Early defeated Union troops under Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace. During this period in spring 1861, Baltimore Mayor Brown,[31] the city council, the police commissioner, and the entire Board of Police, were arrested and imprisoned at Fort McHenry without charges. The document, which replaced the Maryland Constitution of 1851, was largely advocated by Unionists who had secured control of the state, and was framed by a Convention which met at Annapolis in April 1864. [25] After the occupation of the city, Union troops were garrisoned throughout the state. as white Marylanders in the Confederate army. [55] Later in 1861, Baltimore resident W W Glenn described Steuart as a fugitive from the authorities: I was spending the evening out when a footstep approached my chair from behind and a hand was laid upon me. Mayor George William Brown and Maryland Governor Thomas Hicks implored President Lincoln to reroute troops around Baltimore city and through Annapolis to avoid further confrontations. Indeed, on the whole there appear to have been twice as many black Marylanders serving in the U.S.C.T. This history of the 1st U.S.C.T., credited to the District of Columbia contains roster on pp. Capital: Annapolis Population: 5,773,552 (2010) [41][42] May was eventually released and returned to his seat in Congress in December 1861, and in March 1862 he introduced a bill to Congress requiring the federal government to either indict by grand jury or release all other "political prisoners" still held without habeas. Whether or not Lincoln intended Congress to ratify his actions, Congress did not enact any such legislation until 1863. Favorite Answer. Preceded by the pivotal skirmishes at three mountain passes of Crampton, Fox and Turner's Gaps to the east in the Battle of South Mountain, Antietam (also known in the South as the Battle of Sharpsburg), though tactically a draw, was strategically enough of a Union victory in the second year of the war to give 16th President Abraham Lincoln the opportunity to issue in September 1862, the Emancipation Proclamation, taking effect January 1, 1863, which declared slaves in the rebelling states of the Confederacy (but not those in the areas already occupied by the Union Army or in border slave states like Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri) to be "henceforth and forever free". [57] When the prisoners were taken, many men recognized former friends and family. Merrick's fellow judges took up the case and ordered General Porter to appear before them, but Lincoln's Secretary of State Seward prevented the federal marshal from delivering the court order. Maryland exile George H. Steuart, leading the 2nd Maryland Infantry regiment, is said to have jumped down from his horse, kissed his native soil and stood on his head in jubilation. Despite some popular support for the cause of the Confederate States of America, Maryland would not secede during the Civil War. In this case U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, and native Marylander, Roger B. Taney, acting as a federal circuit court judge, ruled that the arrest of Merryman was unconstitutional without Congressional authorization, which Lincoln could not then secure: The President, under the Constitution and laws of the United States, cannot suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, nor authorize any military officer to do so. [47], Captain Bradley T. Johnson refused the offer of the Virginians to join a Virginia Regiment, insisting that Maryland should be represented independently in the Confederate army. Many Marylanders were simply pragmatic, recognizing that the state's long border with the Union state of Pennsylvania would be almost impossible to defend in the event of war. Baltimore was strongly tied to the … [69] Such celebrations would prove short lived, as Steuart's brigade was soon to be severely damaged at the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), a turning point in the war and a reverse from which the Confederate army would never recover. During the Civil War, Maryland, a slave state, was one of the Border States straddling the South and North. Maryland businessmen feared the likely loss of trade that would be caused by war and the strong possibility of a blockade of Baltimore's port by the Union Navy. [45] Among them were members of the former volunteer militia unit, the Maryland Guard Battalion, initially formed in Baltimore in 1859. In early 1861, Maryland was walking a tightrope between the Union and the Confederacy. He never shows in the day time & is cautious who sees him at any time.[56]. By sunset, 2,108 Union soldiers were dead, 9,549 wounded and 753 missing. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), Maryland, a slave state, was one of the border states, straddling the South and North. The issue of slavery was finally confronted by the constitution which the state adopted in 1864. Most Marylanders fought for the Union, but after the war a number of memorials were erected in sympathy with the Lost Cause of the Confederacy, including in Baltimore a Confederate Women's Monument, and a Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument. Newly elected 16th President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865, served 1861–1865), suspended the constitutional right of habeas corpus from Washington DC to Philadelphia, PA; and he dismissed Chief Justice Roger B. Taney of the U.S. Supreme Court's "Ex parte Merryman" decision in 1861 concerning freeing John Merryman, a prominent Southern sympathizer from Baltimore County arrested by the military and held in Fort McHenry (then nicknamed the "Baltimore Bastille"). Some, like physician Richard Sprigg Steuart, remained in Maryland, offered covert support for the South, and refused to sign an oath of loyalty to the Union. On May 23rd, citizens from eastern Virginia voted to join the Confederacy. Maryland represented a particular threat to a Northern victory because it surrounded the Union capital and a significant portion of its population supported the Confederate cause. [87], The legacies of the debate over Lincoln's heavy-handed actions that were meant to keep Maryland within the union, such as arresting one third of the Maryland General Assembly, but were ruled unconstitutional at the time by Maryland native U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, and in the official lyrics of the still divisive Maryland state anthem, Maryland, My Maryland, which refers to Lincoln as a "despot," a "Vandal," and, the word Marylander John Wilkes Booth shouted when he assassinated Lincoln, a "tyrant. [5] Frederick would later be extorted by Jubal Early, who threatened to burn down the city if its residents did not pay a ransom. There were two basic reasons: (1) Virginia: Getting Virginia to secede was a core CSA objective. That is why the latest polls show more British side with the “Leave” than the “Remain” campaign ahead of the Brexit referendum on June 23. Although divided in their loyalties, a combination of political maneuvering and Union military pressure kept these states from seceding. Throughout the Union, women organized sanitary fairs to raise money and gather materials for the Union cause. Abolition of slavery in the State of Maryland came before the end of the war, with a new third constitution voted approval in 1864 by a small majority of Radical Republican Unionists then controlling the nominally Democratic state. This meant that, if Maryland were to secede, the capitol of the United States would have been cut off from any contact with the US and would surely have fallen to the Confederates. [57] After hours of desperate fighting the Southerners emerged victorious, despite an inferiority both of numbers and equipment. First Battle of Bull Run a battle that was fought at a place called Manassas and the south won. The Federals would have no choice but to leave the Washington fortifications to confront him. While other men born in Maryland may have served in other Confederate formations, the same is true of units in the service of the United States. Baltimore boasted a monument to Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson[82] until they were taken down on August 16, 2017. [20] On April 29, the Legislature voted decisively 53–13 against secession,[21][22] though they also voted not to reopen rail links with the North, and they requested that Lincoln remove Union troops from Maryland. One feature of the new constitution was a highly restrictive oath of allegiance which was designed to reduce the influence of Southern sympathizers, and to prevent such individuals from holding public office of any kind. False history marginalizes African Americans and makes us all dumber", Point Lookout History, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MarylandSlavePop.jpg, http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lincolnconspiracy/boothdiary.html, "TimesMachine April 15, 1865 - New York Times", "Lee-Jackson Memorial" Smithsonian Art Inventories Catalog, "Confederate monuments taken down in Baltimore overnight", www.waymarking.com Rockville Civil War Monument - Rockville, Maryland, "As Confederate symbols come down, 'Talbot Boys' statue withstands the controversy", National Park Service map of Civil War sites in Maryland, List of Union Civil War monuments and memorials, List of memorials to the Grand Army of the Republic, Confederate artworks in the United States Capitol, List of Confederate monuments and memorials, Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials. The states between the North and the South that were divided over whether to stay in the Union or join the Confederacy. was a slave state during the course of the US Civil War. So why not find out which union is the right one for you, get a group of mates together in your workplace, and join a union? [12] Chaos ensued as a giant brawl began between fleeing soldiers, the violent mob, and the Baltimore police who tried to suppress the violence. Harris states that Lincoln may or may not have been aware of this communication. Lincoln responded by establishing martial law and unilaterally suspending habeas corpus in Maryland, along with sending in militia units from the North. [66], Lee's setback at the Battle of Antietam can also be seen as a turning point in that it may have dissuaded the governments of France and Great Britain from recognizing the Confederacy, doubting the South's ability to maintain and win the war.[67]. [29] Civil authority in Baltimore was swiftly withdrawn from all those who had not been steadfastly in favor of the Federal Government's emergency measures.[30]. It was not until 1864 that a constitutional convention was held which would address the issue of slavery in Maryland. Circuit Court for Maryland by Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, a Marylander from Frederick and former member of the administration of the seventh President Andrew Jackson, who had nominated him two decades earlier. Geography has provided Maryland a role in U.S. history as a pivot between the North and the South. The border between Maryland and Virginia is the Potomac River. [62] The order indicated that Lee had divided his army and dispersed portions geographically (to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and Hagerstown, Maryland), thus making each subject to isolation and defeat in detail - if McClellan could move quickly enough. [74] The new constitution emancipated the state's slaves (who had not been freed by President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation), disenfranchised southern sympathizers, and re-apportioned the General Assembly based upon white inhabitants. [citation needed] However, the constitution secured ratification after Maryland's soldiers' votes were included in the count. [68] Quartermaster John Howard recalled that Steuart performed "seventeen double somersaults" all the while whistling Maryland, My Maryland. [14] In a letter to President Lincoln, Mayor Brown wrote: It is my solemn duty to inform you that it is not possible for more soldiers to pass through Baltimore unless they fight their way at every step. Western Virginians wanted to remain in the Union. Four slave states -- Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, and Kentucky -- did not secede from the Union. This paper seeks to fill that gap by examining Lincoln’s conduct as he tried to keep Maryland in the Union in 1861. Thus, … [2] Culturally, geographically and economically, Maryland found herself neither one thing nor another, a unique blend of Southern agrarianism and Northern mercantilism. A further 3,925 Marylanders, not differentiated by race, served as sailors or marines. Capital: Annapolis Population: 5,773,552 (2010) Confederate forces under Lt. Gen. Jubal A. They are also likely to get better sickness and pension benefits, more paid holiday and more control over things like shifts and working hours. [1][4] In seven counties, Lincoln received not a single vote.[2]. [9], After John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859, many citizens began forming local militias, determined to prevent a future slave uprising. The Maryland legislature refused to ratify both the 14th Amendment, which conferred citizenship rights on former slaves, and the 15th Amendment, which gave the vote to African Americans. [citation needed] Most of these volunteers tended to hail from southern and eastern counties of the state, while northern and western Maryland furnished more volunteers for the Union armies. Although tactically inconclusive, the Battle of Antietam is considered a strategic Union victory and an important turning point of the war, because it forced the end of Lee's invasion of the North, and it allowed President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, taking effect on January 1, 1863. The Maryland flag has been described as the perfect state flag — bold colors, interesting patterns, and correct heraldry—a flag that fairly shouts "Maryland." [61], One of the bloodiest battles fought in the Civil war (and one of the most significant) was the Battle of Antietam, fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, in which Marylanders fought with distinction for both armies. [citation needed], Thousands of Union troops were stationed in Charles County, and the Federal Government established a large, unsheltered prison camp at Point Lookout at Maryland's southern tip in St. Mary's County between the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay, where thousands of Confederates were kept, often in harsh conditions. ... Lincoln threw up his hands in frustration at the failure of his commanders to stay out of the state's politics. Like Delaware, Maryland's decision to remain loyal to the union was partially influenced by geography and the fact that they shared a long border with Pennsylvania which they would have never been able to defend. When they did, he planned to march west from Frederick, crossing the Catoctin Mountains and South Mountain, to Hagerstown. [1] In all nine newspapers were shut down in Maryland by the federal government, and a dozen newspaper owners and editors like Howard were imprisoned without charges.[1]. The Battle of Monocacy was fought on July 9, just outside Frederick, as part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864. Maryland women organized a successful fair in Baltimore in 1864. The Civil War didn't start when the Confederate states left the Union, it started with the Battle of Fort Sumter. Randolph McKim, Numerical Strength of the Confederate Army, New York, 1912. [23] At this time the legislature seems to have wanted to avoid involvement in a war against its southern neighbors.[24]. This represented 25% of the Federal force and 31% of the Confederate. [12] Panicked by the situation, several soldiers fired into the mob, whether "accidentally", "in a desultory manner", or "by the command of the officers" is unclear. Four soldiers and twelve civilians were killed in the riot. [citation needed] This last provision diminished the power of the small counties where the majority of the state's large former slave population lived. Of the Trimble count, McKim states The estimate above alluded to, of 20,000 Marylanders in the Confederate service, rests apparently upon no better basis than an oral statement of General Cooper to General Trimble, in which he said he believed that the muster rolls would show that about 20,000 men in the Confederate army had given the State of Maryland as the place of their nativity. The order came again from Lincoln's Secretary of State Seward. Harris (2011) pp. The most important reason that President Lincoln did not want Maryland to secede from the Union had to do with the location of Washington, D. C. Maryland lies to the north of Washington. The constitution was submitted to the people for ratification on October 13, 1864 and it was narrowly approved by a vote of 30,174 to 29,799 (50.31% to 49.69%) in a referendum widely characterised by intimidation and fraud. or "The South shall be free!" Because the state bordered the District of Columbia and the strong desire of the opposing factions within the state to sway public opinion towards their respective causes, Maryland played an important role in the war. June 1861 Four Slave States Stay in the Union Despite their acceptance of slavery, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri did not join the Confederacy. ... remained in the Union, Marylanders who sympathized with the South adopted the red-and-white of the Crossland arms as their colors. Some 23,000 men were casualties; most of them killed or wounded, in a single day. His neighbors are so bitter against him that he dare not go home, and he committed himself so decidedly on the 19th April and is known to be so decided a Southerner, that it more than likely he would be thrown into a Fort. It seems that the General Assembly was primarily interested in preserving Maryland's neutrality, for they neither wanted to secede from the Union, nor to allow Union troops to cross its territory in order to attack the Confederacy. Meanwhile, General Winfield Scott, who was in charge of military operations in Maryland indicated in correspondence with the head of Pennsylvania troops that the route through Baltimore would resume once sufficient troops were available to secure Baltimore.[17]. The federal troops executing Judge Carmichael's arrest beat him unconscious in his courthouse while his court was in session, before dragging him out, initiating a public controversy. Its northern border with Pennsylvania is the famous Mason and Dixon Line, drawn in the 1760s to settle disputes between the Penn and Calvert families and traditionally regarded as the boundary between the North and the South.To the south much of the boundary with Virginia is … The disorder inspired James Ryder Randall, a Marylander living in Louisiana, to write a poem which would be put to music and, in 1939, become the state song, "Maryland, My Maryland" (it remains the official state song to this day). Although Maryland remained part of the Union, it did so under duress. The most prominent Maryland leaders and officers during the Civil War included Governor Thomas H. Hicks who, despite his early sympathies for the South, helped prevent the state from seceding, and Confederate Brigadier General George H. Steuart, who was a noted brigade commander under Robert E. Lee in the Army of Northern Virginia. The very nomination of Abraham Lincoln, four years ago, spoke plainly war upon Southern rights and institutions... And looking upon African Slavery from the same stand-point held by the noble framers of our constitution, I for one, have ever considered it one of the greatest blessings (both for themselves and us,) that God has ever bestowed upon a favored nation… I have also studied hard to discover upon what grounds the right of a State to secede has been denied, when our very name, United States, and the Declaration of Independence, both provide for secession.[81]. [25] Butler then sent a letter to the commander of Fort McHenry: I have taken possession of Baltimore. On April 14, 1865 the actor John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Booth was born in Harford County, Maryland, a northern county on the Pennsylvania border, which had few slaves. This meant that, if Maryland were to secede, the capitol of the United States would have been cut off from any contact with the US and would surely have fallen to the Confederates. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, consisting of about 40,000 men, had entered Maryland following their recent victory at Second Bull Run. [37] The court objected that this disruption of its process was unconstitutional, but noted that it was powerless to enforce its prerogatives. The Maryland General Assembly convened in Frederick and unanimously adopted a measure stating that they would not commit the state to secession, explaining that they had "no constitutional authority to take such action,"[19] whatever their own personal feelings might have been. Define border state. 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