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from
Baltimore, in compliance with the wishes of
General Scott.
On the contrary, it had the appearance of commendation, for he immediately offered him the commission of a
Major-General of Volunteers, and the command of a much more extended military district, including
Eastern Virginia and the two Carolinas, with his Headquarters at
Fortress Monroe.
He was succeeded in command at
Baltimore by
General Cadwalader, of
Philadelphia, and the troops were temporarily withdrawn.
Afterward the Fifth New York Regiment (Zouave),
Colonel Abraham Duryee, occupied
Federal Hill, and thereon built the strong earthwork known as Fort
Federal Hill, whose cannon commanded both the town and
Fort McHenry.
The 14th of May was a memorable one in the annals of
Maryland, as the time when the tide of secession, which for weeks had been threatening to ingulf it in revolution, was absolutely checked, and the Unionists of the
State were placed upon solid vantage-ground, from which they were never driven a line, but were strengthened every hour.
On that day
General Butler broke the power of the conspirators, by the military occupation of
Baltimore and the promulgation of his proclamation, which disarmed treason.
On that day the dangerously disloyal Legislature adjourned, and
Governor Hicks, relieved of the pressure of rampant treachery around him, and assured by the
Secretary of War that
Maryland troops would not be ordered out of the
State, issued a proclamation calling for the four regiments named in the
Secretary's requisition for militia as the quota of that Commonwealth.
Thenceforth the tongues of loyal Marylanders were unloosed, and treason became weaker every hour; and their State was soon numbered among the stanchest of loyal Commonwealths, outstripping in practical patriotism
Delaware,
Kentucky, and
Missouri.
On that eventful 14th of May, the veteran
Major W. W. Morris, in command at
Fort McHenry.
near
Baltimore (which had lately been well garrisoned), first gave practical force to the suspension of the privilege of the writ of
habeas corpus, which the exigency of the times seemed to give constitutional sanction for.
1 A man claiming to be a soldier of the Maryland State Militia, was imprisoned in
Fort McHenry.
Judge Giles, of
Baltimore, issued a writ of
habeas corpus for his release, which
Major Morris refused to obey.
His letter to the
Judge was a spirited protest against the treasonable practices around him, and seemed to be a full justification of his action.
“At the date of issuing your writ,” he said, “and for two weeks previous, the city in which you live, and where your court has been held, was entirely under the control of revolutionary authorities.
Within that period
United States soldiers, while committing no offense, had been perfidiously attacked and inhumanly murdered in your streets;
no punishment had been awarded, and, I believe, no arrests had been made for these atrocious crimes;
2 supplies of provisions intended for this garrison had been stopped; the intention to capture ”