In early January 1861, as
civil war approached, the men of Massachusetts began to form
volunteer militia units. Many workers in the textile cities of
Lowell and Lawrence were among the first to join
a new infantry regiment, the Sixth Massachusetts Volunteer
Militia, when it was formally organized on January 21, 1861.
All through the winter and
early spring, the men met regularly to drill. In March, they
were issued uniforms and Springfield rifles and told to be ready
to assemble at any time. When Fort Sumter was attacked on April
12th, the men of the Massachusetts Sixth knew their days of
drilling were over.
Three days later,
President Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 volunteers to serve
for three months. They were ordered to Washington, D.C. to
protect the capital and lead the effort to quash the
"rebellion."
The Sixth Massachusetts
gathered with other regiments in Boston on April 16th. The
Lowell Daily Courier published one soldier's letter home:
"We have been quartered since our arrival in this city at
Faneuil Hall and the old cradle of liberty rocked to its
foundation from the shouting patriotism of the gallant sixth.
During all the heavy rain the streets, windows, and house tops
have been filled with enthusiastic spectators, who loudly
cheered our regiment . . . The city is completely filled with
enthusiasm; gray-haired old men, young boys, old women and
young, are alike wild with patriotism."
The Sixth Massachusetts
Volunteers boarded trains the next day. One soldier reported,
"Cheers upon cheers rent the air as we left Boston . . . at
every station we passed anxious multitudes were waiting to cheer
us on our way." In Springfield, Hartford, New York, Trenton, and
Philadelphia, bells, fireworks, bonfires, bands, booming cannon,
and thousands of supporters greeted the Massachusetts men as
their train passed through.
The mood changed
dramatically when the train arrived in Baltimore on the morning
of April 19th. Although the state had not seceded from the
Union, many Baltimoreans were sympathetic to the Confederate
cause and objected strenuously to the presence of northern
soldiers.
Steam engines were not
allowed to operate in the city limits, so the regiment crossed
the city in train cars drawn by horses. Most of the men made it
before a growing mob threw sand and ship anchors onto the
tracks. At that point, the soldiers had no choice but to
disembark and begin marching.
The commanding officer
ordered the men to load their weapons but not to use them unless
fired upon. An anxious corporal sent a note to a friend, "We
shall have trouble today and I shall not get out of it alive.
Promise me if I fall that my body shall be sent home."
Four companies of men from
Lowell and Lawrence were separated by the crowd from the rest of
the regiment. As they attempted to make their way through the
city, angry citizens began to shout insults. As one soldier
later told a reporter, we "were immediately assailed with
stones, clubs and missiles, which we bore according to orders.
Orders came . . . for double quick march, but the streets had
been torn up by the mob and piles of stones and every other
obstacle had been laid in the streets to impede our progress. .
. . Pistols began to be discharged at us, . . . Shots and
missiles were fired from windows and house tops. . . . The crowd
followed us to the depot, keeping up an irregular shooting, even
after we entered the [railroad] cars."
Once the surviving members of the Sixth made it to safety, the
mob returned to the station on the northern edge of the city.
Nearly 1,000 more Pennsylvania and Massachusetts volunteers were
waiting there. When the mob attacked, the soldiers moved into
the streets. Pro-Union Baltimoreans joined the fight, and some
offered to shelter the northern men. In the confusion, a number
of soldiers gave up on getting to Washington and walked all the
way back to Pennsylvania.
Twelve civilians lost
their lives at what was later referred to as the Baltimore Pratt
Street Riot. Four members of the Massachusetts Sixth, all from
Lowell or Lawrence, were killed, including the apprehensive
corporal.
When the train finally
arrived in Washington, two young women from Massachusetts who
had been working in the nation's capital came to the station to
nurse the injured — Clara Barton and her sister Sally Vassal.
They took many of the wounded men to their home. Thus began the
legendary nursing career of Clara Barton, founder of the
American Red Cross.
Back in
Massachusetts, newspapers printed soldiers' accounts of the
riot. "At Baltimore we heard no cheers, saw no waving of
handkerchiefs," one man wrote, ". . . and not a smile greeted
us. They gave out word that we could not pass through the city,
that we should sacrifice our lives if we attempted it. But we
received the order 'Forward,' and we did forward, in silence,
carrying
our flag unfurled. We were fired upon
from all parts of the street. I heard the bullets whistle about
my ears smartly. At last a stone took me in the head and knocked
me down. But I got up immediately and discharged my musket at
the rebels, and then kept on the march to the depot. I am here
in the hospital with the rest of the wounded. My courage is
still good. . . ."
In 1865, the City of Lowell
erected a monument to the three local men who lost their lives
in Baltimore that day.
Source:
Massmoments
