I'm going to dispense with all the boring "Politics" of the issue as all of you know those issues well. Suffice it to say that By Jan-1861 Southern States are seceding and Militias ar springing up on both sides of the divided nation.....The first spark of violence occurs in Baltimore in March 1861. Maryland is still nuetral in the dipute. Both sides have Militias there and the Federal Government has decided to pass a large force through the city to protect Washington. Those forces have orders not to engage the Southern Militias unless fired upon. That does not mean the Militias of either side are under any such restrictions. What happened next was a bit confused, so I'll just add the Newspaper accounts from each side. First the Southern one:
"Baltimore Times Observer Chronicle Post Dispatch Herald
Baltimore Massacre!!!
An outrage occured today in our fair Southern city, when a group of men belonging to a "Southern Rights Men's Club" were attacked by a Unionist mob. Reports thus far indicate that the completely innocent group of equestrians were out on a morning pheasant hunt when they apparently took a wrong turn and ended up in Baltimore proper. They were surrounded by Unionist sympathizers, supported by regular Federal troops and led by one William "The Butcher" Passmore who fell upon them like the mad dogs they are, though completely unprovoked. The number killed is said to be upwards of 200. Most were shot in the back, and many were said to have been executed after having surrendered. As many as 200 survivors, were then stripped of their carbines and horses and apparently imprisoned, merely for exercising their Southern God Given right to a morning ride!!!!!
Have we not had enough of our Rights trampled by these Unionist money grubbing thugs? It is time for all good Southern men to stand up for our Sister States who now from the Confederate States of America and withdraw from the Union!!!! We must end these outrages against our people once and for all!"
Next The Unionist version:
"Harper's Weekly Special Edition
Today happened a fair outrage upon all loyal Americans!!! As all loyal citizens of Baltimore know, this past week has seen many unprovoked outrages by those wishing to see Maryland secede from the Union! Today has thus far seen the worst of these events. Just before noon a heavily armed group of drunken secesch scum led oy one Sam Wood entered the city and began looting several buildings. They then were confronted by angry citizens who demanded that they leave immediatly. Their response was to mount a completely unrovoked charge into the civillians in their rear. Several were killed on both sides. The Secesch then became utterly confused in their drunken stupor and began firing on each other. Scores were killed before the few who had not passed out threw down their weapons and surrendered to one Ima F. Pigg, the lovely daughter in law to be of the renowned State Militia commander, General William "The Young Napoleon of the Americas" Passmore. Miss Pigg supervised the Southern lowlifes to the county lockip where they are now sleeping off their big adventure. It is rumored that they will be handed over to Federal authorities.
It is time for all the loyal citizens of the Great State of Maryland to rise up and throw the secesh scum out of our state!!!! If they wish to join the Confederacy, then let them!!!! Just not while they live in the confines of Maryland!!!!!"
Yet another account of the events that fateful day. The excerpt that follows is taken from Shelby Foote's excellent narrative Against All Odds: The War of Northern Aggression and the birth of the Confederate States of America:
"pp.234: "...and so it happened, amidst this atmosphere of mutual distrust and loathing, that the city of Baltimore became the first location where blood was spilled by Americans, against Americans, in a war that would see blood spilled in so many places. On the morning of March 30th, Maj. General Nick DeStefano was awakened by one of his orderlies, who reported a Union force of unknown strength was rapidly approaching the north-eastern suburbs of Baltimore. DeStefano had ridden forth from Winchester, Virginia the previous week under orders to organize the quickly swelling group of recruits who had recently sworn allegiance to the Revolutionary Army then being formed in Virginia. Upon his arrival, he discovered to both his delight and dismay, a large group of nearly <redacted> infantry, and attached cavalry and artillery being drilled by the gruff Major General Issac Trimble. Trimble, himself a transplanted Virginian who now called Maryland home, had begun the laborious process of arming and drilling his troops in the face of an inevitable advance from the North East by what promised to be veritable legions of Yankee troops. Delight because Trimble had already assembled a rather numerous force, and this number looked to be added to shortly, by increasing support amongst the citizens of Baltimore and the Western Shore if only the recruiting centers could stay open. Dismay because these already assembled troops were in regards nothing more than an armed mob with regimental numbers. Haphazardly armed and crudely drilled, they could not be expected to hold long against superior numbers if confronted. General DeStefano immediately ordered the troops to dig-in astride the Frederick Pike (much to the merriment of these Baltimore rowdies, who jeered at the idea of hiding behind defensive works, and who chafed at being held back from the city proper) while his cavalry, under S.A.M. Wood began the process of locating the Yankee force reportedly heading right for Baltimore. What followed was nothing short of murder. As Wood, accompanied by the 1st Maryland Cavalry, galloped into the streets of Baltimore from the South, allegedly, according to one survivor, to screen their movement as they sought to find the enemy, they ran smack into a brigade of newly recruited Yankee infantry under Brig. Gen. John MacArthur. Just as Wood realized his predicament, and ordered a withdraw, a sub-altern called his attention to a regiment of Yankee cavalry bearing down on their rear. Wood sounded the charge, determined to cut his way free of both the cavalry and the growing mob of Union sympathetic citizenry who had begun to hurl both insults and cobblestones at the mass of Revolutionary cavalry. Wood's men charged, not without difficulty in the narrow streets thronged with angry citizens, but could not break through the Yankee unit...suddenly bayonets were leveled at Wood and his men, and after a short fight in which approximately 200 men fell dead or wounded, the remaining 200 threw down their weapons and were led tamely into captivity. The Yankee commanding general, Willie "The Butcher of Baltimore" Passmore, reported that Wood was drunk: "I knew S.A.M. Wood from before the war, and the man was a notorious drunkard; once while stationed in St. Louis, after drinking most of a barrel of wine, S.A.M. was seen to be riding up and down Main Street wearing a woman's corset and performing riding tricks he supposedly learned from the Red Indians! Well, I've never seen an Indian do THAT to a horse before!
pp. 239 Following the murder of 200 men, and the capture of 200 more, General DeStefano decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and sought to save what he could of this command, before they were served in similar fashion by what he was convinced was a force at least as large as his own, if not larger. He had chosen his position well, as it allowed him to withdraw directly to Frederick with all but the 400 men of the 1st Maryland and one newly commissioned Brigadier General S.A.M. Wood. Leaving Baltimore, much in the same way he had arrived in it; with both delight and dismay (delight at having saved the force, dismay in having lost both what he already had and what he could have had gained) he set his troops on the Frederick Pike to link up with forces already being recruited there. He sent the following telegram to President Davis shortly after leaving, having it smuggled into Baltimore to the still operational lines into Virginia:
TO: Jefferson Davis, President, CSA FROM: Maj. Gen. N. DeStefano, CSA, Army of the Shenandoah, cmmdng.
<SIR> stop <ABANDONING BALTIMORE> stop <ENDEAVORING TO SAVE NEW RECRUITS> stop <HAVE LOST 1 REGIMENT CAVALRY, CAPTURED, UNIT MAY HAVE GONE OVER WHOLESALE TO YANKEES> stop <BELIEVE GENERAL WOOD CAPTURED> stop <WITHDRAWING TO FREDERICK TO COLLECT RECRUITS> stop <WILL REPORT IN UPON REACHING DESTINATION> stop <DIRECTIVES AND ORDERS CAN BE SENT TO THAT LOCATION> stop <YOURS, MAJ GEN DESTEFANO, ETC.>
fin
The truth of exactly what happened that day, lies somewhere between the radicalized Newspaper accounts, but suffice it to say that the Rebel Militias were driven from Baltimore in March of 1861, thereby denying the area and its resouces to the Southern cause. More to come shortly.....We'll take up events in May 1861 when things began to get a bit hotter.....
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