1861 Baltimore Riot Souvenir- Granite Curb Stone -SOLD

I purchased this granite curb stone at the recent Baltimore Arms Show from a fellow collector from Baltimore. Several years ago he purchased these from a Gas Company employee. This is the information he provided to me, “The cobblestone you purchased from me at the Baltimore Show was obtained in the late 1970’s from a man who worked for the Baltimore Gas Company. Work was being done on Pratt Street in Baltimore, MD and he obtained the cobblestones from the work site.”   The collector who obtained them was told he worker asked about the status of the granite and was told he was welcome to take it.  The collector took enough to make a small patio.  I was offered two additional pieces which I purchased as well.

When the 6th Mass Infantry marched through Baltimore to get to their train cars that would carry them to Washington, several of the companies were caught up in riots, where Baltimore citizens of the Southern sympathizing bent began taunting then hurling anything they could at the Massachusetts soldiers, including the prying up from the street these  curb stones. They measure roughly about 4 x 4 inches on the top smooth surface, with some being different in size slightly.

It would be of interest to read further the story of the 6th Massachusetts being the first soldiers of the Civil War to be bloodied in their responding to Abraham Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers to defend the Capital just after the firing on Fort Sumter. The Mass regiment was the first to answer the President’s call and to reach Washington, after first enduring the Baltimore riots, on April 19th, 1861.

An obscure but important relic from the earliest days of the American Civil War.