Baltimore riot of 1861 (Potomac: theater, middle school, cabinet)

[Digger 68]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_riot_of_1861

[P47P47]

One of the events that gave Baltimore the nickname of "Mobtown".



(Which is still better than that sappy and contrived-by-the-City-Council "Charm City".)

[Digger 68]

If this event happened in New York, Boston, or Washington DC it would be discussed in unison with the Civil war. It's rarely ever talked about.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by Digger 68

If this event happened in New York, Boston, or Washington DC it would be discussed in unison with the Civil war. It's rarely ever talked about.

It depends. I would mention it. Keep in mind, though, that general US History is now a middle school subject in most Maryland school systems. AP US does mention during the Civil War unit.

[P47P47]

We learned about "...the patriotic gore, that flecked the streets of Baltimore," in third grade.

[Digger 68]

I am talking about national discussions, not grade school.

[P47P47]

Thanks for clarifying.

Is there something in particular about the incident that you think merits more discussion than it receives? Do you think that maybe in national discussion of Maryland-related Civil War history, people are just more interested in Antietam or the Winans Steam Gun than they are in the Pratt Street Riot?

[Digger 68]

Anitietam was the bloodies battle of the civil war, so why does Gettysburg get so much more press?

Watch a boatload of history discussions on the Civil War on something like C-Span (They talk about the Civil War constantly on the weekends on Verizon channel 111) or attend them.

If this stuff happened in the aforementioned places it would get much more press.

[westsideboy]

Originally Posted by Digger 68

Anitietam was the bloodies battle of the civil war, so why does Gettysburg get so much more press?

Watch a boatload of history discussions on the Civil War on something like C-Span (They talk about the Civil War constantly on the weekends on Verizon channel 111) or attend them.

If this stuff happened in the aforementioned places it would get much more press.

-"High water mark" of the Confederacy.
-Bobby Lee's first big loss.....after which the aura of invisibility is ripped from the Army of Northern Virginia.
- Higher body county overall because it was a 3 day battle.
- Fall of Vicksburg + loss at Gettysburg in those first days of July were the turning point of the war.

[Digger 68]

High water mark......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnin...ican_Civil_War

The Battle of Antietam, fought September 17, 1862, was the bloodiest single day of conflict in American military history. But it also had two strategic consequences. Although considered a tactical draw between the Army of the Potomac and the much smaller Army of Northern Virginia, it marked the end of Robert E. Lee's invasion of the North. One of his goals was to entice the slave-holding state of Maryland to join the Confederacy, or at least recruit soldiers there. He failed in that objective; he also failed in marshaling Northern fears and opinions to pressure a settlement to the war.

But more strategically, George B. McClellan's victory was just convincing enough that President Lincoln used it as justification for announcing his Emancipation Proclamation. He had been counseled by his cabinet to keep this action confidential until a Union battlefield victory could be announced, lest it appear to be an act of desperation. Along with its immense effect on American history and race relations, the Emancipation Proclamation effectively prevented the British Empire from recognizing the Confederacy as a legitimate government. The British public had strong anti-slavery beliefs and would not have tolerated joining the pro-slavery side of a fight where slavery was now a prominent issue. This removed one of the Confederacy's only hopes of surviving a lengthy war against the North's suffocating naval blockade. Support from France was still a possibility, but it never came to pass. Antietam and two other coincident failed actions—Braxton Bragg's invasion of Kentucky (sometimes called the "high-water mark of the Confederacy in the Western Theater") and Earl Van Dorn's advance against Corinth, Mississippi—represented the Confederacy's only attempts at coordinated strategic offensives in multiple theaters of war.