FIRST BLOOD IN THE CIVIL WAR:

Just doing a little house cleaning here. I have always felt that knowing history was important. If you don't know what has happened in the past you are doomed to making the same mistakes over and over again. We need to keep one eye on the past and the other on the present so that we can have a clearer path to the future...............PEACE......................Scott

FIRST BLOOD IN THE CIVIL WAR:
April 19, 1861

On April 19, 1861, the first blood of the American Civil War is shed when a
secessionist mob in Baltimore attacks Massachusetts troops bound for Washington,
D.C. Four soldiers and 12 rioters were killed.One week earlier, on April 12, the
Civil War began when Confederate shore batteries opened fire on Union-held Fort
Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Bay. During a 34-hour period, 50
Confederate guns and mortars launched more than 4,000 rounds at the poorly
supplied fort. The fort's garrison returned fire, but lacking men, ammunition,
and food, it was forced to surrender on April 13. There were no casualties in
the fighting, but one federal soldier was killed the next day when a store of
gunpowder was accidentally ignited during the firing of the final surrender
salute. Two other federal soldiers were wounded, one mortally.On April 15,
President Abraham Lincoln issued a public proclamation calling for 75,000
volunteer soldiers to help put down the Southern "insurrection." Northern states
responded enthusiastically to the call, and within days the 6th Massachusetts
Regiment was en route to Washington. On April 19, the troops arrived in
Baltimore, Maryland, by train, disembarked, and boarded horse-drawn cars that
were to take them across the city to where the rail line picked up again.
Secessionist sympathy was strong in Maryland, a border state where slavery was
legal, and an angry mob of secessionists gathered to confront the Yankee
troops.Hoping to prevent the regiment from reaching the railroad station, and
thus Washington, the mob blocked the carriages, and the troops were forced to
continue on foot. The mob followed close behind and then, joined by other
rioters, surrounded the regiment. Jeering turned to brick and stone throwing,
and several federal troops responded by firing into the crowd. In the ensuing
mayhem, the troops fought their way to the train station, taking and inflicting
more casualties. At the terminal, the infantrymen were aided by Baltimore
police, who held the crowd back and allowed them to board their train and
escape. Much of their equipment was left behind. Four soldiers and 12 rioters
were killed in what is generally regarded as the first bloodshed of the Civil
War.Maryland officials demanded that no more federal troops be sent through the
state, and secessionists destroyed rail bridges and telegraph lines to
Washington to hinder the federal war effort. In May, Union troops occupied
Baltimore, and martial law was declared. The federal occupation of Baltimore,
and of other strategic points in Maryland, continued throughout the war. Because
western Marylanders and workingmen supported the Union, and because federal
authorities often jailed secessionist politicians, Maryland never voted for
secession. Slavery was abolished in Maryland in 1864, the year before the Civil
War's end. Eventually, more than 50,000 Marylanders fought for the Union while
about 22,000 volunteered for the Confederacy.