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.