crowd followed the young men down South and
Lombard streets.
Marshal Kane came to their protection.
They appealed to him to know whether they had a right to wear those badges.
The
Marshal replied that they had a perfect right to do so
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as long as they were orderly.
The crowd then left them and went up Baltimore street cheering for the Stars and Stripes.
These incidents serve to indicate the condition of the public mind upon the eve of April 19.
The fever heat had not been reached suddenly.
The news of the attack on
Fort Sumter and its surrender had produced a high state of excitement.
Men gathered in great numbers around the newspaper offices, and almost continuously the sidewalks of Baltimore street, between Calvert and Holliday, were impassable.
The appearance of a man in public—and such things were not infrequent—with Confederate or Union colors would be the signal for the assembling of a mob. Politicians and intemperate advocates of the
North or of the
South would harangue the crowds on the street and add fuel to the flame.
The President S proclamation.
On April 16 the news that
Lincoln had called for 75,000 volunteers ‘to redress wrongs already long enough endured’ was published to the country, and the effect of that momentus news it is hard now to understand.
In the
North it was received with wild enthusiasm; in the
South with sullen anger or with derision; and it was said that when the troops came they would ‘be welcomed with bloody hands to hospitable graves.’
In
Baltimore the people were wild with excitement and indignation.
It is difficult for men of this generation, who have grown up under different political conditions, to understand how the men of that generation viewed the prospect of coercing the
Southern States to remain in the
Union.
The idea of permitting Northern troops to march through
Maryland to make war on the
South was regarded pretty much as we would now regard a proposal that troops from
Canada should come through here for the same purpose, or that troops from
Germany or
England should be permitted to land at
Locust Point.
George William Brown,
Mayor of
Baltimore, who risked his life to protect the
Massachusetts troops, telegraphed to the
Governor of
Massachusetts on April 20: ‘Our people viewed the passage of armed troops of another State through the streets as an invasion of our soil and could not be restrained.’
Governor Hicks, of
Maryland, an ardent Union man, said in a public speech in
Baltimore on the evening of April 19, after the riot and after the
President's proclamation calling for troops had been made: ‘I am a Marylander.
I love my State and I love the
Union; but I will
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suffer my right arm to be torn from my body before I will raise it to strike a sister State.’
He had already assured the people that no troops should be sent from
Maryland unless it might be for the defense of the national capital.
These expressions will give some idea of public sentiment in those days, when a sovereign State counted for much more and the
Federal Government for much less than they do to-day.
Everything, therefore, was ripe for the events of the 19th of April.
The mayor and the police commissioners knew the danger of sending troops through the city.
It was believed they would come that day, and the city authorities made every effort to learn the hour of their arrival, so that they might be protected.
But all information was denied them by the military authorities and by the railroad officials.
The Sixth Massachusetts.
The Sixth Massachusetts regiment was the first regiment fully equipped and organized to respond to the
President's call for troops.
It had a full band and a regimental staff.
It was mustered at
Lowell on the morning of the 16th of April. Four companies were from that city, four were added from other cities, and when the regiment reached
Boston, about midday, a company from that city was added, bringing up the strength of the regiment to about 700 men. They were drawn up before the
Governor of
Massachusetts, who addressed them, and then they left for the
South, their whole journey until they had left
Philadelphia behind being an ovation.
On the 18th the regiment marched down
Broadway, New York, from the railroad station to the upper part of the city to the
Jersey City ferry.
The march was like a holiday parade, and the troops were cheered by thousands of citizens who filled the sidewalks.
In passing through
New Jersey towns and through
Philadelphia there was the same enthusiasm.
At or near
Philadelphia an unarmed and ununiformed
Pennsylvania regiment was added to the force, bringing the total number of the troops up to about 1,700 men. After leaving
Philadelphia the cheering ceased and the atmosphere changed.
It was no longer a holiday trip, for there was every evidence that the troops were approaching the enemy's country.
Soon after leaving
Philadelphia the commander of the regiment received an intimation that the passage of his men through
Baltimore might be resisted.
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Ammunition served out.
Thereupon he caused ammunition to be distributed and the arms loaded.
He went through the cars composing the long train and issued an order as follows: ‘The regiment will march through
Baltimore in columns of sections, arms at will.
You will undoubtedly be insulted, abused and perhaps assaulted, to which you must pay no attention whatever, but march with your faces square to the front and pay no attention to the mob, even if they throw stones, bricks or other missiles; but if you are fired upon any of you are hit your officers will order you to fire.
Do not fire into any promiscuous crowds, but select any man whom you see aiming at you and be sure you drop him.’
If this order had been carried out and the troops had marched through in a body the trouble might not have occurred.
At that time the only railroad from
Baltimore to
Washington was the
Baltimore and
Ohio.
Trains coming from the
East for
Washington were hauled by horses, one car at a time, from
President Street Station up to
Pratt, along
Pratt to Howard street, and thence to
Camden Station.
Along this route was the scene of the riot.
Instead of disembarking at President street and marching in a body to
Camden, the regular course was attempted, and this gave the mob the opportunity to attack the troops in detail.
The train bringing the soldiers consisted of thirty-five cars.
It arrived at
President Street Station about 11 o'clock on the morning of Friday, 19th of April. Six cars, drawn rapidly by horses, reached
Camden Station, the first carload being received with jeers and hisses, but the last car was thrown from the track and delayed, the windows broken with paving stones, which had also struck some of the men.
Colonel Jones was in one of the cars which got through.
After the stones had been thrown at the sixth car the riot began in earnest, and among those who opposed the troops were some of the substantial men of the city.
As carload after carload passed by the excitement grew more and more intense and the crowd on the street increased rapidly and the passage of nine cars was obstructed by a cartload of sand which was dumped on the track by a party of merchants and clerks on Pratt street. At the head of Gay street dock some anchors were lying, and these were also dragged upon the track.
One of the wealthy merchants of the town was afterward indicted by the
Federal grand jury for participation in this act. But he was not tried.
At the corner of Pratt and Gay streets pavers had been at
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work and large pile of paving stones—the cobble stones such as were used at that time—furnished the mob with the weapons for their attack.
Policemen undertook to drag the anchors from the track, but the crowd would not permit them to do so until
Mayor Brown came along and ordered the obstruction removed.
His authority was not resisted.
But in the meantime the seventh car having come up to the obstruction, the driver hitched the horses to the other end and returned rapidly to President street, the cars following of course reversing and also returning amid a shower of stones and other missles and hoots and yells of defiance.
There were now at
President Street Station four companies of the Massachusetts Regiment, C, D, I and L, under
Captains Follonsbee,
Hart,
Pickering and
Dike.
They were cut off from their colonel and the rest of the command.
In these four companies were 220 men, who were confronted by a dense and angry crowd, cheering for
Jeff. Davis and the
Confederacy, and denouncing
Lincoln and the
North.
The unarmed
Pennsylvanians and the regimental band remained in the railroad station, but the four
Massachusetts companies formed on President street and began their famous march to
Camden Station.
As they marched up President street the commotion increased.
A man went for some distance in advance of the soldiers carrying a Confederate flag, but this was taken away from him by other citizens.
The march had hardly begun when the stones began to fly, increasing as the soldiers advanced.
It was remarked that many of the stones were thrown by negroes.
At the corner of Fawn street two soldiers were knocked down, seriously injured.
In crossing Pratt street bridge obstructions were encountered, over which the soldiers had to pick their way. Very soon the soldiers became utterly frightened and demoralized and broke into a run, or a double-quick as it was called, firing at random as they ran. They killed and wounded a number of citizens, but invariably those who were taking no part in the attack.
Those who were engaged in the attack were behind, in pursuit, and the soldiers, instead of facing about to defend themselves, fired generally to the front.
At the corner of
South street several citizens who were standing in a group fell, killed or wounded by the reckless firing of the soldiers.
Near the corner of Light street a soldier was mortally wounded and a boy on a vessel lying in the dock at that place was killed.
Near the
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same place three soldiers at the head of the column fired into a group of spectators standing on the sidewalk and killed Philip Thomas Miles, of West Fayette street, and wounded others.
The first shot was fired by the soldiers at Pratt street bridge, and at the corner of Gay street the first round was fired by the soldiers, and a number of citizens fell.
When it became evident that the troops were firing with ball cartridges there was a mad rush for arms.
The crowd first went to the armory, but that was closely guarded, and then there was a rush for the gun shops.
The store of
J. C. J. Meyer, on Pratt street, and that of
Alexander McComas, on South Calvert street, were invaded and the guns, pistols and ammunition were taken.
At the first of the collison the people were entirely unarmed.
Mayor Brown received the news of the arrival of the
Northern troops at his law office, on St. Paul street.
Marshal Kane sent word to him that the troops were about to arrive and that he expected a disturbance.
The
Mayor, accompanied by the counselor of the city,
Mr. George M. Gill, rode rapidly to
Camden Station in a carriage.
It was thought that the disturbance would be at that place, and
Marshal Kane was already there and policemen were coming in by squads.
There was a large and angry crowd assembled.
After a while eleven companies of the
Massachusetts troops arrived in cars, the windows of the last car being badly broken.
Thinking that the danger was over, the
Mayor and Police
Commissioner John W. Davis were about to leave, when news came of the collision on the march.
The
Mayor hurried toward
President Street Station, and when he reached Pratt street bridge he met the battalion of four companies of troops running toward him. In his account of the events of the day, narrated in a volume published in 1887, from which and from the columns of
The Sun this article is compiled,
Judge Brown said the troops ‘were firing wildly, sometimes backward over their shoulders.
The mob, which was not very large, as it seemed to me, was pursuing with shouts and stones, and, I think, an occasional pistol shot.
The uproar was furious.
I ran at once to the head of the column, some persons in the crowd shouting: “Here comes the
Mayor.”
I shook hands with the officer in command,
Captain Follansbee, saying as I did so: “I am the
Mayor of
Baltimore.”
The
Captain greeted me cordially.
I at once objected to the double-quick, which was immediately stopped.
I placed myself by his side and marched 17
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with him. * * * There was neither concert of action nor organization among the rioters.
They were armed only with such stones or missiles as they could pick up, and a few pistols.
My presence for a short time had some effect, but very soon the attack was renewed with greater violence.
The mob grew bolder.
Stones flew thick and fast.
Rioters rushed at the soldiers and attempted to snatch their muskets, and at least on two occasions succeeded.
With one of these muskets a soldier was killed.’
Captain ward wounded.
“Men fell on both sides.
A young lawyer then and now known as a quiet citizen, seized the flag of one of the companies and nearly tore it from its staff.
He was shot through the thigh and was carried home apparently a dying man, but he survived to enter the army of the
Confederacy, where he rose to the rank of captain, and he afterward returned to
Baltimore.”
This bold young lawyer was
Captain Frank X. Ward.
As the column of soldiers reached a point between Charles and Light streets
Marshal Kane, by a bold and skillful movement, interposed a squad of policemen between the fleeing soldiers and their pursuers.
This nearly ended the fight at this point, and the soldiers, under police protection, reached
Camden Station without further damage.
In the battle four soldiers had been killed and thirty-six wounded. Twelve citizens, including
Robert W. Davis, who was shot by the soldiers from the cars as they were leaving for
Washington, were killed.
The number of citizens wounded was never known.
The embarkation of the troops in the cars in
Camden Station was attended by an angry demonstration, and only the presence of
Marshal Kane with a police force prevented further bloodshed.
The railroad tracks were obstructed, but the police removed the obstructions as fast as they were placed.
The conduct of
Mayor Brown in risking his life to defend the
Northern troops was heroic, and his heroism was recognized in statements made by the officers of the
Massachusetts regiment.
Colonel Jones, in a letter to
Marshal Kane, thanked him ‘for the
Christian conduct of the authorities of
Baltimore.’
Nothing could exceed the courage and skill with which
Marshal Kane met the emergency with the small force under his command.
When the troops reached
Camden Station 130 were missing.
The killing of
Robert W. Davis, who was shot by the soldiers from
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the car windows, was an atrocious act, and tended more than any one incident to intensify the feeling of bitterness against the
Northern troops.
Mr. Davis was a member of the wholesale firm of
Pegram,
Paynter &
Davis, of Baltimore street. He was an Irishman by birth and had married in
Virginia.
One of his brothers was an officer in the
British Army.
He was a gentleman of high character and great popularity.
Upon the announcement of his death all the wholesale
dry goods stores of the city closed in respect to his memory and in testimony of his worth.
The
Sun the next day in an editorial denounced the killing of
Mr. Davis as a wanton and deliberate murder.
The story of the event, as told at the coroner's inquest by the late
Major Thomas W. Hall, who had his hand on
Mr. Davis' shoulder when he fell, is as follows:
Mr. Hall said: ‘I was on Pratt street, attending to some business, about 11:30 o'clock A. M., when I saw the first car containing troops from
President Street Station pass through.
Hearing that the troops were the Seventh Regiment, from New York, and wishing to verify that fact by personal observation, I started for the
Camden Street Station to see the soldiers change cars.
On the way I was overtaken by
Mr. Davis, who joined me, and with him passed through the station on to the track beyond.
Being told by a reporter that a crowd of people had gone up the road to destroy the track,
Mr. Davis and I determined to walk out a short distance in advance of the train to see if such was really the case.
We went out as far as the intersection of the
Washington turnpike, and finding but few people and little excitement on the road, started to return.
On the way back we overtook
Mr. Buckler, of the firm of Buckler,
Shipley & Co., and two others, also returning to the city.
We just turned up the first paved street on the outskirts of the city when we saw the train approaching, and unhappily stopped to gratify our curiosity by seeing the troops pass.
We took a position for the purpose by the roadside on some crossties thrown across a ditch.
The windows of the first cars were closed, and
Mr. Davis and I were speculating as to whether the troops were really on the train, when we observed the windows of the rear cars open and several muskets protruded through them and pointed at us. In reply to what we considered a mere piece of bravado on the part of the troops, being ignorant at the time of any bloodshed or that any collision with the people had taken place, the party raised a cheer for
Jefferson Davis and the Southern Confederacy.
Instantly several shots were fired,
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five or six in all, I think, though there may not have been more than three or four.
The group scattered instantly—
Mr. Davis falling.
I thinking that he had slipped across the ties, which were wet and afforded a very insecure footing, asked him if he was hurt.
His reply was: “ I am killed.”
I called to
Colonel Shutt, whom I recognized standing on the rear platform of the train, to stop the cars; that there were murderers on board.
The others of the party snatched up missles to hurl at the receding train.
I helped to raise
Mr. Davis, saw the wound in his left shoulder and that he was dead, and placing the body in the hands of the police, who came up at the moment, hastened to town to carry the terrible news to
Mr. Davis' partners and friends.
There were five in the party.
There were no persons nearer to them than another group no larger, and two of whom were policemen, at the corner of the paved street already mentioned, 200 yards off. They were unarmed, had made no demonstration of violence and intended none.
No missles were thrown by any of the party, and when they cheered they were in ignorance of the fact that the troops had met with resistance in town and were exasperated by the loss of their comrades.’
In the meantime the unarmed
Pennsylvania recruits which had been left at
President Street Station, were in a deplorable dilemma.
They were surrounded by a hostile and very angry crowd and were subjected to indignities and some violence.
Some of them, seized with a panic, fled and dispersed through the city.
During the night many of them straggled into the police stations and begged for protection.
Those who remained in
President Street Station were later on put on cars and hauled out of town toward
Philadelphia.
Some straggled as far as
Harford county and were put in jail.
Bridges on the
Philadelphia,
Wilmington &
Baltimore and Northern Central roads were burned by order of the
Mayor, with the assent of
Governor Hicks, and all communication with the East and North was destroyed.
Policemen and members of the Maryland Guard were sent out to do the work.
The reason of this action was the conviction that if more troops had come through the city at that time, there would be great disturbances and bloodshed.
Judge Bond,
G. W. Dobbin and
John C. Brune were sent to
Washington to beg the
President to stop the transmission of troops through
Baltimore, but he gave them no satisfaction that day, and the city government took hold of the matter and burned the bridges.
The next day a letter was received from the
President saying that the troops might march around
Baltimore and not through it.
Governor Hicks said he had
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hoped no more troops would be sent through
Maryland, but it could not be helped.
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.
Preparations for defense.
The condition of
Baltimore on Saturday, the 20th of April, the day succeeding the riot, reminded the old inhabitants of similar incidents on the 11th and 12th of September, 1814, many of whom had witnessed those events.
The streets were thronged with armed men marching to and fro and with citizens wildly excited.
The town seemed to be a part of the
Confederacy.
A large Confederate flag floated from a building on Fayette street near
Calvert.
The Minute Men, a Union club, hauled down the
United States flag from their headquarters on Baltimore street and raised the flag of
Maryland amidst the cheers of a crowd which witnessed it. The Confederate flag was everywhere.
It seemed as if nearly every citizen wore a badge which displayed the
Confederate colors.
It was rumored that the Turner Rifles, a German company, had offered their services to the
President, and their armory on West Pratt street was looted.
There was a great rush for arms, and a number of muskets belonging to the
State were seized.
The works of the Messrs.
Winans were engaged in making pikes, in casting balls for muskets and cannon and the steam gun which
Mr. Winans had invented.
A ‘centrifugal steam gun’ invented by
Mr. Dickinson was purchased by the city to be used in the public defense.
A party of young men took
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some field pieces from a military school at
Catonsville and brought them to town, but the principal of the school, a clergyman and a strong Union man, had spiked them.
The militia were called out, and 15,000 citizens were enrolled and put under the command of
Colonel Isaac R. Trimble.
All day long companies of the
State militia were arriving from the counties.
The first to come was a company of riflemen from
Frederick, under command of
Captain Bradley T. Johnson.
Between 300 and 400 colored men offered their services to the
Mayor.
Early in the morning the City Council met in special session and appropriated $500,000, to be used under the direction of the
Mayor in putting the city in a state of defense.
The banks held a meeting, and a committee, consisting of
John Hopkins,
John Clark and
Columbus O'Donnell, all of them Union men, waited on the
Mayor and placed the whole sum in advance at his disposal.
Considerable money was contributed by individuals, both Southern and Union men, for the same purpose.
Later in the day a dispatch was received from the committee which had been sent to
Washington giving assurance that troops would be sent around and not through the city.
This dispatch gave much comfort; nevertheless the preparations for the defense of the city continued.
Another committee, consisting of
Senator Anthony Kennedy and
J. Morrison Harris, was sent to
Washington.
They telegraphed back that they had seen the
President, members of the
Cabinet and
General Scott, and that orders would be sent to stop the passage of men through the city.
Fort McHenry was at this time under command of
Captain John C. Robinson, of the United States army.
It was in a defenseless condition, and it was rumored that an attack would be made upon it by a mob on Saturday night. It was feared that if this was done the guns of the fort might be turned on the city, and naturally such an idea caused much disquiet.
Police
Commissioner John W. Davis visited the commandant and offered a guard of 200 men to be stationed on
Whetstone Point to arrest any disorderly persons who might approach.
Captain Robinson distrusted such a guard, and said they must not approach nearer the fort than the
Catholic chapel or he would fire on them.
Mr. Davis talked with most of the officers and all of them were cordial and courteous except a young subaltern, who threatened, in case of attack, to direct the fire of a cannon at
Washington's Monument.
To this threat
Mr. Davis replied: ‘If you do that, and if a woman or child is killed, there will be nothing left of you but your
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brass buttons to tell who you were.’
In point of fact no attack upon the fort had ever been meditated.
The climax in the excitement of this memorable period in the history of
Baltimore was reached on Sunday, April 21.
The town was like a powder magazine, and only needed a spark to produce an explosion.
The spark came in the form of news that more troops were approaching the city from the
North.
Judge Brown, in his book, says: ‘It was a fearful day in
Baltimore.
Women and children and men, too, were wild with excitement.
A certainty of a fight in the streets if Northern troops should enter was the pressing danger.’
People were gathering in the churches for the regular morning services.
Telegraph communications with the
North had been cut off, but a messenger arrived in the morning, saying that a Northern army had reached
Cockeysville.
At five minutes before eleven the bell of the town clock sounded the call to arms.
The congregations which had gathered in the churches were dismissed and a large part of the male population, including boys and old men, thronged to the headquarters.
The military proper were under the command of
Major-General George H. Steuart, and the ununiformed volunteers were under command of
Colonel I. R. Trimble.
It was a formidable force.
Full preparations were made for a conflict and ammunition for artillery and rifles was distributed.
In the afternoon a dispatch came from
Mayor Brown, at
Washington, saying that the
President would order the return of the troops to
Harrisburg.
The genuineness of this dispatch was doubted and no attention was paid to it.
But it was true.
At 3 o'clock Sunday morning the
Mayor received a dispatch from
President Lincoln asking him to go to
Washington by special train in order to consult with
Mr. Lincoln for the preservation of the peace of
Maryland.
The President also desired the
Governor, but he was not in the city, and so the
Mayor went;
George W. Dobbin,
John C. Brune and
S. T. Wallis accompanying him at his request.
The special train left
Baltimore at 7:30 and arrived in
Washington at 10.
At the interview with the
President the
Cabinet and
General Scott, were present.
The President admitted the excited state of feeling in
Baltimore and his desire to avoid a collision, but urged the necessity of a transit through the
State for troops to defend
Washington.
On the cars returning from
Washington Mr. Wallis, at the
Mayor's request, wrote an account
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of the interview, which was afterward published over the
Mayor's signature.
‘The protection of
Washington, the
President asserted with great earnestness, was the sole object of concentrating troops there, and he protested that none of the troops brought through
Maryland were intended for any purposes hostile to the
State or aggressive as against the
Southern States.
Being now unable to bring them up the
Potomac in security, the
President must either bring them through
Maryland or abandon the capital.’
There was a full discussion of routes by which troops could be carried around
Baltimore and the party left with the distinct assurance upon the part of the
President that no more troops would be sent through
Baltimore unless they should be obstructed in their transit around the city.
In the interview with the
President reference was made by
Mr. Simon Cameron to the, injury to a Northern Central bridge.
‘In reply,’
Judge Brown says, ‘I addressed myself to the
President and said with much earnestness that the disabling of this bridge and the other bridges had been done by authority, and that it was a measure of protection on a sudden emergency, designed to prevent bloodshed in
Baltimore and not an act of hostility toward the general Government; that the people of
Maryland had always been deeply attached to the
Union, which had been shown on all occasions, but that they, including the citizens of
Baltimore, regarded the proclamation calling for 75,000 troops as an act of war on the
South and a violation of its Constitutional rights, and that it was not surprising that a high-spirited people, holding such opinions, should resent the passage of Northern troops through their city for such a purpose.’
‘
Mr. Lincoln was greatly excited, and, springing up from his chair, walked backward and forward through the apartment.
He said, with great feeling: “
Mr. Brown, I am not a learned man!
I am not a learned man!”
that his proclamation had not been correctly understood; that he had no intention of bringing on war, but that his purpose was to defend the
Capital, which was in danger of being bombarded from the heights across the
Potomac.’
On returning to the railroad station to leave for
Baltimore, the
Mayor received a dispatch from
Mr. John W. Garrett, president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, as follows: ‘Three thousand Northern troops are reported to be at
Cockeysville.
Intense excitement prevails.
Churches have been dismissed and the
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people are arming in mass.
To prevent terrific bloodshed the result of your interview and arrangement is awaited.’
The
Mayor in reply sent a dispatch to
Mr. Garrett saying: ‘Be calm and do nothing until you hear from me again.’
Having dispatched this,
Messrs. Brown,
Brune,
Wallis and
Dobbin returned in haste to the
President and exhibited to him
Mr. Garrett's dispatch, which gave the
President great surprise.
The President summoned the
Secretary of War and
General Scott, and urged the recall of the troops, saving he had no idea they would be there.
Lest there should be the slightest suspicion of bad faith on his part in summoning the
Mayor to
Washington and allowing the troops to march on the city during his absence, he desired that the troops should, if it were practicable, be sent back at once to
York or
Harrisburg.
General Scott adopted the
President's view, and an order was prepared by the
Lieutenant-General to that effect and forwarded to
Major Belger, who accompanied the
Mayor and his colleagues back to
Baltimore.
The troops were ordered back to
Harrisburg, thence to
Philadelphia.
From that city they were to go to
Perryville, and thence as
Major-General Patterson should direct.
The troops at
Cockeysville, numbering 2,400, about half of them unarmed, did not receive their orders to return to
Pennsylvania for several days.
During the interval they were in sad plight, without food and proper camp equipment.
There was some sickness, due to want of food, and
Marshal Kane sent wagon loads of bread and meat to them.
After the alarm about the invasion had been quieted by the
Mayor many citizens of
Baltimore went to
Cockeysville to visit the camp.
The following incident is from
The Sun of April 22: ‘In the afternoon
Mr. Albert Ritchie and
Mr. Samuel Gassaway visited the camp.
Many of the soldiers expressed a desire to come through
Baltimore, and asked
Mr. Ritchie which flag the people of
Baltimore were under.
He told them a few days ago the people of
Baltimore were divided, but they were now a unit for secession.
He was then asked which he fought under, and promptly replied that he was a secessionist, and showed his badge.
Several voices then cried “seize him,” and
Mr. Ritchie was caught by the throat and surrounded.
He told them that would never do, and he was released.
Mr. Ritchie told them that they could not pass through
Baltimore unless they sacked the city and killed all the inhabitants.
Several
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of the soldiers asked
Mr. Ritchie for his badge, but he declined to give it.’
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
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Baltimore of unparalleled ferocity and injustice, which continued until the war was over.
Even then political persecution did not cease until the Constitutional Convention was called by the Legislature, in January, 1867.
After the subsidence of the acute excitement of April 19 and the following days a reaction set in and the people divided in sentiment, some being for the
Union, some for the
South.
As soon as the belief that the
State could or would secede was abandoned thousands of the best young men of the
State escaped across the
Potomac and joined the Confederate Army.
The number of them has been estimated as high as 20,000, and a great many joined the
Northern Army.
It was not merely the attack on the
Massachusetts regiment which made the
North and the
Federal Government hostile to the city.
Before that event the people of the city had been maligned in the
Northern press.
A conspicuous instance of this was the story that the assasination of the
President-elect as he passed through
Baltimore was contemplated.
There never was the slightest foundation for any such report, and yet
Mr. Lincoln gave credence to it. It was publicly announced that
Mr. Lincoln in going to
Washington for his inauguration would go from
Philadelphia to
Harrisburg and thence to
Baltimore by the
Northern Central.
The day fixed for his arrival in this city was Saturday, February 23, at 11:30 A. M.
Mayor Brown was at Calvert Station, accompanied by the
Police Commissioners and a strong force of policemen, at the appointed hour to meet
Mr. Lincoln.
The
Mayor had a carriage in waiting in which, as he said, he was to have the honor of escorting
Mr. Lincoln through the city to the
Washington Station and of sharing in any danger which he might encounter.
‘It is hardly necessary to say I apprehended none,’
Judge Brown continues in his narrative.
‘When the train came it appeared, to my great astonishment, that
Mrs. Lincoln and her three sons had arrived safely, and without hindrance or molestation of any kind, but that
Mr. Lincoln could not be found.
It was then announced that he had passed through the city incognito in the night train by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore railroad, and had reached
Washington in safety at the usual hour in the morning.
For this signal deliverance from an imaginary peril those who devised the ingenious plan of escape were, of course, devoutly thankful, and they accordingly took to
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themselves no little amount of credit for its success.’
Of this episode
Colonel Lamon, the friend and biographer of
Lincoln, said: ‘
Mr. Lincoln soon learned to regret his midnight ride.
His friends reproached him, his enemies taunted him. He was convinced that he had made a grave mistake in yielding to the solicitations of a professional spy and of friends too easily alarmed.’
A reign of terror.
The work of oppressing the citizens of
Baltimore began as soon as
General Butler had established himself, and a reign of terror began.
Spies and informers abounded.
One of
General Butler's soldiers at the
Relay had a case of cholera morbus.
He assumed that the man had been poisoned with strychnine and he threatened to put an agent armed with poison in every family in the
State.
Leading citizens were arrested and dragged from their beds at midnight and sent to prison, without knowing the nature of the charges against them.
The
Chief Justice of the
United States was defied and his authority scoffed at by military underlings.
The
Mayor of the city, the
Marshal of Police and the
Police Commissioners were all subjected to arrest, and military rule succeeded in the city government.
Gentlemen whose only offense was that they were members of the General Assembly, were hunted down like criminals, and some of them sent to a Massachusetts prison.
To secure the arrest of a man no evidence was necessary.
Even children and nurse girls on the street were unsafe.
If a little girl happened to wear a white apron with a red binding, it was considered a display of Confederate colors and an act of disloyalty.
General Dix, who took command July 24, said it required 10,000 men to keep
Baltimore in subjection, and he put the city under the heavy guns of three fortifications.
All over the
State men were arrested upon the information of spies, and subjected to hardships and indignities.
Judge Carmichael while sitting in his court at
Easton, was assaulted by soldiers and a provost marshal, with his deputies, and dragged bleeding from the bench.
Christian Emmerich, 1431 West Lombard street, now upward of eighty years of age, and one of the influential members of
St. Paul's Methodist Church, South, had about as severe an experience of military rule in
Baltimore city during the
Civil War as any other citizen in those trying times.
Mr. Emmerich was sent to
Albany penitentiary on the charge of conveying information to the enemy; his house,
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where he resides to-day, was taken possession of, and the ladies and children of his family subjected to gross indignities by brutal hoodlums uniformed as soldiers.
His business was broken up and his wife and children were reduced to want.
He was undoubtedly a strong Southern sympathizer, and is still so. He had a prosperous business in the manufacture of shoes on
South street, near the corner of Lovely lane.
Among his customers were many of the leading men of
Baltimore in all walks of life.
Some of these gentlemen had sons and other kinsmen in the
South to whom they wished to send shoes, boots and other supplies, together with letters from home, and it is quite possible that
Mr. Emmerich helped them to do so, for he was acquainted with the ‘underground’ agencies so operating.
If so, he paid dearly for his service.
He was kept in the penitentiary until some time after the war was over, and when he was released had to begin life over again.
His oldest son, John, who had gone South, died in Camp Chase as a prisoner of war. His wife, who is still living, held on to her home pluckily, and kept her younger children about her in spite of the rough soldiery, who exercised upon them all the petty tyranny characteristic of that period in the treatment of ‘rebels’ and ‘traitors.’
The story of the privations of this family, told in detail, falls little short of the reports of some later Boer experiences in
South Africa.