Greg--The troops were in Baltimore, wherever they happened to be going, and Lincoln had sent them. There was a very strong, vocal secessionist movement in Maryland, and they exploited this, both with the riots and in subsequent recruiting efforts. The threat of losing Maryland to the secessionists was significant enough that, immediately after the riots, Governor Hicks, who was a Unionist, asked Lincoln not to send anymore troops thru Baltimore. In response, Lincoln shipped the troops to Washington by way of Annapolis instead.
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