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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 POLICE COMMISSIONERS SUPERSEDED, 97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.]