Among the holdovers from the Civil War era embedded in the official history of my home state Maryland are the words to the state song
\"Maryland My Maryland\".
The phrase:
[quote]Avenge the patriotic gore
That flecked the streets of Baltimore
actually refers to the
patriotic resistance of Baltimore's citizen's to an
invading Massachusetts regiment sent in by Abraham Lincoln. This has been refered to as the first battle of the Civil War.
Likewise the phrases:
[quote]Dear Mother! burst the tyrant's chain,
Maryland!
Virginia should not call in vain,
Maryland!
She meets her sisters on the plain-
"Sic semper!" 'tis the proud refrain
That baffles minions back again
are a call to Marylander's to join their "sisters" from the slave state of Virginia.
At the Maryland Genealogical Convention last weekend I heard
Bart Talbert speak about the somewhat obsucrred facts of Maryland's pro-south sympathies during that period. I read his book "Maryland The South's First Casualty" when it first came out, and though it does a service by highlighting some not so proud moments in the states role in the Civil War, he seemed to show such a tendency to diminish the importance of slavery and emphasize the importance of non-slaveholding Marylanders desire for local/states rights, that I decided against buying the book and instead read it while sitting in the book store.
I was in-between jobs at the time and couldn't afford the luxury.
The book is currently out of print and awaiting the outcome of negotiations to have it reprinted. I think it would be an interesting read for Civil War buffs. I might buy it yet if it comes out again assuming it sells for something less than the $55.00 retail price he's expecting for it.
[ September 28, 2002: Message edited by: sportinlife ]