The Civil War - 150 Years Later - Alexandria Captured / Death of a Union Hero

In this and subsequent special editions of Hooves, Heels and Wheels, the blog will take a look at the 150th anniversary of the events of the Civil War, and reflect on how they came about, and what implications they have for today ...

The Civil War

150 years ago This Week - Alexandria Captured / Death of A Union Hero

May 24, 1861

150 Years ago this week, Washington DC throbbed with activity, swarmed with troops, and clattered with noise. For six weeks, soldiers had gathered in Washington DC, and in various depots in the Confederate south – surely a great battle was in the making.

Zouaves

A colorful assortment of uniforms paraded about the camps. Although there was such a thing as a “US Army uniform”, uniform regulations did not apply to the vast majority of volunteer units marching about Washington, Charleston and Richmond. Both Union and Confederate armies were comprised of state militia units. Thus most of the men were managed and clothed by their states, not by any national government. In these early days of the war, soldiers were arrayed in a variety of uniforms. Some were plain, some were flashy, and some were ludicrous. War, after all, was not seen as a brutal project of destruction, but as a gallant and glamorous adventure, and one might has well go as well dressed as possible.

A favorite uniform pattern, in both North and South, was that of the Zouaves. Zouaves were French light infantrymen who fought in North Africa, and their dashing uniforms made all the newspapers and catalogues– at a time when France was seen as the cultural leader in many things from science to art to the military, to fashion. As soldiers tramped off to war, many were attracted to the fancy uniforms that seemed to bellow “elite troops!” Little wonder then that as trains lumbered into the Washington DC rail yards, many of the Union regiments that disembarked proudly – even pompously- called themselves “Zouaves”.

One of the Zouave units was the 11th New York, and their colonel, the 24year old Elmer Ellsworth, was already a national celebrity. He had foreseen in 1860 that a war of some kind was on the horizon, and set about training volunteer units. He had been in command of the U.S. Zouave Cadets, an Illinois drill team that became nationally known. His photographs were everywhere, and his drill team performances played to thousands.

Politicians, then as now, court the friendship of popular celebrities, and President Abraham Lincoln was no exception to this rule. Ellsworth campaigned for Lincoln in the 1860 election, always at his side of his fellow Illinoisan. He served as Lincoln’s bodyguard and confidant, spending so much time in the White House that he caught the measles from the Lincoln children, Willie and Tad.

When war became a reality, Ellsworth donned that hat of a recruiter, and went to New York to form his regiment, the 11th New York. As the proud and polished 11th NY strutted though Washington, Ellsworth, not a bit above glory seeking, secured a promise from his Commander-in-Chief and friend that his Empire Stators would be the first Union soldiers to invade the rebellious South.

Ellsworth didn’t have long to wait. On May 23d, 1861 150 years ago this week, Virginia officially seceded from the Union. (For the Old Dominion, secession was a two-step process, the legislature voted for it on April 17th, but put it up for the popular vote on May 23rd). Confederate territory was now a few hundred yards across the Potomac River, in the city of Alexandria, VA.

A Hero Dies

US Army General in chief Winfield Scott decided to strike immediately, and on the early morning of May 24th, sent 11 regiments across the Potomac River into Virginia. In one fell swoop, the Union captured Robert E. Lee’s mansion in Arlington, and the city of Alexandria. The Confederates, who had little hope of defending the town, offered no resistance and fell back.

It seemed like a bloodless victory. The 11th New York marched into Alexandria, with the proud Elmer Ellsworth at his head. Ellsworth then spied a hotel, the Marshall House at the intersection of King and Pitt Streets. At four stories, it was one of the tallest buildings in town, and from it flew a large Confederate flag. Ellsworth would put a stop to that forthwith.

The suave Zouave colonel charged into the Marshall house with four soldiers plus a reporter from the New York Tribune, Edward E House. He made his way up a staircase to the roof, and cut down the Confederate banner.

With that mission accomplished, Ellsworth and his party went back down the staircase, with corporal Francis Brownell leading the way. As Brownell and Ellsworth reached the third floor landing, they encountered the furious innkeeper, James Jackson.


Jackson burst from his bedroom toting a double-barreled shotgun. There was no time for Brownell to shout a warning before Jackson took his first shot. At nearly point-blank range, the shotgun blast tore into the young colonel. The fatally wounded Ellsworth slumped and tumbled forward down the steps behind Corporal Brownell.


Jackson then tried to pivot to kill Brownell, but the corporal used his rifle to bat away the barrel of the shotgun as Jackson fired, sending the second blast into the wall. Now it was Brownell’s turn. He fired his rifle, also at point-blank range, into Jackson’s face. Brownell then sent his bayonet plunging into Jackson’s body, and thrust the dead man down the staircase.

Ellsworth was already dying on the landing, his blood staining the Confederate flag he had captured. The shotgun slug had torn a great hole through the colonel's coat and body.

Northerners were at once elated at the Federal capture of Alexandria, the first Union progress of the War, but at the same time grief-stricken at the death of the charismatic and popular Ellsworth. Ellsworth’s parents aside, none were more devastated then the President and First Lady – to say nothing of the Lincoln children. Lincoln cried openly at the sight of his young friend’s body, and wrote his family a three-page epistle of condolence. Then he ordered Ellsworth’s body to lie in state in the East Room of the White House.

“My boy! My boy! Was it necessary that this sacrifice be made??” -- Abraham Lincoln

As Ellsworth made his final journey to New York and interment, the popular culture canonization of Ellsworth swept the North. Here now was a hero who must be avenged, a martyr to inspire countless recruits! The images of Ellsworth and his Zouaves were sold as drawings, postcards, and stamps. The ghost of Col Elmer Ellsworth, the Union’s first war hero, would stand at the side of each green rookie as he mustered into his army camp.




Southerners, of course took quite a different view of the situation. The late James Jackson was seen as a hero of the Confederacy, a man defending his home, but Southern attempts to immortalize Jackson would never compare with the Northern remembrance of the already famous and celebrated Ellsworth.

Avenge Ellsworth! War to the knife, knife to the hilt! --Northern Recruiting slogan

“Cause Of Death: He was killed in defense of his home and private rights.” Confederate coroner report on James Jackson, (a report that fails to mention the rifle and bayonet wounds)

Nations at war require heroes, then as now. Civil War soldiers were going to be asked to perform uncountable feats of daring and bravery in the face of mortal danger and hideous suffering. Both sides would require men and women to hold up high as shining examples of duty, dedication and courage. 150 Years Ago this Week, the Union received their first great example, the first of very many to come on either side.

The Civil War- 150 Years Later- The St. Louis "Massacre"

In this and subsequent special editions of Hooves, Heels and Wheels, the blog will take a look at the 150th anniversary of the events of the Civil War, and reflect on how they came about, and what implications they have for today ...

The Civil War

150 years ago This Month - The St. Louis "Massacre"

May 10, 1861

“Your requisition is illegal, unconstitutional, revolutionary, inhuman, diabolical and cannot be complied with.” Confederate Missouri Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson to Abraham Lincoln’s call for troops at the beginning of the War

“Rather then concede to the state of Missouri for one single instant the right to dictate to my government in any matter however unimportant, I would see you, and you, and you and you and every man, woman, and child in the state dead and buried.” General Nathaniel Lyon to Governor Jackson, and General Sterling Price, shortly after the St. Louis “Massacre”.

As North and South marched off to war, most of the country’s attention was focused on the East, the states of Virginia and Maryland, and of course the US capital of Washington DC. It was from the capitals that the two presidents consulted with their generals, and to there the newspapermen flocked to get stories from the VIPs.

The War was also taking shape out in the West. 150 years ago, the concept of “The West” or “Out West” was anything beyond the Appalachian Mountains. Tennessee, Mississippi, and Missouri would be the Western Theaters of the Civil War.

Missouri would give both sides even more trouble then Maryland would. The Show Me State was a border state that had become accustomed to violence over slavery for years. Free Illinois, Iowa and Kansas joined hemmed in the slave state on three sides. It was a relatively new state – only 40 years old, and was divided in its loyalties. Most of the population had Southern sentiments, working the land with slave run plantations.


The politicians of Missouri were also pro-Confederate, including Governor Jackson, and almost the entire state legislature. Jackson angrily refused to supply solders for Abraham Lincoln’s call to arms, and tried to move his state politically towards the South.

At the same time however, the cities of St. Louis, and Jefferson City had grown fast, and were getting larger by the year, receiving a flood of immigrant talent from overseas. Most of these new Americans loathed slavery, and as they came to St. Louis, the demographics of the state started to shift. Missouri might be overwhelmingly Southern, but not in St. Louis.

Like South Carolina, Missouri had Federal troops stationed in its borders when the Civil War broke out. Like South Carolina, there was also a huge federal armory in the state. The St. Louis Arsenal held 34,000 rifles, a million and a half cartridges, artillery, and about 45 tons of gunpowder – a handsome prize for whoever could seize it first. Unlike South Carolina, the weapons cache would stay in Federal hands.

Enter US Army Captain Nathaniel Lyon, a fanatical Unionist and abolitionist. Lyon was the right man for taking decisive action now and worrying about permission and forgiveness later. With his intolerance and lack of respect for slave owners however, he was the wrong man for winning hearts and minds.



Like a Western sheriff forming up a posse, Lyon, with the permission of the War Department, enlisted thousands of St. Louis citizens into a Federal Militia. Indeed, to counter the secessionist sentiment, a pro Union Home Guard, 7000 strong, had already been created. Opposing them on a hill outside St. Louis, were 700 men of the pro-Confederate militia

150 years ago this month on May 10th 1861, Lyon attacked with 3000 men. The Confederates were immediately surrounded and they gave up peacefully.

This impressive and bloodless victory was not enough for Lyon. He demanded that his prisoners sign an oath of loyalty to the United States. The prisoners refused. Infuriated, Lyon ordered a ritual and public humiliation – he paraded his prisoners through the streets of St. Louis.

This decision led to horror. The German-immigrants who mostly made up Lyon’s force had always had always faced resentment and discrimination, and when the pro-Confederate population of St. Louis arrived and saw their secessionist friends and neighbors paraded at the hands of the Germans in blue, it was too much for them. They stormed to the streets to protest the treatment of the prisoners, and roared their outrage at the Union soldiers. Secessionists howled and spat at the Guardsmen. People then began to throw stones and bottles at the blue-clad men. The violence then escalated as one of the angry mob fired a revolver into the Federal ranks. Yankees crumpled to the ground, one of them fatally wounded.



The furious Federals whirled around – and at their colonel’s command fired at point-blank range into the crowd – causing immediate and heavy casualties on the mob. Women and children were among those cut down in the fusillade.




The survivors, rather then dispersing counterattacked with paving stones and more gunfire. The entire City of St. Louis went into a state of chaos for nearly two days, as Unionists, slowly and bloodily gained the upper hand. The body count shocked the nation – 28 people had been killed in the massacre, including two women, and even a baby in its mother’s arms. 62 more had been shot.


St. Louis, like Baltimore, went on lockdown. As Unionists clamped down on pro-secessionists, St. Louis became unsafe for anyone pro-South. The city emptied of pro-Confederates in a matter of days. They fled to the West, there to establish their own Confederate army to continue the struggle for Missouri.

The Civil War had barely begun, but the fight for St. Louis – much like the fight for Baltimore - was over. The violence and bloodshed was shocking at the times they happened, but would soon be overshadowed by the massive movements of armies over maps, and the staggering death tolls that would occur when true armies met.

150 years ago this month, Northerners had their Western base in St. Louis, Western Confederates pondered their uncertain – but certainly violent – future; and Americans, East, West, North and South pondered upon this War that had yet to see a major battle, but was already devouring lives.

The Civil War - 150 Years Later - Baltimore Crackdown

In this and subsequent special editions of Hooves, Heels and Wheels, the blog will take a look at the 150th anniversary of the events of the Civil War, and reflect on how they came about, and what implications they have for today ...

The Civil War

150 years ago This Week - Baltimore Crackdown

May 13 - 23rd, 1861

In the last weeks of April 1861 and the first few weeks of May, it remained an open and troubling question as to whether or not Maryland would be a Union or Confederate state – both Americas counted many Marylanders as their allies.

150 years ago this week, on May 13th, the question was settled by Union General Benjamin Butler, a Massachusetts militia general who, throughout the entire Civil War would reveal a talent for sensation, audacity, and for getting himself into trouble.

The governor of Maryland was Thomas A. Hicks, who was pro-Union. The Mayor and Police Marshall of Baltimore, George W Brown, and George P Kane were pro-Confederate, and for a time their sentiments would hold sway. As Union soldiers tried to make their way to Washington, first to defend the capital and then to invade the South, Maryland secessionists tried to thwart them every step of the way. Not only was the 6th Massachusetts attacked on April 19th, soon after telegraph lines were cut, and railroad bridges were burnt.

For a few weeks, Lincoln made do by avoiding Baltimore altogether, and ferrying troops from New York, Boston and Philadelphia to Annapolis, and having them at first march, and later on travel by train to Washington.

A Maryland delegation audaciously went to the White House, and demanded that the State of Maryland no longer be used as a roadway to move soldiers. An exasperated Abraham Lincoln spelled out the situation for them.

“ I must have troops to defend the capital! Our men are not moles and can’t dig under the earth. They are not birds, and can’t fly through the air. There is no way but to march them across, and this we must do.”

If the Union philosophy of the Civil War was that the Federal government needed to not bow to demands of individual states, then Lincoln’s response was predictable. If the US was not going to respect South Carolina’s or Alabama’s “right” to leave the Union then it wasn’t about to respect Maryland’s “right” to refuse to allow US troops across it’s soil.

Gen Ben Butler had trained the 6th Massachusetts regiment, the one that had been involved in the Pratt Street Riot in Baltimore. In the latter part of April, he brought more Massachusetts troops into the Capital by ferrying them down to Annapolis. By April 25th, he had fixed the rail line, and thousands of Union troops could now pour daily into Washington DC. The Union Army began growing.

On May 13th, Butler ended Baltimore and Maryland’s dreams of succession once and for all. On the night of May 13-14 th, Butler, moving without orders and with the utmost secrecy, fortified Federal Hill in downtown Baltimore with 1000 men and six cannons. It was a daring and dangerous move that could have backfired badly. Indeed, General Winfield Scott was furious! He reprimanded Butler for acting without instruction, risking a public disaster, and removed him from command of Baltimore.


Still the North would reap the benefits of Butler’s bold move. Union soldiers could now fire on every street and building in the city. There could be no mistake that Baltimore was firmly in Federal grasp. Pro-Confederates either left town, or quieted down. There would be no further disturbances from Baltimore.

In the months and years to come, the citizens of Maryland’s first city would pay dearly for their flirtation with the Southern Confederacy- and their violence and sabotage towards the Union cause. President Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus in Baltimore, and would clap many prominent pro-South Baltimoreans in irons, imprisoning them in Fort McHenry without trial.



Baltimore would endure the war as military district, under a US Army administrator rather then a democratically elected mayor and city council. There’d be no freedom of speech or press, and anyone suspected of aiding the Confederacy would soon find him or herself in jail.



Such actions of a president raised serious questions about presidential power in times of national crisis. Should the US government be allowed to suspend civil liberties when there’s a threat to the nation? Does the freedom to rebel and sabotage the government exist under the blanket of civil freedoms? Surely the rioting of April convinced many in the North that Baltimore simply could not be trusted, and had to be secured, even to the woe of citizens rights.

Of course these questions have never truly been answered once and for all– modern leaders like George W. Bush and Barak Obama have wrangled with them in recent years during the War on Terror. Fort McHenry, the icon of freedom in 1814, was the Guantanamo Bay of its time in 1861-1865. The balance between individual freedom and national safety has always swayed to and fro, never more dramatically then 150 years ago this week.

The Civil War - 150 Years Later -Baltimore Bloodshed

In this and subsequent special editions of Hooves, Heels and Wheels, the blog will take a look at the 150th anniversary of the events of the Civil War, and reflect on how they came about, and what implications they have for today ...

The Civil War

150 years ago This Spring - Bloodshed In Baltimore

April 19, 1861

Lincoln’s Call To Arms

“ … flushed faces, wild eyes, screaming mouths hurrahing for ‘Jeff Davis’ and ‘the Southern Confederacy’ so that the yells overpowered the discordant bands which were busy with ‘Dixie’s Land’ … here was the true revolutionary furor in full sway” The Times of London reporting in Goldsboro, NC (which hadn’t broken away from the Union yet)

“Carry terror into the hearts of the Confederates … to conquer them – not merely to defeat but to conquer, to subjugate them!” New York Times

“[the seven seceded states have] constituted combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings. [The militia is needed] in order to suppress said combinations and cause the laws to be duly executed” “ … favor, facilitate and aid in this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long enough endured”. --- Abraham Lincoln

“All we want is to be left alone” “The moment that this pretension is abandoned, the sword will drop from our grasp. So long as this pretension is maintained, with a firm reliance on that Divine Power which covers with Its protection the just cause, we will continue to struggle for inherent right to freedom, independence, and self government” -J efferson Davis

150 years ago, in the weeks after the attack on Fort Sumter, telegraphs clicked and sparked throughout the North. The printing presses of the Chicago Tribune, New York Herald, New York Times, and Philadelphia Inquirer (Then called the Pennsylvania Inquirer) all swung into action. Shots had been fired! Gunpowder had been burnt! The Stars And Stripes had come under attack, fired on by secessionists who, up until a few months prior, had considered themselves good and loyal Americans.

The whirlwind of outrage that roared through the North was unlike anything the country had experienced before, and would not be matched until December of 1941. So it had actually come to this! – Southerners were so determined to break away and set up their own country, that they were perfectly willing to assault the Star Spangled Banner, under which Americans had suffered and bled throughout three wars. Perhaps once the Confederates were misguided zealots, ‘dissatisfied countrymen’ as Lincoln described them. Now, with an attack upon the US Army, the desecration of the precious flag, and attempt to kill US servicemen, the North saw Confederates as the vilest of traitors, nefarious evildoers who needed to be beaten and crushed.
On April 15th, just 2 days after the guns fell silent at Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln called for the first 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion.





In Montgomery, the temporary capital of the Confederacy, President Jefferson Davis reacted to the call with shock and outrage of his own. How dare Lincoln prepare an invasion of the South? Did not he realize that he brought the attack on Sumter on himself? Had not the Confederacy given the Union garrison there four months to peaceably evacuate? The pipe dream held by many Southerners – that their independence was as good as won with the fall of Fort Sumter – evaporated with Lincoln’s call.

The ideological gulf that separated North from South was never more apparent then in this the first few weeks of the Civil War.

Virginia Secedes – Loosing Lee

“I have served my country under the flag of the Union for more then 50 years, and so long as God permits me to live I will defend that flag with my sword, even if my own native state assails it.” Gen. Winfield Scott (Virginia)

“How can I draw my sword upon Virginia, my native state? [I shall] share the miseries of my people and save in defense will draw my sword on none” Col. Robert E. Lee (Virginia)

Most of the population of Virginia was firmly on the side of Jefferson Davis and the southern Confederacy. Lincoln’s call had outraged the Old Dominion- the richest and most populous state in the South, and the birthplace of seven of the country’s sixteen presidents. Virginians were appalled that the North was preparing to invade the Deep South, and that they would be expected to stand by idly—or even participate. Virginia lawmakers made their loyalties known—on April 17th 1861, the home of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy.

Not only was the United States losing much of it’s land mass to the Confederate States, it was also losing a great deal of top-flight military talent. In an age when most men and women were born, raised, educated, married, and died all within twenty miles of their cradle, feelings for home were stronger then compared to now. A few career Army officers like the General In-Chief Winfield Scott remained loyal to the Union, despite their southern roots.



However, most of the Southern born officers and men of the US Army and Navy resigned their posts, and cast their fortunes with their home states. Pierre G.T. Beauregard had been one of the first generals to go. When Virginia seceded, Beauregard was followed by Thomas Jackson, and Joseph Johnson.

No solider in the US Army was more precious to Lincoln and Scott then Col. Robert E. Lee. Brilliant and daring, Lee was the first choice of Lincoln to lead the tremendous army that was now being assembled in Washington.






To the misery of the North, it was not to be. After contemplating this heart-rending dilemma for two days at Arlington, his home, Lee resigned his commission in the US Army, the army that he had served for 30years, and offered his services to his new President, Jefferson Davis.

The Pratt Street Riot – Baltimore

The loss of Virginia and Lee was bad enough for the North. 150 years ago the President also learned how frighteningly close to losing the state of Maryland he was. Had Maryland joined the Confederacy, the Union capital would be completely severed from the Union … hardly the proper way to fight a war.

The secession of Virginia meant that the Confederacy was now right across the Potomac River in Virginia. In order to protect the capital from a possible Confederate attack, and of course to begin forming his army to recapture the South, Lincoln began ordering soldiers from all over the North to Washington DC. Train travel made the journey much faster and less arduous then it used to be, and the first soldiers – 100 Pennsylvanians- arrived three days after Lincoln’s call to arms, April 18th.

The Keystone Staters brought bad news. Maryland had not looked like friendly territory, or at least Baltimore hadn’t. Pro-Confederate secessionists had howled and cursed the Pennsylvanians as they made their way through the town, even chucking rocks and paving stones.

A crack brigade of Massachusetts soldiers were the next troops scheduled to arrive. With commendable foresight, several Bay State volunteer units had begun drilling, clearly foreseeing that the secession phenomenon could only mean war. By April they were ready to jump at Lincoln’s call to arms. The 6th Massachusetts, commanded by Col. Edward F Jones, immediately piled onto a train and made for DC. By April 18th, they were in Philadelphia, and as their train pulled out for the trip to Baltimore and Washington, they learned of the hostility of Baltimore. Col. Jones saw to it that his troops had their rifles loaded as the 10-coach train left Philadelphia.

Like most of Maryland, Baltimore was deeply split in its loyalties. Manufacturing and shipping were big business, and the state had commercial ties with the North … but at its heart, Maryland was an agricultural state, making a fortune in slave-worked tobacco plantations. This gave it something fundamentally in common with the succeeding Confederate states. Ultimately most Marylanders would favor the Union, but in these early days of the War, secessionists would have a strong voice. All Old Linesmen would evaluate and re-evaluate their loyalties, and ask the same questions that Southerners were asking. Did a state have a right to secede? Did a president have a right to prevent secession? Did the state of Maryland have the right to refuse to allow troops to be transported through its soil? Did the Federal government have the right to compel Maryland to cooperate?

A great many Marylanders had firmly made their decisions by the time the train carrying the 6th Massachusetts came snorting into President Street Station, Baltimore.

Years prior, when the train tracks had been laid in Baltimore, the city decided that they didn’t want locomotives rumbling through the heart of town. Thus a southbound journey ended at the eastern end of the city, at President Street. From there, passengers (and of course, soldiers) continuing south to Washington DC needed to wait in their coaches as they were, one by one, hitched up to a team of horses, and hauled through the city streets, north on President Street, west on Pratt Street, and South on Camden to Camden Street Trainyards. There, a locomotive to DC stood by to complete the trip.





At President Street Station, Col Jones had the choice of either disembarking all 800 men and marching them through to Camden Yards, or keeping the men in their cars and letting the horse teams move them. Perhaps with an eye to keeping a low profile, he chose the latter. It had a better chance of keeping the transit quiet, but also divided the regiment, and made the individual companies vulnerable to any sort of attack.

Seven out of ten train cars made it through the city without any problem. Unfortunately, it didn't take long before pro-Confederate Baltimoreans figured out what was going on, and an angry mob formed along the route. When the eighth car of soldiers was shot at, the soldiers of cars eight, nine and ten piled out and began to march for their lives, with Capitan Albert Follansbee in command of the detachment.

For the most part the mob taunted and jeered, and the soldiers quick marched through a storm of spittle, insults and curses. They made no response. Verbal harassment turned to rocks and paving stones. Still the solders made no retaliation as they marched down Pratt Street. Then gunshots rang out. Three Massachusetts soldiers fell dead.

The enraged Bay Staters leveled their rifles at the crowd and loosed several volleys, dropping scores of the mob. They proceeded on their way at the double-quick, literally conducting a fighting retreat as the four companies made their way to Camden Yards, and the safety of their comrades.

A furious Colonel Jones wanted to wreak bloody vengeance upon the mob and formed up his 800 men for an attack, but cool-headed subordinates reminded him of his mission – bring the 6th Massachusetts to Washington DC! Jones loaded his men onto the southbound train, and the 6th continued to DC.

The train pulled into the National Capital at 5:00pm, and was greeted by none other then the President of the United States. Abraham Lincoln shook Col. Jones hand, saying “Thank God you have come.”

Three soldiers and 12 Baltimoreans had been killed in the Pratt Street Riot, as the incident was called. 20 solders had been injured. The Civil War had not yet had it’s first major battle, but the bloodshed had started just the same, 150 years ago this spring.