“The Madness of Disunion”: The Baltimore Conventions of 1860 (summer 1997): After failing to nominate a candidate in Charleston, SC, in April 1860, Northern and Southern Democrats reconvene in Baltimore; each nominate their own candidates (Douglas for the North; Breckenridge for the South). The Constitutional Union Party also holds its convention in Baltimore, nominating John Bell.

“Whose Cause Shall We Embrace?” Maryland and the Fort Sumter Crisis (spring 2000): Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor, is the focal point of growing tension between Washington and South Carolina in the winter and early spring of 1861. While many Marylanders support the government’s posture on the fort, others travel south to join the Confederacy, and Baltimore firms fill orders from South Carolinians for weapons. Click here to read more, and about the Maryland men in Fort Sumter when South Carolina bombards the fort on April 12.

“The Whirlwind Now Gathering”: Baltimore’s Pratt Street Riot and the End of Maryland Secession (summer 2002): A Baltimore mob clashes with Massachusetts militia as they pass through Baltimore en route to Washington on April 19, 1861, resulting in the first fatalities of the Civil War. Click here to read eye-witness accounts of the clash and its aftermath, how troops got to Washington via other means, and why a Maryland secession even at this early stage appears unlikely.