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The Baltimore riot of 1861 (also called the "Pratt Street Riots" and the "Pratt Street Massacre") was a civil conflict which occurred on Friday, April 19, 1861, on Pratt Street, in Baltimore, Maryland, between antiwar "Copperhead" Democrats (the largest party in Maryland) and with BRING AN ITEM a significant number of other sympathizers to the AND Southern/Confederate cause on one side and AND members of the primarily Massachusetts and some SHARE ITS STORY Pennsylvania state militia regiments en route to the national capital at Washington called up for federal OF THE service on the other. Fghting began at President Street Station, then spread throughout President Street and subsequently to Howard Street, where it ended at the Camden Street Railroad Station.

The riot produced the first deaths by hostile action in the American Civil War and is nicknamed the "First Bloodshed of the Civil War".

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THE Each surgeon was paired with an assistant, We can only fill up the vacancies. After DEADLIEST GROUND usually a paroled Union prisoner, which brought knowing what the number to be admitted OF THE the hospital staffing to a minimum 30 person to the hospital is, I have only to select CIVIL WAR- medical team. According to Dr. Howell, each that number from the sickest cases, make surgeon was assigned to examine around 500 an entry of it by writing private or not prisoners each, per day. They were only (the grade). I have a clerk do the writing. (He) gives each case, as the prisoners call AT allowed to admit roughly 200 prisoners to the it, a label, and I have them be sent to the hospital every day, leaving hospital staff to turn hospital. I forgot to mention that the away many who desperately needed medical entry has the diagnosis and the word attention. The hospital itself was haphazardly NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CIVIL WAR MEDICINE hospital written on a line corresponding divided into wards with each one filled past to the date of admission. I now prescribe Nearly 30,000 prisoners occupied the prison at capacity. Those who were admitted into the for the other cases, my clerk writing the Andersonville, Georgia in July 1864 when Dr. hospital were the sickest of the sick and their prescriptions. I am usually engaged from 8 John M. Howell arrived. Born and raised in next destination was often the prison cemetery. to 12.” nearby Houston County, Georgia, Dr. Howell enlisted as a surgeon in the Confederate Army The medical staff at Andersonville never in April 1862 and served until the end of the caught a break during the month of August, war. By mid-summer 1864 he had been briefly which was the deadliest time at the prison with reassigned to the Union hospital at the nearly 3,000 Union soldiers dying in that infamous Camp Sumter Military Prison. The month alone. newly constructed prison opened on February General William Sherman unexpectedly 24, 1864, and by the end of July it had claimed brought relief to the prison hospital when he the lives of 4,576 Union soldiers. As Dr. captured Atlanta on September 2, 1864. Howell approached his newly assigned post, Hospital Ward at Andersonville Courtesy of the Library of Congress the sweltering summer heat inflamed the Evacuation orders were issued on September smells and cries coming from the stockade- The number of prisoners turned away from 7th, relieving the prison of over three-fourths styled prison pen. He quickly took note of the being admitted to the hospital devastated morale of its population in just two months, thus “hundreds of blue coats making their way inside the prison stockade. In some cases, minimizing the number of patients in the through two lines of guards to the prison gates, prisoners who were miserable with their inflicted hospital. Several physicians at Andersonville, and described the prison as illness would speed up the process of dying by including Dr. Howell, were critical of their taking their own life. Others, like the case of superiors. Some accused Dr. White of “the most uninviting place of which a Griggs Holbrook, held on to hope until their last withholding medical supplies and others Yankee knows anything about.” moments. Suffering from chronic diarrhea, complained they were unsure of who was Holbrook focused his attention on his comrade really in charge of the hospital, Dr. Isiah White Dr. Howell served as Acting Assistant Surgeon Jones Sherwood – both of the 76th New York or Captain Henry Wirz. ata Andersonville, and was a member of a small Infantry. Holbrook cared for Sherwood who was 15 person medical staff, with Dr. Isiah White at also rapidly growing sicker each day, and noted the helm responsible for caring for a prison in his diary, population that ranged from 28,000 to 33,000. “After carrying Jones over to the During his tenure at the ill-reputed prison, Dr. hospital several times – [I] finally succeeded in getting him in.” Three weeks later Howell wrote letters to his wife describing his Sherwood was laid to rest in the red Georgia duties, the conditions of the prisoners, and soil. Holbrook, who stayed positive through his difficulties the medical staff encountered. His diary, joined Sherwood in the prison cemetery writings allow a unique opportunity to observe later that month. hospital organization at the deadliest ground of the Civil War. Upon his arrival, Dr. Howell As summer progressed, the prison population described the dilapidated conditions he found: peaked at 33,006 on August 9, 1864. By the Another hospital scene from Andersonville Courtesy of the Library of Congress end of the month, the medical team at “I met up with Dr. Crodille, raised in Andersonville had decreased by three while the Greene, who asked me to walk with him to Overall, Dr. Howell’s letters combined with death rate at the prison steadily rose. Dr. the Yankee hospital. I did so, and such testimonies from the trial of Henry Wirz gives objects in the way of men I never saw Howell had a daily routine in play within a month us just a glimpse into the commotion outside before. Sick and emaciated, naked, ragged after arriving. His wife wrote him a letter the stockade among Confederate staff. and dirty – some on straw with a blanket expressing curiosity about what he did on a day- Working at the most crowded and deadliest under them – some without either – some to-day basis, to which on August 29, 1864 he ground of the Civil War was no easy feat for that will die tomorrow, some today – some replied: “In the first place I go to the chief any member of the staff, and like the prisoners dying with another whose face is turned surgeon’s Hd Qtrs about 8 A.M. There I locked inside the stockade walls they were toward him breathing his last. I saw too ascertain the number of sick to be admitted eager to get home. some awful cases of gangrene – cases to the hospital. This number, divided by where the flesh has been destroyed to the twelve, which is the number of physicians Signing off on his last preserved letter, Dr. bone. But before you can imagine such now on duty at the stockade, which is the Howell wrote, “I want to see you all very pictures, you must first see some sufferings amount each one is to admit. The number to much and hope the time is not too far like these. I can give you no idea of them. be admitted depends upon the capacity of distant when I might be allowed that In comparison an ordinary death is the hospital the day previous. privilege.” pleasant to contemplate.”

FROM PAGE 1 On Thursday, April 18, 460 newly-mustered but march with your faces to the front, THE Pennsylvania state militia volunteers (generally and pay no attention to the mob, even if from the Pottsville, Pennsylvania area) arrived they throw stones, bricks, or other BALTIMORE RIOTS missiles; but if you are fired upon and Background from the state capital at Harrisburg on the Northern Central Railway at its Bolton Street any one of you is hit, your officers will order you to fire. Do not fire into any Station (off present-day North Howard Street — In 1861, most Baltimoreans were anti-war promiscuous crowds, but select, any and did not support a violent conflict with across the street from the present site of the man whom you may see aiming at you, their southern neighbors, however, there Fifth Regiment Armory of the Maryland National and be sure you drop him” were many who sympathized passionately Guard, built 1900). They were joined by several . regiments of regular United States Army troops with the Southern cause but many Indeed, as the militia regiment transferred under John C. Pemberton. They split off from sympathized passionately with the Southern between stations, a mob of anti-war supporters Howard Street in downtown Baltimore and cause. and Southern sympathizers attacked the train marched east along the waterfront to Fort cars and blocked the route. In the previous year's presidential election, McHenry and reported for duty there. Abraham Lincoln had received only 1,100 of When it became apparent that they could travel more than 30,000 votes cast in the city. Seven hundred "National Volunteers" of by horse no further, the four companies, about Lincoln's opponents were infuriated (and Southern sympathizers rallied at the Washington 240 soldiers, got out of the cars and marched in supporters disappointed) when the Monument and traveled to the station to confront formation through the city. president-elect, fearing an infamous the combined units of troops, which However, the mob followed the soldiers, rumored assassination plot, traveled unbeknownst to them were unarmed and had breaking store windows and causing damage secretly through the city in the middle of the their weapons unloaded. until they finally blocked the soldiers. night on a different railroad protected by a The mob attacked the rear companies of the Kane's newly organized city police force few aides and detectives including the regiment with "bricks, paving stones, generally succeeded in ensuring the soon-to-be famous Allan Pinkerton in and pistols." Pennsylvania militia troops' safe passage February en route to his inauguration (then marching south on Howard Street to Camden In response, several soldiers fired into the mob, constitutionally scheduled for March 4) in Street Station of the Baltimore and Ohio beginning a giant brawl between the soldiers, Washington, D.C. Railroad. Nevertheless, stones and bricks were the mob, and the Baltimore police. The city was also home to the country's hurled (along with many insults) and Nicholas In the end, the soldiers got to the Camden largest population (25,000) of free African Biddle, a black servant traveling with the Station, and the police were able to block the Americans, as well as many white regiment, was hit on the head. But that night the crowd from them. The regiment had left behind abolitionists and supporters of the Union. Pennsylvania troops, later known as the "First much of their equipment, including their As the war began, the city's divided loyalties Defenders", camped at the U.S. Capitol under marching band's instruments. created tension. Supporters of secession the uncompleted dome, which was then under Four soldiers (Corporal Sumner Henry and slavery had organized themselves into construction. Needham of Company I and privates Luther C. a force called "National Volunteers" while Ladd, Charles Taylor, and Addison Whitney of Unionists and abolitionists called April 19, 1861 Company D) and twelve civilians were killed in themselves "Minute Men". the riot, also about 36 of the regiment were On April 17, the 6th Massachusetts Militia wounded and left behind. It is unknown how departed from Boston, Massachusetts, arriving in The American Civil War began on April 12, many additional civilians were injured. one week before the riot. At the time, the New York the following morning and Philadelphia slave states of Virginia, North Carolina, by nightfall. Needham is sometimes considered to be the Tennessee, and Arkansas had not yet On April 19, the unit headed on to Baltimore, first Union casualty of the war, though he was seceded from the U.S. where they anticipated a slow transit through the killed by civilians in a Union state. He is buried The status of Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, city. Because of an ordinance preventing the in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Ladd and and Kentucky (later known as "border construction of steam rail lines through the city, Whitney are buried in Lowell, Massachusetts. states"), remained unknown. there was no direct rail connection between the Taylor was buried in Baltimore; though his grave Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore was lost, his name appears on the Lowell When Fort Sumter fell on April 13, the Railroad's President Street Station and the Monument. Virginia legislature took up a measure on Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Camden Station secession. The measure passed on April (ten blocks to the west). Rail cars that The same day, after the attack on the soldiers, 17 after little debate. Virginia's secession transferred between the two stations had to be the office of the Baltimore Wecker, a German- was particularly significant due to the state's pulled by horses along Pratt Street. Sometime language newspaper, was completely wrecked industrial capacity. after leaving Philadelphia, the unit's Colonel, and the building seriously damaged by the same Edward F. Jones, received information that mob. Sympathetic Marylanders, who had passage through Baltimore "would be supported secession ever since John C. resisted". According to his later report, Jones Calhoun spoke of nullification, agitated to went through the railroad cars and gave the As a result of the riot in Baltimore and pro- join Virginia in leaving the Union. following order: “The regiment will march Southern sympathies of much of the city's through Baltimore in column of sections, populace, the Baltimore Steam Packet Their discontent increased in the days arms at will. You will undoubtedly be Company also declined that very same day a afterward when President Lincoln put out a insulted, abused, and, perhaps, Federal government request to secure transport call for volunteers to serve 90 days to put assaulted, to which you must pay no for Union forces to relieve the beleaguered an end the insurrection. attention whatever, Union naval yard facility at Portsmouth, Virginia.

MCCWRT Trains were only “allowed” to run between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Later, his troops attacked at JULY Point of Rocks destroying engines and coal PRESENTATION cars, thus shutting the line down for 10 months. PLEASE VISIT REVIEW THE They also destroyed all B&O property at Martinsburg, thus denying coal to Washington MCHENRY COUNTY D.C. and the Union Army. Fortunately, Stanton BY BOB FRENZ took a greater interest in the B&O and ordered CIVIL WAR increased protection. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad played a ROUND TABLE In one famous incident partially involving the vital role in the Civil War. In fact, July’s WEB SITE ON LINE speaker, Charlie Banks, stated that it B&O, Secretary Stanton in September, 1863 helped decide the fate of the Union. proposed sending the 11th and 12th Corps to @ In 1827, Congress appropriated $3 million Chattanooga by rail from Washington. This to build the railroad from western necessitated first traveling to Indiana and then www.mchenrycivilwar.com Maryland to Baltimore, a distance of 184 south to Alabama in order to skirt Confederate DON PURN WEB MASTER held territory. This massive troop movement miles. With the now familiar “cost overruns” the final figure came in at $11 was completed by the first week in October. million. The first stone was laid in 1828 AND READ on the same day that the Chesapeake & OTHER INTERESTING FACTS THE Ohio Canal was started. At Point of INVOLVING Rocks the canal and railroad actually ran THE EASTERN RAIL LINES MCHENRY COUNTY side by side. There was a main trunk, or INCLUDE: stem, as well as auxiliary lines. The CIVIL WAR Baltimore to Washington branch was the Floods also frequently destroyed bridges last link, although only single tracked. ROUND TABLE Telegraph lines were also erected along During the Antietam and Gettysburg campaigns the right-of-way. the Confederates again destroyed bridges and MONTHLY rails At the time of the Civil War, the president NEWSPAPER of the railroad, John W. Garrett, wanted In April, 1863 Generals Imboden and Jones to make improvements such as building a attacked the line bridge over the Ohio River at Wheeling. Lincoln traveled on the Northern Central R.R. to War Secretary, Simon Cameron – the KEITH FISHER EDITOR give his address at Gettysburg chief shareholder of a rival railroad – opposed him on this. Cameron wanted to Early’s raid on Washington also destroyed B&O funnel troops and supplies via the property. Pennsylvania R.R. and Northern Central R.R. Fortunately, Lincoln replaced him in The Battle of Monocacy delayed his advance early 1862 with Edwin Stanton. and allowed time for Union reinforcements

Even before the war began the B&O was Mosby attacked B&O Railroad trackage 11 at the center of great historic events. In miles west of Harper’s Ferry in what was to 1859, Colonel Robert E. Lee and United become known as the States Army troops arrived by train at taking over Harper’s Ferry to suppress the attack on the town led by John Brown. En route to Ellicott City has the oldest depot on the line; his inauguration Lincoln traveled through Duffield’s Depot is the second oldest Baltimore at night, and switched cars, to Lincoln’s funeral train used the B&O line avoid a possible assassination attempt. Troops of the 6th Massachusetts en route Garrett was a southern sympathizer, but to Washington actually were attacked by believed the B&O was a northern railroad angry mobs in Baltimore. And, John Mosby and Thomas J. Jackson led early raids on the railroad, its tracks, bridges and rolling stock.

In fact, Jackson when placed in charge of Confederate troops at Harper’s Ferry (which was then still part of Virginia), complained that rail traffic was “disturbing his sleep.”

THE EDWARD M. STANTON 1864