|
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. It produced the first deaths by hostile action in the American Civil War. ==Background== In 1861, most Baltimoreans were anti-War, and did not support a violent conflict with their southern neighbors. Many sympathized passionately with the Southern cause. In the previous year's presidential election, Abraham Lincoln had received only 1,100 of more than 30,000 votes cast in the city. Lincoln's opponents were infuriated (and supporters disappointed) when the president-elect, fearing an assassination plot, traveled secretly through the city in February en route to his inauguration. The city was also home to the country's largest population (25,000) of free African Americans, as well as many white abolitionists and supporters of the Union.〔Ezratty, ''Baltimore in the Civil War'' (2010), p. 31.〕 As the war began, the city's divided loyalties created tension.〔Ezratty, ''Baltimore in the Civil War'' (2010), p. 31. "Baltimore's citizens were politically and emotionally divided between pro- and anti-South and slavery. There were clashes as passions ran high about these issues and the right of a state to secede from the Union."〕 Supporters of secession and slavery organized themselves into a force called "National Volunteers" while unionists and abolitionists called themselves "Minute Men."〔Gary L. Browne, "Baltimore Riot (19 April 1861)", ''Encyclopedia of the American Civil War'', ed. David Stephen Heidler, Jeanne T. Heidler, David J. Coles; New York: Norton, 2000, p. 173; ISBN 9780393047585.〕 The American Civil War began on April 12, one week before the riot. At the time, the slave states of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas had not yet seceded from the U.S. The status of Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, and Kentucky (later known as "border states"), remained unknown. When Fort Sumter fell (without casualties) on April 13, the Virginia legislature took up a measure on secession. The measure passed on April 17 with little debate. Virginia's secession was particularly significant due to the state's industrial capacity. Sympathetic Marylanders, who had supported secession ever since John C. Calhoun spoke of nullification, agitated to join Virginia in leaving the Union. Their discontent increased in the days afterward when Lincoln put out a call for volunteers to serve 90 days and end the insurrection. New militia units from several Northern states were starting to transport themselves south, particularly to protect Washington, D.C., from the new Confederate threat in Virginia. Baltimore Mayor George William Brown and new Police Marshal (chief) George Proctor Kane anticipated trouble and began efforts to placate the city's population.〔Ezratty, ''Baltimore in the Civil War'' (2010), pp. 43–45.〕 On April 18, 460 newly mustered Pennsylvania volunteers (generally from the Pottsville, Pennsylvania area) arrived from Harrisburg on the Northern Central Railway at the Bolton Street Station off North Howard Street (present site of the later Fifth Regiment Armory). They were joined by several regiments of regular United States Army troops under John C. Pemberton (later the Confederate general and commander at the siege of Vicksburg in Mississippi whose surrender in July 1863, resulted in the first split of the Confederacy) returning from duty on the western frontier. They split off from Howard Street in downtown Baltimore and marched over east to Fort McHenry and reported for duty there. Seven hundred "National Volunteers" of southern sympathizers rallied at the Washington Monument and traveled to the station to confront the combined units of troops, which unbeknownst to them were unarmed and had weapons unloaded.〔 Kane's city police force generally succeeded in ensuring the Pennsylvania troops' safe passage marching south on Howard Street to Camden Street Station of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Nevertheless, stones and bricks were hurled (along with many insults) and Nicholas Biddle, a Black servant traveling with the regiment, was hit on the head. But that night, the Pennsylvania troops, later known as "The First Defenders" camped at the U.S. Capitol under the uncompleted dome, which was under construction.〔Ezratty, ''Baltimore in the Civil War'' (2010), p. 45.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Baltimore riot of 1861」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|