Class Year
2020
Document Type
Blog Post
Publication Date
10-30-2017
Department 1
Civil War Institute
Abstract
Baltimore was a city of 215,000 inhabitants on the eve of the Civil War: 215,000 souls who would soon be torn by conflicting loyalties. One of these individuals, Cosmo Mackenzie, sat down on the evening of April 12, 1861, to write a letter to his brother, Collin. Despite the rainfall all day in Baltimore, Cosmo proclaimed “the war has opened at last and all is excitement here.” Throughout the city, Baltimoreans found themselves choosing between their identities as citizens of the Union and supporters of a Southern, slave-based society. [excerpt]
Copyright Note
This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
Recommended Citation
Wesley, Zachary A., "A City Divided: Cosmo Mackenzie and Baltimore on the Eve of Civil War" (2017). The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History. 280.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/compiler/280
Comments
This blog post originally appeared in the Gettysburg Compiler and was created by students at Gettysburg College.