e destruction of
stores and property was enormous. All ships in the harbor were set on
fire and scuttled.

Events moved now with swift and terrible certainty.

Massachusetts attempted, on April 19, to send a regiment through the
streets of Baltimore to invade the South, and the indignant wrath of her
citizens could not be controlled by the mayor or police. The street cars
on which they were riding across town to the Camden station were thrown
from the tracks. The crowds jammed the streets and shouted their curses
in the face of the advancing volunteers. Stones were hurled into their
ranks and two soldiers dropped. A volley was poured into the crowd and
several fell dead and wounded.

The crowd went mad. Revolvers were drawn and fired point blank into the
ranks of the soldiers and those who were unarmed rushed to arm
themselves. From Frederic to Smith Streets the firing on both sides
continued with the regular crash of battle. Citizens were falling, but
even the unarmed men continued to press forward and hurl stones into the
ranks of the New Englanders.

The troops began to yield before the determined onslaughts of the
infuriated crowds, bewildered and apparently without real commanders.
They pressed through the streets, staggering, confused, breaking into a
run and turning to fire on their assailants as they retreated.

Harassed, bleeding and exhausted, the regiment at last reached the
Baltimore & Ohio station. The fight continued without pause. Volleys of
stones were hurled into the cars, shattering windows and paneling. The
troops were ordered to lie down on the floors and keep their heads below
the line of the windows. Maddened men pressed to the car windows,
cursing and yelling their defiance. For half a mile along the tracks the
crowd struggled and shouted, piling the rails with new obstructions as
fast as policemen could remove them. Through a steady roar of hoots,
yells and curses the train at last pulled slowly out, the troops pouring
a volley into the crowd.

In this first irregular battle of the sections the Massachusetts
regiment lost four killed and thirty-six wounded. The Baltimoreans lost
twelve killed and an unknown number wounded.

A wave of tremendous excitement swept the State of Maryland. Bridges on
all railroads leading north were immediately burned and the City of
Washington cut off from communication with the outside world. Troops
were compelled to avoid Baltimore and find transportation by