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as by law they were required to do, to the public authorities,
whose constant efforts would be exerted to maintain unbroken
the peace and order of the city, and to administer the laws
with fidelity and impartiality. I cannot flatter myself that
this appeal produced much effect. The excitement was too
great for any words to allay it.
On the 18th of April, notice was received from Haxrisburg
that two companies of Uiaited States artillery, commanded by
Major Pemberton, and also four companies of militify would
C% Authorities of Baltimore. 37
arrive by the Northern Central Kailroad at Bolton Station,
in the northern part of the city, at two o'clock in the after-
noon. The militia had neither arms nor uniforms.
Before the troops arrived at the station, where I was waiting
to receive them, I was suddenly called away by a message
from Governor Hicks stating that he desired to see me on
business of urgent importance, and this prevented my having
personal knowledge of what immediately afterward occurred.
The facts, however, axe that a large crowd assembled at the
station and followed the soldiers in their march to the Wash-
ington station with abuse and threats. The regulars were
not molested, but the wrath of the mob was directed against
the militia, and an attack would certainly have been made
but for the vigilance and determination of the police, under
the command of Marshal Kane.
" These proceedings/' says Mr. Scharf, in the third volume
of his "History of Maryland," page 401, "were an earnest of
what might be expected on the arrival of other troops, the
excitement growing in intensity with every hour. Numerous
outbreaks occurred in the neighborhood of the newspaper
offices during the day, and in the evening a meeting of the
States Eights Convention was held in Taylor's building, on
Fayette street near Calvert, where, it is alleged, very strong
ground was taken against the passage of any more troops
through Baltimore, and armed resistance to it threatened.
On motion of Mr. Ross "Winans, the following resolutions
were unanimously adopted :
" Rteolved, That in the opinion of this convention the prosecution of the
design announced by the President in his late proclamation, of recapturing
the forts in the seceded States, will inevitably lead to a sanguinary war,
the dissolution of the Union, and the irreconcilable estrangement of the
people of the South from the people of the North.
" Resolved, That we protest in the name of the people of Maryland
38 Baltimore and the 19th of April, 1861.
against the garrisoning of Southern forts by militia drawn from the free
States ; or the quartering of militia from the free States in any of the towns
or places of the slaveholding States.
" Resolved, That in the opinion of this convention the massing of large
hodies of militia, exclusively from the free States, in the "District of
Columbia, is uncalled for by any public danger or exigency, is a standing
menace to the State of Maryland, and an insult to her loyalty and good
faith, and will, if persisted in, alienate her people from a government
which thus attempts to overawe them by the presence of armed men and
treats them with contempt and distrust.
" Resolved, That the time has arrived when it becomes all good citizens
to unite in a common effort to obliterate all party lines which have hereto-
fore unhappily divided us, and to present an unbroken front in the preser-
vation and defense of our interests, our homes and our firesides, to avert
the horrors of civil war, and to repel, if need be, any invader who may
come to establish a military despotism over us.
"A. C. ROBINSON, Chairman."
" Gk HABLAN WILLIAMS,
" ALBERT RITCHIE,
"Secretaries."
The names of the members who composed this convention
are not given, but the mover of the resolutions and the officers
of the meeting were men well known and respected in this
community.
The bold and threatening character of the resolutions did
not tend to calm the public mind. They did not, however,
advocate an attack on the troops.
In Putnam's "Record of the Rebellion," Volume I, page
29, the following statement is made of a meeting which was
held on the morning of the 18th of April: "An excited
secession meeting was held at Baltimore, Maryland. T.
Parkin Scott occupied the chair, and speeches denunciatory
of the Administration and the North were made by Wilson C.
N. Carr, William Byrne [improperly spelled Burns], Pres-
ident of the National Volunteer Association, and others."
Increasing Excitement. 39
An account of the meeting is before me, written by Mr.
Carr, lately deceased, a gentleman entirely trustworthy. He
did not know, he says, of the existence of such an association,
but on his way down town having seen the notice of a town
meeting to be held at Taylor's Hall, to take into considera-
tion the state of affairs, he went to the meeting. Mr. Scott
was in the chair and was speaking. He was not making an
excited speech, but, on the contrary, was urging the audience
to do nothing rashly, but to be moderate and not to interfere
with any troops that might attempt to pass through the city.
As soon as he had finished, Mr. Carr was urged to go up to
the platform and reply to Mr. Scott. I now give Mr. Carr's
words. " I went up," he says, " but had no intention of say-
ing anything in opposition to what Mr. Scott had advised
the people to do. I was not there as an advocate of secession,
but was anxious to see some way opened for reconciliation
between the North and South. I did not make an excited
speech nor did I denounce the Administration. I saw that I
was disappointing - the crowd. Some expressed their dis-
approbation pretty plainly and I cut my speech short. As
soon as I finished speaking the meeting adjourned."
After the war was over, Mr. Scott was elected Chief Judge
of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City. He was a strong
sympathizer with the South, and had the courage of his con-
victions, but he had been also an opponent of slavery, and I
have it from his own lips -that years before the war, on a
Fourth of July, he had persuaded his mother to liberate all
her slaves, although she depended largely on their services
for her support. And yet ne lived and died a poor man.
, On the 16th of April, Marshal Kane addressed a letter to
William Crawford, the Baltimore agent of the Philadelphia,
"Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company, in the follow-
ing terms :
40 Baltimore and the 19th of April, 1861.
"Dear JSir : Is it true as stated that' an attempt will be made to pass
the volunteers from New York intended to war upon the South over your
road to-day? It is important that we have explicit understanding on the
subject. Your friend, GEORGE P. KANE."
This letter was not submitted to me, nor to the board of
police. If it had been, it would have been couched in very
different language. Mr. Crawford forwarded it to the Presi-
dent of the road, who, on the same day, sent it to Simon
Cameron, the Secretary of War.
Mr. Cameron, on April 18th, wrote to Governor Hicks,
giving him notice that there were unlawful combinations of
citizens of Maryland to impede the transit of United States
troops across Maryland on their way to the defense of the
capital, and that the President thought it his duty to make
it known to the Governor; so that all loyal and patriotic
citizens might be warned in time, and that he might be pre-
pared to take immediate and effective measures against it.
On the afternoon of the 18th, Governor Hicks arrived in
town. He had prepared a proclamation as Governor of
the State, and wished me to issue another as mayor of the
city, which I agreed to do. In it he said, among other things,
that the unfortunate state of affairs now existing in the country
had greatly excited the people of Maryland; that the
emergency was great, and that the consequences of a rash
step would be fearful. He therefore counselled the people in
all earnestness to withhold their hands from whatever might
tend to precipitate us into the gulf of discord and ruin gap-
ing to receive us. All powers vested in the Governor of the
State would be strenuously exerted to preserve peace and
maintain inviolate the honor and integrity of Maryland-
He assured the people that no troops would be eent from
Maryland, unless it might be for the defense of the national
Increasing Excitement. 41
capital. He concluded by saying that the people of this
State would in a short time have the opportunity afforded
them, in a special election for members of Congress, to express
their devotion to the Union, or their desire to see it broken up.
This proclamation is of importance in several respects.
It shows the great excitement of the people and the imminent
danger of domestic strife. It shows, moreover, that even the
Governor of the State had then little idea of the course which
he himself was soon about to pursue. If this was the case
with the Governor, it could not have been different with
thousands of the people. Very soon he became a thorough
and uncompromising upholder of the war.
In my proclamation I concurred with the Governor in his
determination to preserve the peace and maintain inviolate-
the honor and integrity of Maryland, and added that I could
not withhold my expression of satisfaction at his resolution*
that no troops should be sent from Maryland to the soil of
any other State.
Simultaneously with the passage of the first Northern,
regiments on their way to Washington, came the news that
Virginia had seceded. Two days were crowded with stirring
news a proclamation from the President of the Southern,
Confederacy offering to issue commissions or letters of marque
to privateers, President Lincoln's proclamation declaring a
blockade of Southern ports, the Norfolk Navy Yard aban-
doned, Harper's Ferry evacuated and the arsenal in the hands-
of Virginia troops. These events, so exciting in themselves^
and coming together with the passage of the first troops*,
greatly increased ttie danger of an explosion.
CHAPTER TV.
THE SIXTH MASSACHUSETTS KEGIMENT IN BALTIMORE. THE
FIGHT. THE DEPARTURE FOR WASHINGTON. CORRES-
PONDENCE IN REGARD TO THE KILLED AND WOUNDED.
PUBLIC MEETING. TELEGRAM TO THE PRESIDENT. NO
REPLY. BURNING OF BRIDGES.
The Sixth Massachusetts Regiment had the honor of being
the first to march in obedience to the call of the President,
completely equipped and organized. It had a full band and
regimental staff. Mustered at Lowell on the morning of the
16th, the day after the proclamation was issued, four companies
from Lowell presented themselves, and to these were added
two from Lawrence, one from Groton, one from Acton, and
one from Worcester ; and when the regiment reached Boston,
at one o'clock, an additional company was added from that
city and another from Stoneham, making eleven in all about
seven hundred men. 1 It was addressed by the Governor of
the State in front of the State House. In the city and along
the line of the railroad, on the 17th, everywhere, ovations
attended them. In the march down Broadway, in New York,
'
Defense of the City. 63
After the receipt of the dispatch from Messrs, Bond, Dob-
bin and Brune, another committee was sent to Washington,
consisting of Messrs. Anthony Kennedy, Senator of the
United States, and J. Morrison Harris, member of the House
of Representatives, both Union men, who sent a dispatch to
me saying that they " had seen the President, Secretaries of
State, Treasury and War, and also General Scott. The result
is the transmission of orders that will stop the passage of
troops through or around the city."
Preparations for the defense of the city were nevertheless
continued. With this object I issued a notice in which I said :
"All citizens having arms suitable for the defense of the city,
and which they are willing to contribute for the purpose, are
requested to deposit them at the office of the marshal of
police."
The board of police enrolled temporarily a considerable
number of men and placed them under the command of
Colonel Isaac B. Trimble. He informs me that the number
amounted to more than fifteen thousand, about three-fourths
armed with muskets, shotguns and pistols.
This gentleman was afterward a Major-General in the Con-
federate Ajmy, where he distinguished himself. He lost a
leg at Gettysburg.
By this means not only was the inadequate number of tfie
police supplemented, but many who would otherwise have
been the disturbers of the peace became its defenders. And,
indeed, not a few of the men enrolled, who thought and hoped
that their enrollment meant wax, were disappointed to find
that the prevention of war was the object of the city author-
ities, and afterwards found their way into the Confederacy,
For some days it looked very much as if Baltimore had
taken her stand decisively with the South ; at all events, the
64 Baltimore and tJie 19ft of April, 1861.
outward expressions of Southern feeling were very emphatic,
and the Union sentiment temporarily disappeared.
Early on the morning of Saturday, the 20th, a large Con-
federate flag floated from the headquarters of a States Eights
club on Fayette street near Calvert, and on the afternoon of
the same day the Minute Men, a Union club, whose head-
quarters were on Baltimore street, gave a most significant
indication of the strength of the wave of feeling which swept
over our people by hauling down the National colors and
running up in their stead the State flag of Maryland, amid
the cheers of the crowd. 1 Everywhere on the streets men
and boys were wearing badges which displayed miniature
Confederate flags, and were cheering the Southern cause.
Military companies began to arrive from the (bounties. On
Saturday, first came a company of seventy men from Fred-
erick, under Captain Bradley T. Johnson, afterward General
in the Southern Army, and next two cavalry companies
from Baltimore County, and one from Anne Arundel County.
These last, the Patapsco Dragoons, some thirty men, a sturdy-
looking body of yeomanry, rode straight to the City Hall
and drew up, expecting to be received with a speech of wel-
come from the mayor. I made them a very brief address,
and informed them that dispatches received from Washington
had postponed the necessity for their services, whereupon they
started homeward amid cheers, their bugler striking up
" Dixie/' which was the first time I heard that tune. A few
days after, they came into Baltimore again. On Sunday came
in the Howard Couniy Dragoons, and by steamboat that
morning two companies from Talbot County, and soon it was
reported that from Harford, Cecil, Carroll and Prince George's,
companies were on their way. All the city companies of
1 Baltimore American, April 28.
Defense of the City. 65
uniformed militia were, of course, under arms. Three bat-
teries of light artillery were in the streets, among them the
light field-pieces belonging to the military school at Catons-
ville, but these the reverend rector of the school, a strong
Union man, had thoughtfully spiked.
The United States arsenal at Pikesville, at the time unoc-
cupied, was taken possession of by some Baltimore County
troops.
From the local columns of the American of the 22d, a
paper which was strongly on the Union side, I take the follow-
ing paragraph :
"WAR SPIRIT OK SATURDAY.
" The war spirit raged throughout the city and among all
classes during Saturday with an ardor which seemed to gather
fresh force each hour. . . All were united in a determina-
tion to resist at every hazard the passage of troops through Bal-
timore. . . Armed men were marching through the streets,
and the military were moving about in every direction, and
it is evident that Baltimore is to be the battlefield of the
Southern revolution."
And from the American of Tuesday, 23d :
"At the works of the Messrs. "Winans their entire force is
engaged in the making of pikes, and in casting balls of every
description for cannon, the steam gun, 1 rifles, muskets, etc.,
which they are turning out very rapidly."
And a very significant paragraph from the Sun of iihe same
day :
" Yesterday morning between 300 and 400 of our most
respectable colored residents made a tender of their services
1 Winans's steam gun, a recently invented, and, it was supposed, very
formidable engine, was much talked about at this time. It was not very
long afterwards seized and confiscated by the military authorities.
66 Baltimore and the 19th of April, 1861.
*
to the city authorities. The mayor thanked them for their
offer, and informed them that their services will be called for
if they can be made in any way available."
Officers from Maryland in the United States Army were
sending in their resignations. Colonel (afterward General)
Huger, of South Carolina, who had recently resigned, and
was in Baltimore at the time, was made Colonel of the
Fifty-third Eegiment, composed of the Independent Greys
and the six companies of the Maryland Guard.
On Monday morning, the 22d, I issued an order directing
that all the drinking-saloons should be closed that day, and
the order was enforced.
On Saturday, April 20th, Captain John C. Robinson, now
Major-General, then in command at Fort McHenry, which
stands at the entrance of the harbor, wrote to Colonel L.
Thomas, Adjutant-General of the United States Army, that
he would probably be attacked that night, but he believed he
could hold the fort.
In the September number, for the year 1885, of AmeriGan
History there is an article written by General Robinson,
entitled "Baltimore in 1861," in which he speaks of the
apprehended attack on the fort, and of the conduct of the
Baltimore authorities.
He says that about nine o'clock on the evening of the 20th,
Police Commissioner Davis called at the fort, bringing a let-
ter, .dated eight o'clock P. M. of the same evening, from
Charles Howard, the president of the board, which he quotes
at length, and which states that, from rumors that had reached
the board, they were apprehensive that the commander of the
fort might be annoyed by lawless and disorderly characters
approaching the walls of the fort, and they proposed to send
a guard of perhaps two hundred men to station themselves
Fort McHenry. 67
on Whetstone Point, of course beyond the outer limits of
the fort, with orders to arrest and hand over to the civil
authorities any evil-disposed and disorderly persons who
might approach the fort. The letter further stated that this
duty would have been confided to the police force, but their
services were so imperatively required elsewhere that it would
be impossible to detail a sufficient number, and this duty had
therefore been entrusted to a detachment of the regular organ-
ized militia of the State, then called out pursuant to law, and
actually in the service of the State. It was added that the com-
manding officer of the detachment would be ordered to commu-
nicate with Captain Kobinson. The letter closed with repeating
the assurance verbally given to Captain Eobinson in the
morning that no disturbance at or near the post should be
made with the sanction of any of the constituted authorities
of the city of Baltimore ; but, on the contrary, all their
powers should be exerted to prevent anything of the kind by
any parties. A postscript stated that there might perhaps be
a troop of volunteer cavalry with the detachment.
General Robinson continues :
" I did not question the good faith, of Mr. Howard, but Commissioner
Davis verbally stated that they proposed to send the Maryland Guards to
help protect the fort. Having made the acquaintance of some of the offi-
cers of that organization, and heard them freely express their opinions, I
declined the offered support, and then the following conversation occurred :
" Commandant. I am aware, sir, that we are to be attacked to-night.
I received notice of it before sundown. If you will go outside with me
you will see we are prepared for it. You will find the guns loaded, and
men standing by them. As for the Maryland Guards, they cannot come
here. I am acquainted with some of those gentlemen, and know what
their sentiments are.
" Commissioner. Dams. Why, Captain, we are anxious to avoid a col-
lision.
" Commandant. So am I, sir. If you wish to avoid a collision, place
68 Baltimore and the l$th of April, 1861.
your city military anywhere between the city and that chapel on the road,
but if they come this side of it, I shall fire on them.
" Commissioner Davis. Would you fire into the city of Baltimore ?
" Commandant. I should be sorry to do it, sir, but if it becomes neces-
sary in order to hold this fort, I shall not hesitate for one moment.
" Commissioner Davis (excitedly). I assure yon, Captain Robinson, if
there is a woman or child killed in that city, there will not be one of you
left alive here, sir,
" Commandant. Very well, sir, I will take the chances. Now, I assure
you, Mr. Davis, if your Baltimore mob comes down here to-night, you will
not have another mob in Baltimore for ten years to come, sir."
Mr. Davis is a well-known and respected citizen of Balti-
more, who has filled various important public offices with
credit, and at present holds a high position in the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad Company. According to his recollection,
the interview was more courteous and less dramatic than would
be supposed from the account given by General Robinson.
Mr. Davis says that the people of Baltimore were acquainted
with the defenseless condition of the fort, and that in the
excited state of the public mind this fact probably led to the
apprehension and consequent rumor that an attempt would
be made to capture it. The police authorities believed, and,
as it turned out, correctly, that the rumor was without founda-
tion ; yet, to avoid the danger of any disturbance whatever,
the precautions were taken which are described in the letter
of Mr. Howard, and Mr. Davis went in person to deliver it
to Captain Robinson.
His interview was not, however, confined to Captain Robin-
son, but included also other officers of the fort, and Mr.
Davis was hospitably received. A conversation ensued in
regard to the threatened attack, and, with one exception, was
conducted without asperity. A junior officer threatened, in case
of an attack, to direct the fire of a cannon on the Washing-
ton Monument, which stands in the heart of the city, and to
Fort MoHenry. 69
this threat Mr. Davis replied with heat, " If you do that,
and if a woman or child is killed, there will be nothing left
of you but your brass buttons to tell who you were."
The commandant insisted that the military sent by the
board should not approach the fort nearer than the Roman
Catholic chapel, a demand to which Mr. Davis readily
assented, as that situation commanded the only approach
from the city to the fort. In the midst of the conversation
the long roll was sounded, arid the whole garrison rushed to
arms. For a long time, and until the alarm was over, Mr.
Davis was left alone.
General Robinson was mistaken in his conjecture, "when
it seemed to him that for hours of the night mounted men
from the country were crossing the bridges of the Patapsco."
There was but one bridge over the Patapsco, known as the
Long Bridge, from which any sound of passing horsemen or
vehicles of any description could possibly have been heard at
the fort. The sounds which did reach the fort from the Long
Bridge during the hours of the night were probably the
market wagons of Anne Arundel County passing to and
from the city on their usual errand, and the one or two com-
panies from that county, which came to Baltimore during the
period of disturbance, no doubt rode in over the Long
Bridge by daylight.
General Robinson, after describing in his paper the riot of
the 19th of April and the unfortunate event of the killing of
Mr. Davis, adds: "It is impossible to describe the intense
excitement that now prevailed. Only those who saw and
felt it can understand or conceive any adequate idea of its
extent"; and in this connection he mentions the fact that
Marshal Kane, chief of the police force, on the evening of
the 19th of April, telegraphed to Bradley T. Johnson, at
70 Baltimore and the 19th of April, 1861.
Frederick, as follows : " Streets red with Maryland blood ;
send expresses over the mountains of Maryland and Virginia
for the riflemen to come without delay. Fresh hordes will be
down on us to-morrow. We will fight them and whip them,
or die."
The sending of this dispatch was indeed a startling event,
creating a new complication and embarrassing in the highest
degree to the city authorities. The marshal of police, who
had gallantly and successfully protected the national troops
on the 18th and 19th, was so carried away by the frenzy of
the hour that he had thus on his own responsibility sum-
moned volunteers from Virginia and Maryland to contest the
passage of national troops through the city. Different views
were taken by members of the board of police. It was con-
sidered, on the one hand, that the services of Colonel Kane were,
in that crisis, indispensable, because no one could control as he
could the secession element of the city, which was then in the
ascendant and might get control of the city, and, on the other,
that his usefulness had ceased, because not only had the gravest
offense been given to the Union sentiment of the city by
this dispatch, but the authorities in "Washington, while he was
at the head of the police, could no longer have any confidence
in the police, or perhaps in the board itself. The former
consideration prevailed.
It is due to Marshal Kane to say that subsequently, and
while he remained in office, he performed his duty to the
satisfaction of the Board. Some years after the war was over
he was elected sheriff, and still later mayor of the city, and in
both capacities he enjoyed the respect and regard of the
community.
It may with propriety be added that the conservative position
and action of the police board were so unsatisfectory to many
Interview with the President. 71
of the more heated Southern partisans, that a scheme was
at one time seriously entertained by them to suppress the
board, and transfer the control of the police force to other
hands. Happily for all parties, better counsels prevailed.
On Sunday, the 21st of April, with three prominent citizens
of Baltimore, I went to Washington, and we there had an
interview with the President and Cabinet and General Scott.
This interview was of so much importance, that a statement
of what occurred was prepared on the same day and was
immediately published. It is here given at length :
BALTIMOBE, April 21.
Mayor Brown received a dispatch, from the President of the United
States at three o'clock A. M. (this morning), directed to himself and Gov-
ernor Hicks, requesting them to go to Washington by special train, in
order to consult with Mr. Lincoln for the preservation of the peace of
Maryland. The mayor replied that Governor Hicks was not in the city, and
inquired if he should go alone. Receiving an answer by telegraph in the
affirmative, his Honor, accompanied by George W. Bobbin, John 0. Brune
andS. T. Wailis, Esqs., whom he had summoned to attend him, proceeded
at once to the station. After a series of delays they were enabled to procure
a special train about half -past seven o'clock, in which they arrived at
Washington about ten.
They repaired at once to the President's house, where they were admitted
to an immediate interview, to which the Cabinet and General Scott were
summoned. A long conversation and discussion ensued. The President,
upon his part, recognized the good faith of the city and State authorities,
and insisted upon his own. He admitted the excited state of feeling in
Baltimore, and his desire and duty to avoid the fatal consequences of a
collision with the people. He urged, on the other hand, the absolute,
irresistible necessity of having a transit through the State for such troops
as might be necessary for the protection of the Federal capital. The pro-
tection of Washington, he 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.
72 Baltimore and the IQth of April, 1861.
He called on General Scott for his opinion, which the General gave at
length, to the effect that troops might be brought through Maryland with-
out going through Baltimore, by either carrying them from Perryville to
Annapolis, and thence by rail to Washington, or by bringing them to
the Relay House on the Northern Central Railroad [about seven miles
north of the city], and marching them to the
