Chapter 628 Baltimore's Struggle

Chapter 621 Baltimore's Struggle

John Adams Dix's actions in Baltimore caused great indignation among local slavery supporters.

Baltimore Mayor Max was at a loss for what to do. Max knew very well that if Dix was allowed to do whatever he wanted in Baltimore, Baltimore and even the entire Maryland would be under the control of the abolitionists.

Max was a big slave owner in Maryland, and his ass determined his head. Naturally, he didn't want to see this happen.

Dix was hunting down non-abolitionists in Baltimore, even neutral people who didn't want to speak out, which made Max feel uneasy. If this continued, it would only be a matter of time before he was arrested by Dix and placed under house arrest in Fort McHenry.

Max decided to do something to prevent Baltimore from falling completely under Dix's control.

After thinking it over, Max, who was helpless, quietly came to the headquarters of the Baltimore Atlantic Railroad Company and asked to see Garrett, the president of the Atlantic Railroad Company.

"Dix and Lincoln's Republican Yankees and Southern traitors are all barbarians. It doesn't matter what method is used to deal with these unreasonable barbarians." Max said. He cares more about the result than the means.

The headquarters building of the Baltimore Atlantic Railway Company is the only building that Dix dares not to search directly. Many local pro-slavery politicians and neutral politicians hide here to seek refuge, and even join the Citizens Party at the speed of light.

"Let local women, preferably shrews with strong verbal skills, go to Fort McHenry in the name of condolences to greet General Dix and the Northern officers and soldiers, and put pressure on them to let Dix order the cancellation of military control." Garrett said.

In this way, the power of their Southern slaveholders will be unprecedentedly weakened, and this result is what Max does not want to see.

"Dix dares to arrest people in Baltimore without scruples. There must be someone behind him to support him. As for who can give Dix such a big confidence, I don't think I need to say it clearly." Garrett said slowly.

"That makes sense. I'll contact the Baltimore Women's Association and ask them to organize an event to comfort Dix and the brothers of the Northern Army." After saying that, Max quietly left the Atlantic Railway Company's headquarters building through the back door.

"General, the Baltimore Women's Association came to comfort us, and they are now blocked outside Fort McHenry by me." Lieutenant Colonel Francis Barlow of the New York Militia did not dare to let these Baltimore women enter Fort McHenry privately, so he came to Dix's office and reported this emergency to Dix.

Garrett's words also made sense. The reason why Dix can now effectively control Baltimore is because of the strict military control measures implemented, which greatly restricted the activities of the slave-holding armed forces in Baltimore. It is difficult for various armed groups to cooperate effectively and cannot pose a threat to Dix's army.

"Mr. Garrett, you have to give us an idea! Since Dix led his army into Maryland, we have been in chaos in Maryland and have no peace." Seeing Garrett, Max complained to Garrett, hoping that Garrett could come forward to persuade Dix for them.

"Is there no way at all, can we only let Dix do whatever he wants in Baltimore?" Max said indignantly.

"Yes, Mr. Garrett, now in the whole city of Baltimore, only your words have weight in front of Dix."

"It's not that there is no way." Garrett hesitated.

As long as Max can cancel the military control, the slave-holding armed forces hidden in Baltimore will have time to reorganize and regroup to regain control of Baltimore.

"Mayor Max, since you know Lincoln's character and Max only follows Lincoln's lead, do you think I can persuade Max?" Garrett said.

"Mr. Garrett, please tell us what you have to say! It's already this late and you're still keeping us in suspense!" Max said anxiously.

"I'm not keeping us in suspense." Garrett frowned, "It's just that this method is not gentlemanly."

"Barlow, what do you think about this?" After learning that the Baltimore Women's Federation organized local women to come to Fort McHenry to comfort the troops, Dix felt that this matter was not that simple.

Once Dix completely controls Baltimore and Maryland, not only will Delaware in the east of Maryland be completely under the control of his political enemies, the abolitionists, but even other swing states in the South will likely choose to succumb to Lincoln and the Republican Party.

"Mr. Garrett, please come forward to persuade Dix. He is so outrageous in Baltimore. How will other southern states view him? How will they view the Republican Party?"

The next day, hundreds of local Baltimore women came to Fort McHenry in the name of comforting the troops.

"Then Dix's reputation will be completely ruined, isn't that what you want?" Garrett smiled slyly and said meaningfully, "Lincoln and the Republican Party can ignore the name of the slave states, can they also ignore the public opinion of the free states?"

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"Now Dix is ​​even more lawless, skipping the judicial process to arrest people everywhere in Baltimore! What kind of nonsense! I implore you to persuade Dix for the sake of the people of Baltimore."

Even if this cannot stop Dix from arresting political enemies in Baltimore, it can disgust Dix.

Garrett is a member of the Civic Party. Although Dix has arrested a large number of pro-slavery and neutral politicians since he led his troops into Baltimore, Dix did not dare to arrest anyone. He was afraid that he would be angry with the Civic Party and cause the East-West relations to deteriorate. Therefore, Dix did not dare to arrest Civic Party members in Baltimore.

In less than a week after Dix entered Baltimore, Garrett recruited more party members than in the past few years combined.

"That's a solution, but Dix has always been a rude and unreasonable person. What if Dix arrests our women and even hurts them?" Max hesitated.

"It must be Lincoln! Damn it, this guy has not become president yet, but he dares to act so recklessly and lawlessly. If he becomes president, what more ridiculous actions he will take is simply unimaginable." Max thought for a moment and immediately thought of Lincoln.

They are the army of the northern New York State. These slave-owning women in Baltimore hate them so much that they can't wait to come to comfort them?

"General, I think they are just paying New Year's greetings to weasels," said Lieutenant Colonel Barlow. "We just captured the husbands, children, and fathers of these women. They hate us so much that they are so kind to come and comfort us. I think this is very unusual. It may be a conspiracy of those Dixie guys in Baltimore. We'd better be careful."