The Baltimore Riot You Didn’t Know About

It was a beautiful mid-April day in Baltimore, Maryland. With Cherry Blossoms blooming and a slight breeze blowing, tensions were on the rise across the city. Exactly one week prior, an event occurred which would place the entire United States on the brink of mass civil unrest. Issues of race and liberty dominated the headlines five days later on April 18^th, as blacks, the local police, and state militia would soon clash with one another. The next day, the 19^th, events unfolded which would quickly evolve into all-out war.

If that sounds to you like the aftermath of the Freddie Gray murder in the midst of a police state, you would be mistaken. This is the story of the Baltimore Riot of 1861.

The American Civil War officially began on April 12^th, 1861 when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter without casualty. Anxiety in Baltimore was especially high at this time because it desired to stay neutral in the ensuing conflict. Most Baltimoreans were anti-War, yet simultaneously sympathetic to Southern business interests. Confusing the matter further were the 25,000 freed slaves which lived in the city, often at odds with one-third of the local population still supportive of slavery.

The Commonwealth of Virginia seceded from the union on the 17^th, and the next day all of Baltimore wondered about the effects on the local economy and politics. After a scuffle erupted that afternoon between opposing militias crossing each other in town, the passion of the city’s people were lit. On the evening of the 19^th, a mob of Southern supporters met a brigade of Northern soldiers en route to Washington as the brigade traveled between train stations along Pratt Street. Chaos ensued, and the first blood of the Civil War was spilled. Local police intervened as mediators, but 16 people were killed and dozens more wounded. History was set in motion, and no longer could Baltimore or the rest of the country ignore the reality of war and its cost of human life.

Then-Mayor of Baltimore, George Brown would later opine that the Pratt Street Riot was the last element needed to create full-scale war, saying,

“Because then was shed the first blood in a conflict between the North and the South; then a step was taken which made compromise or retreat almost impossible.”

With riots in Baltimore once again a national story nearly two centuries later, and civil disobedience on the rise across the country, could this mean the start of the next Civil War? Is retreat impossible from the violence of law enforcement everywhere?

This is what makes Freddie Gray different than every police brutality story to come before it. Passions are once more lit, and the fuse is burning. The tension between those who want freedom and those who take it away are higher than they have ever been. Peaceful protests are still the norm, but for how long? What happens when that first shot is fired in an agry crowd of thousands? How long can Humvees and tanks roam public streets without inviting a total assault? Will it matter then if you’re a pacifist, feminist, or socialist? If you’re black, white, or purple? Is non-violent resistance the only option anymore? Will we spiral into barbaric fighting like 150 years ago, or can the police state be ended without the Second Civil War?

By Jordan Freshour, contributor for TruthVoice