Celebrating Rights and 
Responsibilities
Baltimore & the Fifteenth Amendment, May 19, 1870
An Interactive Historical Investigation by David Troy © 1996

#19, #20, and #21: BATTLE MONUMENT

19. Battle Monument, Calvert and Fayette Streets.

20. Fayette Street, at Calvert Street, Facing East.

21. Monument to Negro Soldiers at Battle Monument.

The Battle Monument at Fayette and Calvert Streets commemorates Baltimore's ability to resist the British during the war of 1812. This is where the parade terminated. When several officials (including Frederick Douglass) were standing on a scaffold built for the parade, it collapsed unexpectedly. They joked that it must have been built by Democrats (despite the fact it was actually built by Republicans). After ascertaining that no one was hurt, Frederick Douglass and the other speakers relocated to the balcony of the nearby Gilmor House hotel. Ironically, Henry Gilmor had been one of Maryland's most celebrated confederate soldiers and wrote a book entitled, "I Rode with Stonewall."


© 1996 David C. 
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