Up to this time the troops had made no resistance; now, finding the mob to be intent upon murder, Captain Follansbee ordered them to cap their pieces (which were already loaded), and defend themselves. They had reached Gay Street. The mob, full ten thousand strong, was pressing heavily upon them, hurling stones and bricks, and casting heavy pieces of iron upon them from windows. One of these crushed a man to the earth. Self-preservation called for action, and the troops turned and fired at random on the mob, who were dismayed for a moment and recoiled. The shouts of the ferocious multitude, the rattle of stones, the crack of musketry, the whistle of bullets, the shrieks of women, of whom some were among the rioters, and the carrying of wounded men into stores, made an appalling tragedy. The severest of the fight was in Pratt Street, between Gay Street and Bowley's Wharf, near Calvert Street.
The Mayor, alarmed at the fury of the whirlwind that his political friends had raised, attempted to control it, but in vain. With a large body of the police (most of whom did not share the treason of their chief, and worked earnestly in trying to quell the disturbance) he placed himself at the head of the troops, but his power was utterly inoperative, and when stones and bullets flew about like autumnal leaves in a gale, he prudently withdrew, and left the New Englanders to fight their way through to the Camden Street Station. This they did most gallantly, receiving a furious assault from a wing of the rioters at Howard Street, when about twenty shots were fired, and Captain Dike was seriously wounded in the leg. At a little past noon, the troops entered the cars for Washington. Three of their number had been killed outright, one mortally wounded, and eight were seriously and several were slightly hurt.1 Nine citizens of Baltimore were killed, and many — how many is not known — were wounded. Among the killed was Robert T. Davis, an estimable citizen, of the firm of Paynter, Davis & Co., dry goods merchants, who was a spectator of the scene.
The cars into which the soldiers were hurried were sent off for Washington as soon as possible. The mob followed for more than a mile, and impeded the progress of the train with stones, logs, and telegraph poles, which the accompanying police removed. The train was fired into on the way from the hills, but at too long range to do much damage. That evening the Massachusetts troops, wearied and hungry, arrived at the Capitol, and found quarters in the Senate Chamber, where, on the following day, they wrote letters to their friends on the desks lately occupied by Davis and his fellow-conspirators. Their advent gave great joy to the loyal inhabitants. Already the Capitol had been fortified by General Scott. The doors and windows were barricaded with boards, and casks of cement and huge stones. The iron plates intended for the new dome of the building were used for breastworks between the marble columns; and the pictures in the rotunda and the statuary were covered with heavy planking, to shield them from harm.
While the fight between the Massachusetts Sixth2 and the Baltimoreans
