It is unlikely Lincoln would have known immediately of the mayor's complicity. Brown was arrested in September, when his treason became known.
Then exactly what action that preserved the peace was he commending Hicks and Brown for?
Brown was arrested in September, when his treason became known.
Incorrect. Brown was among the many political persecutions in Baltimore later that year. He was never convicted of anything.
Furthermore, Hicks' approval of Brown's order is demonstrated in his letter to Lincoln on April 20th:
To his Excellency ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States:I have been in Baltimore since Tuesday evening last, and co-operated with Mayor G, W. Brown in his untiring efforts to allay and prevent the excitement and suppress the fearful outbreak as indicated above, and I fully concur in all that is said by him in the above communication.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, THOMAS H. HICKS, Governor of Maryland.
The request that Hicks "fully concurred" with was a letter from Brown asking Lincoln not to send any more troops through Baltimore.
POLICE DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE MARSHAL,
Baltimore, May 9, 1861.Near the hour of 12 p.m. on Friday, the 19th April, the day on which the collision with the Massachusetts troops occurred, I received intelligence that the president of the Pennsylvania Central Railroad Company had sent a dispatch to a gentleman here that additional troops would pass through Baltimore on their way to the capital.
I immediately sent to the president of the police board the intelligence referred to, and called at the residence of his honor Mayor Brown, to whom I also communicated the information which I had received.
The mayor immediately had an interview with the governor, who was then staying at his (mayor's) house, and afterwards invited me to accompany him to the chamber of his excellency, to whom I communicated the information of the purposed coming of the troops.
A general conversation then ensued, in which it was agreed to by all present that any attempt to pass troops through the city, in the then excited condition of the public mind, would lead to the most fearful consequences, and that any such passage must be prevented or delayed. The governor fully accorded in these views.
The conversation resulted in the governor's distinctly and unequivocally consenting, in response to the direct question put to him by the mayor, that the bridges on the roads by which the troops were expected to come should be destroyed as the only means of averting the consequences referred to of their coming at that time.
GEO. P. KANE, Marshal.
Another eyewitness was Brown's brother:
BALTIMORE, May 9, 1861.About 12 o'clock on the night of Friday, 19th April last, I was present when a conversation took place between Governor Hicks and my brother, the mayor of Baltimore, in reference to the best course to be pursued, by which a repetition of the troubles which had occurred on that day could be prevented. It was represented to them by Marshal Kane that troops from the North were on their way to Baltimore, and might by the following morning reach the city.
The destruction of the bridges on the Northern Central and the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroads was, in the opinion of my brother, the best and most effective method to obstruct their progress. In this opinion Governor Hicks fully concurred. When asked by my brother whether or not he gave his consent to the measure, the governor expressed a desire for time for reflection. Being reminded by those present of the lateness of the hour, and the necessity for prompt action, my brother again earnestly appealed to Governor Hicks and asked him for his consent. Governor Hicks' answer was, in substance, although I may not use his exact words, "I see nothing else to be done." "But, sir, said my brother, I cannot act without you consent; do you give it?" The governor's reply was distinctly given in the affirmative.
J. CUMMING BROWN
Here is the testimony of Louis Lowe to the Maryland legislature about the incident. Lowe was accompanying Police Chief Kane to Brown's house when they conferred with Hicks. It indicates that Hicks not only approved the bridge destruction but also specifically gave Brown the authority to destroy bridges outside of the city limits.
Governor Hicks fully and most distinctly assented to all this, and said, "Well, I suppose it must be done," or words of precisely that import, to which the mayor replied, substantially, "Governor, I have no authority to act beyond the city limits, and can do nothing in this matter except by your direction; shall the bridges be destroyed?" Governor Hicks emphatically and distinctly replied in the affirmative. It is absolutely impossible for any misapprehension to exist on this point. The mayor, Marshal Kane, and I then proceeded to the marshal's office, where we found several highly respectable citizens gathered, to whom the mayor and marshal gave a statement of their interview with the governor. The mayor then issued Written orders for the destruction of the bridges. The next morning I learned by the newspaper extras that the orders had been carried into effect.
Brown was never charged with treason, nor convicted of anything.
"Mayor Brown was arrested on September 17, 1861, and imprisoned at Fort Warren, Massachusetts, until November 27, 1862, by order of General Dix, the Federal officer then in command at Baltimore. The cause, or excuse, was his payment of wages to police officers who had been ordered off the city police force by General Dix. Mayor Brown ultimately became Chief Judge of the Supreme bench of Baltimore City." Walker Lewis, Without Fear or Favor, 1965, p. 534.