Bay State Soldiers In The Early Civil War

Just days after the attack on Fort Sumter, a regiment of Massachusetts militia volunteers were involved in one of the first skirmishes of the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln had ordered thousands of soldiers to defend Washington D.C. after the Confederacy moved its capital from Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond, Virginia. The troops were ordered to make their journey by rail, and for the 6th Massachusetts Regiment that meant traveling through Baltimore, Maryland. 

While Maryland was technically loyal to the Union, there was a significant amount of secessionist sympathy in the state. On April 19, 1861, as the Massachusetts troops were moving between two Baltimore train stations, a mob of Confederate sympathizers and anti-war Democrats attacked the soldiers, first with stones and bricks—then things got more serious. Gunfire erupted and the Massachusetts volunteers were forced to return fire. Four soldiers were killed as well as 12 Maryland civilians. 

Depending upon your allegiances, the event became known as the “Baltimore Riot” or the “Pratt Street Massacre”. It is considered the first incident of bloodshed in a war that would drag on until April 9, 1865. The casualties were astounding: almost 750,000 deaths—about 2% of the country’s population at the time.

And while the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina is regarded as the start of the conflict, the first real confrontation of the war involved a band of volunteer militiamen from Massachusetts.