The Ballad of the Baltimore Rebellion

In the town of Baltimore
Along the Chesapeake's great shore
The poor were living rotten as can be
Sewage ran into the streets
Some could not afford to eat
And poverty was quickly expanding
Wages fell twenty five percent
With three million in unemployment
The bulk of the burden on the poor
And though B&O was profit bound
The bosses cut the wages down
The workers wouldn’t take it any more
The year 1877
The day July eleventh
B&O bosses came and said
"You workers better listen up"
Another ten percent was cut
"You've got until the sixteenth to accept"
Was lunchtime when the strike began
The brakemen and firemen
Said "I'm not gonna work for this low wage"
The stopped their train at Camden junction
Wouldn’t let the railroad function
And struck with a dream of better days
The strike then spread to Martinsburg
Where shutdown of the rails occured
And workers were lined up along the tracks
Said "We're not working for the boss no more
We're working for ourselves the poor
Yes, we're gonna take our wages back"
The governor sent it troops to stop it
Protecting the railroad profit
But they were outnumbered by the crowd
So President Hayes sent troops to fight
Shot a man and broke the strike
And strike breakers rode those engines out

Then the strike began in Cumberland
On the western end of Maryland
Governor Carroll sent the National Guard
They were set to board their train
At the Camden station
On the twentieth of July the would depart
That Baltimore evening Big Sam told
The streets were full of people
Who knew the workers needed their support
The Fifth and Sixth regiment
Were ordered by the government
To get to Camden station and report
The Sixth Regiment came out
Met by rocks from all around
They charged with their guns all lowered down
They fired on the angry mob
Pushed on through and marched along
With ten laying dead upon the ground

The Fifth Regiment advanced with speed
But right across Madison Street
On Utah Street their stood a great surprise
Armed with sticks and rocks and more
The people of Baltimore
Were waiting for them under darkened skies
They clashed and soldiers charged ahead
Rushing with their bayonets
Injuring any in their way
Blood and smoke were in the air
Resistance was everywhere
And Baltimore was rising from its chains
Women threw rocks and bricks
From windows of apartments
And fought with strength that many would admire
Indeed it was a bloody night
The people held the bloody strike
The soldiers pushed and stabbed and fired
When they finally got to Camden street
Half the guard had mutineed
And fifteen thousand people had turned out
They yelled and fought and cheered and clapped
Burned railroad cars and tore up track
And shut Camden station down
Now stuck inside the station house
Was Governor Carroll himself
With Mayor Latrobe and a bunch of cops
They told President Hayes the news
He summoned up for federal troops
To bring insurrection to a stop
The crowd dispersed and soldiers came
But still they couldn't run the trains
Though the crowd was no longer there
The strike had spread up West to North
From Baltimore to Pittsburgh
Rebellion was erupting everywhere

By August the national strike was over
Crushed by gangs of federal soldiers
With one hundred gone and dead
A government sworn to uphold change
Could have made a living wage
But gave the crowd the bullets instead
Governor Carroll served the boss
And Baltimore taxes paid the cost
And the railroad barons thanked the president
And Baltimore went back to normal
Poverty, fear and fruitless toil
Destined to rise up once again
Now let it be forever known
No worker ever stood alone
And there's hope inside the power of a union
So take a stand and join the fight
The same one fought that glorious night
July twentieth 1877