21222, Copyright © 2002 Baltimore City Police History - Ret Det Kenny Driscoll. William Shirer, CBS broadcaster and author (The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich). In the end, the soldiers got to the Camden Station, and the police were able to block the crowd from them. It was a poem later set to music popular in the South referencing the riots with lines such as "Avenge the patriotic gore / That flecked the streets of Baltimore." Southern cartoonist Adalbert Volck lampooned that humiliating maneuver in an etching, Passage Through Baltimore, depicting a cowardly-looking Lincoln peeking through the side door of a boxcar. He would have his soldiers, and he would have to get them by way of Baltimore—even if they had to fight their way through as Brown had warned. I had a bundle of tickets under my arm, and one of the men walked up to me and asked me what it was that I had. The suggestion was completely out of the question. Around noon the 6th pulled into the PW&B’s President Street depot, where things seemed eerily quiet. Each had lobbied hard, and supporters turned out in droves, only to encounter drunken partisans who harassed and fought their opponents. But the journey’s romance soured for the new troops as their train neared Baltimore. Meyer Amschel Rothschild, banker and founder of the Rothschild dynasty in Europe. It generally refers to the Baltimore Riot of 1861 (also known as the "Pratt Street Riots"), where a mob of Confederate Southern sympathizers attacked newly raised Union state militia troops transiting through the town on April 18–19, 1861 in some of the first bloodshed of the … The reporter then went on to describe an oddly comical incident. No one was safe. Anyone with information, photographs, memorabilia, or other "Baltimore City Police" items can contact Ret. An old photograph you'd like to share? After the occupation of the city, Union troops were garrisoned throughout the state. The writ of habeas corpus was arbitrarily suspended by military authorities, and the suppression of newspapers was begun. addyb63a1c3f0281b32dbe16d58aa61be548 = addyb63a1c3f0281b32dbe16d58aa61be548 + 'BaltimoreCityPoliceHistory' + '.' + 'com'; Many sympathized passionately with the Southern cause. As the soldiers brought their guns to shoulder, Mayor Brown ran forward, shouting at them, “For God’s sake, don’t shoot!” Given the noise and chaos at that moment, it’s unlikely that anyone heard him. It sent a delegation to Jefferson Davis to assure him of Maryland's sympathy. - Jordan Peterson, "Lawlessness is Lawlessness. When I arose…there were seven bullet holes in my coat and my coat was cut as if by knives in various places; the pantaloons also had the appearance of having been cut by bullets. The crowd responded with a fusillade of bricks and gunfire that injured at least six troops. Brown (right), who … During the confrontation, several people were killed. In the end, American Thomas Swann carried the election, beating the Democrat Wright by 1,551 votes. The authorities…did their best to day [sic] to protect both strangers and citizens and to prevent a collision, but [in] vain….it is my solemn duty to inform you that it is not possible for more soldiers to pass through Baltimore unless they fight their way at every step.”. Armed with bricks, boards and sticks, pro-Southern Baltimoreans attack Union soldiers headed to Washington, D. C. Library of Congress. Two days after the Pratt Street riots, Governor Hicks did what partisans had been urging him to do for months. Journalist Michael Williams’ forthcoming book City Under the Guns tells the story of the military occupation of Baltimore. Shutt, bowed out in the middle of election day itself. Plug Ugly captains included John English and James Morgan. As the train continued down Canton Avenue, the mob followed it, but the violence had ended. When we at Baltimore Police History have our patches made, we only use American Patch & Pin Company. [B]ut,” Jones added, “if you are fired upon and any one of you is hit, your officers will order you to fire. Virginia's preparedness was equally feeble and that Stale could have offered Maryland little help. A committee was organized with the valiant attempt to secure nominations of honorable selected from the best, most reliable, and most competent men in this community.” Meanwhile, the Know-Nothings held a counter-demonstration. And now he’d received a letter in which Baltimore’s mayor expressed his citizens’ “universally decided” wish that he withdraw his order for 75,000 troops. She'll come! In the previous year's presidential election, Abraham Lincoln had received only 1,100 of more than 30,000 votes cast in the city. At the November election, violence again continued to reign supreme. Baltimore Riot of 1861 Subcategories. Kill every one of them! Click, Before an arrow can go forward, it has to go Back. Although his brain protruded from the wound, he managed to survive for five days before dying. Maryland was a loyal state in fact, as well as in name, once Federal force had made certain it would follow such an oath. One man named Feaster had a ball extracted from his leg at a local doctor’s office. – For several days’ sympathy with the administration and hospitality to the South was expressive in this way at several places in the city and at some newspaper offices. Marshal Kane stated in his 13 May report to the Police Commissioners, "I heard nothing more of these troops until twenty minutes past eight o'clock on the next Friday morning, April 19th," so the timing of Mayor Brown's excuse that they didn't know until later when & where the troops would come in, seems questionable. Flood. 2. 6th Massachusetts Militia attacked in Baltimore 1861.jpg 4,547 × 3,190; 3.61 MB. They would find no such hospitality below the Mason-Dixon Line, where a warlike mood prevailed. Sterns Collection, Library of Congress. On October 8, 1856, rioting overtook the city as the municipal elections were held. A mob out for blood clashed with troops en route to Washington, On the afternoon of April 18, 1861, Baltimore Mayor George W. Brown dispatched a strong letter of warning to Abraham Lincoln. The other southern states watched with interest to see what would happen, as the secession of Virginia was important because of the state's industrial value. The Baltimore Riots happened April 19, 1861. While most Baltimoreans felt that Lincoln should keep his hands off the South, there was also a smaller contingent of Confederate zealots there who were more than willing to go to war over it. And both were men of great authority in the metropolis. “[That’s] right! It had a strong garrison at Fort McHenry, troops on Federal Hill, a firm grip on Annapolis and control over the main rail link to the West. 'tis the proud refrainThat baffles minions back again,Maryland!Arise in majesty again,Maryland! From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia The Baltimore riot of 1861 (also called the "Pratt Street Riots" and the "Pratt Street Massacre") was a civil conflict on Friday, April 19, 1861, on Pratt Street, in Baltimore, Maryland. Thornton begged them to spare his life, and to mollify them, told them that he was one of Billy McMullen’s crowd in Philadelphia. When we at Baltimore Police History have our patches made, we only use American Patch & Pin Company. Before an arrow can go forward, it has to go BackThere's no right time to do wrong - and - no wrong time to do right! We are a gallant band of spirits, fair or foul, Who glory in our valor and firmness of our soul, Our watch-word is “now go it,” so we’ll ever cry,  Oh! In February 1859, the Baltimore City Fire Department had begun operation, immediately ending the rival company clashes and reducing the number of fires started on purpose by those companies. She burns! var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; Administration partisans in Ba1timore sought to provoke trouble by accusing the city administration of arming states rights supporters and working to plunge Maryland into revolution. We do not put too much weight on the more recently written historic information, or information that has been written with a biased opinion, or agenda. Please get in touch. My Maryland! Library of Congress. Please contact Retired Detective Kenny Driscoll. Kenny Driscoll if you have any pictures of you or your family members and wish them remembered here on this tribute site to Honor the fine men and women who have served with Honor and Distinction at the Baltimore Police Department. Of the rioters, 11 died—among them a ship’s cabin boy who was hit in the stomach by a stray bullet. Victor Fleming, film director (The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind). The Plug Uglies were the central figures in the first election riot in Baltimore in October 1855. Just two months before, the president-elect opted to sneak through Baltimore under cover of darkness, to avoid a possible assassination plot. The assailant grabbed a man matching the description. Explore Baltimore Heritage helps historians, students and residents tell the stories behind Baltimore's buildings and neighborhoods. My Maryland! The calm wouldn’t last. When Fort Sumter fell on April 13 without a single man lost, the Virginia legislature took up a measure on secession. In stark contrast to Baltimore’s fatalities, the Sun reported that in New York, there was some “fighting in the course of the forenoon in the course of which pistols and firearms were freely used, resulting in a plentiful crop of black eyes and bloody noses, but nothing more serious.” Fillmore won the state by more than seven thousand votes but fell short throughout the rest of the country. Commemorate your occasions, design your own custom patches, pins & coins. Maryland!Thy beaming sword shall never rust,Maryland!Remember Carroll's sacred trust,Remember Howard's warlike thrust,-And all thy slumberers with the just,Maryland! Baltimore 1861 Dennis Ahern will address this topic at the Boston Public Library Orientation Room, McKim Building 230 Dartmouth Street, Copley Square Wednesday, October 12th at 6:00 p.m. Every year, on April 19th, we are reminded of the minutemen who went to the bridge in Concord in 1775. It is regarded by historians as the first bloodshed of the American Civil War. Although Marylandhad always leaned toward the south culturally, sympathies in the state were asmuch pro-Union as they were pro-Confederate. My Maryland! you Plug Uglies, now root hog or die. Baltimore saw the first casualties of the war on April 19, 1861, when Union Soldiers en route from the President Street Station to Camden Yards clashed with a secessionist mob in the Pratt Street riot. By mid-afternoon, the fighting grew larger and more organized as Americans and Democrats again turned the city into their personal battlefield. Bullets whistled past from all directions, striking rioters, soldiers and bystanders. 4. And since they knew they'd be coming into the President St Station, waiting at the Camden St Station with their police protection was at best a very poor plan. They left knowing how bitter it would be. That volley repelled the rioters long enough for the major and his men to escape. Secessionist sympathy was strong in Baltimore, a border state metropolis. On the morning of April 16, 1861, Governor Curtin sent orders to the Ringgold Artillery, one hundred and eight men, to entrain for Harrisburg with their four six-pound field pieces. Again the 6th returned fire. Election day began much like the previous one had with small fights, growing anger and lots of drinking. Baltimore was a particularly secession-sympathetic city; Abraham Lincoln received only 1,100 of more than 30,000 votes cast for president in 1860. The third car arrived, and its occupants were treated in the same way; and after this, the ruffians staggered through the cars, shouting for Seymour and Blair, with imprecations that if any Grant and Colfax man dared to say he was for either of them, they would kill him on the spot. Because a city law prohibited the passage of locomotives along busy thoroughfares, however, drivers had to use horses in teams of four to pull each car across town, where railroad workers then recoupled them to a B&O engine. Lincoln, on the other hand, could have bought 50,000 troops down if he encountered resistance. On April 19, the Union's Sixth Massachusetts Regiment was traveling south to Washington, D.C. through Baltimore. It produced the first deaths by hostile action in the … While the American Party was being quickly dismantled on the national scale, it managed to retain its hold in Baltimore for several years, where the city’s long history of patriotism at all costs helped secure American sympathies. Lincoln rerouted troops through Union-friendly Annapolis at first. That kept the mob at bay temporarily. When the war was over, the history of the first battle of the Civil War was rewritten to suggest it was but a spontaneous riot of outraged citizens with our politicians as the heroes, instead of the true heroes who were the men of the Fighting 6th Massachusetts Volunteers, who fought their way across Baltimore with their flag still flying, two hundred and twenty-eight brave men against a mob of ten thousand. The Baltimore riot of 1861 (also called the Pratt Street Riot and the Pratt Street Massacre) was a conflict on April 19, 1861, in Baltimore, Maryland, between anti-War Democrats (the largest party in Maryland), as well as Confederate sympathizers, and members of the Massachusetts militia enroute to Washington for Federal service. Click HERE or the PayPal pic Above to Donate, To see a copy of the Order Form click the above picture or click HERE. “The regiment will march through Baltimore in column of sections, arms at will,” he announced. Sharing Kane's fates were Mayor Brown and Ross Winans, a pro-Southern member of the Legislature and a nominee to Congress. Detachments of soldiers were sent to ''protect" Union voters, and these same soldiers were permitted to vote, swelling the Union margin. Built in 1849 and opened in February 1850, the station saw the some of the earliest bloodshed of the American Civil War (1861-1865), and was an important rail link during the … My Maryland! At the Washington riot, the National Guard called out to quell the fighting, shot and killed ten citizens. Their discontent increased in the days afterward while Lincoln put out a call for volunteers to serve 90 days and end the insurrection; newly formed units were starting to transport themselves south. I believe you are one of the Radicals going to Philadelphia to vote; and if I thought you were, I would kill you right here.” He added, in a threatening manner, “Who do you know in Philadelphia that can vouch for you? But as the columns moved forward, they were surrounded by a howling mob of secessionists shouting that they would kill every “white nigger” of them before they reached Camden Station. - Baltimore (Md.) Meanwhile bystanders couldn’t help but notice the soldiers; their military caps and upright muskets betrayed the railcar passengers’ identities. Moreover, it certainly wasn't the end of it; in fact, they were just warming up, for worse things to come. A few were shot or beaten senseless. When members of this 11-company regiment—once farmers, merchants, tradesmen and lawyers—left for Washington, they were heralded by Northerners as the Union’s heroic protectors. One of the assailants accused the passengers of cutting his head, and he threatened to shoot whoever had done it. Meanwhile Mayor Brown rushed east on Pratt Street to find the bridge near President Street covered with anchors and scantling. The violence of the Plug Uglies and other political clubs had an important impact on Baltimore. Maryland!His torch is at thy temple door,Maryland!Avenge the patriotic goreThat flecked the streets of Baltimore,And be the battle queen of yore,Maryland! Since December 1860, death threats had been pouring into Lincoln’s office. Confederate batteries fired on the besieged Federal garrison at Fort Sumter, and Virginia passed an ordinance of secession, leaving only a strip of river between the unguarded Union capital and enemy territory. The Plug Uglies coalesced shortly after the creation of the Mount Vernon Hook-and-Ladder Company, a volunteer fire company whose truck house was on Biddle Street, between Pennsylvania Avenue and Ross Street (later Druid Hill). CODE. In 1861, most Baltimoreans were anti-war, and did not support a violent conflict with their southern neighbors. “We have been attacked without provocation,” gasped the winded captain. The 6th’s men raised their rifles and delivered a volley, then jogged 200 feet to South Street, where more stones and pistol shots rained down. Together with the Rip Raps, they were also actively involved in deadly rioting at the October 1856 municipal election in Baltimore and in similar violence at the Know-Nothing Riot in Washington in June 1857. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 5,000 articles originally published in our various magazines. Quarter­master James Munroe issued each man aboard the train 20 rounds of ball cartridges in preparation for their arrival at the Baltimore station. P. Kane," which suggests there was premeditation to the plan to drag Maryland kicking and screaming into the Confederacy. var addyb63a1c3f0281b32dbe16d58aa61be548 = 'Kenny' + '@'; Anarchy is Anarchy is Anarchy. The Baltimore riot of 1861 (also called the Pratt Street Riot and the Pratt Street Massacre) was an incident that took place on April 19, 1861, in Baltimore, Maryland between Confederate sympathizers and members of the Massachusetts militia en route to … The Sun reported that the encounter went “unchecked and unheeded, apparently, by any show of police force.” The battle raged in “guerrilla fashion” for over three hours, killing Charles Brown and James Rodgers. Before his inauguration, rumors in the city of an assassination plot against Abraham Lincoln, who was on … This email address is being protected from spambots. They inquired as to where he lived, if he was going to Philadelphia to vote, and ended with a threat that if any Grant and Colfax men were in the car they would have their brains blown out. Leaders look for others to recognize.If it feels like you are digging yourself into a hole - It's not too late to put your shovel downOur prime purpose in life is to help others, and if we can't help them, the at least we can do is not to hurt them. To ensure that no one attempted to pass, Kane, a burly, no-nonsense tough, raised his revolver and cried out, “Keep back, men, or I shoot!” Kane’s reputation intimidated even the roughest thugs, helping to quell the riot. W.E.B. She'll come! In the week leading up to the Baltimore confrontation, matters worsened. The Baltimore Riots of 1861, which broke out on April 19, 1861 when Union troops being transferred to Washington, D.C. were attacked by mobs of Confederate sympathizers and pro-slavery activists who lived in the city at the outbreak of the Civil War, left some sixteen people dead and dozens more injured. The Sun remarked that the wound was “painful but not dangerous.” By early evening, the Americans had won the battle, which culminated in the group breaking off the doors of the New Market engine house. The gang associated with the emerging American Party (the Know Nothings) in Baltimore. Merchant Richard Fisher, in the middle of a business transaction with a Spanish sea captain, watched the rioters in horror from the second floor of his counting house. It was now clear that a long and bloody conflict lay ahead. [New York Public Library]. Many Americans, North and South, had still held out some hope that the conflict might be resolved before much blood was shed. On the afternoon of April 18, 1861, Baltimore Mayor George W. Brown dispatched a strong letter of warning to Abraham Lincoln. 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