Originally aired on April 24, 1998 - In part 191 of our Civil War series, Virginia Tech history professor James Robertson relates the events of April 19, 1861, when the 6th Massachussetts, a militia unit, fought with the citizens of a divided Baltimore.
#191 – The Baltimore Riot
As North and South mobilized for war in the spring of 1861, Baltimore, Maryland stood like a disaster waiting to happen. War sentiment in Maryland was sharply divided. Sectional passions were intense. Baltimore like a tinderbox stood squarely in the middle of two threatening factions.
Meanwhile newly formed Union regiments were starting south to the defense of Washington. Once passengers got to Baltimore they had to switch railroad lines in order to get to the capital. The situation was ready made for a confrontation.
On the morning of April 19, 1861, less than a week after the surrender of Fort Sumter the 6th Massachusetts got to Baltimore. This was a militia unit. Nattily dressed in gay uniforms and carrying muskets that had never been fired. To get from one station to the other teams of horses pulled the railroad cars along streetcar tracks through the downtown. The cars moved at walking speed which left passengers vulnerable to snarling crowds lining the sidewalks that morning.
Nine cars made the transfer without incident. Yet hisses and jeers soon became bricks and stones. Missiles bounced against the cars and crashed through the windows. Baltimore police were unprepared to handle the situation. The mayor was symbolically walking at the head of the Massachusetts regiment, but he quickly fled to safety.
Angry citizens dumped sand on the tracks; piled anchors atop the sand, and effectively blocked the right of way. That left four of the Massachusetts companies, some two hundred and twenty soldiers in all, to run the gauntlet as it were by marching on foot through a mob now at fever pitch. Citizens jostled the soldiers and attempted to take away their weapons. An officer shouted an order for the men to double-quick in the hopes that the troops would get away before the situation intensified. That made matters worse because the Yankees now looked like chicken-hearted fugitives afraid to fight.
Civilians at first intent to hurt now leaped forward intent to kill. Somebody either from the ranks or from the sidewalk fired a shot. Several guns barked in response. Soldiers and civilians began dropping in the street. The Massachusetts boys painfully made their way to the Camden Street Station and boarded a waiting train. A final act remained.
As the train steamed out of the station a body of secessionists gave a shout for Jefferson Davis. A Union soldier shot at him from a car window. His bullet killed prominent Baltimore merchant Robert Davis who was merely passing by the scene.
It had been a bloody fight. Four soldiers were dead and thirty-six wounded. The toll among citizens was larger, twelve killed and an undetermined number wounded. Hysteria swept through Baltimore that night. Mobs burned railroad bridges and tore down telegraph lines to Washington. Mass meetings by Unionists and Secessionists kept fires of anger blazing. Union officials routed troop trains through Annapolis for a few days.
By the end of April, however, Union might had overcome Baltimore’s secessionist sentiment. This was evident when the 3rd Michigan passed through Baltimore on its way to Washington. The regimental colonel summoned the mayor. “If a man in my regiment is hurt marching from one station to the other”, the officer said, “the streets of Baltimore will run red with blood”. The movement of the 3rd Michigan passed without incident.
By mid-May Baltimore was under military occupation. An uneasy peace existed. Yet that April 19th riot left a scar easily visible in a stanza in a state song:
Avenge the patriotic gore
That fleck the street of Baltimore
And be the Bible queen of yore
Maryland, My Maryland.