Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective September Issue: A Tale of Two Fisheries: Fishing and Over-Fishing in American Waters eHistory Book Reviews September Review: The Sino-Soviet Split: Cold War in the Communist World MultiMedia Histories Featured History: Lynching in America
		THESE ARE ARCHIVED PAGES OF THE OLD EHISTORY SITE click here for the NEW eHistory site These pages are not actively maintained and may have errors in content and functionality

Rioting in Baltimore during the spring of 1861 was a direct result of the sectional nature of political beliefs in Maryland. While Maryland never seceded from the Union, there was considerable secessionist sentiment among government officials, particularly in the eastern part of the state where slavery and trade with the South was prevalent.

On April 19, 1861, a group of Baltimore citizens, probably abetted by the mayor and the marshal of the city (both of whom were Confederate sympathizers), attacked units of the Pennsylvania and Massachusetts militia as they passed through Baltimore enroute to Washington. Because the railroad was not continuous through the city, cars containing the troops had to be pulled through the city from the President Street Station to the Camden Street Station.

After the first few units had passed through, mobs blocked the tracks, forcing the troops to march through Baltimore. The march between the stations became a confrontation between the pro-South mobs, which attacked the troops with stones and gunfire, and the troops, who fired on the mobs attacking them. Despite the probable pro-Confederate sympathies of the mayor, he managed to quiet the crowd, and near the Camden Street Station, the police were able to hold the mobs back so the troops could board their trains for Washington.

In the course of the rioting, four members of the militia units and twelve civilians were killed. An unknown number of civilians were wounded.

William O. Scheeren