Volume 10, Number 1 Spring 2011 Official Song, but Is It ? Hecht-II: 1st Civil War Death BCHS Plans Contest for New One Attributed to Fell’s Pointers

By Michael S. Franch By Michael J. Lisicky President, BCHS Most people who study this city’s role in Two songs commemorate violence in the Civil War are familiar with “The Baltimore. The most famous is our national Riot,” also known as ‘The Riot,” anthem, inspired by the bombardment of that produced, by all accounts until now, the Fort McHenry in 1814. The other is our official first fatalities of the conflict. Trains then -ar state song, “Maryland, My Maryland,” which rived from the north along tracks on Canton commemorates the Pratt Street Riot of April Avenue, known today as Fleet Street, which 19, 1861, when a Baltimore mob attacked the “Baltimore in 1861” by J. C. Robinson fed into . At that Sixth Regiment in passage Pratt Street Riot of April 19, 1861. point, the railroad cars--in this case bearing to Washington. There were deaths on both federal troops bound for Washington--were sides, the first of the Civil War. A Maryland Union Cannons Reined in City removed from the locomotive. Each car was native living in Louisiana, James Ryder Ran- then pulled by horses westward on Pratt dall, wrote the poem that, set to the carol “O By Jay Merwin Street, off limits to engines, along tracks to Tannenbaum,” was popular during the war Within a month after the April 19, 1861, --now a museum at Oriole and eventually became Maryland’s official Baltimore riot, federal troops seized the com- Park. The cars joined a locomotive there and song—but not until 1939! manding heights of Federal Hill and trained continued south to the capital. On April 19, If you went to elementary school in their cannons on much of the southern end 1861, that routine collapsed into a riot that Maryland, you probably learned some of its of the city. On the low ground, federal au- left at least four soldiers and more than a nine over-wrought verses. It begins: thorities followed through with a proclama- dozen rioters dead. The despot’s heel is on thy shore, tion to seize any munitions destined for the But Simeon Hecht, German-born scion Maryland! My Maryland! Confederacy, restrict meetings of armed men of a family of merchants in Fell’s Point, tells His torch is at thy temple door, and ban display of Confederate flags and a different story about that day. Yes, he tells Maryland! My Maryland! other signs of favor toward the rebellion. of bloodshed but he insists that the first Avenge the patriotic gore Baltimore was the nerve center of casualty did not occur on Pratt, near Gay That flecked the streets of Baltimore, the B&O Railroad, which was essential for Street, but a dozen blocks east in Fell’s Point. And be the battle queen of yore, transporting federal troops to the fight in On that April 19, a long train, 25 to 30 cars, Maryland! My Maryland! , and a hotbed of southern sympa- arrived in Baltimore by way of the tracks on That is about all that most remember. thy. Of necessity, the military presence was Canton Avenue (Fleet Street). The train car- Lines such as “Huzza! she spurns the Northern overwhelming. ried the Massachusetts 6th Regiment, along scum!” might stick in the craw, but not in the The federal government went on to with some volunteers from Pennsylvania memory. The official version differs in one erect more fortifications around town: just who were responding to Lincoln’s call to regard from the version here. It has a single east of , near the current site of arms. “Maryland!” in the stanzas’ second and fourth Johns Hopkins Hospital, near Mt. Clare, and According to Hecht’s 1908 memoir, lines--not double. This is derided by most other points. Barracks sprang up in Lafay- which surfaced recently at the Jewish Mu- critics and generally it is printed and sung as ette Square, Carroll Park and Druid Hill Park. seum, his son was playing at recess at Public shown. Certainly, there are other reasons to Downtown hotels were commandeered School #2, Broadway and Bank Street. Sud- find the song deficient. It offers a one-sided for military headquarters and former slave- denly the students heard shots and outcries. view of a historic event. It treats the long- dealers’ pens in Camden Station served as They looked down Broadway to see men resolved issue of secession as still open. Many temporary prisons for unruly Union soldiers with guns and axes attacking a train travel- Marylanders then and today find its senti- and detained southern sympathizers. Fort ing westward along Canton Avenue (Fleet ments repugnant. Perhaps most significantly, McHenry, significantly reinforced with troops Street). Hannah Hecht went for Simeon’s it does not promote the state. It says nothing after the riots, was a way station for captured son at school and hustled him home. As of its natural beauty, many attractions, or the Confederate soldiers and sympathizers on Simeon was not home, Hannah huddled achievements of its citizens. “Northern scum” their way to larger, permanent camps to with her children in the cellar but watched certainly doesn’t welcome visitors or inves- the north. Federal gunboats patrolled the the conflict. They witnessed, said Hecht, a tors from above the Mason-Dixon Line. Chesapeake Bay and the Patapsco River. Union soldier being pulled from the train. Several attempts to replace Randall’s Although never reaching the confla- He was beaten to death by the mob and his verses have failed. (Continued on Page 2) gration of the April (Continued on Page 2) body was left on the (Continued on Page 2) Baltimore Burst Into Song Maryland - Continued from page 1 By Don Torres The latest was in 2009, when State Sen. Jen- Chair of Board of Directors . . . John C. Murphy Most Marylanders may know the state nie Forehand proposed substituting words has an embattled official song, “Maryland, My that John T. White wrote in 1894 celebrating President ...... Michael S. Franch Maryland,” but how many recall Baltimore’s the state’s beauty. (See Robert H. Johnson Newsletter Editor ...... Lewis H. Diuguid official anthem, “Baltimore, Our Baltimore”? Jr., “James Ryder Randall and ‘Maryland, My Newsletter Layout ...... Tina Fleming When was this song last sung in our schools Maryland,’” Maryland Historical Magazine 105, Staff ...... Jay Merwin and Don Torres or elsewhere for that matter? 2 [Summer 2010], 141-42) for White’s lyrics.) [email protected] www.historicbaltimore.org The song begins in 1915, just 11 years af- The 150th anniversary of the riot that ter the . It was a growing inspired Randall’s poem should offer inspira- From the President city and civic pride was surging. Progressive tion to poets and songwriters to find new Mayor James H. Preston already had achieved words and perhaps new music to inspire History--More Than a Degree a municipal flag, designed by Hans Schuler. It modern-day Marylanders. Since the inspi- By Michael S. Franch still waves. Preston also wanted an anthem. rational event and subject of the first verse Once upon a time, History (meaning He offered two considerable prizes, of $250 occurred here, the Baltimore City Historical “historians”) would not have been inter- each in gold for the best poem on Baltimore Society is sponsoring a contest to find a song ested in most of us—people who lead and best musical adaptation. Prestigious or songs that Marylanders would be proud to ordinary lives, not armies, political move- judges were selected. Entries were received sing. Recruiting of judges is underway. Watch ments, or voyages of discovery. We might from every state. our website: www.historicbaltimore.org/ for own nice things, but not artistic treasures. In September, the prize for best poem details. We have some “movers and shakers” in our was awarded to a Sun columnist, Folger McK- In the spirit of the original, here is an Historical Society, but most of us are more insey, known as the Bentztown Bard. Com- invitation to your own creativity: shaken than shakers. petition for best musical adaptation com- From Garrett peak to Eastern Shore, Mary- Fortunately, the old way of looking menced. On January 5, 1916, this prize was land! My Maryland! at history is history, and historians have awarded to Emma Hemberger and the song Our state song is a yawning bore, Maryland! discovered and are still discovering new was first performed a month later. Emma, also My Maryland! ways of looking at the past and finding a pianist and singer, had married Theodor No wonder patriots ignore the bad poem new stories to tell. It sometimes comes as Hemberger in 1903. He became a conductor about Baltimore a jolt to think that it was just 20 years ago at Peabody and a member of H.L. Mencken’s Let’s celebrate our great state’s lore, Mary- that a group of scholars published “The Bal- Saturday Night Club of musicians. According land! My Maryland! timore Book: New Views of Local History,” to David Donovan of the Pratt Library’s Fine a ground-breaking look at the city’s labor, Arts Department, Emma also wrote “Sophie Union Cannons - Continued from page 1 African-American, and women’s history. Waltz,” dedicating it to Mencken. A copy was riot, violence flared sporadically in the city, Or consider Seth Rockman’s “Scraping By: found in his effects. especially on the news of significant Union Wage Labor, Slavery, and Survival in Early As for “Baltimore, Our Baltimore,” City Pa- victories. Citizens thought to be aiding the Baltimore,” (2009), on working-class life in per critic Toni Morrison calls it “a pretty song Confederacy occasionally were arrested the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Stud- . . . miles better than the dippy state song by city police--who were under control of ies such as these tell us a lot was going on ‘Maryland, My Maryland.’” She said the Balti- federal provost marshals. In one instance, that many people at the time did not notice more Symphony Orchestra last performed it attendance at the funeral of a Confederate because they were living it--and historians at Memorial Stadium during the 1969 World officer killed in battle was sufficient cause. missed it while looking farther back. Series. Baltimore was the first U.S. city to With suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, Two studies mine relatively recent adopt a municipal anthem, and not many some people were held without trial. (from my perspective) Baltimore past: followed. Chicago and New York inspired Not until early in 1866 did the provost Antero Pietila’s “Not in My Neighborhood: enduring pop songs. Hoagy Carmichael’s marshal’s department go out of business in How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City,” “Baltimore Oriole” is more about the bird. Maryland. Such was life under “the despot’s and Howell Baum’s “Brown in Baltimore: The city anthem has four verses, but most heel,” as the opening line of Maryland’s state School Desegregation and the Limits of who remember singing it in school in the song still puts it. Liberalism,” (both 2010). These books are 1940s and 1950s were confined to the first: The largest Union encampment in Bal- about movers and shakers, some still living, Baltimore, where Carroll flourished, timore was at Camp Carroll, overlooking the but also about community attitudes—and And the fame of Calvert grew! B&O. It is now a city park. The B&O will be that we are the community and we have Here the old defenders conquered offering rides this season to the ex-camp “attitudes” that shape history. I suspect as their valiant swords they drew. This article is based on “Maryland in the future historians will find that we tell them Here the starry banner glistened Civil War” by Harold R. Manakee; “Maryland: much by where we live and work, by how In the sunshine of the sea, The South’s First Casualty” by Bart Rhett Tal- and if we participate in our communities, In that dawn of golden vision bert and “Maryland’s Blue & Gray: A Border the causes we support, and the injustices That awoke the song of Key: State’s Union and Confederate Junior Officer they see that we are blind to. It will be in- Here are hearts that beat forever Corps” by Kevin Conley Ruffner. Sources on teresting, for those around when historians For the city we adore; this topic in the Maryland history room at the study the early 21st century, to find out what Here for the love of men and brothers-- Free Library, where these books history we made. Baltimore, our Baltimore! may be found, tend to lean south. Page 2 Baltimore City Historical Society Hecht II - Continued from page 1 code of living” forced the area’s residents to sidewalk. When the commotion subsided, move to the Broadway area, between Canton Hannah had the body brought to her store at Avenue and Baltimore Street. Canton Avenue and Regester Street. A mob Broadway became an assortment of threatened to attack the Hecht store but commercial and residential buildings. Canton police from the Eastern Station arrived and Avenue was home to the tracks of the Phila- took the body to police headquarters. Hecht delphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad. concludes by saying this was the location of Originally the rail cars were powered by hors- the first casualty of the Civil War. es, then steam engines. Citizens complained Could that be? All other reports say that of being endangered the railroad agreed to Southern sympathizers attacked the Massa- hire a flag man to walk in front, warning of chusetts troops as they made their journey Maryland Historical Society moving trains. from President Street Station to Camden Broadway in epoch of the Civil War. In the late 1840s, the art of beer making Station. How can Hecht see otherwise and began to advance here. Brewmaster George be so adamant about it in his writings? He debt, the individual or business was protect- Rost made the first keg of beer in Baltimore, states that the troops on the train in Fell’s ed from suit for nonpayment. This benefited said Hecht. Rost’s beer was “made in the old Point were unarmed. Other accounts say the southerners because it helped keep money country style” (German). He purchased the in- troops from Massachusetts were armed with within the boundaries of the south. It was gredients at a Hecht family grocery business muskets, even though they were under strict “death to northern creditors,” said Hecht. at Broadway and Shakespeare Street. Rost orders not to shoot. Simeon states that the “first person” to brought the malt and hops to his property How do you pull someone from a mov- take advantage of the Stay Law was his broth- at the foot of Bond Street. Rost’s business ing train? At least eight cars made the trip er, Samuel Hecht Jr. Samuel was the founder grew and by the mid 1850s he relocated to down Pratt Street without incident before of The Hecht Co. that thrived for well over a Belair Road near North Avenue. Rost’s was the disturbance occurred. Could this long century. Soon after Sam took advantage of the famous Standard Brewery. In 1853, he train have been stopped in Fell’s Point as the the Stay Law, his other siblings followed suit. employed John Frederick Wiessner as brew- Massachusetts troops received word of the Unfortunately, the debt that the Hecht sib- master. Wiessner came from Bavaria in 1862. Pratt Street attacks? As stated earlier, at the lings owed was to Simeon. Almost overnight, In 1863, Wiessner founded the American end of the train was some volunteers from he lost $60,000, a huge sum at the time, by Brewery--its 1887 building newly restored. Pennsylvania. These troops were unarmed. his accounting--all due to the actions of his By 1861, there were at least eight busi- They might have been on a stopped train as brothers. Simeon had to sell off everything nesses in East Baltimore that Simeon Hecht the rowdy crowd advanced in Fell’s Point. that he had to house and clothe his family. helped finance. Two were on Broadway. Most accounts of the killings that day Before the Civil War, Fell’s Point was com- Simeon and his brother Samuel each owned include four privates from the Massachusetts ing into its own as an established community. a competing dry goods stores. After organiz- militia and about 11 city civilians. Some add Simeon Hecht recalls that in the late 1840s, ing his finances, Simeon branched out into a southern sympathizer, perhaps even a sol- the residential portion of Fell’s Point centered fruit- and oyster-packing. He became the first dier, shot dead in Camden Station early on. on Fell, Thames and Ann Streets. The makeup Jew to enter the thriving oyster business. But A memorial displayed by Friends of President of the area began to change due to “the neither survived. The oyster operation was Street Station also lists a 26th Regiment rapid and continuous arrival of the ‘foreign deeply in debt due to the nonrepayment of Pennsylvania volunteer, shot at the station, element’.” Their “degenerate and immoral business loans by his siblings. Simeon states who died on return home. The Friends have that “had they acted honestly, [Simeon Hecht] a data base on the casualties that does not German Encomium would have been one of the wealthiest men corroborate Hecht. But could his be the real among the Hebrew fraternity in Baltimore.” account of the first death? History is usually Dear John [C. Murphy, Chairman], Samuel Hecht, referred to by Simeon documented through personal accounts. But The German Society wishes to thank as “the crook,” built a business based on Hecht’s version makes one wonder if other you, your editor Lewis H. Diuguid, and credit. In 1879, he opened Hecht’s Reliable versions are farther from the facts. your organization for dedicating your fall Store, a popular Broadway retail establish- Hecht’s narrative continues that after the newsletter to the history of Germans in Bal- ment for almost 80 years. By 1885, Samuel death of this soldier, a crowd of Union sym- timore! You have covered several important expanded throughout the city. His son Moses pathizers in Fell’s Point raised the “Stars and aspects of this history, of which your mem- helped build the famous Hecht Co. empire. Stripes” across Broadway from the Regester bers/readers may not have been aware, Other members of the family are chastised. St. side to the opposite corner. This suggests including the information on Friedrich It is clear that the businesses that the Hecht the sentiment in Fell’s Point might have been Raine and “Der Deutsche Correspondent” . families built ended up breaking the bonds more for the Union than the Confederacy-- . . and the importance of Zion Church . . . . of brotherhood. Still, the family grew up with contrary to the general city position. After the While we have provided a link to your web Baltimore until the name finally came off all riot, Baltimore was held at bay for the course site on our site for our members, we would remaining stores in 2006. of the war. also like to print some of your material in Lisicky is author of “Hutzler’s: Where Bal- Maryland and two other border states, our future newsletters . . . . timore Shops” and “Wanamaker’s: Meet Me at Kentucky and Tennessee, enacted a “Stay Sincerely, the Eagle.” He is a musician with the Baltimore Law” that mostly benefited the southern Brigitte V. Fessenden, past president Symphony and a member of the board of the Pres- states. If any corporation or citizen owed a The German Society of Maryland ervation Society of Federal Hill and Fell’s Point. Baltimore City Historical Society Page 3 Volume 10, Number 1 Baltimore City Historical Society Spring 2011

History Evenings at Mid-term include authors of the 150-Yr. Commemoration of War The Baltimore City Historical Society and original and people The city-owned President Street Station, the Village Learning Place are sponsoring looking at the same which had failed as Civil War museum several their third year of free evening Baltimore issues anew. A final years ago, has reopened to commemorate its history presentations at the Village Learning lecture in the series is role 150 years in the bloody passage through Place, 2521 St. Paul Street. Each begins with to be presented June the city of Washington-bound federal troops. a reception at 7PM, and the presentation at 16. The Friends of President Street Station, dedi- 7:30. On March 17, the topic was “Desegre- The series got off cated to maintenance, played a vital role in Gilbert Sandler gation, Baltimore, 1954: What Happened?” to a swinging start on preventing its demolition in the 1980s. The Baltimore peacefully desegregated its public January 20, with Loyola Professor Mark Os- group has gathered memorabilia and dis- schools in 1954, but never achieved real in- teen and students who helped write the book plays in the waiting room to tell the tales of tegration. Howell Baum, professor of Urban he co-edited with Frank J. Graziano last year, this terminus of the , Wilmington Studies and Planning at the University of “Music at the Crossroads: Lives and Legacies and Baltimore Railroad, established in 1838. Maryland, and author of “Brown in Baltimore: of Baltimore Jazz.” It spotlights careers closely On Saturday, April 15, one parade will School Desegregation and the Limits of Lib- associated with the city, from pianist-writer end at the station and a larger one will then eralism (2010)” laid out the shortfall and its Eubie Blake and drummer Chick Webb to start there. The Confederate-oriented Friends consequences. singers Billie Holiday and Ethel Ennis, as well of the station will hold their annual parade, Still to come, on April 21, is “Gilbert as Peabody-trained contemporary pianist forming up on the Square in Fell’s Point at Sandler: A Life in Baltimore.” Newspaper- Cyrus Chestnut. 8:30AM for the march to President Street. At man Sandler has told city tales for decades On February 17, State Archivist Ed Pap- 11, a city parade will trace the route taken by in books, articles, and on the radio, but now enfuse took by the throat a long-running city the Union soldiers along then-riotous Pratt he will talk about his own life in journalism, topic, “A Communist Spy in Charles Village, Street to Camden Station--where the troops public relations, and exploration of the city. Or the Framing of Alger Hiss?” Laying out the boarded the B&O. Curator Patrick McHugh The May 19 topic will be “Where Do We conflict of half a century ago between author of the Friends exhibit notes that by city rules Go from Here? The 20th Anniversary of “The and ex-Communist Whitaker Chambers and no Confederate uniforms or flags can be Baltimore Book: New Views of Local History.” the Johns Hopkins professor he accused included among the units in the parade. He This ground-breaking look at Baltimore’s of being a Soviet spy, Hiss, Papenfuse con- predicts some rebel yells along the way. labor, African-American, and women’s his- cluded that “Chambers made it all up.” Hiss Admission is free at the Station, which tory is still in print after 20 years. What did it was never exonerated of a perjury conviction is open weekends and is extending hours to tell about Baltimore, and what would a 21st and evidence surfacing since the collapse 10AM-5PM on April 15-17. The Friends hope century New Views look like? Presenters will of the Soviet Union has been interpreted as for more than weekend hours this summer. # implicating him. But Papenfuse found against Artifacts include arms but also music, includ- BCHS: Please Renew or Join the author of “Witness.” ing “The Fort Federal Hill Quick-Step.”

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Email Address Check type of membership desired: q Individual ($15) q Student/Senior (65 or older) ($10) q Family/Household ($20) q Sustaining ($50) q Endowment ($100) q 1797 Circle for Business and Corporal Leadership - sponsor of BCHS educational program ($500) I wish to be a joint member of the BCHS/MHS (see below) qIndividual qFamily/Household Joint Maryland Historical Society/Baltimore City Histori- cal Society Membership Opportunity! To the BCHS dues shown above, add $35 (Individual) or $50 (Family/House- hold) to become a member of MHS. (This represents a discount from the $50/$65 MHS membership dues.) Your discounted dues will be apportioned on renewal. Total Amount Enclosed $ Send form with check payable to Baltimore City Histori- cal Society to BCHS, c/o Maryland Historical Society,201 West Monument St., Baltimore, MD 21201.