moved north on Gay St. up to Harford Rd. and Greenmount Ave. Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro III was unable to respond effectively. Around 8 pm, Governor Agnew declared a state of emergency. Many Black Businesses managed to avoid the destruction by painting the words "Soul Brother" on their doors or windows, and the rioters knew not to attack that business. By the morning of April 7, reports to the White House described five deaths, 300 fires, and 404 arrests. Unrest also broke out on Pennsylvania Ave in West Baltimore. At one point, white counter-rioters assembled near Patterson Park; they dispersed after National Guard troops prevented them from entering a black neighborhood. Violence decreased after April 9, and the Baltimore Orioles played their opening game the next day, though the April 12 James Brown concert remained cancelled. On the afternoon of April 9, federal troops dispersed crowds at a permitted peace rally, apparently unaware that General Gelston had issued a permit for the event. The situation was defused by Major William "Box" Harris, the highest-ranking police officer in the city. Military response When violent protest broke out in Baltimore on April 6, nearly the entire Maryland National Guard, both Army and Air, were called up to deal with the unrest. The notable exceptions were the state's air defense units (which manned surface-to-air missile sites around the state), those units already on duty in the Washington, DC area, and a unit positioned in Cambridge, Maryland (the site of race riots in 1963 and 1967). The Adjutant General of Maryland, Major General George M. Gelston, commanded the National Guard force and also was given control of local and state police forces in the city (approximately 1,900 police officers). The combined National Guard and police force proved unable to contain the uprising. On Sunday, April 7, federal troops were requested, and the President invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807. Late that evening, elements of the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, North Carolina began arriving on the scene, while several Marine units from Camp Lejeune were put on standby status. With the intervention of federal forces, the Maryland National Guard was called into federal duty, resulting in a shift from state control (reporting to the Governor of Maryland) to federal control (reporting through the Army chain of command to the President). The federal force, Task Force Baltimore, was organized into three brigades and a reserve.