Baltimore Riot Trail

On April 19, 1861, Confederate sympathizers in Baltimore attacked the 6th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment as it changed trains while traveling to Washington, which secessionists hoped to isolate. Part of the regiment transferring to Camden Station reached the terminal safely aboard horse-drawn cars, but Maj. Benjamin Watson’s Company K disembarked at Howard Street after a secessionist mob tore up the track and marched the final two blocks under a shower of bricks and bullets. The mob also attacked the regiment’s last four companies as Capt. Albert S. Follansbee led them along Pratt Street, killing several soldiers a few blocks east. As the troops reached this point, the mob renewed its assault, encouraged by a man waving a secessionist banner, and soldiers aboard the waiting train opened fire to protect their comrades. When the crowd closed in with knives and guns, regimental commander Col. Edward Jones ordered the cars’ window blinds drawn to discourage further attacks. A final shot came from the departing train at 1:30 p.m., killing merchant Robert W. Davis on the Spring Garden side of Camden Station. Five soldiers died and more than thirty-six were wounded; among civilians, twelve were killed and many more wounded. That night secessionists burned railroad bridges north of the city, and President Abraham Lincoln quickly suspended troop movements, but within a month Union Gen. Benjamin F. Butler had occupied Federal Hill and warned that Baltimore would be shelled if more trouble occurred. The city remained quiet for the rest of the war.

Baltimore, Maryland · United States