Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 38.djvu/334

320 to the Mayor. Early in the morning the City Council met in special session and appropriated $500,000 to be used under the direction of the Mayor in putting the city in a state of defence. The banks held a meeting, and a committee consisting of Johns Hopkins, John Clark, and Columbus O'Donnell, all of them Union men, waited on the Mayor and placed the whole sum in advance at his disposal. Considerable money was contributed by individuals, both Southern and Union men, for the same purpose. Later in the day a dispatch was received from the committee which had been sent to Washington giving assurance that troops would be sent around and not through the city. This dispatch gave much comfort; nevertheless the preparations for the defence of the city continued. Another committee, consisting of Senator Anthony Kennedy and J. Morrison Harris, was sent to Washington. They telegraphed back that they had seen the President, members of the Cabinet, and General Scott, and that orders would be sent to stop the passage of men through the city. * * *

The climax in the excitement of this memorable period in the history of Baltimore was reached on Sunday, April 21st. The town was like a powder magazine, and only needed a spark to produce an explosion. The spark came in the form of news that more troops were approaching the city from the North. In the afternoon a dispatch, came from Mayor Brown, at Washington, saying that the President would order the return of the troops to Harrisburg. The genuineness of this dispatch was doubted, and no attention was paid to it.

But it was true. At 3 o'clock Sunday morning the Mayor received a dispatch from President Lincoln, asking him to go to Washington by special train, in order to consult with Mr. Lincoln for the preservation of the peace of Maryland. The President also desired the Governor, but he was not in the city, and so the Mayor went, George W. Dobbin, John C. Brune, and S. T. Wallis accompanying him at his request. The special train left Baltimore at 7:30 and arrived in Washington at 10. At the interview with the President the Cabinet and