Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 1.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[146] determined to seize the first opportunity that might offer to drag that city into the rebellion. The arrival of the troops which the North was sending on for the purpose of protecting Washington against a coup-de-main furnished them with an excellent pretext. It was determined to oppose their passage, as the greatest service that could be rendered to the Confederate cause. The populace, exasperated by the destruction of the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, and stirred up by the conspirators, was to take charge of the matter; the authorities did not interfere. The looked — for opportunity occurred on the following day, April 19. When the Sixth Massachusetts regiment, with a few battalions of Pennsylvania volunteers, arrived at the northern station, an immense crowd bore down upon them. A line of rails, laid in the centre of the streets, connected this with the southern station, and enabled the cars, drawn by horses, to pass through the city. The crowd surround the soldiers of the Sixth Massachusetts, who occupy these cars. The last cars are stopped, and the occupants, being obliged to get out, endeavor to make their way through the crowd.

But being hemmed in on all sides, they are soon attacked by a shower of stones, which wound many of them, and injure a few mortally. The soldiers have to defend themselves, and the first discharge of musketry, which has considerable effect, opens them a passage. But the aggressors, being armed, rally, and a regular battle ensues between the small band of Federal troops and the crowd, which presses them on all sides. At last, the Massachusetts soldiers rejoin their comrades at the southern station; and getting on board a long train of cars that is waiting for them, they slowly proceed towards Washington, followed at a distance by the enraged multitude. The other troops, who remain at the station where they have alighted, being unable to pass through the city, are compelled to turn back. Baltimore was thenceforth in possession of the secessionists, who were fully determined to take advantage of the situation of that city to intercept all communications between Washington and the North. Accordingly, they hastened to burn the railroad bridges which had been constructed over large estuaries north of Baltimore, and to cut the telegraph wires. Deprived of all sources of information