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.