Post by IRONCLAD on Jun 25, 2004 19:36:05 GMT -5
Border States
“Maryland”
Of the 92,000 votes cast by Marylanders in the 1860 presidential election, fewer than 3,000 were for Abraham Lincoln. An independent State, Maryland was deeply divided in its loyalties: while half or more of its citizens were firmly for the Union, the legislature was strongly for Southern rights, and many of the lawmakers openly supported secession.
Furthermore, after the April 14, 1861, surrender of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, S.C., President Lincoln called upon the non seceded states to provide troops to put down a “rebellion”. In response for more states promptly seceded, including Virginia, on Maryland’s southern border. If Maryland seceded, Washington would be surrounded by “rebellious” states, and nation’s capital would have to be abandoned. This did not happen, primarily because loyalist Maryland Gov. Thomas Hicks refused to call the legislature into session. By doing so Hicks denied the secessionists the legal forum they needed to pull the state out of the Union.
Baltimore, a mayor center of Maryland secession sentiment, was the scene of the first bloodshed of the war when Massachusetts troops passed through on April 19 on their way to Washington. After being pelted with stones, the soldiers opened fire on an angry mob of civilians. Four soldiers and 12 Baltimoreans were dead before the soldiers were whisked away on a train.
To keep Maryland in the Union, Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus and threw 19 legislators, the mayor of Baltimore, and other prominent secessionists in jail without trial or appeal. The federal government supervised Maryland’s affairs, manipulated its elections, occupied the state with large contingents of loyal troops, and prevented any further action or discussion about secession. As the state was solidified in the Union camp, thousands of Maryland’s young men streamed south to join the fight for independence.
FASCINATING FACT: Washington was panic-stricken for the first two weeks of the war, afraid that a Confederate army was about to descend upon it. When the first Union troops arrived to protect Washington, Lincoln met them at the train station, telling them, “Thank God you have come.”
Written by Stephen T. Foster
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If only Stone Wall Jackson could have seen the opening to Washington after the battle of Manassas, then he could have marched right down to D.C. and capture Lincoln and his tyrant army. What do you think could of happened if Stone Wall Jackson marched straight to D.C. right after the battle?
IRONCLAD
“Maryland”
Of the 92,000 votes cast by Marylanders in the 1860 presidential election, fewer than 3,000 were for Abraham Lincoln. An independent State, Maryland was deeply divided in its loyalties: while half or more of its citizens were firmly for the Union, the legislature was strongly for Southern rights, and many of the lawmakers openly supported secession.
Furthermore, after the April 14, 1861, surrender of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, S.C., President Lincoln called upon the non seceded states to provide troops to put down a “rebellion”. In response for more states promptly seceded, including Virginia, on Maryland’s southern border. If Maryland seceded, Washington would be surrounded by “rebellious” states, and nation’s capital would have to be abandoned. This did not happen, primarily because loyalist Maryland Gov. Thomas Hicks refused to call the legislature into session. By doing so Hicks denied the secessionists the legal forum they needed to pull the state out of the Union.
Baltimore, a mayor center of Maryland secession sentiment, was the scene of the first bloodshed of the war when Massachusetts troops passed through on April 19 on their way to Washington. After being pelted with stones, the soldiers opened fire on an angry mob of civilians. Four soldiers and 12 Baltimoreans were dead before the soldiers were whisked away on a train.
To keep Maryland in the Union, Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus and threw 19 legislators, the mayor of Baltimore, and other prominent secessionists in jail without trial or appeal. The federal government supervised Maryland’s affairs, manipulated its elections, occupied the state with large contingents of loyal troops, and prevented any further action or discussion about secession. As the state was solidified in the Union camp, thousands of Maryland’s young men streamed south to join the fight for independence.
FASCINATING FACT: Washington was panic-stricken for the first two weeks of the war, afraid that a Confederate army was about to descend upon it. When the first Union troops arrived to protect Washington, Lincoln met them at the train station, telling them, “Thank God you have come.”
Written by Stephen T. Foster
------------------------------------------
If only Stone Wall Jackson could have seen the opening to Washington after the battle of Manassas, then he could have marched right down to D.C. and capture Lincoln and his tyrant army. What do you think could of happened if Stone Wall Jackson marched straight to D.C. right after the battle?
IRONCLAD
