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Yesterday I returned from a long weekend in Baltimore for that city’s commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Pratt Street Riot, the April 19, 1861 confrontation that cost the lives of Luther Ladd, Addison Whitney, Sumner Needham and Charles Taylor. The centerpiece of the Baltimore celebration was a parade…

Eight railroad cars bearing seven companies of the Sixth Regiment made it to Camden Station, but four companies in four cars remained behind. The four captains commanding those companies decided to march through the city. Captain Follansbee of Company C took the lead. The troops had to overcome a number…

A sleepy Sixth Regiment departed Philadelphia by train at 1 am on Friday, April 19, 1861. The original plan was to leave first thing in the morning, but railroad officials warned Colonel Jones of talk that people in Baltimore planned to prevent any troops from passing through the city. Jones…

April 18, 1861 was a Thursday. The train bearing the Sixth Regiment rolled into New York City early in the morning after the all-night journey from Boston. The troops marched through the city past great crowds that cheered their passage. At noon, the regiment boarded a ferry that transported the…

On the morning of April 17 (a Wednesday), the companies of the Sixth Regiment marched to the Massachusetts State House where the old muskets carried by the troops were replaced with new rifled muskets and each man was issued “an overcoat, flannel shirt, drawers, and a pair of stockings.” Governor…

In the morning on a drizzly April 16, a steady stream of Lowell residents visited the various armories where the militia companies of the Sixth Regiment had gathered the night before, bringing food, supplies, money and support. By 9 am, the remaining companies of the Sixth – Company B from…