my comment on moonshadow this morning got me to thinking about that pesky expensive education in history that i have hanging around and how maybe i should use it for something. and since i signed on to blogger instead of packing my bags to volunteer for the smithsonian, i'm going to regale you with a tiny civil war history lesson. this could be a weekly treat. wouldn't that be great. ok, well on to the knowledge. we're going to start with one of my favorite stories from the frederick area.
so, it's like before the war really started "officially" but like the abolishionists (ie: the north) and the pro-slavery-ists (ie: the south) are all angry with eachother and vying for power in the senate and settling the west in their respective interests. a few states vote to secede and a few states threaten to vote to secede. so things in the district are escalating. lincoln is getting a tad nervous as virginia votes to leave the union and a regiment from massachusetts gets called up to come to dc and post guard on the new "enemy border".
maryland, in the wake of virginia's move south, is preparing to hold it's own vote. in baltimore. baltimore is a tricky city. while geographically north of dc, it was built on the labor of eastern shore slaves and is dramatically pro-south. a lesson the fresh troops from massachusetts learn the hard way when they have to disembark their south bound train and march across camden yard to make the second leg of their journey. you see, baltimore is an excellent example of the schism between north and south, even the train lines aren't connected from the north and the south. so these northern soldiers are walking through baltimore to catch the DC train, when the locals start heckling them and throwing stones. the regiment, taken aback, starts shooting at the crowd while running flat out to catch the train.
there is great pressure from dc for maryland to vote union, otherwise washington would be surrounded by the "enemy". it's never a good idea to fight a war with your capital city surrounded and it would make lincoln look rather a fool internationally. the incidents in baltimore show public opinion favors the south. officials are pressured to more the locale of the vote, but where? the capital city, annapolis, was surrounded by union naval artillery and therefore as equally unsuitable as baltimore. said officials look west and choose frederick, a small but booming city easily accessible by train.
all of the delegates from all over maryland head to frederick to cast their votes yay or nay on the issue of seccession. on the morning of the vote, the funniest thing happens...all of the eastern shore/baltimore delegates are arrested for traffic violations and miss the vote. the motion carries to support the union and it's cause of abolition.
so what is the moral of this lesson?