What happened next would catapult the 6th Massachusetts to near-mythic status—and also doom Baltimore to a lengthy military occupation. The Baltimore riot of 1861 (also called the Pratt Street Riot and the Pratt Street Massacre) was a conflict on April 19, 1861, in Baltimore, Maryland, between anti-War Democrats (the largest party in Maryland), as well as Confederate sympathizers, and members of the Massachusetts militia en route to Washington for Federal service. Because a city law prohibited the passage of locomotives along busy thoroughfares, however, drivers had to use horses in teams of four to pull each car across town, where railroad workers then recoupled them to a B&O engine. For we are the native party in the west end who try, Go it Plug and Uglies, root ’em out or die. The regiment had left behind much of their equipment, including their marching band. Then they flocked into the car and filled the passageway between the seats till it was impossible for the passengers to escape. Lincoln had traveled the route while the city slept in February, but on April 19 the 6th Massachusetts was about to make that trip in broad daylight, through streets teeming with Southern sympathizers. This category has only the following subcategory. On April 19, 1861, the first blood of the American Civil War is shed when a secessionist mob in Baltimore attacks Massachusetts troops bound for Washington, D.C. Four soldiers … W.E.B. It was now clear that a long and bloody conflict lay ahead. Countless others stumbled away to nurse their wounds. "Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. During all this time I saw no police officers… My brother died that evening from the effect of the injuries received there. In Lowell 17-year-old Private Luther Ladd traded his machinist’s apron for a uniform and buff trimmings. But as the columns moved forward, they were surrounded by a howling mob of secessionists shouting that they would kill every “white nigger” of them before they reached Camden Station. Flood. North Carolina Congressman A.W. The calm wouldn’t last. Confederate batteries fired on the besieged Federal garrison at Fort Sumter, and Virginia passed an ordinance of secession, leaving only a strip of river between the unguarded Union capital and enemy territory. My Maryland! Meanwhile, in the more northern states, the Republican Party was growing at a feverish pace, replacing many American loyalties. He was knocked down twice, and at one time while he was down, I saw two men jump on his body and kick him… In the meantime I drew my pistol and fired into the crowd, which was immediately in front of me, every man of whom seemed to have a pistol in his hand and was firing as rapidly as he could; in this crowd, there were fully from forty to fifty persons. Military training of the day involved Napoleonic tactics for open battlefield scenarios, not a crowded, urban landscape such as Baltimore’s. The State was to elect a governor, senators from eleven counties, as well as a large number of delegates and lesser officers. These reforms, together with the election of a Reform municipal administration in October 1860 and then the Civil War, led to the breaking up of the Plug Uglies. According to Private William Gurley of Company K, all accepted their lot “solemnly [and] with unchanged features,” then capped and loaded their .58-caliber Springfields as ordered. On election day, military rules were issued for the detection and apprehension of persons attempting to vote who were known to have aided the Confederate cause. var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; The Baltimore riot of 1861 (also called the Pratt Street Riot and the Pratt Street Massacre) was a conflict on April 19, 1861, in Baltimore, Maryland, between antiwar Democrats (the largest party in Maryland), as well as Confederate sympathizers, and members of the Massachusetts militia en route to Washington for Federal service. But beyond these measures, the Legislature was relatively powerless. Commemorate your occasions, design your own custom patches, pins & coins. My Maryland! More than half a dozen states had already left the Union, and more were sure to follow. Leaders don't look for recognition from others. Thornton begged them to spare his life, and to mollify them, told them that he was one of Billy McMullen’s crowd in Philadelphia. Don’t let one of them go on the train! And since they knew they'd be coming into the President St Station, waiting at the Camden St Station with their police protection was at best a very poor plan.  follow us on Twitter @BaltoPoliceHist or like us on Facebook or mail pics to 8138 Dundalk Ave. Baltimore Md. Since December 1860, death threats had been pouring into Lincoln’s office. According to folklore, the name “Plug Ugly” possibly refers to a specific gang member who was considered ugly to look upon but generous with his tobacco plugs—an inverse of the expression “ugly plug” or the “ugly blows” the gang delivered in its fights. Information on Deceased Officers and anything that may help Preserve the History and Proud Traditions of this agency. It disbanded the old police force and developed a new one under state control. 6th Massachusetts Militia Passing through Baltimore.jpg 1,894 × 1,420; 965 KB. Over a dozen people were killed, while more than 100 (some estimate 250) were wounded, including women and children. Ptlm Thomas Norton - Sgt Philip J. By mid-afternoon, the fighting grew larger and more organized as Americans and Democrats again turned the city into their personal battlefield. Like an old movie western showdown, people fled the area as neighborhood residents locked up their homes and businesses. When Fort Sumter fell on April 13 without a single man lost, the Virginia legislature took up a measure on secession. When within a few feet of him, I saw him fall…At the same moment a shot struck me in the shoulder, which went through my arm and penetrated my breast; from the direction the ball took, I am satisfied that shot was fired from the second story of the engine house… As I continued to back off a brick struck me in the breast and I fell… The crowd was firing at me constantly. Even though unfounded, these rumors were heeded by the Federal Government, which already had ringed the city with guns and troops. In the Eighth Ward, another group of Plug Uglies fought with a gang of Democrats. Legislators were bent on vindicating the rights o[ the. Few of the men spoke as they neared the city. Influential Marylander's who had been supportive of secession ever since John C. Calhoun spoke of "nullification" and agitated to join Virginia in leaving the Union. When it became apparent that they could travel by horse no further, the troops got out of the cars and marched in formation through the city. Fresh hordes will be down on us to-morrow, the 20th; we will fight them or die. Mayor Hinks had been horribly mistaken. The Library of Congress is providing access to these materials for educational and research purposes and … Before Colonel Jones could even begin organizing his planned march, workers had uncoupled the engine and hitched teams of bay mares to each car. South and protecting Maryland's honor. The Plug Uglies were the central figures in the first election riot in Baltimore in October 1855. 1. Meanwhile Mayor Brown rushed east on Pratt Street to find the bridge near President Street covered with anchors and scantling. My Maryland! Panicked by the situation, several soldiers fired into the mob, and chaos immediately ensued as a giant brawl began between the soldiers, the violent mob, and the Baltimore police. Although his brain protruded from the wound, he managed to survive for five days before dying. Later the military denied having ever fired on the crowd, but these shootings were witnessed by Marshal Frey, Mayor Brown and many others. Maryland was a loyal state in fact, as well as in name, once Federal force had made certain it would follow such an oath. Les émeutes de Baltimore sont un événement qui se produit à Baltimore, dans l'État du Maryland aux États-Unis à partir du 25 avril 2015 et se poursuit en mai, en réaction à la mort de Freddie Gray, un Afro-Américain de 25 ans, survenue le 19 avril précédent. On April 19, the Union's Sixth Massachusetts Regiment was traveling south to Washington, D.C. through Baltimore. Many civilian voters were challenged, and some arrested. But the journey’s romance soured for the new troops as their train neared Baltimore. Charles Pendergast, a shipping agent who profited handsomely from transport between Baltimore and South Carolina’s Charleston Harbor, handed dockworkers crowbars and pickaxes with orders to pry the rails from the cobblestones and put the road out of commission. I told him tickets; he made a snatch at them, and I avoided him and turned around. It is regarded by historians as the first bloodshed of the American Civil War. var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; The reporter noted that during the entire incident, he noticed that “there were three or four uniformed policemen present, who appeared either to fraternize with the rioters or to be afraid of them, for no arrests were made, as could be seen from the cars.”109 Not surprisingly, Seymour and Blair won Maryland, along with seven additional states. If it feels like you are digging yourself into a hole - It's not too late to put your shovel down. On October 8, 1856, rioting overtook the city as the municipal elections were held. The most bitter hostility has been encouraged between native and foreign-born citizens.” Know Nothing Polka, by James Couenhaven, 1854. It had a strong garrison at Fort McHenry, troops on Federal Hill, a firm grip on Annapolis and control over the main rail link to the West. var addy488a91e437b0ac2381e308970c629c88 = 'Kenny' + '@'; Reform challengers and Know-Nothings knocked at one another all day. The Sun estimated that there were “perhaps some two hundred shots fired during this protracted warfare.” The rioting continued elsewhere—with different results. It sent a delegation to Jefferson Davis to assure him of Maryland's sympathy. It produced the first deaths by hostile action in the … Rail cars that transferred between the two stations had to be pulled by horses along Pratt Street. When members of this 11-company regiment—once farmers, merchants, tradesmen and lawyers—left for Washington, they were heralded by Northerners as the Union’s heroic protectors. That said, ever so often we might come across a story that to us is so exciting we might express that enthusiasm in our writings. Riots" as the mayor made sure they were tagged for posterity, Governor Hicks sends a message that the Rebel militia had taken over Baltimore with the Baltimore politicos leading the way, per this telegram to the Secretary of War dated April 20th, 1861: “What they had endeavored to conceal but what was no longer concealed but made manifest, the rebellious element had the control of things.”. But two blocks farther on, near the corner of Light Street, rioters hit the 6th’s men again, this time killing teenager Luther Ladd, who just two days before had traded his machinist’s apron for regimental dress. On April 16, Major Ben­jamin Watson closed his law office in Law­rence with scarcely two hours’ notice. “You seem much agitated,” remarked the mariner. … One such ditty was entitled “The Plug Uglies!” The song praises the gang’s ability to help elect or run out particular political candidates, including mayoral candidates, as well as former president Millard Fillmore, who ran an unsuccessful reelection campaign in 1856 as the American Party candidate. All of the violence meted out thus far was simply a prelude of what was to come. Governor T. Watkins Ligon, a Democrat, argued in favor of the plan, but Hinks ultimately decided against it, determining that the municipal police would be enough. One regiment of newly called up Union troops came through Baltimore; however, anti-Union forces were too disorganized and surprised to do anything about it. The third car arrived, and its occupants were treated in the same way; and after this, the ruffians staggered through the cars, shouting for Seymour and Blair, with imprecations that if any Grant and Colfax man dared to say he was for either of them, they would kill him on the spot. Henry R. Haven and the Baltimore Riot of 1861 Henry R. Haven, ca.1910: Henry R. Haven (1842–1914), a confectioner by trade, and for a time borough clerk and councilman in Chambersburg, was a veteran of the Civil War serving in both the army and navy. Commemorate your occasions, design your own custom patches, pins & coins. VCome! 'tis the proud refrainThat baffles minions back again,Maryland!Arise in majesty again,Maryland! Just moments earlier some of Follansbee’s men had been attacked. He curtly ordered nearby police officers to clear the obstructions, then hurried off to meet the advancing Massachusetts soldiers. No doubt been heightened by a stray bullet his machinist ’ s Street! 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