"Then was shed the first blood in a conflict between North and South..." THE NINETEENTH OF APRIL, 1861 AStUt e War MAYOR OF BALTIMORE, 1860—1861 introduction by Kevin Conley RufFner LJUUU UuU UU SHOWING ROUTE OF RAIL ROAD THROUGH BALTIMORE FROM PRESIDENT ST. STATION TO CAMDEN ST. BALTIMOEE AND THE NINETEENTH OF APRIL, 1861 A Study of the War BY GEOEGE WILLIAM BROWN Chief Judge of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore, and Mayor of the City in 1861 WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY KEVIN CONLEY RUFFNER THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS BALTIMORE AND LONDON Copyright © 2001 by The Johns Hopkins University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Originally published by N. Murray, Publication Agent, Johns Hopkins University, 1887 Johns Hopkins Paperbacks edition, 2001 987654321 The Johns Hopkins University Press 2715 North Charles Street Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363 www.press.jhu.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Brown, George William, 1812-1890. Baltimore and the nineteenth of April, 1861 : a study of the war / by George William Brown, p. cm. Originally published: Baltimore : N. Murray, 1887, in series: Johns Hopkins University studies in historical and political science. Extra volume; 3. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8018-6724-X (pbk.: acid-free paper) 1. Baltimore (Md.)—History—Civil War, 1861-1865. 2. Baltimore (Md.)—History—Civil War, 1861-1865—Personal narratives. 3. Baltimore (Md.)—History—Civil War, 1861-1865—Social aspects. 4. Riots- Maryland—Baltimore—History—19th century. 5. Secession—Maryland. 6. Brown, George William, 1812-1890. 7. Mayors—Maryland- Baltimore—Biography. 8. United States—History—Civil War, 1861- 1865—Personal narratives. 9. United States—History—Civil War, 1861- 1865—Social aspects. 10. United States—Politics and government— 1861-1865.1. Title: Baltimore and the 19th of April, 1861. II. Title. F189.B157B76 2001 975.27103—dc21 2001018658 A catalog volume of this book is available from the British Library. INTRODUCTION TO THE 2001 EDITION. Few Marylanders better represent the tragedy that befell the state of Maryland in the mid-nineteenth century than George William Brown. As mayor of Baltimore in 1861, Brown was helpless to prevent the breakup of the United States; and he suffered much in the ensuing conflict. His account of those climatic days on the local level is both heartrending and insightful. It serves as a reminder of what can happen when passion overtakes reason and when normal social and political ties are stretched beyond the breaking point. Not until 1887 did Brown feel that he could record his memories of how the Civil War came to Maryland; and even then he stepped carefully. As he wrote in the first chapter of Baltimore and the Nineteenth of April, 1861, "it is not pleasant to disturb the ashes of a great conflagration"; the cold surface concealed "embers still capable of emitting both smoke and heat." Brown took up his pen because he realized that he was among the last living members of his generation who could describe the events that took place in Baltimore. "But more than twenty-five years have passed, and with them have passed away most of the generation then living; as one of the rapidly diminishing survivors, I am admonished by the lengthening shadows that anything I may have to say should be said speedily." Fortunately for those interested in Maryland's history and her role in the Civil War, Brown heeded his own advice; within three years of the book's publication, he was dead. How did George William Brown arrive upon the stage in 1861 and what role did he play at the outbreak of the Civil War? Born in Baltimore on October 13, 1812, Brown was the vi Baltimore and the \§th of April, 1861. son of George John Brown, a city merchant, and Esther Allison. His paternal grandfather, Dr. George Brown, was born in Ireland, studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, and settled in Baltimore in 1783. On his mother's side, Brown's grandfather, Rev. Dr. Patrick Allison, was the first minister of Baltimore's First Presbyterian Church.1 Reflective of his status as a member of Baltimore's gentry, Brown received a classical secondary education at the Balti- more City College and attended Dartmouth College for his undergraduate studies. Forced to leave school upon the death of his father, Brown returned to his studies and graduated from New Jersey's Rutgers College in 1831 at the head of his class. That same year, he read law in the offices of Judge Pruviance and was admitted to the Baltimore Bar shortly afterwards. In 1839 Brown joined with Frederick W. Brune, a former classmate and an old friend, to establish a law practice in Baltimore, a partnership that prospered over the decades to become Baltimore's oldest firm. Brown married Clara Maria Brune, the sister of his partner, later that year. The couple eventually had seven children. Brown became increasingly active in Baltimore affairs as Maryland underwent political, social, and economic upheavals during the first half of the nineteenth century. The impending expiration of the Second Bank of the United States' charter in 1836 prompted a contentious debate between President An- drew Jackson and Congress. In 1831, Jackson vetoed a bill to renew the bank's charter and this became a leading issue during the 1832 presidential campaign. After his reelection, Jackson wanted to destroy the bank through the withdrawal of 1 Biographical details about Brown's life are found in a variety of newspaper clippings located in the Dielman-Hayward File at the Maryland Historical Soci- ety, Baltimore, Md. The clippings were drawn from unidentified Baltimore news- papers and other miscellaneous sources. Introduction to the 2001 Edition. vii federal deposits. In a controversial move, Jackson redirected federal deposits from the central bank to some twenty-three state-chartered banks, the so-called "pet banks." In the meantime, the national bank crisis brought about the collapse of several Maryland banks, including the Bank of Maryland, in 1834. By the following year, many Marylanders faced financial ruin as deposits disappeared with no hope of recovery. On August 6, 1835, a small group of Baltimoreans attacked the residence of Reverdy Johnson, one of the Bank of Maryland's trustees. After a quick appeal from Baltimore Mayor Jesse Hunt, the group dispersed and Mayor Hunt called for a series of public meetings to discuss the bank's problems. For the next several days, the threat of mob action against the Bank of Maryland hung in the air. On August 8, rioting broke out in Baltimore's Monument Square,. Unable to attack Johnson's guarded residence, the rioters turned their atten- tion to the house of another bank trustee and ransacked it.2 Volunteer citizen guards and police forces opened fire on the rioters, but the violence continued the next evening when Johnson's house and other property were also pillaged. Balti- more appeared on the verge of anarchy with the city's govern- ment helpless to protect life and property. Federal forces rushed to the city while General Samuel Smith, a hero of the War of 1812, rallied Baltimoreans to suppress the mob action. Twenty-two-year-old George William Brown answered General Smith's call and served as a volunteer during Baltimore's long, hot summer of 1835. 2 A description of the Bank Riots and the events leading up to the break- down of law and order in Baltimore can be found in J. Thomas Scharf, History of Maryland from the Earliest Period to the Present Day (Baltimore: J. B. Piet, 1879; reprint ed., Hatboro: Tradition Press, 1967), 3:176-82; and David Grimsted, American Mobbing, 1828-1861: Toward Civil War (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1998). viii Baltimore and the 19th of April, 1861. Seven years later, Brown opposed restrictions on the right of Marylanders to manumit slaves. An Annapolis convention of Maryland slaveowners in January 1842 proposed several meas- ures, including an act requiring all free blacks to leave Maryland. Brown rejected these steps as both unjust and impracticable. Brown, like many Marylanders, recognized the growing role of free black labor in Maryland's economy as slavery slowly diminished in both numbers and importance. Baltimore's meteoric rise to become the nation's third largest city by 1860 was not without growing pains. Just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, Baltimore had over 200,000 residents, an enormous jump from the city's population of just 13,000 in 1790. The massive influx of immigrants between 1830 and 1860 fueled a large portion of Baltimore's growth.3 Of the city's 52,000 immigrants in 1860, most hailed from Ireland and Germany. Baltimore also counted a sizable popu- lation of free blacks, some 25,000, and slightly more than 2,000 slaves. Unique among American antebellum cities, the mixture of white immigrants and free blacks created fierce competition in the marketplace. Coupled with Baltimore's unusual social position, the city also stood out for several other reasons. The state's 1851 constitution altered traditional political align- 3 General references for Maryland's political and social antebellum history include Jean H. Baker, Ambivalent Americans: The Know-Nothing Party in Mary- land (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1977); and idem., The Politics of Continuity: Maryland Political Parties from 1858 to 1870 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1973); Gary Lawson Browne, Baltimore in the Nation, 1789-1861 (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1980); Robert J. Brugger, Mary- land: A Middle Temperament, 1634-1980 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1988); William J. Evitts, A Matter of Allegiances: Maryland from 1850 to 1861 (Bal- timore: Johns Hopkins Univ.