![]() ![]() Give Us Bread!Ī combination of scarcity and inflation was taking its toll on Richmond households during the Civil War. Their activities were abruptly halted in May 1861 when additional Federal troops occupied Baltimore, and martial law was declared. Southern sympathizers cut telegraph wires and destroyed railroad bridges to hinder future troop movements. Finally, they were able to board a train with the help of the Baltimore police and escaped leaving the bodies of four soldiers and twelve rioters behind. A mob followed the regiment and forced the troops to fight their way to the train terminal. Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers on April 15, 1861, and the 6th Massachusetts Regiment was heading towards Washington D.C when the troops stopped in Baltimore on April 19 to switch trains. The newly elected President, Abraham Lincoln, just barely avoided assassination in the Baltimore area at the time of his inauguration (this is the theme of the novel, The Lincoln Conspiracy, by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch). However, there were many Southern sympathizers in Charm City. Maryland did not secede from the Union, and the number of Federal troops in and around the city might have guaranteed the state’s loyalty. The reasons were different and didn’t always follow a single theme. ![]() Several significant disturbances happened that made quiet neighborhoods the scene of bloody encounters that killed dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of innocent civilians. ![]() Urban America was full of unrest, and the streets could erupt into riots without warning. The Civil War years were violent, and the battlefields were not the only place where blood was spilled. ![]()
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