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528 HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
publicly or privately exposing for sale, as they have been repeatedly requested not to
display such pictures for sale, and furthermore ordered by Marshal Van Nostrand not to
sell such pictures; and the sale of such pictures is hereby forbidden hereafter, unless by
special permission of the military authorities.
" Per order of Major General " R. C. SCHENCK.
" W. S. Fish, Lieutenant Colonel and Provost Marshal."
At the same time that the sale of these articles was forbidden in
Baltimore, they were freely exposed for sale in the Northern cities and
New England Villages, the "copperhead" element of the North, not
being deemed of sufficient importance to cause a prohibition of these
pictures there. Under this order a number of seizures and arrests wrere
made. Confederate songs and broadsides, and pamphlets of a " disloyal"
character were obliged to be privately printed, as a great number were.
Red and white (without the blue), being forbidden colors, all sorts of
schemes were employed to use them without drawing down the vengeance
of Fish and his agents. A contemporary writer giving an account of the
usurpations practiced by the military authorities at this period in Balti-
timore, says :
" The authors or agents of these wrongs did not pretend to respect the forms of law,
nor did they generally condescend to prefer, even informally, any specific charges against
those whom they thus thrust into prison. Nor was it merely in its overthrow of the laws
and Constitution of the State, that the ' Union' party aided and abetted the Federal government. They equally countenanced and apologised for the insolent and barbarous treatment to which individual citizens were subjected. Brutal outrages, such as had never
disgraced the soil of Maryland, and acts of petty tyrrany which any man would, a twelve
month before, have been ashamed to order or execute, were perpetrated without eliciting
a word of public remonstrance or denunciation from the ' Union' party. Persons
were dragged from their homes upon the mere order of some contemptible underling of
the government. The houses of citizens were invaded and ransacked in the search for
arms, papers and flags; and oftentimes without even the pretext of an excuse for the
outrage, being vouchsafed to the occupants. Newspapers were denied the privilege of
passing through the mails, and were finally suppressed by the arrest of their editors.
Men and women were stopped on the streets and ordered to strip from their persons
ribbons or scarfs, of which the colors were obnoxious. Nurses were borne off to the
station-house for carrying in their arms babies wearing red and white socks. Free
speech became an act of treason, which the government agents punished when they
chose; and persons of both sexes and of all ages were over and over again arrested for
some casual remark which was disrespectful to the government, and was, therefore,
deemed to be 'disloyal.' Even the unconscious utterances of the drunken reveller
were noted by the active agents of Mr. Lincoln, and numbers of men were arrested
for having, in their cups, said something that savored of respect for Mr. Jefferson Davis
or ' Stonewall' Jackson. In the shameless race for pre-eminence in servility to the
all-powerful dictator, spies and policemen had not the foremost place; for the Judge
upon the bench of the Criminal Court, and the State's Attorney, gravely asserted when
a man was on trial before them, that it was illegal and treasonable to drink the
health of Mr. Jefferson Davis. And the counsel who denied the ridiculous proposition,,
was sent, for months, to Fort Lafayette, by the provost-marshal. All this time the
' Union' party hounded on the government officials to acts of increased severity-
| Title | History of Maryland - 3 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000561 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 528 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. publicly or privately exposing for sale, as they have been repeatedly requested not to display such pictures for sale, and furthermore ordered by Marshal Van Nostrand not to sell such pictures; and the sale of such pictures is hereby forbidden hereafter, unless by special permission of the military authorities. " Per order of Major General " R. C. SCHENCK. " W. S. Fish, Lieutenant Colonel and Provost Marshal." At the same time that the sale of these articles was forbidden in Baltimore, they were freely exposed for sale in the Northern cities and New England Villages, the "copperhead" element of the North, not being deemed of sufficient importance to cause a prohibition of these pictures there. Under this order a number of seizures and arrests wrere made. Confederate songs and broadsides, and pamphlets of a " disloyal" character were obliged to be privately printed, as a great number were. Red and white (without the blue), being forbidden colors, all sorts of schemes were employed to use them without drawing down the vengeance of Fish and his agents. A contemporary writer giving an account of the usurpations practiced by the military authorities at this period in Balti- timore, says : " The authors or agents of these wrongs did not pretend to respect the forms of law, nor did they generally condescend to prefer, even informally, any specific charges against those whom they thus thrust into prison. Nor was it merely in its overthrow of the laws and Constitution of the State, that the ' Union' party aided and abetted the Federal government. They equally countenanced and apologised for the insolent and barbarous treatment to which individual citizens were subjected. Brutal outrages, such as had never disgraced the soil of Maryland, and acts of petty tyrrany which any man would, a twelve month before, have been ashamed to order or execute, were perpetrated without eliciting a word of public remonstrance or denunciation from the ' Union' party. Persons were dragged from their homes upon the mere order of some contemptible underling of the government. The houses of citizens were invaded and ransacked in the search for arms, papers and flags; and oftentimes without even the pretext of an excuse for the outrage, being vouchsafed to the occupants. Newspapers were denied the privilege of passing through the mails, and were finally suppressed by the arrest of their editors. Men and women were stopped on the streets and ordered to strip from their persons ribbons or scarfs, of which the colors were obnoxious. Nurses were borne off to the station-house for carrying in their arms babies wearing red and white socks. Free speech became an act of treason, which the government agents punished when they chose; and persons of both sexes and of all ages were over and over again arrested for some casual remark which was disrespectful to the government, and was, therefore, deemed to be 'disloyal.' Even the unconscious utterances of the drunken reveller were noted by the active agents of Mr. Lincoln, and numbers of men were arrested for having, in their cups, said something that savored of respect for Mr. Jefferson Davis or ' Stonewall' Jackson. In the shameless race for pre-eminence in servility to the all-powerful dictator, spies and policemen had not the foremost place; for the Judge upon the bench of the Criminal Court, and the State's Attorney, gravely asserted when a man was on trial before them, that it was illegal and treasonable to drink the health of Mr. Jefferson Davis. And the counsel who denied the ridiculous proposition,, was sent, for months, to Fort Lafayette, by the provost-marshal. All this time the ' Union' party hounded on the government officials to acts of increased severity- |
