The Military Call From Big Sam

This article from the July 21, 1877 issue of the Baltimore American describes the mob surrounding the Sixth Maryland Regiment armory during the riots in Baltimore.

THE MILITARY CALL FROM "BIG SAM."

In the lower and central sections of the city the military call sounded by "Big Sam" and the fire-bells created the wildest excitement. It is no secret that a very large number of laborers and working people of the city are in sympathy with the railroad strikers, and their feelings naturally got the better of their judgment when they heard that the gun and the bayonet were to be used in suppressing the acts of violence of the strikers. The Armory of the Sixth Regimnet is located on the northwest corner of Fayette and Front streets, and at about 7 o'clock it was surrounded by a mob numbering at least two thousand persons.