With four men taken seriously on the ballots of the 1860
election, Abraham Lincoln’s victory sent all those who had voted solidly for Southern
Democrat John C. Breckenridge calling for secession. The matter escalated, and Washington
sat unsure of what to do in a legally ambiguous situation. When the new
Confederate state of South Carolina opened fire on the Union Fort Sumter
sitting in their capital’s harbor, civil war officially began. Lincoln now had
legal standing to fight on grounds of returning captured Federal property, and he
called for 75,000 volunteers to serve. The call was answered widely in the
North; Ohio itself produced enough to fill the national quota.
Getting these troops to the front was a serious
logistical issue. Foremost in the military’s mind was protecting Washington,
D.C., just across the river from Virginia, seceded as of April 17. All around the
federal city, Marylanders wondered what would become of their state. The electors
had voted for Breckenridge, and folks shared the spirit of the South. They were
also seafarers and traders linked to the North, creating a delicate balance
that troubled many in what would become known as the Border States. Most of the
Western Marylanders had voted for John Bell of the Constitutional Union party, who
wanted to keep the nation together under clear terms, but his carried state of
Virginia had already given up such a dream. With no way to be certain on how
the vote would go, Maryland officials such as Governor Thomas Hicks were
hesitant to call for a formal vote.
The military, meanwhile, acted. Union troops were brought
down from the North to the rail hub in Baltimore. There, they had to march
across town, through streets lined with Confederate sympathizers, to board southwest-bound
trains for Washington. On April 19, the 6th Massachusetts began the transition
to find the path blocked by protestors. The protestors became violent, throwing
stones and shouting at the Northerners to get out of their city. Troops opened
fire out of panic, and the protesters charged them. Police began to swarm the
area, but even they could not stop the fighting. Somewhere in the crowd, a series
of protestors produced guns and returned fire.
The regiment’s commander Colonel Edward F. Jones
determined that retreat was no longer an option. He had warned his troops the
night before to “pay no attention to the mob.” The civilians had created
themselves combatants, so he rallied his troops into formation to return fire.
Baltimoreans were leveled, and the mob scrambled to escape. Jones directed the
men in fixing bayonets and marching out firmly to their waiting transport to
Washington.
With dead scattered in the streets, Marylanders rose up.
After the raid on Harper’s Ferry by John Brown, many in the state had formed
militias as a precaution against a violent slave revolt. The call went out, and
that night the militia seized the railroad bridges leading into the city. Whether
they had official authority from Hicks and Balitmore’s Mayor George Brown was
kept vague, but they were effective in turning around a trainload of troops. Major
General Robert Patterson, commander of the Department of Washington, ordered Brigadier
General Benjamin Franklin Butler to secure the state. Militia countered with
guerilla warfare, but the Union’s superior arms enabled them to seize the major
cities and declare martial law.
During their retreat to Virginia, the politicians who
escaped arrest in Maryland voted for secession. Brown was captured and held in
Baltimore while Hicks hurried to Washington to plead for peace that proved
impossible, as Lincoln would explain that “Union soldiers were neither birds to
fly over Maryland, nor moles to burrow under it.” Secession was politically
significant, but largely moot as the military filled the void of elected
government. Chaos with torn up railroads and cut telegraphs ruled in the
countryside while strict regulations kept the cities from turning back into
riots.
The Southern cry was to liberate the Marylanders. Virginian
Generals Beauregard and Johnston were able to fend off a Union invasion at Bull
Run, while Union troops held off two Confederate assaults late that summer.
Eventually the stalemate around the Potomac swayed toward the Confederate side
as they managed to float an army into southern Maryland. Many in Congress called
for the evacuation of Washington, but Lincoln refused to budge, knowing what a
political calamity it would be. The city was turned into a fortress and besieged
time and again, but its defenses were unable to be cracked. Union General McClellan
gained great aplomb for his efforts in drawing Confederate attention away in
his Peninsular Campaign.
After years of brutal warfare that depopulated much of
Maryland, victories in the West enabled the North to actualize the Anaconda
Plan formulated by retiring General Winfield Scott that would choke out
Confederate resources. Measures to placate Maryland tested the most effective
strategies for occupying the South for Reconstruction as the war came to a
close. The use of militias prompted a clear legal definition of “peaceable assembly,”
which caused Federal crackdown on fraternities such as the Klan as they grew
up. National loyalty was rewarded, and subversion resulted in public humiliation
rather than execution to prompt vengeance. Troublemakers found themselves as
forced exiles on the Canadian borders. A strong military system invaded the
American populace with a continuance of the draft that used young men in civil
service. Blurry “American” ideals spawned wide-spread government corruption,
but it would be generations before Americans would be willing to speak out
against it.
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In reality, the rioters limited themselves to cobblestones
and bricks for ammunition. The brawl claimed sixteen lives: four soldiers and
sixteen Baltimoreans. Maryland did, in fact, vote on secession April 29, and
the legislature opposed it 53 to 13. Nonetheless, for the security of the
nation, General Butler declared martial law, suspending habeas corpus and ensuring no further votes could be held. In
commemoration of the riot, James Ryder Randall, Marylander living in Louisiana,
wrote “Maryland, My Maryland,” which would later become the state song despite somewhat
shocking lyrics. Union troops also secured the border states of Delaware and
Missouri, the latter with more violence.
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