Ebook: The Civil War in Maryland Reconsidered

Maryland’s Civil War history—unique, controversial, of enduring interest—has always been a rich vein of state remembrance. In the first phase of this history, Confederate and Union soldiers, often years after the war, published their accounts of what one called “the story of what [soldiers] saw and experienced in the great civil war for the Union,” an approach described by historian Carol Reardon as “What Happened to Me.” Their memories mirrored the divided allegiances that characterized Maryland’s anomaly as a border slave state supporting the Union, a state that contained pockets of opposition to the Lincoln government and that was initially characterized by clamorous minority support for the Confederacy. Most Marylanders endorsed the Union to some degree, but the state’s allegiance in the early days of the war became a flash point of historical contention.

This text will further illuminate the complexities of Maryland’s Civil War story, which remains an important part of national memory. In the last analysis the racial injustice at the root of that experience, and our ongoing, if flawed, efforts to confront inequality today, continue to define who we are, and aspire to be, as Americans.