song shared popularity with "Dixie" among the Southern soldiers during the Civil War. At the outbreak of the war it was not certain whether the state of Maryland would remain in the Union or would secede. Feeling ran high in Baltimore, and when the Sixth Massachusetts regiment arrived in that city on April 19, 1861, on its way to Washington, crowds of Confederate sympathizers filled the streets and attacked the troops. The soldiers finally had to fire to secure their safety, and a number of citizens were killed and more wounded.

This roused even greater resentment among those who wanted Maryland to secede. The Federal government at once sent troops under General Butler to Baltimore and Annapolis, and the Union party, which was actually much stronger than the Confederate party in the state, held Maryland to the Union.

The author of "My Maryland" wrote the poem immediately on hearing of the attack at Baltimore, and when it was thought that Maryland might secede. He was of course an ardent Confederate sympathizer. Miss Hattie Cary of Baltimore set the words to the old college air of "Lauriger Horatius," and it soon became almost as popular around Southern camp-fires as "Dixie."

by James Ryder Randall

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