Historical Controversies

The Pratt Street Riot and Baltimore’s Secession

Introduction to the Civil War
Chris Calton

Season 3, Episode 8. Only days after Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers, troops began moving to Washington DC, having to pass through Baltimore—a city full of secessionists. Seeing the movement of troops from Pennsylvania and Massachusetts as nothing less than a foreign invasion, Baltimore citizens resisted the movement of the troops, leading to the first blood spilled in combat during the Civil War. Following the riots, the secessionists took over Baltimore, and the city effectively seceded—cutting itself off from the North and vowing that no more Union soldiers be allowed to pass through their city.

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