Charm City

On June 20, 1632, Cecil Calvert, the second Baron Baltimore and a member of the Irish House of Lords, was granted the charter for the English colony of Maryland. The colony was named for the Catholic Queen Consort Henrietta Maria and as the Calvert family was Catholic itself, Maryland became a haven for Catholics in the English colonies. 

Photo: heritage.nf.ca 

In 1661, David Jones settled along the Patapsco River, the future site of Baltimore City. In 1706, the Port of Baltimore was created for the tobacco trade and the Town of Baltimore was founded on July 20, 1729. The city and the surrounding county were named in honor of Lord Baltimore. While it was founded for the tobacco trade, it was the sugar trade that helped the city to grow and develop. 

 Photo: citythatbreeds.com

During the American Revolution, the city was a Colonist city and was briefly the capital of the US between 1776 and 1777. In the War of 1812, the British attacked after burning Washington, DC and shelled Fort McHenry. The success of the US in this battle, the Battle of Baltimore, inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem The Star-Spangled Banner. 

Photo: prattlibrary.org 

Maryland was a slave state but remained with the Union during the American Civil War, even though secession was popular due to the profits the city made off of the tobacco and slave trade. President Lincoln forced the state to remain with the Union in order to protect Washington, DC. In 1861, the Sixth Massachusetts marched through Baltimore and Confederate sympathizers started the Baltimore Riot of 1861 by attacking the troops. This was not the first riot in Baltimore, bad bank investments had caused residents to riot in 1835. 

 Photo: msa.maryland.gov

After the Panic of 1873, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad company lowered wages in order to weather the depression but this led to the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. The National Guard was called in to end the strikes but sympathetic citizens attacked the troops and B&O property. 

Photo: teaching.msa.maryland.gov
 
On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated and his death sparked race riots across the country, one of which was in Baltimore. The black population of Baltimore had been growing steadily over the years but at the time of the riot, the city was majority white, which led to segregation. 

 Photo: washingtonpost.com

Photo: vocativ.com

In 1975, Baltimore was described as "an anonymous city even to those who live there." Mayor William Donald Schaefer was trying to end the bad image for the city and through working with advertisers, the city was given the nickname "Charm City." The reasoning behind the nickname was that the city had a lot of hidden charm and great history. The advertising campaign was too expensive for the city at the time but the name stuck. 

Photo: jivebopradio.com 

Today "Charm City" is the focus of the media because of protests that turned violent over the weekend. These protests began after Freddie Gray, a young black man from a dangerous part of town, was arrested for unknown reasons and died due to his spinal cord being severed somewhere between the location of his arrest and arriving at a hospital. The country has been on edge concerning black-police relations ever since the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri last August.

Photo: wbaltv.com


While the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was largely successful, not all was fixed, as the protests of the past year have demonstrated. Baltimore itself has been the subject of difficult race relations almost from the start. Maryland was a slave state but as Frederick Douglass demonstrated, it was easy for slaves to escape to Free states. Instead of trying to put an end to this, many slave owners made it possible for their slaves to earn their freedom over time. After the Civil War, freed African Americans flocked to Baltimore to escape the harsh Jim Crow laws of the Deep South. During World War II, many white southerners relocated to Baltimore to work in shipbuilding for the war effort. These white workers helped to maintain segregation in the city despite the fact that the black population was growing. 

Baltimore really is a charming city in that it has character and the people are friendly and welcoming. But underneath the charm is the ugly fact that race relations, especially with police officers, are still not good. What we are witnessing could become the next phase of the Civil Rights Movement: justice for African Americans killed by white police officers and equal treatment for blacks and whites in the eyes of the law. Racial profiling needs to end.

 Photo: washingtonpost.com

Ford's Theatre

On 10th Street in Northwest Washington, DC is a building that looks much like it did 150 years ago. Its purpose even remains the same: it is a playhouse. But this theatre was changed 150 years ago, as was the nation. 150 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln was shot while attending a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre. 

 Photo: Hilary Grabowska

Initially, the building was the First Baptist Church of Washington, but John T. Ford purchased the building and redesigned it to be a theatre and it opened in 1863 as Ford's Theatre. John T. Ford, a Maryland native, had been involved in the theatre world for quite some time before he opened his theatre in DC, having managed theatres in other cities before opening Ford's Theatre. 

Photo: fords.org

After General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, the residents of Washington were celebrating the end of the war. The celebrations lasted throughout the week and Ford hoped to fill his theatre on April 14, 1865. Before the Friday performance, Ford received word that President Lincoln, First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, General Grant and Mrs. Grant planned to attend the final performance of Laura Keene in Our American Cousin. Ford advertised the attendance of the president in the newspaper and he quickly sold enough tickets to fill his theatre on the night of April 14. 

 Photo: fords.org

After actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth assasinated President Lincoln, the US government took control of the theatre and closed it down. Eventually, the building was returned to Ford and he attempted to resume his business, but many believed this inapporopriate and he received many threats telling him to shut down the theatre. Ford heeded these warnings and sold the building to the US government in 1866. 

Photo: fords.org

The War Department took control of the theatre and made it an office building. This was acceptable because while people did not want it to be a working theatre, they also did not want to memorialize it. However, the third floor of the building collapsed, resulting in the death of 22 employees. 

 Photo: nps.gov

In 1964, the Lincoln Museum, which was housed in the basement of the old Ford's Theatre, displayed a replica of the theatre in 1865. By this time in history, people were interested in the story of Lincoln's assassination and desired more than just a replica. This interest resulted in the restoration of the building to its 1865 design. Today, the theatre is a National Historical Site as well as a working theatre.

 

Photo: Hilary Grabowska (On the stage is the set for the play Freedom's Song: Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. To the right of the stage is the box in which President Lincoln sat and it is decorated as John T. Ford had it decorated to honor the President.)

"This...is NPR"

In 1967, Congress passed an act establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and charged this new organization with developing non-commercial broadcasting. The act did not specify if it meant television or radio as the medium and it did this specifically to include both formats. This allowed PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) and NPR (National Public Radio) to come into existence. 

Photo: npr.org

In 1971, NPR had its first on-air broadcast in which it covered the Senate hearings on the Vietnam War. One of the people testifying before the Senate was John Kerry, a Vietnam veteran, later a U.S. Senator and now the Secretary of State. That May, NPR began airing an afternoon news show called All Things Considered. 

Photo: baltimorepostexaminer.com

As NPR grew, the organization added original plays, classic novel productions, festivals, and jazz performances in the 1980s. Unfortunately, NPR was $7 million in debt and was forced to cancel all non-news programming. Eventually, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting stepped in and developed a system of NPR member stations which supported the national broadcaster through a subscription basis, and NPR survived and thrived, paying off the debt in only three years.

Photo: npr.org

NPR is considered the most trusted news source in the U.S. While it is known for its well-researched news, it does include non-news shows. Some of my favorites are "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!" and "Car Talk." Do you have a favorite NPR show?

"My Captain lies / Fallen cold and dead"

At 7:22 in the morning, on April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died from a gunshot wound to the back of his head. 

Photo: americaslibrary.gov

The evening before, Lincoln and his wife had been enjoying a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC when Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth assassinated him. Doctors rushed to his side and had him moved out of the theatre to the Petersen House across the street. Mary and Lincoln's son Robert spent the night at his bedside until he died early the next morning. 

Photo: pbs.org

Historian James L. Swanson describes the city's reaction: 
"Imagine 9/11 and multiply it. Imagine the Kennedy Assassination and multiply it. The city was rocked by this. It was the happiest week in America and imagine all those hopes dashed in moments." 

The day of his assassination, Lincoln told his wife that he "considers this day the war has come to a close." In addition, he told his cabinet members earlier that day about a recurring dream he had before great events. This time, tragically, good news did not follow.

Photo: whitehouse.gov

This morning, on 10th Street NW in Washington, DC, people gathered outside the Petersen House and Ford's Theatre to honor Lincoln. A wreath was laid, bells across the city rang out and a Civil War reenactor band performed The Battle Hymn of the Republic. As Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said at the ceremony, "Lincoln lives to this day...in our journey to perfect our nation."

Photo: Ford's Theatre National Historic Site Facebook Page

"Our fearful trip is done..."

150 years ago today, the nation received a shocking blow: President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. The Civil War had virtually ended five days before and he was the first president to be assassinated. How could something like this have happened? 

Photo: rarenewspapers.com 

John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor and Confederate sympathizer, grew up in Maryland in an acting family. As a child, he was athletic and popular but uninterested in school, but he took to acting and at the age of 17 he made his stage debut in Richard III. When the Civil War broke out, Booth voiced his support for the South's "heroic" act of secession, his support for slavery and his abhorrence of President Lincoln.

In 1863, he was arrested in St. Louis for "making 'treasonous' remarks against the Lincoln administration." In order to avoid being thrown in jail, Booth swore an oath of allegiance to the Union. (Giblin, James. Good Brother, Bad Brother: The Story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth.)

 Photo: walnutstreettheatre.org

As the tide of the war turned in favor of the Union and Lincoln was reelected, Booth became more active for the Confederacy. Initially, he planned to kidnap Lincoln, bring him to Richmond and ransom him for Confederate prisoners in the North. Not only did Booth want the prisoners returned, he also believed that the ransom would invigorate the Confederacy. But as Booth planned this endeavor, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox and it became obvious that the kidnapping would be impossible. 

Photo: reformation.org

On April 14, President Lincoln rose and shared breakfast with his sons before an 11:00 a.m. cabinet meeting in which Lincoln and his cabinet members discussed how the nation would move forward with the end of the war; Lincoln did not want any more bloodshed and stated he did not want trials or hangings. Lincoln’s day consisted of various meetings and a carriage ride to the Navy Yard.

That evening, President Lincoln and his wife Mary Todd Lincoln went to Ford's Theatre to see the play Our American Cousin. During the third act, Booth entered the Presidential box and shot the president from behind. Booth then jumped to the stage and shouted a phrase in Latin that meant "So perish all tyrants" and fled the scene. 

 Photo: memory.loc.gov

When the news reached the public, there were two very different reactions: the North mourned as if a dear, personal friend had been killed, while the South celebrated his death. Walt Whitman, a poet, abolitionist and Lincoln supporter wrote a poem to honor the passing of president: 

"O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;

                         But O heart! heart! heart!

                            O the bleeding drops of red,

                               Where on the deck my Captain lies,

                                  Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,

For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

                         Here Captain! dear father!

                            This arm beneath your head!

                               It is some dream that on the deck,

                                 You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,

The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;

                         Exult O shores, and ring O bells!

                            But I with mournful tread,

                               Walk the deck my Captain lies,

                                  Fallen cold and dead."

An Army of Prisoners

April 9, 1865: 150 years ago today, the bloodiest conflict in US history came to an end. After evacuating the Confederate capital of Richmond, General Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, attempted to retreat south to rejoin other Confederate forces. First he tried to resupply his army at Lynchburg, Virginia. 

Photo: civilwar.org

As Lee and his men made their way west to Lynchburg, US General Ulysses S. Grant led his men in hot pursuit until the two armies met at the Battle of Appomattox Court House. Initially, the Confederates were successful at pushing back the Union cavalry. However, the Union's infantry quickly arrived and repulsed the attack by the Confederates.

When Lee asked General Gordon, the commander of the troops who had attacked the Union cavalry, for an update, Gordon replied, "Tell General Lee I have fought my corps to a frazzle, and I fear I can do nothing unless I am heavily supported by Longstreet's corps." With this assessment, Lee realized that he could either continue fighting and destroy his army or surrender. He chose the latter. 

Photo: civilwar.org

Lee and Grant quickly made plans to meet and eventually sat down together in the parlor of the McLean House in the village of Appomattox Court House. Grant drew up the terms of surrender and gave them to Lee to officially accept. Grant thought that it would be unnecessary to require officers to hand over their personal side arms, a gracious and respectful gesture. Lee accepted the terms and the two shook hands and exited the building. 

Photo: nps.org

While this surrender was not the official end of the American Civil War, it is generally viewed by historians to be the symbolic end. General Robert E. Lee was a beloved general and the South placed its confidence in him and believed he would win the war. And so, the war over slavery and secession came to an end.

Photo: wbez.org

Nearing the End

150 years ago, the American Civil War was nearing an end. In April 1861, when the Confederates fired upon Fort Sumter, the war began. No one believed it would be a long war; most thought it would be over by Christmas, but it dragged on for four more years and is the deadliest war in American history with over 600,000 casualties. 

Photo: npr.org

The spring of 1865 witnessed the Appomattox campaign, in which the Confederate forces, under General Robert E. Lee, attempted to regroup after their defeat at Petersburg and Richmond by retreating into the Carolinas to join General Joseph E. Johnston's army. Union General Ulysses S. Grant did not allow this and pursued Lee and his men relentlessly. 

Photo: longwood.edu

Lee attempted to march to Lynchburg, Virginia in order to resupply his army before entering the Deep South. However, Grant and his troops forced the Confederates to fight a number of battles and eliminated their chance to resupply. On April 6, at the Battle of Sailor's Creek, Virginia, the Confederates lost over 7,000 men. This loss greatly hurt Lee and his men but he pushed on to try and escape Grant. But the end of the war was nigh. 

Photo: thomaslegion.net

"The Yankees are coming!"

After the Confederate States of America initiated the U.S. Civil War in April 1861 by firing upon Fort Sumter, Virginia -- the largest slaveholding state -- left the Union and Richmond replaced Montgomery, Alabama as the capital of the Confederacy. This placed the capital cities of the Union and the Confederacy less than 100 miles apart, causing much of the fighting in the Eastern Theatre of the Civil War to be focused  between these two cities.

Photo: citadel.edu

Throughout the war, both sides continuously attempted to invade and capture the capital of the other side. Generally, Washington, DC was safe from invasion but the citizens of Richmond saw a lot of fighting and even became used to the threat of capture by the Union. They had great faith that the Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, Robert E. Lee, would prevent this.

Photo: publications.usa.gov

However, in 1865 Lee was facing a dilemma. After a 10 month seige at Petersburg, his troops were greatly depleted. Lee was considering allowing Petersburg and Richmond to fall so that he and his troops could regroup in the Carolinas with other Confederate forces. On April 1, Union troops defeated the Confederates at Five Forks and Lee made the decision to abandon Richmond.

Photo: civil war.org

Richmond resident Sallie Putnam wrote, "As the sun rose on Richmond [on April 3, 1865], such a spectacle was presented as can never be forgotten by those who witnessed it... All the horrors of the final conflagration, when the earth shall be wrapped in 'flames and melt with fervent heat, were, it seemed to us, prefigured in our capital. The roaring, crackling and hissing of the flames, the bursting of shells at the Confederate Arsenal, the sounds of the Instruments of martial music, the neighing of the horses, the shoutings of the multitudes... gave an idea of all the horrors of Pandemonium. Above all this scene of terror, hung a black shroud of smoke through which the sun shone with a lurid angry glare like an immense ball of blood that emitted sullen rays of light, as if loath to shine over a scene so appalling. ... [Then] a cry was raised: 'The Yankees! The Yankees are coming!'"(http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/warfare-and-logistics/warfare/richmond.html)

Photo: richmondthenandnow.com

As the city was evacuated, the Confederates set the city on fire to prevent the Union from plundering the capital. The city was mostly empty when the fires were started and most of the city was destroyed. On April 3, the remaining citizens and the mayor surrendered to the Union troops to the east of the city. With the surrender, the Union troops entered the city and put out the fire, which had earned the name of Evacuation Fire of 1865. Some of the first troops in the city were men in the U.S. Colored Troops and they were met by an enslaved population that was ecstatic to see them as well as the end of Richmond's slave trade. 

Photo: examiner.com