Baltimore and the Nineteenth of April, 1861: A Study of the War
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Title: Baltimore and the Nineteenth of April, 1861: A Study of the War
Author: George William Brown
Release date: April 2, 2012 [eBook #39346]
Language: English
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[Illustration: MAP SHOWING ROUTE OF RAIL ROAD THROUGH BALTIMORE FROM
PRESIDENT ST. STATION TO CAMDEN ST. STATION.]
BALTIMORE
AND
THE NINETEENTH OF APRIL, 1861
A Study of the War
By GEORGE WILLIAM BROWN
_Chief Judge of the Supreme Bench of
Baltimore, and Mayor of the City in 1861_
BALTIMORE
N. MURRAY, PUBLICATION AGENT,
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
1887
COPYRIGHT, 1887, BY N. MURRAY.
ISAAC FRIEDENWALD, PRINTER,
BALTIMORE.
CONTENTS.
Page
CHAPTER I.
1. INTRODUCTION, 9
2. THE FIRST BLOOD SHED IN THE WAR, 10
3. THE SUPPOSED PLOT TO ASSASSINATE THE INCOMING PRESIDENT, 11
4. THE MIDNIGHT RIDE TO WASHINGTON, 17
CHAPTER II.
1. THE COMPROMISES OF THE CONSTITUTION IN REGARD TO SLAVERY, 20
2. A DIVIDED HOUSE, 23
3. THE BROKEN COMPACT, 25
4. THE RIGHT OF REVOLUTION, 27
CHAPTER III.
1. MARYLAND'S DESIRE FOR PEACE, 30
2. EVENTS WHICH FOLLOWED THE ELECTION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN, 31
3. HIS PROCLAMATION CALLING FOR TROOPS, 32
4. THE CITY AUTHORITIES AND POLICE OF BALTIMORE, 34
5. INCREASING EXCITEMENT IN BALTIMORE, 39
CHAPTER IV.
1. THE SIXTH MASSACHUSETTS REGIMENT IN BALTIMORE, 42
2. THE FIGHT, 47
3. THE DEPARTURE FOR WASHINGTON, 52
4. CORRESPONDENCE IN REGARD TO THE KILLED AND WOUNDED, 54
5. PUBLIC MEETING, 56
6. TELEGRAM TO THE PRESIDENT, 57
7. NO REPLY, 58
8. BURNING OF BRIDGES, 59
CHAPTER V.
1. APRIL 20th--INCREASING EXCITEMENT, 60
2. APPROPRIATION OF $500,000 FOR DEFENSE OF THE CITY, 60
3. CORRESPONDENCE WITH PRESIDENT AND GOVERNOR, 61
4. MEN ENROLLED, 63
5. APPREHENDED ATTACK ON FORT McHENRY, 66
6. MARSHAL KANE, 69
7. INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT, CABINET, AND GENERAL SCOTT, 71
8. GENERAL BUTLER, WITH THE EIGHTH MASSACHUSETTS, PROCEEDS
TO ANNAPOLIS AND WASHINGTON, 76
9. BALTIMORE IN A STATE OF ARMED NEUTRALITY, 77
CHAPTER VI.
1. SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 79
2. REPORT OF THE BOARD OF POLICE, 80
3. SUPPRESSION OF THE FLAGS, 82
4. ON THE 5th OF MAY GENERAL BUTLER TAKES POSITION SIX MILES
FROM BALTIMORE, 83
5. ON THE 13th OF MAY HE ENTERS BALTIMORE AND FORTIFIES FEDERAL
HILL, 84
6. THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY WILL TAKE NO STEPS TOWARD SECESSION, 85
7. MANY YOUNG MEN JOIN THE ARMY OF THE CONFEDERACY, 85
CHAPTER VII.
1. CHIEF JUSTICE TANEY AND THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS, 87
2. A UNION CONVENTION, 92
3. CONSEQUENCE OF THE SUSPENSION OF THE WRIT, 93
4. INCIDENTS OF THE WAR, 95
5. THE WOMEN IN THE WAR, 95
CHAPTER VIII.
1. GENERAL BANKS IN COMMAND, 97
2. MARSHAL KANE ARRESTED, 97
3. POLICE COMMISSIONERS SUPERSEDED, 97
4. RESOLUTIONS PASSED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 98
5. POLICE COMMISSIONERS ARRESTED, 98
6. RESOLUTIONS PASSED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 100
7. GENERAL DIX IN COMMAND, 100
8. ARREST OF THE MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, THE MAYOR,
AND OTHERS, 102
9. RELEASE OF PRISONERS, 108
10. COLONEL DIMICK, 111
CHAPTER IX.--A PERSONAL CHAPTER. 113
APPENDIX I.
ACCOUNT OF THE ALLEGED CONSPIRACY TO ASSASSINATE ABRAHAM
LINCOLN ON HIS JOURNEY TO BALTIMORE, FROM THE "LIFE OF
ABRAHAM LINCOLN," BY WARD H. LAMON, pp. 511-526, 120
APPENDIX II.
EXTRACT FROM THE OPINION OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED
STATES, DELIVERED BY CHIEF JUSTICE TANEY, IN THE CASE OF
DRED SCOTT VS. SANFORD (19 HOW. 407), 138
APPENDIX III.
THE HABEAS CORPUS CASE.--OPINION OF THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE
UNITED STATES (_Ex Parte_ JOHN MERRYMAN), 139
APPENDIX IV.
MESSAGE OF THE 12th OF JULY, 1861, TO THE FIRST AND SECOND
BRANCHES OF THE CITY COUNCIL, REFERRING TO THE EVENTS OF
THE 19th OF APRIL AND THOSE WHICH FOLLOWED.--THE FIRST
PARAGRAPH AND THE CONCLUDING PARAGRAPHS OF THIS DOCUMENT, 157
APPENDIX V.
AS A PART OF THE HISTORY OF THE TIMES, REPRODUCTION FROM THE
BALTIMORE "AMERICAN" OF DECEMBER 5, 1860, OF THE RECEPTION
OF THE PUTNAM PHALANX, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, IN
THE CITY OF BALTIMORE, 160
APPENDIX VI.
VISIT OF A PORTION OF THE MEMBERS OF THE SIXTH MASSACHUSETTS
REGIMENT TO BALTIMORE ON THE 19th OF APRIL, 1880, AND AN
ACCOUNT OF ITS RECEPTION, FROM THE BALTIMORE "SUN" AND
THE BALTIMORE "AMERICAN," 167
INDEX, 171
BALTIMORE AND THE NINETEENTH OF APRIL, 1861.
_A STUDY OF THE WAR._
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION. -- THE FIRST BLOOD SHED IN THE WAR. -- THE SUPPOSED
PLOT TO ASSASSINATE THE INCOMING PRESIDENT. -- THE MIDNIGHT RIDE
TO WASHINGTON.
I have often been solicited by persons of widely opposite political
opinions to write an account of the events which occurred in Baltimore
on the 19th of April, 1861, about which much that is exaggerated and
sensational has been circulated; but, for different reasons, I have
delayed complying with the request until this time.
These events were not isolated facts, but were the natural result of
causes which had roots deep in the past, and they were followed by
serious and important consequences. The narrative, to be complete,
must give some account of both cause and consequence, and to do this
briefly and with a proper regard to historical proportion is no easy
task.
Moreover, it is not pleasant to disturb the ashes of a great
conflagration, which, although they have grown cold on the surface,
cover embers still capable of emitting both smoke and heat; and
especially is it not pleasant when the disturber of the ashes was
himself an actor in the scenes which he is asked to describe.
But more than twenty-five years have passed, and with them have passed
away most of the generation then living; and, as one of the rapidly
diminishing survivors, I am admonished by the lengthening shadows that
anything I may have to say should be said speedily. The nation has
learned many lessons of wisdom from its civil war, and not the least
among them is that every truthful contribution to its annals or to its
teachings is not without some value.
I have accordingly undertaken the task, but not without reluctance,
because it necessarily revives recollections of the most trying and
painful experiences of my life--experiences which for a long time I
have not unwillingly permitted to fade in the dim distance.
There was another 19th of April--that of Lexington in 1775--which has
become memorable in history for a battle between the Minute Men of
Massachusetts and a column of British troops, in which the first blood
was shed in the war of the Revolution. It was the heroic beginning of
that contest.
The fight which occurred in the streets of Baltimore on the 19th of
April, 1861, between the 6th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers and
a mob of citizens, was also memorable, because then was shed the first
blood in a conflict between the North and the South; then a step was
taken which made compromise or retreat almost impossible; then
passions on both sides were aroused which could not be controlled.[1]
In each case the outbreak was an explosion of conflicting forces long
suppressed, but certain, sooner or later, to occur. Here the
coincidence ends. The Minute Men of Massachusetts were so called
because they were prepared to rise on a minute's notice. They had
anticipated and had prepared for the strife. The attack by the mob in
Baltimore was a sudden uprising of popular fury. The events themselves
were magnified as the tidings flashed over the whole country, and the
consequences were immediate. The North became wild with astonishment
and rage, and the South rose to fever-heat from the conviction that
Maryland was about to fall into line as the advance guard of the
Southern Confederacy.
[Footnote 1: At Fort Sumter, it is true, one week earlier, the first
collision of arms had taken place; but strangely, that bombardment was
unattended with loss of life. And it did not necessarily mean war
between North and South: accommodation still seemed possible.]
* * * * *
In February, 1861, when Mr. Lincoln was on his way to Washington to
prepare for his inauguration as President of the United States, an
unfortunate incident occurred which had a sinister influence on the
State of Maryland, and especially on the city of Baltimore. Some
superserviceable persons, carried away, honestly no doubt, by their
own frightened imaginations, and perhaps in part stimulated by the
temptation of getting up a sensation of the first class, succeeded in
persuading Mr. Lincoln that a formidable conspiracy existed to
assassinate him on his way through Maryland.
It was announced publicly that he was to come from Philadelphia, not
by the usual route through Wilmington, but by a circuitous journey
through Harrisburg, and thence by the Northern Central Railroad to
Baltimore. Misled by this statement, I, as Mayor of the city,
accompanied by the Police Commissioners and supported by a strong
force of police, was at the Calvert-street station on Saturday
morning, February 23d, at half-past eleven o'clock, the appointed time
of arrival, ready to receive with due respect the incoming President.
An open carriage was in waiting, in which I 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 that I apprehended none. 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 themselves no little amount of credit for its success.
If Mr. Lincoln had arrived in Baltimore at the time expected, and had
spoken a few words to the people who had gathered to hear him,
expressing the kind feelings which were in his heart with the simple
eloquence of which he was so great a master, he could not have failed
to make a very different impression from that which was produced not
only by the want of confidence and respect manifested towards the city
of Baltimore by the plan pursued, but still more by the manner in
which it was carried out. On such an occasion as this even trifles are
of importance, and this incident was not a trifle. The emotional part
of human nature is its strongest side and soonest leads to action. It
was so with the people of Baltimore. Fearful accounts of the
conspiracy flew all over the country, creating a hostile feeling
against the city, from which it soon afterwards suffered. A single
specimen of the news thus spread will suffice. A dispatch from
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to the New York _Times_, dated February
23d, 8 A. M., says: "Abraham Lincoln, the President-elect of the
United States, is safe in the capital of the nation." Then, after
describing the dreadful nature of the conspiracy, it adds: "The list
of the names of the conspirators presented a most astonishing array of
persons high in Southern confidence, and some whose fame is not
confined to this country alone."
Of course, the list of names was never furnished, and all the men in
buckram vanished in air. This is all the notice which this matter
would require except for the extraordinary narrative contributed by
Mr. Samuel M. Felton, at that time President of the Philadelphia,
Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company, to the volume entitled "A
History of Massachusetts in the Civil War," published in 1868.
Early in 1861, Mr. Felton had made, as he supposed, a remarkable
discovery of "a deep-laid conspiracy to capture Washington and break
up the Government."
Soon afterwards Miss Dix, the philanthropist, opportunely came to his
office on a Saturday afternoon, stating that she had an important
communication to make to him personally, and then, with closed doors
and for more than an hour, she poured into his ears a thrilling tale,
to which he attentively listened. "The sum of all was (I quote the
language of Mr. Felton) that there was then an extensive and organized
conspiracy throughout the South to seize upon Washington, with its
archives and records, and then declare the Southern conspirators _de
facto_ the Government of the United States. The whole was to be a
_coup d'etat_. At the same time they were to cut off all modes of
communication between Washington and the North, East or West, and thus
prevent the transportation of troops to wrest the capital from the
hands of the insurgents. Mr. Lincoln's inauguration was thus to be
prevented, or his life was to fall a sacrifice to the attempt at
inauguration. In fact, troops were then drilling on the line of our
own road, and the Washington and Annapolis line and other lines."
It was clear that the knowledge of a treasonable conspiracy of such
vast proportions, which had already begun its operations, ought not to
be confined solely to the keeping of Mr. Felton and Miss Dix. Mr. N.
P. Trist, an officer of the road, was accordingly admitted into the
secret, and was dispatched in haste to Washington, to lay all the
facts before General Scott, the Commander-in-Chief. The General,
however, would give no assurances except that he would do all he could
to bring sufficient troops to Washington to make it secure. Matters
stood in this unsatisfactory condition for some time, until a new
rumor reached the ears of Mr. Felton.
A gentleman from Baltimore, he says, came out to Back River Bridge,
about five miles east of the city, and told the bridgekeeper that he
had information which had come to his knowledge, of vital importance
to the road, which he wished communicated to Mr. Felton. The nature of
this communication was that a party was then organized in Baltimore to
burn the bridges in case Mr. Lincoln came over the road, or in case an
attempt was made to carry troops for the defense of Washington. The
party at that time had combustible materials prepared to pour over the
bridges, and were to disguise themselves as negroes and be at the
bridge just before the train in which Mr. Lincoln travelled had
arrived. The bridge was then to be burned, the train attacked, and Mr.
Lincoln to be put out of the way. The man appeared several times,
always, it seems, to the bridgekeeper, and he always communicated new
information about the conspirators, but he would never give his name
nor place of abode, and both still remain a mystery. Mr. Felton
himself then went to Washington, where he succeeded in obtaining from
a prominent gentleman from Baltimore whom he there saw, the judicious
advice to apply to Marshal Kane, the Chief of Police in Baltimore,
with the assurance that he was a perfectly reliable person. Marshal
Kane was accordingly seen, but he scouted the idea that there was any
such thing on foot as a conspiracy to burn the bridges and cut off
Washington, and said he had thoroughly investigated the whole matter,
and there was not the slightest foundation for such rumors. Mr. Felton
was not satisfied, but he would have nothing more to do with Marshal
Kane. He next sent for a celebrated detective in the West, whose name
is not given, and through this chief and his subordinates every nook
and corner of the road and its vicinity was explored. They reported
that they had joined the societies of the conspirators in Baltimore
and got into their secrets, and that the secret working of secession
and treason was laid bare, with all its midnight plottings and daily
consultations. The conspiracy being thus proved to Mr. Felton's
satisfaction, he at once organized and armed a force of two hundred
men and scattered them along the line of the railroad between the
Susquehanna and Baltimore, principally at the bridges. But, strange to
say, all that was accomplished by this formidable body was an enormous
job of whitewashing.
The narrative proceeds: "These men were drilled secretly and regularly
by drill-masters, and were apparently employed in whitewashing the
bridges, patting on some six or seven coats of whitewash saturated
with salt and alum, to make the outside of the bridges as nearly
fireproof as possible. This whitewashing, so extensive in its
application, became (continues Mr. Felton) the nine days' wonder of
the neighborhood." And well it might. After the lapse of twenty-five
years the wonder over this feat of strategy can hardly yet have ceased
in that rural and peaceful neighborhood. But, unfortunately for Mr.
Felton's peace of mind, the programme of Mr. Lincoln's journey was
suddenly changed. He had selected a different route. He had decided to
go to Harrisburg from Philadelphia, and thence by day to Baltimore,
over another and a rival road, known as the Northern Central. Then the
chief detective discovered that the attention of the conspirators was
suddenly turned to the Northern Central road. The mysterious unknown
gentleman from Baltimore appeared again on the scene and confirmed
this statement. He gave warning that Mr. Lincoln was to be waylaid and
his life sacrificed on that road, on which no whitewash had been used,
and where there were no armed men to protect him.
Mr. Felton hurried to Philadelphia, and there, in a hotel, joined his
chief detective, who was registered under a feigned name. Mr. Lincoln,
cheered by a dense crowd, was, at that moment, passing through the
streets of Philadelphia. A sub-detective was sent to bring Mr. Judd,
Mr. Lincoln's intimate friend, to the hotel to hold a consultation.
Mr. Judd was in the procession with Mr. Lincoln, but the emergency
admitted no delay. The eagerness of the sub-detective was so great
that he was three times arrested and carried out of the crowd by the
police before he could reach Mr. Judd. The fourth attempt succeeded,
and Mr. Judd was at last brought to the hotel, where he met both Mr.
Felton and the chief detective. The narrative then proceeds in the
words of Mr. Felton: "We lost no time in making known to him (Mr.
Judd) all the facts which had come to our knowledge in reference to
the conspiracy, and I most earnestly advised sleeping-car. Mr. Judd
fully entered into the plan, and said he would urge Mr. Lincoln to
adopt it. On his communicating with Mr. Lincoln, after the services of
the evening were over, he answered that he had engaged to go to
Harrisburg and speak the next day, and that he would not break his
engagement, even in the face of such peril, but that after he had
fulfilled his engagement he would follow such advice as we might give
him in reference to his journey to Washington." Mr. Lincoln
accordingly went to Harrisburg the next day and made an address. After
that the arrangements for the journey were shrouded in the profoundest
mystery. It was given out that he was to go to Governor Curtin's house
for the night, but he was, instead, conducted to a point about two
miles out of Harrisburg, where an extra car and engine waited to take
him to Philadelphia. The telegraph lines east, west, north and south
from Harrisburg were cut, so that no message as to his movements could
be sent off in any direction. But all this caused a detention, and the
night train from Philadelphia to Baltimore had to be held back until
the arrival of Mr. Lincoln at the former place. If, however, the delay
proved to be considerable, when Mr. Lincoln reached Baltimore the
connecting train to Washington might leave without him. But Mr. Felton
was equal to the occasion. He devised a plan which was communicated to
only three or four on the road. A messenger was sent to Baltimore by
an earlier train to say to the officials of the Washington road that a
very important package must be delivered in Washington early in the
morning, and to request them to wait for the night train from
Philadelphia. To give color to this statement, a package of old
railroad reports, done up with great care, and with a large seal
attached, marked by Mr. Felton's own hand, "Very Important," was sent
in the train which carried Mr. Lincoln on his famous night ride from
Philadelphia through Maryland and Baltimore to the city of
Washington. The only remarkable incident of the journey was the
mysterious behavior of the few officials who were entrusted with the
portentous secret.
I do not know how others may be affected by this narrative, but I
confess even now to a feeling of indignation that Mr. Lincoln, who was
no coward, but proved himself on many an occasion to be a brave man,
was thus prevented from carrying out his original intention of
journeying to Baltimore in the light of day, in company with his wife
and children, relying as he always did on the honor and manhood of the
American people. It is true we have, to our sorrow, learned by the
manner of his death, as well as by the fate of still another
President, that no one occupying so high a place can be absolutely
safe, even in this country, from the danger of assassination, but it
is still true that as a rule the best way to meet such danger is
boldly to defy it.
Mr. C. C. Felton, son of Mr. Samuel M. Felton, in an article entitled
"The Baltimore Plot," published in December, 1885, in the _Harvard
Monthly_, has attempted to revive this absurd story. He repeats the
account of whitewashing the bridges, and of the astonishment created
among the good people of the neighborhood. He has faith in "the
unknown Baltimorean" who visited the bridgekeeper, but would never
give his name, and in the spies employed, who, he tells us, were "the
well-known detective Pinkerton and eight assistants," and he leaves
his readers to infer that Mr. Lincoln's life was saved by the
extraordinary vigilance which had been exercised and the ingenious
plan which had been devised by his worthy father, but alas!--
"The earth hath bubbles as the water has,"
and this was of them.
Colonel Lamon, a close friend of President Lincoln, and the only
person who accompanied him on his night ride to Washington, has
written his biography, a very careful and conscientious work, which
unfortunately was left unfinished, and he of course had the strongest
reasons for carefully examining the subject. After a full examination
of all the documents, Colonel Lamon pronounces the conspiracy to be a
mere fiction, and adds in confirmation the mature opinion of Mr.
Lincoln himself.
Colonel Lamon says:[2] "Mr. Lincoln soon learned to regret the
midnight ride. His friends reproached him, his enemies taunted him. He
was convinced that he had committed a grave mistake in yielding to the
solicitations of a professional spy and of friends too easily alarmed.
He saw that he had fled from a danger purely imaginary, and felt the
shame and mortification natural to a brave man under such
circumstances. But he was not disposed to take all the responsibility
to himself, and frequently upbraided the writer for having aided and
assisted him to demean himself at the very moment in all his life when
his behavior should have exhibited the utmost dignity and composure."
As Colonel Lamon's biography, a work of absorbing interest, is now out
of print, and as his account of the ride and of the results of the
investigation of the conspiracy is too long to be inserted here, it is
added in an Appendix.
The account above given has its appropriateness here, for the midnight
ride through Baltimore, and the charge that its citizens were plotting
the President's assassination, helped to feed the flame of excitement
which, in the stirring events of that time, was already burning too
high all over the land, and especially in a border city with divided
sympathies.
[Footnote 2: The Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 526; and see Appendix I.]
CHAPTER II.
THE COMPROMISES OF THE CONSTITUTION IN REGARD TO SLAVERY. -- A
DIVIDED HOUSE. -- THE BROKEN COMPACT. -- THE RIGHT OF REVOLUTION.
For a period the broad provisions of the Constitution of the United
States, as expounded by the wise and broad decisions of the Supreme
Court, had proved to be equal to every emergency. The thirteen feeble
colonies had grown to be a great Republic, and no external obstacle
threatened its majestic progress; foreign wars had been waged and vast
territories had been annexed, but every strain on the Constitution
only served to make it stronger. Yet there was a canker in a vital
part which nothing could heal, which from day to day became more
malignant, and which those who looked beneath the surface could
perceive was surely leading, and at no distant day, to dissolution or
war, or perhaps to both. The canker was the existence of negro
slavery.
In colonial days, kings, lords spiritual and temporal, and commons,
all united in favoring the slave trade. In Massachusetts the Puritan
minister might be seen on the Sabbath going to meeting in family
procession, with his negro slave bringing up the rear. Boston was
largely engaged in building ships and manufacturing rum, and a portion
of the ships and much of the rum were sent to Africa, the rum to buy
slaves, and the ships to bring them to a market in America. Newport
was more largely, and until a more recent time, engaged in the same
traffic.
In Maryland, even the Friends were sometimes owners of slaves; and it
is charged, and apparently with reason, that Wenlock Christison, the
Quaker preacher, after being driven from Massachusetts by persecution
and coming to Maryland by way of Barbadoes, sent or brought in with
him a number of slaves, who cultivated his plantation until his death.
In Georgia, the Calvinist Whitefield blessed God for his negro
plantation, which was generously given to him to establish his
"Bethesda" as a refuge for orphan children.
In the Dred Scott case, Chief Justice Taney truly described the
opinion, which he deplored, prevailing at the time of the adoption of
the Constitution, as being that the colored man had no rights which
the white man was bound to respect.[3]
[Footnote 3: Judge Taney's utterance on this subject has been
frequently and grossly misrepresented. In Appendix II. will be found
what he really did say.]
The Constitution had endeavored to settle the question of slavery by a
compromise. As the difficulty in regard to it arose far more from
political than moral grounds, so in the settlement the former were
almost exclusively considered. It was, however, the best that could be
made at that time. It is certain that without such a compromise the
Constitution would not have been adopted. The existence of slavery in
a State was left in the discretion of the State itself. If a slave
escaped to another State, he was to be returned to his master. Laws
were passed by Congress to carry out this provision, and the Supreme
Court decided that they were constitutional.
For a long time the best people at the North stood firmly by the
compromise. It was a national compact, and must be respected. But
ideas, and especially moral ideas, cannot be forever fettered by a
compact, no matter how solemn may be its sanctions. The change of
opinion at the North was first slow, then rapid, and then so powerful
as to overwhelm all opposition. John Brown, who was executed for
raising a negro insurrection in Virginia, in which men were wounded
and killed, was reverenced by many at the North as a hero, a martyr
and a saint. It had long been a fixed fact that no fugitive slave
could by process of law be returned from the North into slavery. With
the advent to power of the Republican party--a party based on
opposition to slavery--another breach in the outworks of the
Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, had been made.
Sooner or later the same hands would capture the citadel. Sooner or
later it was plain that slavery was doomed.
In the memorable Senatorial campaign in Illinois between Stephen A.
Douglas and Abraham Lincoln, the latter, in his speech before the
Republican State Convention at Springfield, June 17, 1858, struck the
keynote of his party by the bold declaration on the subject of slavery
which he then made and never recalled.
This utterance was the more remarkable because on the previous day the
convention had passed unanimously a resolution declaring that Mr.
Lincoln was their first and only choice for United States Senator, to
fill the vacancy about to be created by the expiration of Mr.
Douglas's term of office, but the convention had done nothing which
called for the advanced ground on which Mr. Lincoln planted himself in
that speech. It was carefully prepared.
The narrative of Colonel Lamon in his biography of Lincoln is
intensely interesting and dramatic.[4]
[Footnote 4: Lamon's Life of Lincoln, p. 808.]
About a dozen gentlemen, he says, were called to meet in the library
of the State House. After seating them at the round table, Mr. Lincoln
read his entire speech, dwelling slowly on that part which speaks of a
divided house, so that every man fully understood it. After he had
finished, he asked for the opinion of his friends. All but William H.
Herndon, the law partner of Mr. Lincoln, declared that the whole
speech was too far in advance of the times, and they especially
condemned that part which referred to a divided house. Mr. Herndon sat
still while they were giving their respective opinions; then he sprang
to his feet and said: "Lincoln, deliver it just as it reads. If it is
in advance of the times, let us--you and I, if no one else--lift the
people to the level of this speech now, higher hereafter. The speech
is true, wise and politic, and will succeed now, or in the future.
Nay, it will aid you, if it will not make you President of the United
States."...
"Mr. Lincoln sat still a short moment, rose from his chair, walked
backward and forward in the hall, stopped and said: 'Friends, I have
thought about this matter a great deal, have weighed the question well
from all corners, and am thoroughly convinced the time has come when
it should be uttered; and if it must be that I must go down because of
this speech, then let me go down linked to truth--die in the advocacy
of what is right and just. This nation cannot live on injustice. A
house divided against itself cannot stand, I say again and again.'"
The opening paragraph of the speech is as follows: "If we could first
know where we are and whither we are tending, we could then better
judge what to do and how to do it. We are now far on into the fifth
year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident
promise of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of
that policy that agitation has not only not ceased, but is constantly
augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease until a crisis shall have
been reached and passed. A house divided against itself cannot stand.
I believe this Government can not endure permanently half slave and
half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved. I do not expect
the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It
will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of
slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the
public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of
ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward till it
shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North
as well as South."
The blast of the trumpet gave no uncertain sound. The far-seeing
suggestion of Mr. Herndon came true to the letter. I believe this
speech made Abraham Lincoln President of the United States.
But the founders of the Constitution of the United States had built a
house which was divided against itself from the beginning. They had
framed a union of States which was part free and part slave, and that
union was intended to last forever. Here was an irreconcilable
conflict between the Constitution and the future President of the
United States.
When the Republican Convention assembled at Chicago in May, 1860, in
the heat of the contest, which soon became narrowed down to a choice
between Mr. Seward and Mr. Lincoln, the latter dispatched a friend to
Chicago with a message in writing, which was handed either to Judge
Davis or Judge Logan, both members of the convention, which runs as
follows: "Lincoln agrees with Seward in his irrepressible-conflict
idea, and in negro equality; but he is opposed to Seward's higher
law." But there was no substantial difference between the position of
the two: Lincoln's "divided house" and Seward's "higher law" placed
them really in the same attitude.
The seventh resolution in the Chicago platform condemned what it
described as the "new dogma that the Constitution, of its own force,
carries slavery into any or all of the Territories of the United
States." This resolution was a direct repudiation by a National
Convention of the decision of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott
case.
On the 6th of November, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of
the United States. Of the actual votes cast there was a majority
against him of 930,170. Next came Mr. Douglas, who lost the support of
the Southern Democrats by his advocacy of the doctrine of "squatter
sovereignty," as it was called, which was in effect, although not in
form, as hostile to the decision of the Supreme Court in the Dred
Scott case as the seventh resolution of the Chicago Convention itself.
Mr. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, the candidate of the Southern
Democracy, fell very far, and Mr. Bell, of Tennessee, the candidate of
the Union party, as it was called, a short-lived successor of the old
Whig party, fell still farther in the rear of the two Northern
candidates.
The great crisis had come at last. The Abolition party had become a
portion of the victorious Republican party. The South, politically,
was overwhelmed. Separated now from its only ally, the Northern
Democracy, it stood at last alone.
It matters not that Mr. Lincoln, after his election, in sincerity of
heart held out the olive branch to the nation, and that during his
term of office the South, so far as his influence could avail, would
have been comparatively safe from direct aggressions. Mr. Lincoln was
not known then as he is known now, and, moreover, his term of office
would be but four years.
What course, then, was left to the South if it was determined to
maintain its rights under the Constitution? What but the right of
self-defense?
The house of every man is his castle, and he may defend it to the
death against all aggressors. When a hostile hand is raised to strike
a blow, he who is assaulted need not wait until the blow falls, but on
the instant may protect himself as best he can. These are the rights
of self-defense known, approved and acted on by all freemen. And where
constitutional rights of a people are in jeopardy, a kindred right of
self-defense belongs to them. Although revolutionary in its character,
it is not the less a right.
Wendell Phillips, abolitionist as he was, in a speech made at New
Bedford on the 9th of April, 1861, three days before the bombardment
of Fort Sumter, fully recognized this right. He said: "Here are a
series of States girding the Gulf, who think that their peculiar
institutions require that they should have a separate government. They
have a right to decide that question without appealing to you or me. A
large body of the people, sufficient to make a nation, have come to
the conclusion that they will have a government of a certain form. Who
denies them the right? Standing with the principles of '76 behind us,
who can deny them the right? What is a matter of a few millions of
dollars or a few forts? It is a mere drop in the bucket of the great
national question. It is theirs just as much as ours. I maintain, on
the principles of '76, that Abraham Lincoln has no right to a soldier
in Fort Sumter."
And such was the honest belief of the people who united in
establishing the Southern Confederacy.
Wendell Phillips was not wrong in declaring the principles of '76 to
be kindred to those of '61. The men of '76 did not fight to get rid of
the petty tax of three pence a pound on tea, which was the only tax
left to quarrel about. They were determined to pay no taxes, large or
small, then or thereafter. Whether the tax was lawful or not was a
doubtful question, about which there was a wide difference of opinion,
but they did not care for that. Nothing would satisfy them but the
relinquishment of any claim of right to tax the colonies, and this
they could not obtain. They maintained that their rights were
violated. They were, moreover, embittered by a long series of disputes
with the mother country, and they wanted to be independent and to have
a country of their own. They thought they were strong enough to
maintain that position.
Neither were the Southern men of '61 fighting for money. And they too
were deeply embittered, not against a mother country, but against a
brother country. The Northern people had published invectives of the
most exasperating character broadcast against the South in their
speeches, sermons, newspapers and books. The abolitionists had
proceeded from words to deeds and were unwearied in tampering with the
slaves and carrying them off. The Southern people, on their part, were
not less violent in denunciation of the North. The slavery question
had divided the political parties throughout the nation, and on this
question the South was practically a unit. They could get no security
that the provisions of the Constitution would be kept either in letter
or in spirit, and this they demanded as their right.
The Southern men thought that they also were strong enough to wage
successfully a defensive war. Like the men of '76, they in great part
were of British stock; they lived in a thinly settled country, led
simple lives, were accustomed to the use of arms, and knew how to
protect themselves. Such men make good soldiers, and when their armies
were enrolled the ranks were filled with men of all classes, the rich
as well as the poor, the educated as well as the ignorant.
It is a mistake to suppose that they were inveigled into secession by
ambitious leaders. On the contrary, it is probable that they were not
as much under the influence of leaders as the men of '76, and that
there were fewer disaffected among them. At times the scales trembled
in the balance. There are always mistakes in war. It is an easy and
ungrateful task to point them out afterward. We can now see that grave
errors, both financial and military, were made, and that opportunities
were thrown away. How far these went to settle the contest, we can
never certainly know, but it does not need great boldness to assert
that the belief which the Southern people entertained that they were
strong enough to defend themselves, was not unreasonable.
The determination of the South to maintain slavery was undoubtedly the
main cause of secession, but another deep and underlying cause was the
firm belief of the Southern people in the doctrine of States' rights,
and their jealousy of any attack upon those rights. Devotion to their
State first of all, a conviction that paramount obligation--in case of
any conflict of allegiance--was due not to the Union but to the State,
had been part of the political creed of very many in the South ever
since the adoption of the Constitution. An ignoble love of slavery was
not the general and impelling motive. The slaveholders, who were
largely in the minority, acted as a privileged class always does act.
They were determined to maintain their privileges at all hazards. But
they, as well as the great mass of the people who had no personal
interest in slavery, fought the battles of the war with the passionate
earnestness of men who believed with an undoubting conviction that
they were the defenders not only of home rule and of their firesides,
but also of their constitutional rights.
And behind the money question, the constitutional question and the
moral question, there was still another of the gravest import. Was it
possible for two races nearly equal in number, but widely different in
character and civilization, to live together in a republic in peace
and equality of rights without mingling in blood? The answer of the
Southern man was, "It is not possible."
CHAPTER III.
MARYLAND'S DESIRE FOR PEACE. -- EVENTS WHICH FOLLOWED THE
ELECTION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. -- HIS PROCLAMATION CALLING FOR
TROOPS. -- THE CITY AUTHORITIES AND POLICE OF BALTIMORE. --
INCREASING EXCITEMENT IN BALTIMORE.
I now come to consider the condition of affairs in Maryland. As yet
the Republican party had obtained a very slight foothold. Only 2,294
votes had in the whole State been cast for Mr. Lincoln. Her sympathies
were divided between the North and the South, with a decided
preponderance on the Southern side. For many years her conscience had
been neither dead nor asleep on the subject of slavery. Families had
impoverished themselves to free their slaves. In 1860 there were
83,942 free colored people in Maryland and 87,189 slaves, the white
population being 515,918. Thus there were nearly as many free as
slaves of the colored race. Emancipation, in spite of harsh laws
passed to discountenance it, had rapidly gone on. In the northern part
of the State and in the city of Baltimore there were but few
slaveholders, and the slavery was hardly more than nominal. The
patriarchal institution, as it has been derisively called, had a real
existence in many a household. Not a few excellent people have I known
and respected who were born and bred in slavery and had been freed by
their masters. In 1831 the State incorporated the Maryland
Colonization Society, which founded on the west coast of Africa a
successful republican colony of colored people, now known as the State
of Maryland in Liberia, and for twenty-six years, and until the war
broke out, the State contributed $10,000 a year to its support. This
amount was increased by the contributions of individuals. The board,
of which Mr. John H. B. Latrobe was for many years president, was
composed of our best citizens. A code of laws for the government of
the colony was prepared by the excellent and learned lawyer, Hugh
Davey Evans.
While there was on the part of a large portion of the people a
deep-rooted and growing dislike to slavery, agitation on the subject
had not commenced. It was in fact suppressed by reason of the violence
of Northern abolitionists with whom the friends of emancipation were
not able to unite.
It is not surprising that Maryland was in no mood for war, but that
her voice was for compromise and peace--compromise and peace at any
price consistent with honor.
The period immediately following the election of Mr. Lincoln in
November, 1860, was throughout the country one of intense agitation
and of important events. A large party at the North preferred
compromise to war, even at the cost of dissolution of the Union. If
dissolution began, no one could tell where it would stop. South
Carolina seceded on the 17th of December, 1860. Georgia and the five
Gulf States soon followed. On the 6th of January, 1861, Fernando Wood,
mayor of the city of New York, sent a message to the common council
advising that New York should secede and become a free city.[5]
[Footnote 5: John P. Kennedy, of Baltimore, the well-known author, who
had been member of Congress and Secretary of the Navy, published early
in 1861 a pamphlet entitled "The Border States, Their Power and Duty
in the Present Disordered Condition of the Country." His idea was that
if concert of action could be had between the Border States and
concurring States of the South which had not seceded, stipulations
might be obtained from the Free States, with the aid of Congress, and,
if necessary, an amendment of the Constitution, which would protect
the rights of the South; but if this failed, that the Border States
and their allies of the South would then be forced to consider the
Union impracticable and to organize a separate confederacy of the
Border States, with the association of such of the Southern and Free
States as might be willing to accede to the proposed conditions. He
hoped that the Union would thus be "reconstructed by the healthy
action of the Border States." The necessary result, however, would
have been that in the meantime three confederacies would have been in
existence. And yet Mr. Kennedy had always been a Union man, and when
the war broke out was its consistent advocate.
These proposals, from such different sources as Fernando Wood and John
P. Kennedy, tend to show the uncertainty and bewilderment which had
taken possession of the minds of men, and in which few did not share
to a greater or less degree.]
On February the 9th, Jefferson Davis was elected President of the
Southern Confederacy, a Confederacy to which other States would
perhaps soon be added. But the Border States were as yet debatable
ground; they might be retained by conciliation and compromise or
alienated by hostile measures, whether directed against them or
against the seceded States. In Virginia a convention had been called
to consider the momentous question of union or secession, and an
overwhelming majority of the delegates chosen were in favor of
remaining in the Union. Other States were watching Virginia's course,
in order to decide whether to stay in the Union or go out of it with
her.
On the 12th and 13th of April occurred the memorable bombardment and
surrender of Fort Sumter. On the 15th of April, President Lincoln
issued his celebrated proclamation calling out seventy-five thousand
militia, and appealing "to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate and
aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity and existence of
our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government, and to
redress wrongs already long enough endured." What these wrongs were
is not stated. "The first service assigned to the forces hereby called
forth," said the proclamation, "will probably be to re-possess the
forts, places and property which have been seized from the Union." On
the same day there was issued from the War Department a request
addressed to the Governors of the different States, announcing what
the quota of each State would be, and that the troops were to serve
for three months unless sooner discharged. Maryland's quota was four
regiments.
The proclamation was received with exultation at the North--many
dissentient voices being silenced in the general acclaim--with
defiance at the South, and in Maryland with mingled feelings in which
astonishment, dismay and disapprobation were predominant. On all sides
it was agreed that the result must be war, or a dissolution of the
Union, and I may safely say that a large majority of our people then
preferred the latter.
An immediate effect of the proclamation was to intensify the feeling
of hostility in the wavering States, and to drive four of them into
secession. Virginia acted promptly. On April 17th her convention
passed an ordinance of secession--subject to ratification by a vote of
the people--and Virginia became the head and front of the Confederacy.
North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas soon followed her lead.
Meanwhile, and before the formal acts of secession, the Governors of
Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee sent prompt and defiant answers
to the requisition, emphatically refusing to furnish troops, as did
also the Governors of Kentucky and Missouri.
The position of Maryland was most critical. This State was especially
important, because the capital of the nation lay within her borders,
and all the roads from the North leading to it passed through her
territory. After the President's proclamation was issued, no doubt a
large majority of her people sympathized with the South; but even had
that sentiment been far more preponderating, there was an underlying
feeling that by a sort of geographical necessity her lot was cast with
the North, that the larger and stronger half of the nation would not
allow its capital to be quietly disintegrated away by her secession.
Delaware and Maryland were the only Border States which did not
attempt to secede. Kentucky at first took the impossible stand of an
armed neutrality. When this failed, a portion of her people passed an
ordinance of secession, and a portion of the people of Missouri passed
a similar ordinance.
It is now proper to give some explanation of the condition of affairs
in Baltimore, at that time a city of 215,000 inhabitants.
Thomas Holliday Hicks, who had been elected by the American, or
Know-Nothing party, three years before, was the Governor of the State.
The city authorities, consisting of the mayor and city council, had
been elected in October, 1860, a few weeks before the Presidential
election, not as representatives of any of the national parties, but
as the candidates of an independent reform party, and in opposition to
the Know-Nothing party. This party, which then received its quietus,
had been in power for some years, and had maintained itself by methods
which made its rule little better than a reign of terror.[6] No one
acquainted with the history of that period can doubt that the reform
was greatly needed. A large number of the best men of the American
party united in the movement, and with their aid it became
triumphantly successful, carrying every ward in the city. The city
council was composed of men of unusually high character. "Taken as a
whole" (Scharf's "History of Maryland," Vol. III., p. 284), "a better
ticket has seldom, if ever, been brought out. In the selection of
candidates all party tests were discarded, and all thought of
rewarding partisan services repudiated." Four police commissioners,
appointed by the Legislature--Charles Howard, William H. Gatchell,
Charles D. Hinks and John W. Davis--men of marked ability and worth,
had, with the mayor, who was _ex officio_ a member of the board, the
appointment and control of the police force. Mr. S. Teackle Wallis was
the legal adviser of the board. The entire police force consisted of
398 men, and had been raised to a high degree of discipline and
efficiency under the command of Marshal Kane. They were armed with
revolvers.
[Footnote 6: The culmination of this period of misrule was at the
election in November, 1859, when the fraud and violence were so
flagrant that the Legislature of the State unseated the whole
Baltimore delegation--ten members. The city being thus without
representation, it became necessary, when a special session of the
Legislature was called in April, 1861, that a new delegation from
Baltimore should be chosen. It was this same Legislature (elected in
1859), which took away from the mayor of the city the control of its
police, and entrusted that force to a board of police commissioners.
This change, a most fortunate one for the city at that crisis,
resulted in the immediate establishment of good order, and made
possible the reform movement of the next autumn.]
Immediately after the call of the President for troops, including four
regiments from Maryland, a marked division among the people manifested
itself. Two large and excited crowds, eager for news, and nearly
touching each other, stood from morning until late at night before two
newspaper offices on Baltimore street which advocated contrary views
and opinions. Strife was in the air. It was difficult for the police
to keep the peace. Business was almost suspended. Was there indeed to
be war between the sections, or could it yet, by some unlooked-for
interposition, be averted? Would the Border States interfere and
demand peace? There was a deep and pervading impression of impending
evil. And now an immediate fear was as to the effect on the citizens
of the passage of Northern troops through the city. Should they be
permitted to cross the soil of Maryland, to make war on sister States
of the South, allied to her by so many ties of affection, as well as
of kindred institutions? On the other hand, when the capital of the
nation was in danger, should not the kindest greeting and welcome be
extended to those who were first to come to the rescue? Widely
different were the answers given to these questions. The Palmetto flag
had several times been raised by some audacious hands in street and
harbor, but it was soon torn down. The National flag and the flag of
the State, with its black and orange, the colors of Lord Baltimore,
waved unmolested, but not side by side, for they had become symbols of
different ideas, although the difference was, as yet, not clearly
defined.
On the 17th of April, the state of affairs became so serious that I,
as mayor, issued a proclamation earnestly invoking all good citizens
to refrain from every act which could lead to outbreak or violence of
any kind; to refrain from harshness of speech, and to render in all
cases prompt and efficient aid, 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 Harrisburg that two
companies of United States artillery, commanded by Major Pemberton,
and also four companies of militia, would arrive by the Northern
Central Railroad at Bolton Station, in the northern part of the city,
at two o'clock in the afternoon. 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, are that a large
crowd assembled at the station and followed the soldiers in their
march to the Washington 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 Rights 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:
"_Resolved_, 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 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 bodies 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 heretofore unhappily divided us, and to present
an unbroken front in the preservation 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_."
"G. HARLAN 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], President of the
National Volunteer Association, and others."
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 consideration 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 saying 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 disapprobation 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 convictions, 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 he 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 following terms:
"_Dear Sir_:--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 President 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
prepared 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 gaping 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
sent from Maryland, unless it might be for the defense of the national
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
abandoned, 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 the
danger of an explosion.
CHAPTER IV.
THE SIXTH MASSACHUSETTS REGIMENT IN BALTIMORE. -- THE FIGHT. --
THE DEPARTURE FOR WASHINGTON. -- CORRESPONDENCE 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.[7] 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, on
the 18th, the wildest enthusiasm inspired all classes. Similar scenes
occurred in the progress through New Jersey and through the city of
Philadelphia. At midnight on the 18th, reports reached Philadelphia
that the passage of the regiment through Baltimore would be disputed.
[Footnote 7: Hanson's Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, p. 14.]
An unarmed and un-uniformed Pennsylvania regiment, under Colonel
Small, was added to the train, either in Philadelphia or when the
train reached the Susquehanna--it has been stated both ways, and I am
not sure which account is correct--and the two regiments made the
force about seventeen hundred men.
The proper course for the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore
Railroad Company was to have given immediate notice to the mayor or
board of police of the number of the troops, and the time when they
were expected to arrive in the city, so that preparation might have
been made to receive them, but no such notice was given. On the
contrary, it was purposely withheld, and no information could be
obtained from the office of the company, although the marshal of
police repeatedly telegraphed to Philadelphia to learn when the troops
were to be expected. No news was received until from a half hour to an
hour of the time at which they were to arrive. Whatever was the reason
that no notice of the approach of the troops was given, it was not
because they had no apprehensions of trouble. Mr. Felton, the
president of the railroad company, says that _before_ the troops left
Philadelphia he called the colonel and principal officers into his
office, and told them of the dangers they would probably encounter,
and advised that each soldier should load his musket before leaving
and be ready for any emergency. Colonel Jones's official report, which
is dated, "Capitol, Washington, April 22, 1861," says, "_After_
leaving Philadelphia, I received intimation that the passage through
the city of Baltimore would be resisted. I caused ammunition to be
distributed and arms loaded, and went personally through the cars, and
issued the following order--viz.:
"'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, and 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 may see aiming at you, and be sure you drop him.'"
If due notice had been given, and if this order had been carried out,
the danger of a serious disturbance would have been greatly
diminished. The plainest dictates of prudence required the
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania regiments to march through the city in
a body. The Massachusetts regiment was armed with muskets, and could
have defended itself, and would also have had aid from the police; and
although the Pennsylvania troops were unarmed, they would have been
protected by the police just as troops from the same State had been
protected on the day before. The mayor and police commissioners would
have been present, adding the sanction and authority of their official
positions. But the plan adopted laid the troops open to be attacked in
detail when they were least able to defend themselves and were out of
the reach of assistance from the police. This plan was that when the
train reached the President-street or Philadelphia station, in the
southeastern part of Baltimore, each car should, according to custom,
be detached from the engine and be drawn through the city by four
horses for the distance of more than a mile to the Camden-street or
Washington station, in the southwestern part of the city. Some one had
blundered.
The train of thirty-five cars arrived at President-street Station at
about eleven o'clock. The course which the troops had to take was
first northerly on President street, four squares to Pratt street, a
crowded thoroughfare leading along the heads of the docks, then along
Pratt street west for nearly a mile to Howard street, and then south,
on Howard street, one square to the Camden-street station.
Drawn by horses across the city at a rapid pace, about nine[8] cars,
containing seven companies of the Massachusetts Sixth, reached the
Camden-street station, the first carloads being assailed only with
jeers and hisses; but the last car, containing Company "K" and Major
Watson, was delayed on its passage--according to one account was
thrown off the track by obstructions, and had to be replaced with the
help of a passing team; paving-stones and other missiles were thrown,
the windows were broken, and some of the soldiers were struck. Colonel
Jones was in one of the cars which passed through. Near Gay street, it
happened that a number of laborers were at work repaving Pratt street,
and had taken up the cobble-stones for the purpose of relaying them.
As the troops kept passing, the crowd of bystanders grew larger, the
excitement and--among many--the feeling of indignation grew more
intense; each new aggressive act was the signal and example for
further aggression. A cart coming by with a load of sand, the track
was blocked by dumping the cartload upon it--I have been told that
this was the act of some merchants and clerks of the neighborhood--and
then, as a more effectual means of obstruction, some anchors lying
near the head of the Gay-street dock were dragged up to and placed
across the track.[9]
[Footnote 8: According to some of the published accounts _seven_ cars
got through, which would have been one to each company, but I believe
that the number of the cars and of the companies did not correspond.
Probably the larger companies were divided.]
[Footnote 9: For participation in placing this obstruction, a wealthy
merchant of long experience, usually a very peaceful man, was
afterward indicted for treason by the Grand Jury of the Circuit Court
of the United States in Baltimore, but his trial was not pressed.]
The next car being stopped by these obstructions, the driver attached
the horses to the rear end of the car and drove it back, with the
soldiers, to the President-street station, the rest of the cars also,
of course, having to turn back, or--if any of them had not yet
started--to remain where they were at the depot. In the cars thus
stopped and turned back there were four companies, "C," "D," "I" and
"L," under Captains Follansbee, Hart, Pickering and Dike; also the
band, which, I believe, did not leave the depot, and which remained
there with the unarmed Pennsylvania regiment. These four companies, in
all about 220 men, formed on President street, in the midst of a dense
and angry crowd, which threatened and pressed upon the troops,
uttering cheers for Jefferson Davis and the Southern Confederacy, and
groans for Lincoln and the North, with much abusive language. As the
soldiers advanced along President street, the commotion increased; one
of the band of rioters appeared bearing a Confederate flag, and it was
carried a considerable distance before it was torn from its staff by
citizens. Stones were thrown in great numbers, and at the corner of
Fawn street two of the soldiers were knocked down by stones and
seriously injured. In crossing Pratt-street bridge, the troops had to
pick their way over joists and scantling, which by this time had been
placed on the bridge to obstruct their passage.
Colonel Jones's official report, from which I have already quoted,
thus describes what happened after the four companies left the cars.
As Colonel Jones was not present during the march, but obtained the
particulars from others, it is not surprising that his account
contains errors. These will be pointed out and corrected later:
"They proceeded to march in accordance with orders, and had proceeded
but a short distance before they were furiously attacked by a shower
of missiles, which came faster as they advanced. They increased their
step to double-quick, which seemed to infuriate the mob, as it
evidently impressed the mob with the idea that the soldiers dared not
fire or had no ammunition, and pistol-shots were numerously fired into
the ranks, and one soldier fell dead. The order "Fire!" was given, and
it was executed; in consequence several of the mob fell, and the
soldiers again advanced hastily. The mayor of Baltimore placed himself
at the head of the column beside Captain Follansbee, and proceeded
with them a short distance, assuring him that he would protect them,
and begging him not to let the men fire. But the mayor's patience was
soon exhausted, and he seized a musket from the hands of one of the
men, and killed a man therewith; and a policeman, who was in advance
of the column, also shot a man with a revolver. They at last reached
the cars, and they started immediately for Washington. On going
through the train I found there were about one hundred and thirty
missing, including the band and field music. Our baggage was seized,
and we have not as yet been able to recover any of it. I have found it
very difficult to get reliable information in regard to the killed and
wounded, but believe there were only three killed.
"As the men went into the cars" [meaning the men who had marched
through the city to Camden Station], "I caused the blinds to the cars
to be closed, and took every precaution to prevent any shadow of
offense to the people of Baltimore, but still the stones flew thick
and fast into the train, and it was with the utmost difficulty that I
could prevent the troops from leaving the cars and revenging the death
of their comrades. After a volley of stones, some one of the soldiers
fired and killed a Mr. Davis, who, I ascertained by reliable
witnesses, threw a stone into the car." This is incorrectly stated, as
will hereafter appear.
It is proper that I should now go back and take up the narration from
my own point of view.
On the morning of the 19th of April I was at my law office in Saint
Paul street after ten o'clock, when three members of the city council
came to me with a message from Marshal Kane, informing me that he had
just received intelligence that troops were about to arrive--I did not
learn how many--and that he apprehended a disturbance, and requesting
me to go to the Camden-street station. I immediately hastened to the
office of the board of police, and found that they had received a
similar notice. The Counsellor of the City, Mr. George M. Gill, and
myself then drove rapidly in a carriage to the Camden-street station.
The police commissioners followed, and, on reaching the station, we
found Marshal Kane on the ground and the police coming in in squads. A
large and angry crowd had assembled, but were restrained by the police
from committing any serious breach of the peace.
After considerable delay seven of the eleven companies of the
Massachusetts regiment arrived at the station, as already mentioned,
and I saw that the windows of the last car were badly broken. No one
to whom I applied could inform me whether more troops were expected or
not. At this time an alarm was given that the mob was about to tear up
the rails in advance of the train on the Washington road, and Marshal
Kane ordered some of his men to go out the road as far as necessary to
protect the track. Soon afterward, and when I was about to leave the
Camden-street station, supposing all danger to be over, news was
brought to Police Commissioner Davis and myself, who were standing
together, that some troops had been left behind, and that the mob was
tearing up the track on Pratt street, so as to obstruct the progress
of the cars, which were coming to the Camden-street station. Mr. Davis
immediately ran to summon the marshal, who was at the station with a
body of police, to be sent to the point of danger, while I hastened
alone in the same direction. On arriving at about Smith's Wharf, foot
of Gay street, I found that anchors had been placed on the track, and
that Sergeant McComas and four policemen who were with him were not
allowed by a group of rioters to remove the obstruction. I at once
ordered the anchors to be removed, and my authority was not resisted.
I hurried on, and, approaching Pratt-street bridge, I saw a battalion,
which proved to be four companies of the Massachusetts regiment which
had crossed the bridge, coming towards me in double-quick time.
They were firing wildly, sometimes backward, over their shoulders. So
rapid was the march that they could not stop to take aim. 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 with him. He said, "We have been attacked
without provocation," or words to that effect. I replied, "You must
defend yourselves." I expected that he would face his men to the rear,
and, after giving warning, would fire if necessary. But I said no
more, for I immediately felt that, as mayor of the city, it was not my
province to volunteer such advice. Once before in my life I had taken
part in opposing a formidable riot, and had learned by experience
that the safest and most humane manner of quelling a mob is to meet it
at the beginning with armed resistance.
The column continued its march. 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. Men fell on both sides. A young
lawyer, then and now known as a quiet citizen, seized a 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, where he
still lives. The soldiers fired at will. There was no firing by
platoons, and I heard no order given to fire. I remember that at the
corner of South street several citizens standing in a group fell,
either killed or wounded. It was impossible for the troops to
discriminate between the rioters and the by-standers, but the latter
seemed to suffer most, because, as the main attack was from the mob
pursuing the soldiers from the rear, they, in their march, could not
easily face backward to fire, but could shoot at those whom they
passed on the street. Near the corner of Light street a soldier was
severely wounded, who afterward died, and a boy on a vessel lying in
the dock was killed, and about the same place three soldiers at the
head of the column leveled their muskets and fired into a group
standing on the sidewalk, who, as far as I could see, were taking no
active part. The shots took effect, but I cannot say how many fell. I
cried out, waving my umbrella to emphasize my words, "For God's sake
don't shoot!" but it was too late. The statement that I begged Captain
Follansbee not to let the men fire is incorrect, although on this
occasion I did say, "Don't shoot." It then seemed to me that I was in
the wrong place, for my presence did not avail to protect either the
soldiers or the citizens, and I stepped out from the column. Just at
this moment a boy ran forward and handed to me a discharged musket
which had fallen from one of the soldiers. I took it from him and
hastened into the nearest shop, asking the person in charge to keep it
safely, and returned immediately to the street. This boy was far from
being alone in his sympathy for the troops, but their friends were
powerless, except to care for the wounded and remove the dead. The
statement in Colonel Jones's report that I seized a musket and killed
one of the rioters is entirely incorrect. The smoking musket seen in
my hands was no doubt the foundation for it. There is no foundation
for the other statement that one of the police shot a man with a
revolver. At the moment when I returned to the street, Marshal Kane,
with about fifty policemen (as I then supposed, but I have since
ascertained that in fact there were not so many), came at a run from
the direction of the Camden-street station, and throwing themselves in
the rear of the troops, they formed a line in front of the mob, and
with drawn revolvers kept it back. This was between Light and Charles
streets. Marshal Kane's voice shouted, "Keep back, men, or I shoot!"
This movement, which I saw myself, was gallantly executed, and was
perfectly successful. The mob recoiled like water from a rock. One of
the leading rioters, then a young man, now a peaceful merchant, tried,
as he has himself told me, to pass the line, but the marshal seized
him and vowed he would shoot if the attempt was made. This nearly
ended the fight, and the column passed on under the protection of the
police, without serious molestation, to Camden Station.[10] I had
accompanied the troops for more than a third of a mile, and regarded
the danger as now over. At Camden-street Station there was rioting and
confusion. Commissioner Davis assisted in placing the soldiers in the
cars for Washington. Some muskets were pointed out of the windows by
the soldiers. To this he earnestly objected, as likely to bring on a
renewal of the fight, and he advised the blinds to be closed. The
muskets were then withdrawn and the blinds closed, by military order,
as stated by Colonel Jones.
[Footnote 10: The accounts in some of our newspapers describe serious
fighting at a point beyond this, but I am satisfied they are
incorrect.]
At last, about a quarter before one o'clock, the train, consisting of
thirteen cars filled with troops, moved out of Camden Station amid the
hisses and groans of the multitude, and passed safely on to
Washington. At the outskirts of the city, half a mile or more beyond
the station, occurred the unfortunate incident of the killing of
Robert W. Davis. This gentleman, a well-known dry-goods merchant, was
standing on a vacant lot near the track with two friends, and as the
train went by they raised a cheer for Jefferson Davis and the South,
when he was immediately shot dead by one of the soldiers from a
car-window, several firing at once. There were no rioters near them,
and they did not know that the troops had been attacked on their march
through the city. There was no "volley of stones" thrown just before
Mr. Davis was killed, nor did he or his friends throw any.[11] This
was the last of the casualties of the day, and was by far the most
serious and unfortunate in its consequences, for it was not
unnaturally made the most of to inflame the minds of the people
against the Northern troops. Had it not been for this incident, there
would perhaps have been among many of our people a keener sense of
blame attaching to themselves as the aggressors. Four of the
Massachusetts regiment were killed and thirty-six wounded. Twelve
citizens were killed, including Mr. Davis. The number of wounded among
the latter has never been ascertained. As the fighting was at close
quarters, the small number of casualties shows that it was not so
severe as has generally been supposed.
[Footnote 11: Testimony of witnesses at the coroner's inquest.]
But peace even for the day had not come. The unarmed Pennsylvanians
and the band of the Massachusetts regiment were still at the
President-street station, where a mob had assembled, and the police at
that point were not sufficient to protect them. Stones were thrown,
and some few of the Pennsylvania troops were hurt, not seriously, I
believe. A good many of them were, not unnaturally, seized with a
panic, and scattered through the city in different directions. Marshal
Kane again appeared on the scene with an adequate force, and an
arrangement was made with the railroad company by which the troops
were sent back in the direction of Philadelphia. During the afternoon
and night a number of stragglers sought the aid of the police and were
cared for at one of the station-houses.
The following card of Captain Dike, who commanded Company "C" of the
Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, appeared in the Boston _Courier_:
"BALTIMORE, _April 25, 1861_.
"It is but an act of justice that induces me to say to my friends
who may feel any interest, and to the community generally, that
in the affair which occurred in this city on Friday, the 19th
instant, the mayor and city authorities should be exonerated from
blame or censure, as they did all in their power, as far as my
knowledge extends, to quell the riot, and Mayor Brown attested
the sincerity of his desire to preserve the peace, and pass our
regiment safely through the city, by marching at the head of its
column, and remaining there at the risk of his life. Candor could
not permit me to say less, and a desire to place the conduct of
the authorities here on the occasion in a right position, as well
as to allay feelings, urges me to this sheer act of justice.
JOHN H. DIKE,
"_Captain Company 'C,' Seventh Regiment,
attached to Sixth Regiment Massachusetts V. M._"
In a letter to Marshal Kane, Colonel Jones wrote as follows:
"HEADQUARTERS SIXTH REGIMENT M. V. M.
"WASHINGTON, D. C., _April 28, 1861_.
"_Marshal Kane, Baltimore, Maryland._
"Please deliver the bodies of the deceased soldiers belonging to
my regiment to Murrill S. Wright, Esq., who is authorized to
receive them, and take charge of them through to Boston, and
thereby add one more to the many favors for which, in connection
with this matter, I am, with my command, much indebted to you.
Many, many thanks for the Christian conduct of the authorities of
Baltimore in this truly unfortunate affair.
"I am, with much respect, your obedient servant,
"EDWARD F. JONES,
"_Colonel Sixth Regiment M. V. M._"
The following correspondence with the Governor of Massachusetts seems
to be entitled to a place in this paper. Gov. Andrew's first telegram
cannot be found. The second, which was sent by me in reply, is as
follows:
"BALTIMORE, _April 20, 1861_.
"_To the Honorable John A. Andrew, Governor of Massachusetts._
"_Sir_:--No one deplores the sad events of yesterday in this city
more deeply than myself, but they were inevitable. Our people
viewed the passage of armed troops to another State through the
streets as an invasion of our soil, and could not be restrained.
The authorities exerted themselves to the best of their ability,
but with only partial success. Governor Hicks was present, and
concurs in all my views as to the proceedings now necessary for
our protection. When are these scenes to cease? Are we to have a
war of sections? God forbid! The bodies of the Massachusetts
soldiers could not be sent out to Boston, as you requested, all
communication between this city and Philadelphia by railroad and
with Boston by steamer having ceased, but they have been placed
in cemented coffins, and will be placed with proper funeral
ceremonies in the mausoleum of Greenmount Cemetery, where they
shall be retained until further directions are received from you.
The wounded are tenderly cared for. I appreciate your offer, but
Baltimore will claim it as her right to pay all expenses
incurred."
"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"GEO. WM. BROWN,
"_Mayor of Baltimore._"
To this the following reply was returned by the Governor:
"_To His Honor George W. Brown, Mayor of Baltimore._
"_Dear Sir_:--I appreciate your kind attention to our wounded and
our dead, and trust that at the earliest moment the remains of
our fallen will return to us. I am overwhelmed with surprise that
a peaceful march of American citizens over the highway to the
defense of our common capital should be deemed aggressive to
Baltimoreans. Through New York the march was triumphal.
JOHN A. ANDREW,
"_Governor of Massachusetts._"
This correspondence carries the narrative beyond the nineteenth of
April, and I now return to the remaining events of that day.
After the news spread through the city of the fight in the streets,
and especially of the killing of Mr. Davis, the excitement became
intense. It was manifest that no more troops, while the excitement
lasted, could pass through without a bloody conflict. All citizens, no
matter what were their political opinions, appeared to agree in
this--the strongest friends of the Union as well as its foes. However
such a conflict might terminate, the result would be disastrous. In
each case it might bring down the vengeance of the North upon the
city. If the mob succeeded, it would probably precipitate the city,
and perhaps the State, into a temporary secession. Such an event all
who had not lost their reason deprecated. The immediate and pressing
necessity was that no more troops should arrive.
Governor Hicks called out the military for the preservation of the
peace and the protection of the city.
An immense public meeting assembled in Monument Square. Governor
Hicks, the mayor, Mr. S. Teackle Wallis, and others, addressed it.
In my speech I insisted on the maintenance of peace and order in the
city. I denied that the right of a State to secede from the Union was
granted by the Constitution. This was received with groans and shouts
of disapproval by a part of the crowd, but I maintained my ground. I
deprecated war on the seceding States, and strongly expressed the
opinion that the South could not be conquered. I approved of Governor
Hicks's determination to send no troops from Maryland to invade the
South. I further endeavored to calm the people by informing them of
the efforts made by Governor Hicks and myself to prevent the passage
of more troops through the city.
Governor Hicks said: "I coincide in the sentiment of your worthy
mayor. After three conferences we have agreed, and I bow in submission
to the people. I am a Marylander; I love my State and I love the
Union, but I will suffer my right arm to be torn from my body before I
will raise it to strike a sister State."
A dispatch had previously been sent by Governor Hicks and myself to
the President of the United States as follows: "A collision between
the citizens and the Northern troops has taken place in Baltimore, and
the excitement is fearful. Send no troops here. We will endeavor to
prevent all bloodshed. A public meeting of citizens has been called,
and the troops of the State have been called out to preserve the
peace. They will be enough."
Immediately afterward, Messrs. H. Lennox Bond, a Republican, then
Judge of the Criminal Court of Baltimore, and now Judge of the Circuit
Court of the United States; George W. Dobbin, an eminent lawyer, and
John C. Brune, President of the Board of Trade, went to Washington at
my request, bearing the following letter to the President:
"MAYOR'S OFFICE, BALTIMORE, _April 19, 1861_.
"_Sir_:--This will be presented to you by the Hon. H. Lennox
Bond, and George W. Dobbin, and John C. Brune, Esqs., who will
proceed to Washington by an express train at my request, in order
to explain fully the fearful condition of affairs in this city.
The people are exasperated to the highest degree by the passage
of troops, and the citizens are universally decided in the
opinion that no more should be ordered to come. The authorities
of the city did their best to-day to protect both strangers and
citizens and to prevent a collision, but in vain, and, but for
their great efforts, a fearful slaughter would have occurred.
Under these circumstances 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. I therefore hope and
trust and most earnestly request that no more troops be permitted
or ordered by the Government to pass through the city. If they
should attempt it, the responsibility for the blood shed will not
rest upon me.
"With great respect, your obedient servant,
"GEO. WM. BROWN, _Mayor_.
"_To His Excellency Abraham Lincoln, President United States._"
To this Governor Hicks added: "I have been in Baltimore City since
Tuesday evening last, and cooeperated with Mayor G. W. Brown in his
untiring efforts to allay and prevent the excitement and suppress the
fearful outbreak as indicated above, and I fully concur in all that is
said by him in the above communication."
No reply came from Washington. The city authorities were left to act
on their own responsibility. Late at night reports came of troops
being on their way both from Harrisburg and Philadelphia. It was
impossible that they could pass through the city without fighting and
bloodshed. In this emergency, the board of police, including the
mayor, immediately assembled for consultation, and came to the
conclusion that it was necessary to burn or disable the bridges on
both railroads so far as was required to prevent the ingress of
troops. This was accordingly done at once, some of the police and a
detachment of the Maryland Guard being sent out to do the work.
Governor Hicks was first consulted and urged to give his consent, for
we desired that he should share with us the responsibility of taking
this grave step. This consent he distinctly gave in my presence and in
the presence of several others, and although there was an attempt
afterward to deny the fact that he so consented, there can be no doubt
whatever about the matter. He was in my house at the time, where, on
my invitation, he had taken refuge, thinking that he was in some
personal danger at the hotel where he was staying. Early the next
morning the Governor returned to Annapolis, and after this the city
authorities had to bear alone the responsibilities which the anomalous
state of things in Baltimore had brought upon them.
On the Philadelphia Railroad the detachment sent out by special train
for the purpose of burning the bridges went as far as the Bush River,
and the long bridge there, and the still longer one over the wide
estuary of the Gunpowder, a few miles nearer Baltimore, were
partially burned. It is an interesting fact that just as this party
arrived at the Bush River bridge, a volunteer party of five gentlemen
from Baltimore reached the same place on the same errand. They had
ridden on horseback by night to the river, and had then gone by boat
to the bridge for the purpose of burning it, and in fact they stayed
at the bridge and continued the work of burning until the afternoon.
CHAPTER V.
APRIL 20th, INCREASING EXCITEMENT. -- APPROPRIATION OF $500,000
FOR DEFENSE OF THE CITY. -- CORRESPONDENCE WITH PRESIDENT AND
GOVERNOR. -- MEN ENROLLED. -- APPREHENDED ATTACK ON FORT McHENRY.
-- MARSHAL KANE. -- INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT, CABINET AND GENERAL
SCOTT. -- GENERAL BUTLER, WITH THE EIGHTH MASSACHUSETTS, PROCEEDS
TO ANNAPOLIS AND WASHINGTON. -- BALTIMORE IN A STATE OF ARMED
NEUTRALITY.
On Saturday morning, the 20th, the excitement and alarm had greatly
increased. Up to this time no answer had been received from
Washington. The silence became unbearable. Were more troops to be
forced through the city at any cost? If so, how were they to come, by
land or water? Were the guns of Fort McHenry to be turned upon the
inhabitants? Was Baltimore to be compelled at once to determine
whether she would side with the North or with the South? Or was she
temporarily to isolate herself and wait until the frenzy had in some
measure spent its force and reason had begun to resume its sway? In
any case it was plain that the authorities must have the power placed
in their hands of controlling any outbreak which might occur. This was
the general opinion. Union men and disunion men appeared on the
streets with arms in their hands. A time like that predicted in
Scripture seemed to have come, when he who had no sword would sell his
garment to buy one.
About ten A. M. the city council assembled and immediately
appropriated $500,000, to be expended under my direction as mayor,
for the purpose of putting the city in a complete state of defense
against any description of danger arising or which might arise out of
the present crisis. The banks of the city promptly held a meeting, and
a few hours afterward a committee appointed by them, consisting of
three bank presidents, Johns Hopkins, John Clark and Columbus
O'Donnell, all wealthy Union men, placed the whole sum in advance at
my disposal. Mr. Scharf, in his "History of Maryland," Volume 3, page
416, says, in a footnote, that this action of the city authorities was
endorsed by the editors of the _Sun_, _American_, _Exchange_, _German
Correspondent_, _Clipper_, _South_, etc. Other considerable sums were
contributed by individuals and firms without respect to party.
On the same morning I received a dispatch from Messrs. Bond, Dobbin
and Brune, the committee who had gone to Washington, which said: "We
have seen the President and General Scott. We have from the former a
letter to the mayor and Governor declaring that no troops shall be
brought to Baltimore, if, in a military point of view and without
interruption from opposition, they can be marched around Baltimore."
As the Governor had left Baltimore for Annapolis early in the morning,
I telegraphed him as follows:
"BALTIMORE, _April 20, 1861_.
"_To Governor Hicks._
"Letter from President and General Scott. No troops to pass
through Baltimore if as a military force they can march around. I
will answer that every effort will be made to prevent parties
leaving the city to molest them, but cannot guarantee against
acts of individuals not organized. Do you approve?
GEO. WM. BROWN."
This telegram was based on that from Messrs. Bond, Dobbin and Brune.
The letter referred to had not been received when my telegram to
Governor Hicks was dispatched. I was mistaken in supposing that
General Scott had signed the letter as well as the President.
President Lincoln's letter was as follows:
"WASHINGTON, _April 20, 1861_.
"_Governor Hicks and Mayor Brown._
"_Gentlemen_:--Your letter by Messrs. Bond, Dobbin and Brune is
received. I tender you both my sincere thanks for your efforts to
keep the peace in the trying situation in which you are placed.
For the future troops _must_ be brought here, but I make no point
of bringing them _through_ Baltimore.
"Without any military knowledge myself, of course I must leave
details to General Scott. He hastily said this morning, in
presence of these gentlemen, 'March them _around_ Baltimore, and
not through it.'
"I sincerely hope the General, on fuller reflection, will
consider this practical and proper, and that you will not object
to it.
"By this, a collision of the people of Baltimore with the troops
will be avoided unless they go out of their way to seek it. I
hope you will exert your influence to prevent this.
"Now and ever I shall do all in my power for peace consistently
with the maintenance of government.
"Your obedient servant,
A. LINCOLN."
Governor Hicks replied as follows to my telegram:
"ANNAPOLIS, _April 20, 1861_.
"_To the Mayor of Baltimore._
"Your dispatch received. I hoped they would send no more troops
through Maryland, but as we have no right to demand that, I am
glad no more are to be sent through Baltimore. I know you will do
all in your power to preserve the peace.
THOS. H. HICKS."
I then telegraphed to the President as follows:
"BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, _April 20, 1861_.
"_To President Lincoln._
"Every effort will be made to prevent parties leaving the city to
molest troops marching to Washington. Baltimore seeks only to
protect herself. Governor Hicks has gone to Annapolis, but I have
telegraphed to him.
"GEO. WM. BROWN, _Mayor of Baltimore_."
After the receipt of the dispatch from Messrs. Bond, Dobbin 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 R. 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 Confederate Army,
where he distinguished himself. He lost a leg at Gettysburg.
By this means not only was the inadequate number of the 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 war, were
disappointed to find that the prevention of war was the object of the
city authorities, 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 outward expressions of
Southern feeling were very emphatic, and the Union sentiment
temporarily disappeared.
Early on the morning of Saturday, the 20th, a large Confederate flag
floated from the headquarters of a States Rights club on Fayette
street near Calvert, and on the afternoon of the same day the Minute
Men, a Union club, whose headquarters 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.[12] 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
counties. On Saturday, first came a company of seventy men from
Frederick, 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
welcome 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 County 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 uniformed militia were, of
course, under arms. Three batteries of light artillery were in the
streets, among them the light field-pieces belonging to the military
school at Catonsville, but these the reverend rector of the school, a
strong Union man, had thoughtfully spiked.
[Footnote 12: Baltimore _American_, April 22.]
The United States arsenal at Pikesville, at the time unoccupied, 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 following paragraph:
"WAR SPIRIT ON 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 determination to resist at every hazard
the passage of troops through Baltimore.... 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,[13] rifles, muskets, etc., which they are
turning out very rapidly."
[Footnote 13: 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.]
And a very significant paragraph from the _Sun_ of the same day:
"Yesterday morning between 300 and 400 of our most respectable colored
residents made a tender of their services 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 Regiment, 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 _American 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 letter, 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 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 organized militia of the State, then called out pursuant to
law, and actually in the service of the State. It was added that the
commanding officer of the detachment would be ordered to communicate
with Captain Robinson. The letter closed with repeating the assurance
verbally given to Captain Robinson 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 officers 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 Davis._ Why, Captain, we are anxious to avoid a
collision.
"_Commandant._ So am I, sir. If you wish to avoid a collision,
place 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
necessary in order to hold this fort, I shall not hesitate for
one moment.
"_Commissioner Davis_ (excitedly). I assure you, 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 Baltimore, 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 foundation; 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 Robinson, 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 Washington Monument, which stands in the heart of the
city, and to 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, and 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 companies 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
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 summoned 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 considered,
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 unsatisfactory to many 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:
BALTIMORE, _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 Governor 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. Dobbin, John C. Brune and S. T.
Wallis, 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 protection 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.
He called on General Scott for his opinion, which the General
gave at length, to the effect that troops might be brought
through Maryland without 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 Relay House on the Washington Railroad
[about seven miles south-west of the city], and thence by rail to
the capital. If the people would permit them to go by either of
these routes uninterruptedly, the necessity of their passing
through Baltimore would be avoided. If the people would not
permit them a transit thus remote from the city, they must select
their own best route, and, if need be, fight their own way
through Baltimore--a result which the General earnestly
deprecated.
The President expressed his hearty concurrence in the desire to
avoid a collision, and said that no more troops should be ordered
through Baltimore if they were permitted to go uninterrupted by
either of the other routes suggested. In this disposition the
Secretary of War expressed his participation.
Mayor Brown assured the President that the city authorities would
use all lawful means to prevent their citizens from leaving
Baltimore to attack the troops in passing at a distance; but he
urged, at the same time, the impossibility of their being able to
promise anything more than their best efforts in that direction.
The excitement was great, he told the President, the people of
all classes were fully aroused, and it was impossible for any one
to answer for the consequences of the presence of Northern troops
anywhere within our borders. He reminded the President also that
the jurisdiction of the city authorities was confined to their
own population, and that he could give no promises for the people
elsewhere, because he would be unable to keep them if given. The
President frankly acknowledged this difficulty, and said that the
Government would only ask the city authorities to use their best
efforts with respect to those under their jurisdiction.
The interview terminated with the distinct assurance on the part
of the President that no more troops would be sent through
Baltimore, unless obstructed in their transit in other
directions, and with the understanding that the city authorities
should do their best to restrain their own people.
The Mayor and his companions availed themselves of the
President's full discussion of the day to urge upon him
respectfully, but in the most earnest manner, a course of policy
which would give peace to the country, and especially the
withdrawal of all orders contemplating the passage of troops
through any part of Maryland.
On returning to the cars, and when just about to leave, about 2
P. M., the Mayor received a dispatch from Mr. Garrett (the
President of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad) announcing the
approach of troops to Cockeysville [about fourteen miles from
Baltimore on the Northern Central Railroad], and the excitement
consequent upon it in the city. Mr. Brown and his companions
returned at once to the President and asked an immediate
audience, which was promptly given. The Mayor exhibited Mr.
Garrett's dispatch, which gave the President great surprise. He
immediately summoned the Secretary of War and General Scott, who
soon appeared with other members of the Cabinet. The dispatch was
submitted. The President at once, in the most decided way, urged
the recall of the troops, saying 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
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
views warmly, and an order was accordingly prepared by the
Lieutenant-General to that effect, and forwarded by Major Belger,
of the Army, who also accompanied the Mayor to this city. The
troops at Cockeysville, the Mayor was assured, were not brought
there for transit through the city, but were intended to be
marched to the Relay House on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
They will proceed to Harrisburg, from there to Philadelphia, and
thence by the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal or by Perryville, as
Major-General Patterson may direct.
This statement is made by the authority of the Mayor and Messrs.
George W. Dobbin, John C. Brune and S. T. Wallis, who accompanied
Mr. Brown, and who concurred with him in all particulars in the
course adopted by him in the two interviews with Mr. Lincoln.
GEO. WM. BROWN, _Mayor_.
This statement was written by Mr. Wallis, at the request of his
associates, on the train, and was given to the public immediately on
their return to the city.
In the course of the first conversation Mr. Simon Cameron called my
attention to the fact that an iron bridge on the Northern Central
Railway, which, he remarked, belonged to the city of Baltimore, had
been disabled by a skilled person so as to inflict little injury on
the bridge, and he desired to know by what authority this had been
done. Up to this time nothing had been said about the disabling of the
bridges. In reply I addressed myself to the President, and said, with
much earnestness, that the disabling of this bridge, and of the other
bridges, had been done by authority, as the reader has already been
told, and that it was a measure of protection on a sudden emergency,
designed to prevent bloodshed in the city of Baltimore, and not an act
of hostility towards 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 moved, 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.
I am giving here only a part of a frank and full conversation, in
which others present participated.
The telegram of Mr. Garrett to me referred to in the preceding
statement is in the following words: "Three thousand Northern troops
are reported to be at Cockeysville. Intense excitement prevails.
Churches have been dismissed and the people are arming in mass. To
prevent terrific bloodshed, the result of your interview and
arrangement is awaited."
To this the following reply to Mr. Garrett was made by me: "Your
telegram received on our return from an interview with the President,
Cabinet and General Scott. Be calm and do nothing until you hear from
me again. I return to see the President at once and will telegraph
again. Wallis, Brune and Dobbin are with me."
Accordingly, after the second interview, the following dispatch was
sent by me to Mr. Garrett: "We have again seen the President, General
Scott, Secretary of War and other members of the Cabinet, and the
troops are ordered to return forthwith to Harrisburg. A messenger goes
with us from General Scott. We return immediately."
Mr. Garrett's telegram was not exaggerated. 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. Those who were arming in hot
haste to resist the passage of Northern troops little recked of the
fearful risk to which they were exposing themselves and all they held
dear. It was well for the city and State that the President had
decided as he did. When the President gave his deliberate decision
that the troops should pass around Baltimore and not through it,
General Scott, stern soldier as he sometimes was, said with emotion,
"Mr. President, I thank you for this, and God will bless you for it."
From the depth of our hearts my colleagues and myself thanked both the
General and the President.
The troops on the line of the Northern Central Railway--some 2400 men,
about half of them armed--did not receive their orders to return to
Pennsylvania until after several days. As they had expected to make
the journey to Washington by rail, they were naturally not well
equipped or supplied for camp life. I take the following from the
_Sun_ of April 23d: "By order of Marshal Kane, several wagon-loads of
bread and meat were sent to the camp of the Pennsylvania troops, it
being understood that a number were sick and suffering for proper food
and nourishment.... One of the Pennsylvanians died on Sunday and was
buried within the encampment. Two more died yesterday and a number of
others were on the sick list. The troops were deficient in food,
having nothing but crackers to feed upon."
The Eighth Massachusetts Regiment, under command of General Butler,
was the next which passed through Maryland. It reached Perryville, on
the Susquehanna, by rail on the 20th, and there embarked on the
steamboat _Maryland_, arriving at Annapolis early on the morning of
the 21st. Governor Hicks addressed the General a note advising that he
should not land his men, on account of the great excitement there, and
stated that he had telegraphed to that effect to the Secretary of War.
The Governor also wrote to the President, advising him to order
elsewhere the troops then off Annapolis, and to send no more through
Maryland, and added the surprising suggestion that Lord Lyons, the
British Minister, be requested to act as mediator between the
contending parties of the country.
The troops, however, were landed without opposition. The railway from
Annapolis leading to the Washington road had, in some places, been
torn up, but it was promptly repaired by the soldiers, and by the 25th
an unobstructed route was opened through Annapolis to Washington.
Horace Greeley, in his book called "The American Conflict," denounces
with characteristic vehemence and severity of language the proceedings
of the city authorities. He scouts "the demands" of the Mayor and his
associates, whom he designates as "Messrs. Brown & Co." He insists
that practically on the morning of the 20th of April Maryland was a
member of the Southern Confederacy, and that her Governor spoke and
acted the bidding of a cabal of the ablest and most envenomed
traitors.
It is true that the city then, and for days afterwards, was in an
anomalous condition, which may be best described as one of "armed
neutrality"; but it is not true that in any sense it was, on the 20th
of April, or at any other time, a member of the Southern Confederacy.
On the contrary, while many, especially among the young and reckless,
were doing their utmost to place it in that position, regardless of
consequences, and would, if they could, have forced the hands of the
city authorities, it was their conduct which prevented such a
catastrophe. Temporizing and delay were necessary. As soon as passions
had time to cool, a strong reaction set in and the people rapidly
divided into two parties--one on the side of the North, and the other
on the side of the South; but whatever might be their personal or
political sympathies, it was clear to all who had not lost their
reason that Maryland, which lay open from the North by both land and
sea, would be kept in the Union for the sake of the national capital,
even if it required the united power of the nation to accomplish the
object. The telegraph wires on the lines leading to the North had been
cut, and for some days the city was without regular telegraphic
connection. For a longer time the mails were interrupted and travel
was stopped. The buoys in the harbor were temporarily removed. The
business interests of the city of course suffered under these
interruptions, and would be paralyzed if such isolation were to
continue, and the merchants soon began to demand that the channels of
trade should be reopened to the north and east.
The immediate duty of the city authorities was to keep the peace and
protect the city, and, without going into details or discussing the
conduct of individuals, I shall leave others to speak of the manner in
which it was performed.
Colonel Scharf, in his "History of Maryland," Volume III, p. 415, sums
up the matter as follows: "In such a period of intense excitement,
many foolish and unnecessary acts were undoubtedly done by persons in
the employment of the city, as well as by private individuals, but it
is undoubtedly true that the Mayor and board of police commissioners
were inflexibly determined to resist all attempts to force the city
into secession or into acts of hostility to the Federal Government,
and that they successfully accomplished their purpose. If they had
been otherwise disposed, they could easily have effected their
object."
CHAPTER VI.
SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. -- REPORT OF THE BOARD OF
POLICE. -- SUPPRESSION OF THE FLAGS. -- ON THE 5th OF MAY,
GENERAL BUTLER TAKES POSITION SEVEN MILES FROM BALTIMORE. -- ON
THE 13TH OF MAY, HE ENTERS BALTIMORE AND FORTIFIES FEDERAL HILL.
-- THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY WILL TAKE NO STEPS TOWARDS SECESSION. --
MANY YOUNG MEN JOIN THE ARMY OF THE CONFEDERACY.
On the 22d of April, Governor Hicks convened the General Assembly of
the State, to meet in special session at Annapolis on the 26th, to
deliberate and consider of the condition of the State, and to take
such measures as in their wisdom they might deem fit to maintain peace
and order and security within its limits.
On the 24th of April, "in consequence of the extraordinary state of
affairs," Governor Hicks changed the meeting of the Assembly to
Frederick. The candidates for the House of Delegates for the city of
Baltimore, who had been returned as elected to the General Assembly in
1859, had been refused their seats, as previously stated, and a new
election in the city had therefore become necessary to fill the
vacancy.
A special election for that purpose was accordingly held in the city
on the 24th instant. Only a States Rights ticket was presented, for
which nine thousand two hundred and forty-four votes were cast. The
candidates elected were: 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,
well-known and respected citizens, and the majority of them nominated
because of their known conservatism and declared opposition to violent
measures.
This General Assembly, which contained men of unusual weight and force
of character, will ever remain memorable in Maryland for the courage
and ability with which it maintained the constitutional rights of the
State.
On the 3d of May, the board of police made a report of its proceedings
to the Legislature of the State, signed by Charles Howard, President.
After speaking of the disabling of the railroads, it concludes as
follows:
"The absolute necessity of the measures thus determined upon by
the Governor, Mayor and Police Board, is fully illustrated by the
fact that early on Sunday morning reliable information reached
the city of the presence of a large body of Pennsylvania troops,
amounting to about twenty-four hundred men, who had reached
Ashland, near Cockeysville, by the way of the Northern Central
Railroad, and was stopped in their progress towards Baltimore by
the partial destruction of the Ashland bridge. Every intelligent
citizen at all acquainted with the state of feeling then
existing, must be satisfied that if these troops had attempted to
march through the city, an immense loss of life would have ensued
in the conflict which would necessarily have taken place. The
bitter feelings already engendered would have been intensely
increased by such a conflict; all attempts at conciliation would
have been vain, and terrible destruction would have been the
consequence, if, as is certain, other bodies of troops had
insisted on forcing their way through the city.
"The tone of the whole Northern press and the mass of the
population was violent in the extreme. Incursions upon our city
were daily threatened, not only by troops in the service of the
Federal Government, but by the vilest and most reckless
desperadoes, acting independently, and, as they threatened, in
despite of the Government, backed by well-known influential
citizens, and sworn to the commission of all kinds of excesses.
In short, every possible effort was made to alarm this community.
In this condition of things the Board felt it to be their solemn
duty to continue the organization which had already been
commenced, for the purpose of assuring the people of Baltimore
that no effort would be spared to protect all within its borders,
to the extent of their ability. All the means employed were
devoted to this end, and with no view of producing a collision
with the General Government, which the Board were particularly
anxious to avoid, and an arrangement was happily effected by the
Mayor with the General Government that no troops should be passed
through the city. As an evidence of the determination of the
Board to prevent such collision, a sufficient guard was sent in
the neighborhood of Fort McHenry several nights to arrest all
parties who might be engaged in a threatened attack upon it, and
a steam-tug was employed, properly manned, to prevent any hostile
demonstration upon the receiving-ship _Alleghany_, lying at
anchor in the harbor, of all which the United States officers in
command were duly notified.
"Property of various descriptions belonging to the Government and
individuals was taken possession of by the police force with a
view to its security. The best care has been taken of it. Every
effort has been made to discover the rightful owners, and a
portion of it has already been forwarded to order. Arrangements
have been made with the Government agents satisfactory to them
for the portion belonging to it, and the balance is held subject
to the order of its owners.
"Amidst all the excitement and confusion which has since
prevailed, the Board take great pleasure in stating that the good
order and peace of the city have been preserved to an
extraordinary degree. Indeed, to judge from the accounts given by
the press of other cities of what has been the state of things in
their own communities, Baltimore, during the whole of the past
week and up to this date, will compare favorably, as to the
protection which persons and property have enjoyed, with any
other large city in the United States."
Much has been said in regard to the suppression of the national flag
in Baltimore during the disturbances, and it is proper that the facts
should here be stated.
General Robinson, in his description of the occurrences which took
place after the 19th of April, says that meetings were held under the
flag of the State of Maryland, at which the speeches were inflammatory
secession harangues, and that the national flag disappeared, and no
man dared to display it. Whether or not this statement exactly
represents the condition of things, it at least approximates it, and
on the 26th of April, an order was issued by the board of police
reciting that the peace of the city was likely to be disturbed by the
display of various flags, and directing that no flag of any
description should be raised or carried through the streets. On April
29th, the city council passed an ordinance, signed by the Mayor,
authorizing him, when in his opinion the peace of the city required
it, to prohibit by proclamation for a limited period, to be designated
by him, the public display of all flags or banners in the city of
Baltimore, except on buildings or vessels occupied or employed by the
Government of the United States. On the same day I, in pursuance of
the ordinance, issued a proclamation prohibiting the display of flags
for thirty days, with the exception stated in the ordinance, and on
the 10th of May, when I was satisfied that all danger was over, I
issued a proclamation removing the prohibition. The only violation of
the order which came under my notice during the period of suppression
was on the part of a military company which had the Maryland flag
flying at its headquarters, on Lexington street near the City Hall. On
my directing this flag to be taken down, the request was at once
complied with.
General Robinson says that "the first demonstration of returning
loyalty was on the 28th day of April, when a sailing vessel came down
the river crowded with men, and covered from stem to stern with
national flags. She sailed past the fort, cheered and saluted our
flag, which was dipped in return, after which she returned to the
city." He then adds: "The tide had turned. Union men avowed
themselves, the stars and stripes were again unfurled, and order was
restored. Although after this time arrests were made of persons
conspicuous for disloyalty, the return to reason was almost as sudden
as the outbreak of rebellion. The railroads were repaired, trains ran
regularly, and troops poured into Washington without hindrance or
opposition of any sort. Thousands of men volunteered for the Union
Army. Four regiments of Maryland troops afterwards served with me, and
constituted the Third Brigade of my division. They fought gallantly
the battles of the Union, and no braver soldiers ever marched under
the flag."
The tide indeed soon turned, but not quite so rapidly as this
statement seems to indicate. On the 5th of May, General Butler, with
two regiments and a battery of artillery, came from Washington and
took possession of the Relay House on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
at the junction of the Washington branch, about seven miles from
Baltimore, and fortified the position. One of his first proceedings
was highly characteristic. He issued a special order declaring that he
had found well-authenticated evidence that one of his soldiers had
"been poisoned by means of strychnine administered in the food brought
into the camp," and he warned the people of Maryland that he could
"put an agent, with a word, into every household armed with this
terrible weapon." This statement sent a thrill of horror through the
North, and the accompanying threat of course excited the indignation
and disgust of our people. The case was carefully examined by the city
physician, and it turned out that the man had an ordinary attack of
cholera morbus, the consequence of imprudent diet and camp life, but
the General never thought proper to correct the slander.
On the evening of the 11th of May, General Butler being then at
Annapolis, I received a note from Edward G. Parker, his aide-de-camp,
stating that he had received intimations from many sources that an
attack by the Baltimore roughs was intended that night; that these
rumors had been confirmed by a gentleman from Baltimore, who gave his
name and residence; that the attack would be made by more than a
thousand men, every one sworn to kill a man; that they were coming in
wagons, on horses and on foot, and that a considerable force from the
west, probably the Point of Rocks in Maryland, was also expected, and
I was requested to guard every avenue from the city, so as to prevent
the Baltimore rioters from leaving town.
Out of respect to the source from which the application came, I
immediately sent for the marshal of police, and requested him to throw
out bodies of his men so as to guard every avenue leading to the Relay
House. No enemy, however, appeared. The threatened attack proved to be
merely a groundless alarm, as I knew from the beginning it was.
On the night of the 13th of May, when the city was as peaceful as it
is to-day, General Butler, in the midst of a thunderstorm of unusual
violence, entered Baltimore and took possession of Federal Hill, which
overlooks the harbor and commands the city, and which he immediately
proceeded to fortify. There was nobody to oppose him, and nobody
thought of doing so; but, for this exploit, which he regarded as the
capture of Baltimore, he was made a Major-General. He immediately
issued a proclamation, as if he were in a conquered city subject to
military law.
Meantime, on the 26th of April, the General Assembly of the State had
met at Frederick. "As soon as the General Assembly met" (Scharf's
History of Maryland, Vol. III, p. 444), "the Hon. James M. Mason,
formerly United States Senator from Virginia, waited on it as
commissioner from that State, authorized to negotiate a treaty of
alliance offensive and defensive with Maryland on her behalf." This
proposition met with no acceptance. On the 27th, the Senate, by a
unanimous vote, issued an address for the purpose of allaying the
apprehensions of the people, declaring that it had no constitutional
authority to take any action leading to secession, and on the next day
the House of Delegates, by a vote of 53 to 12, made a similar
declaration. Early in May, the General Assembly, by a vote in the
House of 43 to 12, and in the Senate of 11 to 3, passed a series of
resolutions proclaiming its position in the existing crisis.
The resolutions protested against the war as unjust and
unconstitutional, and announced a determination to take no part in its
prosecution. They expressed a desire for the immediate recognition of
the Confederate States; and while they protested against the military
occupation of the State, and the arbitrary restrictions and
illegalities with which it was attended, they called on all good
citizens to abstain from violent and unlawful interference with the
troops, and patiently and peacefully to leave to time and reason the
ultimate and certain re-establishment and vindication of the right;
and they declared it to be at that time inexpedient to call a
Sovereign Convention of the State, or to take any measures for the
immediate organization or arming of the militia.
After it became plain that no movement would be made towards
secession, a large number of young men, including not a few of the
flower of the State, and representing largely the more wealthy and
prominent families, escaped across the border and entered the ranks of
the Confederacy. The number has been estimated at as many as twenty
thousand, but this, perhaps, is too large a figure, and there are no
means of ascertaining the truth. The muster-rolls have perished with
the Confederacy. The great body of those who sympathized with the
South had no disposition to take arms against the Union so long as
Maryland remained a member of it. This was subsequently proved by
their failure to enlist in the Southern armies on the different
occasions in 1862, 1863 and 1864 when they crossed the Potomac and
transferred the seat of war to Maryland and Pennsylvania, under the
command twice of General Lee and once of General Early.
The first of these campaigns ended in the bloody battle of Antietam.
The Maryland men, as a tribute to their good conduct, were placed at
the head of the army, and crossed the river with enthusiasm, the band
playing and the soldiers singing "My Maryland." Great was their
disappointment that the recruits did not even suffice to fill the gaps
in their shattered ranks.
CHAPTER VII.
CHIEF JUSTICE TANEY AND THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS. -- A UNION
CONVENTION. -- CONSEQUENCE OF THE SUSPENSION OF THE WRIT. --
INCIDENTS OF THE WAR. -- THE WOMEN IN THE WAR.
The suspension of the writ of _habeas corpus_, by order of the
President, without the sanction of an Act of Congress, which had not
then been given, was one of the memorable events of the war.
On the 4th of May, 1861, Judge Giles, of the United States District
Court of Maryland, issued a writ of _habeas corpus_ to Major Morris,
then in command of Fort McHenry, to discharge a soldier who was under
age. Major Morris refused to obey the writ.
On the 14th of May the General Assembly adjourned, and Mr. Ross
Winans, of Baltimore, a member of the House of Delegates, while
returning to his home, was arrested by General Butler on a charge of
high treason. He was conveyed to Annapolis, and subsequently to Fort
McHenry, and was soon afterwards released.
A case of the highest importance next followed. On the 25th of May,
Mr. John Merryman, of Baltimore County, was arrested by order of
General Keim, of Pennsylvania, and confined in Fort McHenry. The next
day (Sunday, May 26th) his counsel, Messrs. George M. Gill and George
H. Williams, presented a petition for the writ of _habeas corpus_ to
Chief Justice Taney, who issued the writ immediately, directed to
General Cadwallader, then in command in Maryland, ordering him to
produce the body of Merryman in court on the following day (Monday,
May 27th). On that day Colonel Lee, his aide-de-camp, came into court
with a letter from General Cadwallader, directed to the Chief Justice,
stating that Mr. Merryman had been arrested on charges of high
treason, and that he (the General) was authorized by the President of
the United States in such cases to suspend the writ of _habeas corpus_
for the public safety. Judge Taney asked Colonel Lee if he had brought
with him the body of John Merryman. Colonel Lee replied that he had no
instructions except to deliver the letter.
_Chief Justice._--The commanding officer, then, declines to obey
the writ?
_Colonel Lee._--After making that communication my duty is ended,
and I have no further power (rising and retiring).
_Chief Justice._--The Court orders an attachment to issue against
George Cadwallader for disobedience to the high writ of the
Court, returnable at twelve o'clock to-morrow.
The order was accordingly issued as directed.
A startling issue was thus presented. The venerable Chief Justice had
come from Washington to Baltimore for the purpose of issuing a writ of
_habeas corpus_, and the President had thereupon authorized the
commander of the fort to hold the prisoner and disregard the writ.
A more important occasion could hardly have occurred. Where did the
President of the United States acquire such a power? Was it true that
a citizen held his liberty subject to the arbitrary will of any man?
In what part of the Constitution could such a power be found? Why had
it never been discovered before? What precedent existed for such an
act?
Judge Taney was greatly venerated in Baltimore, where he had formerly
lived. The case created a profound sensation.
On the next morning the Chief Justice, leaning on the arm of his
grandson, walked slowly through the crowd which had gathered in front
of the court-house, and the crowd silently and with lifted hats opened
the way for him to pass.
Roger B. Taney was one of the most self-controlled and courageous of
judges. He took his seat with his usual quiet dignity. He called the
case of John Merryman and asked the marshal for his return to the writ
of attachment. The return stated that he had gone to Fort McHenry for
the purpose of serving the writ on General Cadwallader; that he had
sent in his name at the outer gate; that the messenger had returned
with the reply that there was no answer to send; that he was not
permitted to enter the gate, and, therefore, could not serve the writ,
as he was commanded to do.
The Chief Justice then read from his manuscript as follows:
I ordered the attachment of yesterday because upon the face of
the return the detention of the prisoner was unlawful upon two
grounds:
1st. The President, under the Constitution and laws of the United
States, cannot suspend the privilege of the writ of _habeas
corpus_, nor authorize any military officer to do so.
2d. A military officer has no right to arrest and detain a person
not subject to the rules and articles of war, for an offense
against the laws of the United States, except in aid of the
judicial authority and subject to its control; and if the party
is arrested by the military, it is the duty of the officer to
deliver him over immediately to the civil authority, to be dealt
with according to law.
I forbore yesterday to state the provisions of the Constitution
of the United States which make these principles the fundamental
law of the Union, because an oral statement might be
misunderstood in some portions of it, and I shall therefore put
my opinion in writing, and file it in the office of the clerk of
this court, in the course of this week.
The Chief Justice then orally remarked:
In relation to the present return, it is proper to say that of
course the marshal has legally the power to summon the _posse
comitatus_ to seize and bring into court the party named in the
attachment; but it is apparent he will be resisted in the
discharge of that duty by a force notoriously superior to the
_posse_, and, this being the case, such a proceeding can result
in no good, and is useless. I will not, therefore, require the
marshal to perform this duty. If, however, General Cadwallader
were before me, I should impose on him the punishment which it is
my province to inflict--that of fine and imprisonment. I shall
merely say, to-day, that I shall reduce to writing the reasons
under which I have acted, and which have led me to the
conclusions expressed in my opinion, and shall direct the clerk
to forward them with these proceedings to the President, so that
he may discharge his constitutional duty "to take care that the
laws are faithfully executed."
It is due to my readers that they should have an opportunity of
reading this opinion, and it is accordingly inserted in an Appendix.
After the court had adjourned, I went up to the bench and thanked
Judge Taney for thus upholding, in its integrity, the writ of _habeas
corpus_. He replied, "Mr. Brown, I am an old man, a very old man" (he
had completed his eighty-fourth year), "but perhaps I was preserved
for this occasion." I replied, "Sir, I thank God that you were."
He then told me that he knew that his own imprisonment had been a
matter of consultation, but that the danger had passed, and he warned
me, from information he had received, that my time would come.
The charges against Merryman were discovered to be unfounded and he
was soon discharged by military authority.
The nation is now tired of war, and rests in the enjoyment of a
harmony which has not been equalled since the days of James Monroe.
When Judge Taney rendered this decision the Constitution was only
seventy-two years old--twelve years younger than himself. It is now
less than one hundred years old--a short period in a nation's
life--and yet during that period there have been serious
commotions--two foreign wars and a civil war. In the future, as in the
past, offenses will come, and hostile parties and factions will arise,
and the men who wield power will, if they dare, shut up in fort or
prison, without reach of relief, those whom they regard as dangerous
enemies. When that period arrives, then will those who wisely love
their country thank the great Chief Justice, as I did, for his
unflinching defense of _habeas corpus_, the supreme writ of right, and
the corner-stone of personal liberty among all English-speaking
people.
In the Life of Benjamin R. Curtis, Vol. I, p. 240, his biographer
says, speaking of Chief Justice Taney, with reference to the case of
Merryman, "If he had never done anything else that was high, heroic
and important, his noble vindication of the writ of _habeas corpus_
and the dignity and authority of his office against a rash minister of
State, who, in the pride of a fancied executive power, came near to
the commission of a great crime, will command the admiration and
gratitude of every lover of constitutional liberty so long as our
institutions shall endure." The crime referred to was the intended
imprisonment of the Chief Justice.
Although this crime was not committed, a criminal precedent had been
set and was ruthlessly followed. "My lord," said Mr. Seward to Lord
Lyons, "I can touch a bell on my right hand and order the imprisonment
of a citizen of Ohio; I can touch a bell again and order the
imprisonment of a citizen of New York; and no power on earth, except
that of the President, can release them. Can the Queen of England do
so much?" When such a power is wielded by any man, or set of men,
nothing is left to protect the liberty of the citizen.
On the 24th of May, a Union Convention, consisting of fourteen
counties of the State, including the city of Baltimore, and leaving
eight unrepresented, met in the city. The counties not represented
were Washington, Montgomery, Prince George, Charles, St. Mary's,
Dorchester, Somerset, and Worcester. The number of members does not
appear to have been large, but it included the names of gentlemen well
known and highly respected. The Convention adopted Resolutions which
declared, among other things, that the revolution on the part of
eleven States was without excuse or palliation, and that the redress
of actual or supposed wrongs in connection with the slavery question
formed no part of their views or purposes; that the people of this
State were unalterably determined to defend the Government of the
United States, and would support the Government in all legal and
constitutional measures which might be necessary to resist the
revolutionists; that the intimations made by the majority of the
Legislature at its late session--that the people were humiliated or
subjugated by the action of the Government--were gratuitous insults to
that people; that the dignity of the State of Maryland, involved in a
precise, persistent and effective recognition of all her rights,
privileges and immunities under the Constitution of the United States,
will be vindicated at all times and under all circumstances by those
of her sons who are sincere in their fealty to her and the Government
of the Union of which she is part, and to popular constitutional
liberty; that while they concurred with the present Executive of the
United States that the unity and integrity of the National Union must
be preserved, their view of the nature and true principles of the
Constitution, of the powers which it confers, and of the duties which
it enjoins, and the rights which it secures, as it relates to and
affects the question of slavery in many of the essential bearings, is
directly opposed to the views of the Executive; that they are fixed in
their conviction, amongst others, that a just comprehension of the
true principles of the Constitution forbid utterly the formation of
political parties on the foundation of the slavery question, and that
the Union men will oppose to the utmost of their ability all attempts
of the Federal Executive to commingle in any manner its peculiar views
on the slavery question with that of maintaining the just powers of
the Government.
These resolutions are important as showing the stand taken by a large
portion of the Union party of the State in regard to any interference,
as the result of the war or otherwise, by the General Government with
the provisions of the Constitution with regard to slavery.
After the writ of _habeas corpus_ had been thus suspended, martial
law, as a consequence, rapidly became all-powerful, and it continued
in force during the war. That law is by Judge Black, in his argument
before the Supreme Court in the case of _ex parte_ Milligan,[14] shown
to be simply the rule of irresponsible force. Law becomes helpless
before it. _Inter arma silent leges._
[Footnote 14: 4 Wallace Sup. Court R. 2.]
On May 25, 1862, Judge Carmichael, an honored magistrate, while
sitting in his court in Easton, was, by the provost marshal and his
deputies, assisted by a body of military sent from Baltimore, beaten,
and dragged bleeding from the bench, and then imprisoned, because he
had on a previous occasion delivered a charge to the grand jury
directing them to inquire into certain illegal acts and to indict the
offenders. His imprisonment in Forts McHenry, Lafayette, and Delaware,
lasted more than six months. On December 4, 1862, he was
unconditionally released, no trial having been granted him, nor any
charges made against him. On June 28, 1862, Judge Bartol, of the Court
of Appeals of Maryland, was arrested and confined in Fort McHenry. He
was released after a few days, without any charge being preferred
against him, or any explanation given.
Spies and informers abounded. A rigid supervision was established.
Disloyalty, so called, of any kind was a punishable offense. Rebel
colors, the red and white, were prohibited. They were not allowed to
appear in shop-windows or on children's garments, or anywhere that
might offend the Union sentiment. If a newspaper promulgated disloyal
sentiments, the paper was suppressed and the editor imprisoned. If a
clergyman was disloyal in prayer or sermon, or if he failed to utter a
prescribed prayer, he was liable to be treated in the same manner, and
was sometimes so treated. A learned and eloquent Lutheran clergyman
came to me for advice because he had been summoned before the provost
marshal for saying that a nation which incurred a heavy debt in the
prosecution of war laid violent hands on the harvests of the future;
but his offense was condoned, because it appeared that he had referred
to the "Thirty Years' War" and had made no direct reference to the
debt of the United States, and perhaps for a better reason--that he
had strong Republican friends among his congregation.
If horses and fodder, fences and timber, or houses and land, were
taken for the use of the Army, the owner was not entitled to
compensation unless he could prove that he was a loyal man; and the
proof was required to be furnished through some well-known loyal
person, who, of course, was usually paid for his services. Very soon
no one was allowed to vote unless he was a loyal man, and soldiers at
the polls assisted in settling the question of loyalty.
Nearly all who approved of the war regarded these things as an
inevitable military necessity; but those who disapproved deeply
resented them as unwarrantable violations of sacred constitutional
rights. The consequence was that friendships were dissolved, the ties
of blood severed, and an invisible but well-understood line divided
the people. The bitterness and even the common mention of these acts
have long since ceased, but the tradition survives and still continues
to be a factor, silent, but not without influence, in the politics of
the State.
History repeats itself. There were deeds done on both sides which
bring to mind the wars of England and Scotland and the border strife
between those countries. There were flittings to and fro, and
adventures and hairbreadth escapes innumerable. Soldiers returned to
visit their homes at the risk of their necks. Contraband of every
description, and letters and newspapers, found their way across the
border. The military lines were long and tortuous, and vulnerable
points were not hard to find, and trusty carriers were ready to go
anywhere for the love of adventure or the love of gain.
The women were as deeply interested as the men, and were less
apprehensive of personal consequences. In different parts of the city,
not excepting its stateliest square, where stands the marble column
from which the father of his country looked down, sadly as it were, on
a divided people, there might have been found, by the initiated,
groups of women who, with swift and skillful fingers, were fashioning
and making garments strangely various in shape and kind--some for
Northern prisons where captives were confined, some for destitute
homes beyond the Southern border, in which only women and children
were left, and some for Southern camps where ragged soldiers were
waiting to be clad. The work was carried on not without its risks;
but little cared the workers for that. Perhaps the sensation of danger
itself, and a spirit of resistance to an authority which they refused
to recognize, gave zest to their toil; nor did they always think it
necessary to inform the good man of the house in which they were
assembled either of their presence or of what was going on beneath his
roof.
The women who stood by the cause of the Union were not compelled to
hide their charitable deeds from the light of day. No need for them to
feed and clothe the soldiers of the Union, whose wants were amply
supplied by a bountiful Government; but with untiring zeal they
visited the military hospitals on missions of mercy, and when the
bloody fields of Antietam and Gettysburg were fought, both they and
their Southern sisters hastened, though not with a common purpose, to
the aid of the wounded and dying, the victims of civil strife and
children of a common country.
CHAPTER VIII.
GENERAL BANKS IN COMMAND. -- MARSHAL KANE ARRESTED. -- POLICE
COMMISSIONERS SUPERSEDED. -- RESOLUTIONS PASSED BY THE GENERAL
ASSEMBLY. -- POLICE COMMISSIONERS ARRESTED. -- MEMORIAL ADDRESSED
BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL TO CONGRESS. -- GENERAL DIX IN
COMMAND. -- ARREST OF MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, THE MAYOR
AND OTHERS. -- RELEASE OF PRISONERS. -- COLONEL DIMICK.
On the 10th of June, 1861, Major-General Nathaniel P. Banks, of
Massachusetts, was appointed in the place of General Cadwallader to
the command of the Department of Annapolis, with headquarters at
Baltimore. On the 27th of June, General Banks arrested Marshal Kane
and confined him in Fort McHenry. He then issued a proclamation
announcing that he had superseded Marshal Kane and the commissioners
of police, and that he had appointed Colonel John R. Kenly, of the
First Regiment of Maryland Volunteers, provost marshal, with the aid
and assistance of the subordinate officers of the police department.
The police commissioners, including the mayor, offered no resistance,
but adopted and published a resolution declaring that, in the opinion
of the board, the forcible suspension of their functions suspended at
the same time the active operation of the police law and put the
officers and men off duty for the present, leaving them subject,
however, to the rules and regulations of the service as to their
personal conduct and deportment, and to the orders which the board
might see fit thereafter to issue, when the present illegal
suspension of their functions should be removed.
The Legislature of Maryland, at its adjourned session on the 22d of
June, passed a series of resolutions declaring that the
unconstitutional and arbitrary proceedings of the Federal Executive
had not been confined to the violation of the personal rights and
liberties of the citizens of Maryland, but had been so extended that
the property of no man was safe, the sanctity of no dwelling was
respected, and that the sacredness of private correspondence no longer
existed; that the Senate and House of Delegates of Maryland felt it
due to her dignity and independence that history should not record the
overthrow of public freedom for an instant within her borders, without
recording likewise the indignant expression of her resentment and
remonstrance, and they accordingly protested against the oppressive
and tyrannical assertion and exercise of military jurisdiction within
the limits of Maryland over the persons and property of her citizens
by the Government of the United States, and solemnly declared the same
to be subversive of the most sacred guarantees of the Constitution,
and in flagrant violation of the fundamental and most cherished
principles of American free government.
On the first of July, the police commissioners were arrested and
imprisoned by order of General Banks, on the ground, as he alleged in
a proclamation, that the commissioners had refused to obey his
decrees, or to recognize his appointees, and that they continued to
hold the police force for some purpose not known to the Government.
General Banks does not say what authority he had to make decrees, or
what the decrees were which the commissioners had refused to obey; and
as on the 27th of June he had imprisoned the marshal of police, and
had put a provost marshal in his place, retaining only the subordinate
officers of the police department, and had appointed instead of the
men another body of police, all under the control of the provost
marshal; and as the commissioners had no right to discharge the police
force established by a law of the State, and were left with no duties
in relation to the police which they could perform, it is very plain
that, whatever motive General Banks may have had for the arrest and
imprisonment of the commissioners, it is not stated in his
proclamation.
One of the commissioners, Charles D. Hinks, was soon released in
consequence of failing health.
On the day of the arrest of the police commissioners the city was
occupied by troops, who in large detachments, infantry and artillery,
took up positions in Monument Square, Exchange Place, at Camden-street
Station and other points, and they mounted guard and bivouacked in the
streets for more than a week.
On July 18th, the police commissioners presented to Congress a
memorial in which they protested very vigorously against their
unlawful arrest and imprisonment.
On the 23d day of July, 1861, the mayor and city council of Baltimore
addressed a memorial to the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States, in which, after describing the condition of affairs in
Baltimore, they respectfully, yet most earnestly, demanded, as matter
of right, that their city might be governed according to the
Constitution and laws of the United States and of the State of
Maryland, that the citizens might be secure in their persons, houses,
papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures; that
they should not be deprived of life, liberty or property without due
process of law; that the military should render obedience to the
civil authority; that the municipal laws should be respected, the
officers released from imprisonment and restored to the lawful
exercise of their functions, and that the police government
established by law should be no longer impeded by armed force to the
injury of peace and order. It is perhaps needless to add that the
memorial met with no favor.
On the 7th of August, 1861, the Legislature of the State, in a series
of resolutions, denounced these proceedings in all their parts,
pronouncing them, so far as they affected individuals, a gross and
unconstitutional abuse of power which nothing could palliate or
excuse, and, in their bearing upon the authority and constitutional
powers and privileges of the State herself, a revolutionary subversion
of the Federal compact.
The Legislature then adjourned, to meet on the 17th of September.
On the 24th of July, 1861, General Dix had been placed in command of
the Department, with his headquarters in Baltimore. On that day he
wrote from Fort McHenry to the Assistant Adjutant-General for
re-enforcement of the troops under his command. He said that there
ought to be ten thousand men at Baltimore and Annapolis, and that he
could not venture to respond for the quietude of the Department with a
smaller number. At Fort McHenry, as told by his biographer, he
exhibited to some ladies of secession proclivities an immense
columbiad, and informed them that it was pointed to Monument Square,
and if there was an uprising that this piece would be the first he
would fire. But the guns of Fort McHenry were not sufficient. He built
on the east of the city a very strong work, which he called Fort
Marshall, and he strengthened the earthwork on Federal Hill, in the
southern part, so that the city lay under the guns of three powerful
forts, with several smaller ones. Not satisfied with this, on the 15th
of September, 1862, General Dix, after he had been transferred to
another department, wrote to Major-General Halleck, then
Commander-in-Chief, advising that the ground on which the earthwork on
Federal Hill had been erected should be purchased at a cost of one
hundred thousand dollars, and that it should be permanently fortified
at an additional expense of $250,000. He was of opinion that although
the great body of the people were, as he described them, eminently
distinguished for their moral virtues, Baltimore had always contained
a mass of inflammable material, which would ignite on the slightest
provocation. He added that "Fort Federal Hill completely commanded the
city, and is capable, from its proximity to the principal business
quarters, of assailing any one without injury to the others. The hill
seems to have been placed there by Nature as a site for a permanent
citadel, and I beg to suggest whether a neglect to appropriate it to
its obvious design would not be an unpardonable dereliction of duty."
These views were perhaps extreme even for a major-general commanding
in Baltimore, especially as by this time the disorderly element which
infests all cities had gone over to the stronger side, and was engaged
in the pious work of persecuting rebels. General Halleck, even after
this solemn warning, left Federal Hill to the protection of its
earthwork.
The opinion which General Dix had of Baltimore extended, though in a
less degree, to a large portion of the State, and was shared, in part
at least, not only by the other military commanders, but by the
Government at Washington.
On the 11th of September, 1861, Simon Cameron, Secretary of War,
wrote the following letter to Major-General Banks, who was at this
time in command of a division in Maryland:
"WAR DEPARTMENT, _September 11, 1861_.
"_General._--The passage of any act of secession by the
Legislature of Maryland must be prevented. If necessary, all or
any part of the members must be arrested. Exercise your own
judgment as to the time and manner, but do the work effectively."
On the 12th of September, Major-General McClellan, Commander-in-Chief
of the Army of the Potomac, wrote a confidential letter to General
Banks reciting that "after full consultation with the President,
Secretary of State, War, etc., it has been decided to effect the
operation proposed for the 17th." The 17th was the day fixed for the
meeting of the General Assembly, and the operation to be performed was
the arrest of some thirty members of that body, and other persons
besides. Arrangements had been made to have a Government steamer at
Annapolis to receive the prisoners and convey them to their
destination. The plan was to be arranged with General Dix and Governor
Seward, and the letter closes with leaving this exceedingly important
affair to the tact and discretion of General Banks, and impressing on
him the absolute necessity of secrecy and success.
Accordingly, a number of the most prominent members of the
Legislature, myself, as mayor of Baltimore, and editors of newspapers,
and other citizens, were arrested at midnight. I was arrested at my
country home, near the Relay House on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
by four policemen and a guard of soldiers. The soldiers were placed in
both front and rear of the house, while the police rapped violently on
the front door. I had gone to bed, but was still awake, for I had some
apprehension of danger. I immediately arose, and opening my bed-room
window, asked the intruders what they wanted. They replied that they
wanted Mayor Brown. I asked who wanted him, and they answered, the
Government of the United States. I then inquired for their warrant,
but they had none. After a short time spent in preparation I took
leave of my wife and children, and closely guarded, walked down the
high hill on which the house stands to the foot, where a carriage was
waiting for me. The soldiers went no farther, but I was driven in
charge of the police seven miles to Baltimore and through the city to
Fort McHenry, where to my surprise I found myself a fellow-prisoner in
a company of friends and well-known citizens. We were imprisoned for
one night in Fort McHenry, next in Fort Monroe for about two weeks,
next in Fort Lafayette for about six weeks, and finally in Fort
Warren. Henry May, member of Congress from Baltimore, was arrested at
the same time, but was soon released.
Col. Scharf, in his "History of Maryland," Volume III, says: "It was
originally intended that they (the prisoners) should be confined in
the fort at the Dry Tortugas, but as there was no fit steamer in
Hampton Roads to make the voyage, the programme was changed."[15]
[Footnote 15: See also the "Chronicles of Baltimore" by the same
author.]
The apprehension that the Legislature intended to pass an act of
secession, as intimated by Secretary Cameron, was, in view of the
position in which the State was placed, and the whole condition of
affairs, so absurd that it is difficult to believe that he seriously
entertained it. The blow was no doubt, however, intended to strike
with terror the opponents of the war, and was one of the effective
means resorted to by the Government to obtain, as it soon did, entire
control of the State.
As the events of the 19th of April had occurred nearly five months
previously, and I was endeavoring to perform my duties as mayor, in
obedience to law, without giving offense to either the civil or
military authorities of the Government, the only apparent reason for
my arrest grew out of a difficulty in regard to the payment of the
police appointed by General Banks. In July a law had been passed by
Congress appropriating one hundred thousand dollars for the purpose of
such payment, but it was plain that a similar expenditure would not
long be tolerated by Congress. In this emergency an intimation came to
me indirectly from Secretary Seward, through a common acquaintance,
that I was expected to pay the Government police out of the funds
appropriated by law for the city police. I replied that any such
payment would be illegal and was not within my power.
Soon afterwards I received the following letter from General Dix,
which I insert, together with the correspondence which followed:
"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA,
"BALTIMORE, MD., _September 8, 1861_.
"TO HON. GEO. WM. BROWN, _Mayor of the City of Baltimore_.
"_Sir_:--Reasons of state, which I deem imperative, demand that
the payment of compensation to the members of the old city
police, who were, by a resolution of the Board of Police
Commissioners, dated the 27th of Jane last, declared 'off duty,'
and whose places were filled in pursuance of an order of
Major-General Banks of the same date, should cease. I therefore
direct, by virtue of the authority vested in me as commanding
officer of the military forces of the United States in Baltimore
and its vicinity, that no further payment be made to them.
"Independently of all other considerations, the continued
compensation of a body of men who have been suspended in their
functions by the order of the Government, is calculated to bring
its authority into disrespect; and the extraction from the
citizens of Baltimore by taxation, in a time of general
depression and embarrassment, of a sum amounting to several
hundred thousand dollars a year for the payment of nominal
officials who render it no service, cannot fail by creating
widespread dissatisfaction to disturb the quietude of the city,
which I am most anxious to preserve.
"I feel assured that the payment would have been voluntarily
discontinued by yourself, as a violation of the principle on
which all compensation is bestowed--as a remuneration for an
equivalent service actually performed--had you not considered
yourself bound by existing laws to make it.
"This order will relieve you from the embarrassment, and I do not
doubt that it will be complied with.
"I am, very respectfully,
"Your obedient servant,
"JOHN A. DIX,
"_Major-General Commanding_."
"MAYOR'S OFFICE, CITY HALL,
"BALTIMORE, _September 5, 1861_.
"Major-General JOHN A. DIX, _Baltimore, Md._
"_Sir_:--I was not in town yesterday, and did not receive until
this morning your letter of the 3d inst. ordering that no further
payment be made to the members of the city police.
"The payments have been made heretofore in pursuance of the laws
of the State, under the advice of the City Counsellor, by the
Register, the Comptroller and myself.
"Without entering into a discussion of the considerations which
you have deemed sufficient to justify this proceeding, I feel it
to be my duty to enter my protest against this interference, by
military authority, with the exercise of powers lawfully
committed by the State of Maryland to the officers of the city
corporation; but it is nevertheless not the intention of the city
authorities to offer resistance to the order which you have
issued, and I shall therefore give public notice to the officers
and men of the city police that no further payments may be
expected by them.
"There is an arrearage of pay of two weeks due to the force, and
the men have by the law and rules of the board been prevented
from engaging in any other business or occupation. Most of them
have families, who are entirely dependent for support on the pay
received.
"I do not understand your order as meaning to prohibit the
payment of this arrearage, and shall therefore proceed to make
it, unless prevented by your further order.
"I am, very respectfully,
"Your obedient servant,
"GEO. WM. BROWN,
"_Mayor of Baltimore_."
"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA,
"BALTIMORE, MD., _September 9, 1861_.
"HON. GEO. WM. BROWN, _Mayor of the City of Baltimore_.
"_Sir_:--Your letter of the 5th inst. was duly received. I
cannot, without acquiescing in the violation of a principle,
assent to the payment of an arrearage to the members of the old
city police, as suggested in the closing paragraph of your
letter.
"It was the intention of my letter to prohibit any payment to
them subsequently to the day on which it was written.
"You will please, therefore, to consider this as the 'further
order' referred to by you.
"I am, very respectfully,
"Your obedient servant,
"JOHN A. DIX,
"_Major-General Commanding_."
"MAYOR'S OFFICE, CITY HALL,
"BALTIMORE, _September 11, 1861_.
"Major-General JOHN A. DIX, Baltimore.
"_Sir_:--I did not come to town yesterday until the afternoon,
and then ascertained that my letters had been sent out to my
country residence, where, on my return last evening, I found
yours of the 9th, in reply to mine of the 5th instant, awaiting
me. It had been left at the mayor's office yesterday morning.
"Before leaving the mayor's office, about three o'clock P. M. on
the 9th instant, and not having received any reply from you, I
had signed a check for the payment of arrears due the police, and
the money was on the same day drawn out of the bank and handed
over to the proper officers, and nearly the entire amount was by
them paid to the police force before the receipt of your letter.
"The suggestion in your letter as to the 'violation of a
principle' requires me to add that I recognize in the action of
the Government of the United States in the matter in question
nothing but the assertion of superior force.
"Out of regard to the great interests committed to my charge as
chief magistrate of the city, I have yielded to that force, and
do not feel it necessary to enter into any discussion of the
principles upon which the Government sees fit to exercise it.
"Very respectfully,
"Your obedient servant,
"GEO. WM. BROWN,
"_Mayor_."
The reasons which General Dix assigned for prohibiting me from paying
the arrearages due the police present a curious combination. First,
there were reasons of State; next, the respect due to the Government;
third, his concern for the taxpayers of Baltimore; fourth, the danger
to the quiet of the city which he apprehended might arise from the
payment; and, finally, there was a principle which he must protect
from violation, but what that principle was he did not state.
A striking commentary on these reasons was furnished on the 11th of
December, 1863, by a decision of the Court of Appeals of Maryland in
the case of the Mayor, etc., of Baltimore _vs._ Charles Howard and
others, reported in 20th Maryland Rep., p. 335. The question was
whether the interference by the Government of the United States with
the Board of Police and police force established by law in the city of
Baltimore was without authority of law and did in any manner affect or
impair the rights or invalidate the acts of the board. The court held
that, though the board was displaced by a force to which they yielded
and could not resist, their power and rights under their organization
were still preserved, and that they were amenable for any dereliction
of official duty, except in so far as they were excused by
uncontrollable events. And the court decided that Mr. Hinks, one of
the police commissioners, whose case was alone before the court, was
entitled to his salary, which had accrued after the board was so
displaced.
Subsequently, after the close of the war, the Legislature of the State
passed an act for the payment of all arrearages due to the men of the
police subsequent to their displacement by the Government of the
United States and until their discharge by the Government of the
State.
It will be perceived that General Dix delayed replying to my letter of
the 5th of September until the 9th; that his reply was not left at the
mayor's office until the tenth, and that in the meantime, on the
afternoon of the 9th, after waiting for his reply for four days, I
paid the arrears due the police, as I had good reason to suppose he
intended I should.
A friend of mine, a lawyer of Baltimore, and a pronounced Union man,
has, since then, informed me that General Dix showed him my letter of
the 5th before my arrest; that my friend asked him whether he had
replied to it, and the General replied he had not. My friend answered
that he thought a reply was due to me. From all this it does not seem
uncharitable to believe that the purpose of General Dix was to put me
in the false position of appearing to disobey his order and thus to
furnish an excuse for my imprisonment. This lasted until the 27th of
November, 1862, a short time after my term of office had expired, when
there was a sudden and unexpected release of all the State prisoners
in Fort Warren, where we were then confined.
On the 26th of November, 1862, Colonel Justin Dimick, commanding at
Fort Warren, received the following telegraphic order from the
Adjutant-General's Office, Washington: "The Secretary of War directs
that you release all the Maryland State prisoners, also any other
State prisoners that may be in your custody, and report to this
office."
In pursuance of this order, Colonel Dimick on the following day
released from Fort Warren the following State prisoners, without
imposing any condition upon them whatever: Severn Teackle Wallis,
Henry M. Warfield, William G. Harrison, T. Parkin Scott, ex-members of
the Maryland Legislature from Baltimore; George William Brown,
ex-Mayor of Baltimore; Charles Howard and William H. Gatchell,
ex-Police Commissioners; George P. Kane, ex-Marshal of Police; Frank
Key Howard, one of the editors of the Baltimore _Exchange_; Thomas W.
Hall, editor of the Baltimore _South_; Robert Hull, merchant, of
Baltimore; Dr. Charles Macgill, of Hagerstown; William H. Winder, of
Philadelphia; and B. L. Cutter, of Massachusetts.
General Wool, then in command in Baltimore, issued an order declaring
that thereafter no person should be arrested within the limits of the
Department except by his order, and in all such cases the charges
against the accused party were to be sworn to before a justice of the
peace.
As it was intimated that these gentlemen had entered into some
engagement as the condition of their release, Mr. Wallis, while in New
York on his return home, took occasion to address a letter on the
subject to the editor of the New York _World_, in which he said: "No
condition whatever was sought to be imposed, and none would have been
accepted, as the Secretary of War well knew. Speaking of my
fellow-prisoners from Maryland, I have a right to say that they
maintained to the last the principle which they asserted from the
first--namely, that, if charged with crime, they were entitled to be
charged, held and tried in due form of law and not otherwise; and
that, in the absence of lawful accusation and process, it was their
right to be discharged without terms or conditions of any sort, and
they would submit to none."
Many of our fellow-prisoners were from necessity not able to take this
stand. There were no charges against them, but there were imperative
duties which required their presence at home, and when the Government
at Washington adopted the policy of offering liberty to those who
would consent to take an oath of allegiance prepared for the occasion,
they had been compelled to accept it.
Before this, in December, 1861, the Government at Washington, on
application of friends, had granted me a parole for thirty days, that
I might attend to some important private business, and for that time I
stayed with kind relatives, under the terms of the parole, in Boston.
The following correspondence, which then took place, will show the
position which I maintained:
"BOSTON, _January 4, 1862_.
"MARSHAL KEYS, _Boston_.
"_Sir_:--I called twice to see you during this week, and in your
absence had an understanding with your deputy that I was to
surrender myself to you this morning, on the expiration of my
parole, in time to be conveyed to Fort Warren, and I have
accordingly done so.
"As you have not received any instructions from Washington in
regard to the course to be pursued with me, I shall consider
myself in your custody until you have had ample time to write to
Washington and obtain a reply.
"I desire it, however, to be expressly understood that no further
extension of my parole is asked for, or would be accepted at this
time.
"It is my right and my wish to return to Baltimore, to resume the
performance of my official and private duties.
Respectfully,
"GEO. WM. BROWN."
"DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
"WASHINGTON, _January 6, 1862_.
"JOHN S. KEYS, Esq., U. S. Marshal, _Boston_.
"_Sir_:--Your letter of the 4th inst., relative to George W.
Brown, has been received.
"In reply, I have to inform you that, if he desires it, you may
extend his parole to the period of thirty days. If not, you will
please recommit him to Fort Warren and report to this Department.
"I am, sir, very respectfully,
"Your obedient servant,
"F. W. SEWARD,
"_Acting Secretary of State_."
"BOSTON, _January 10, 1862_.
"MARSHAL KEYS, _Boston_.
"_Sir_:--In my note to you of the 4th inst. I stated that I did
not desire a renewal of my parole, but that it was my right and
wish to return to Baltimore, to resume the performance of my
private and official duties.
"My note was, in substance, as you informed me, forwarded to Hon.
W. H. Seward, Secretary of State, in a letter from you to him.
"In reply to your communication, F. W. Seward, Acting Secretary
of State, wrote to you under date of the 6th inst. that 'you may
extend the parole of George W. Brown if he desires it, but if
not, you are directed to recommit him to Fort Warren.'
"It was hardly necessary to give me the option of an extension of
parole which I had previously declined, but the offer renders it
proper for me to say that the parole was applied for by my
friends, to enable me to attend to important private business,
affecting the interests of others as well as myself; that the
necessities growing out of this particular matter of business no
longer exist, and that I cannot consistently with my ideas of
propriety, by accepting a renewal of the parole, place myself in
the position of seeming to acquiesce in a prolonged and illegal
banishment from my home and duties.
Respectfully,
"GEO. WM. BROWN."
On the 11th of January, 1862, I returned to Fort Warren, and on the
14th an offer was made to renew and extend my parole to ninety days
upon condition that I would not pass south of Hudson River. This offer
I declined. My term of office expired on the 12th of November, 1862,
and soon afterwards I was released, as I have just stated.
It is not my purpose to enter into an account of the trials and
hardships of prison-life in the crowded forts in which we were
successively confined under strict and sometimes very harsh military
rule, but it is due to the memory of the commander at Fort Warren,
Colonel Justin Dimick, that I should leave on record the warm feelings
of respect and friendship with which he was regarded by the prisoners
who knew him best, for the unvarying kindness and humanity with which
he performed the difficult and painful duties of his office. As far as
he was permitted to do so, he promoted the comfort and convenience of
all, and after the war was over and he had been advanced to the rank
of General, he came to Baltimore as the honored guest of one of his
former prisoners, and while there received the warm and hearty
greeting of others of his prisoners who still survived.
CHAPTER IX.
A PERSONAL CHAPTER.
I have now completed my task; but perhaps it will be expected that I
should clearly define my own position. I have no objection to do so.
Both from feeling and on principle I had always been opposed to
slavery--the result in part of the teaching and example of my parents,
and confirmed by my own reading and observation. In early manhood I
became prominent in defending the rights of the free colored people of
Maryland. In the year 1846 I was associated with a small number of
persons, of whom the Rev. William F. Brand, author of the "Life of
Bishop Whittingham," and myself, are the only survivors. The other
members of the association were Dr. Richard S. Steuart, for many years
President of the Maryland Hospital for the Insane, and himself a
slaveholder; Galloway Cheston, a merchant and afterwards President of
the Board of Trustees of the Johns Hopkins University; Frederick W.
Brune, my brother-in-law and law-partner; and Ramsay McHenry, planter.
We were preparing to initiate a movement tending to a gradual
emancipation within the State, but the growing hostility between the
North and the South rendered the plan wholly impracticable, and it was
abandoned.
My opinions, however, did not lead me into sympathy with the abolition
party. I knew that slavery had existed almost everywhere in the world,
and still existed in some places, and that, whatever might be its
character elsewhere, it was not in the Southern States "
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