Maryland! My Maryland!
Introduction
The despot's heel is on thy shore....
In 1861, James Ryder Randall, a native of Maryland, was teaching in a Creole school in Louisiana during the early days of the Civil War. On April 19, 1861, Union troops marching through Baltimore to the President Street station were attacked by a crowd of men hurling bricks. The troops opened fire, killing several in the crowd. Outraged by the news that his friend, Francis Xavier Ward, was among the casualties, Randall articulated his Confederate sympathies as a nine-stanza poem entitled "Maryland, My Maryland." The poem was immediately popular throughout the south and was set to the traditional tune "Lauriger Horatius" ("O, Tannenbaum").
In 1939, "Maryland, My Maryland" was adopted as the State song (Chapter 451, Acts of 1939; Code State Government Article, sec. 13-307). By 1970, newspaper articles began to appear urging that a new state song should be selected due to the inflammatory nature of Randall's lyrics. Since then, members of the Maryland Legislature have periodically introduced bills to change the state song, but such efforts continue to be defeated.
National History Standards
Materials compiled in this document can be used by educators to fulfill the following National History Standards for Grades 5-12:
Era 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
STANDARD 1: The causes of the Civil War
Standard 1A: The student understands how the North and South differed and how politics and ideologies led to the Civil War.
7-12: Identify and explain the economic, social, and cultural differences between the North and the South. [Draw upon quantitative data to trace historical developments]
7-12: Explain how events after the Compromise of 1850 and the Dred Scott decision in 1857 contributed to increasing sectional polarization. [Analyze cause-and-effect relationships]
Primary Resources
DESCRIPTION: The Lexington of 1861. The Massachusetts Volunteers Fighting Their Way Through the Streets of Baltimore on Their March To the Defense of the National Capitol, April 19, 1861. Hurrah For the Glorious 6th.
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: Colored lithograph by Currier & Ives, 1861
SOURCE: Cator Collection
REPOSITORY: Enoch Pratt Free LibraryDESCRIPTION: James Ryder Randall
ARTIST: Katherine Walton
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1909
SOURCE: Maryland Commission on Artistic Property Collection, MSA SC 1545-1-1072
REPOSITORY: Maryland State ArchivesDESCRIPTION: James Ryder Randall to Branden Matthews, esq., Washington, D.C.
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: December 6, 1884
SOURCE: SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (Topical Files Collection), MSA SC 1456-879
REPOSITORY: Maryland State ArchivesDESCRIPTION: Maryland! my Maryland! A Patriotic Song
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: Augusta; New Orleans, Georgia; Louisiana, Blackmar & Bro.; Blackmar & Co., 1862
REPRODUCTIONS: How to Order Reproductions
COPYRIGHT: Copyright and other restrictions
SOURCE: Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920
REPOSITORY: Duke UniversityDESCRIPTION: Maryland, my Maryland, and Other Poems
AUTHOR: James Ryder Randall
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: Baltimore, Md., New York, J. Murphy Company, ca. 1908
SOURCE: Making of America
REPOSITORY: Cornell UniversityDESCRIPTION: Chapter 451 establishing 'Maryland! My Maryland!' as the Maryland State Song.
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1939
SOURCE: Archives of Maryland Online
REPOSITORY: Maryland State ArchivesDESCRIPTION: "Memoirs of a Busy Life; By James Ryder Randall: Vagrant Reminiscensces Of The Author of 'Maryland, My Maryland.'"
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: n. d.
SOURCE: unidentified newspaper clipping
REPOSITORY: Maryland State ArchivesDESCRIPTION: "...A hateful state song"
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: n. d.
SOURCE: unidentified newspaper clipping
REPOSITORY: Maryland State ArchivesDESCRIPTION: "Maryland, My Maryland Is 'Communist' In Tokyo, Amazed Traveler Learns."
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: February 8, 1938
SOURCE: Evening Sun (Baltimore)
REPOSITORY: Maryland State ArchivesDESCRIPTION: "Maryland, My Maryland."
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: 5 September 1938
SOURCE: Evening Sun (Baltimore)
REPOSITORY: Maryland State ArchivesDESCRIPTION: "Origin of the Maryland Anthem, 'Maryland, My Maryland."
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: March 1960
SOURCE: Chronicles of St. Mary's
REPOSITORY: Maryland State ArchivesDESCRIPTION: "Tense Civil War Situation Inspired Maryland's Song."
DATE PUBLISHED/CREATED: January 4, 1962
SOURCE: Evening Capital (Annapolis)
REPOSITORY: Maryland State ArchivesDESCRIPTION: "Revision of State Song Urged."
DATE PUBLISHED/CREATED: May 10, 1970
SOURCE: News American (Baltimore)
REPOSITORY: Maryland State ArchivesDESCRIPTION: "A Sour Note For Sweet Maryland."
DATE PUBLISHED/CREATED: September 27, 1979
SOURCE: Washington Post (Washington, DC)
REPOSITORY: Maryland State ArchivesDESCRIPTION: "'Maryland! My Maryland!' Will Live On Unchanged."
DATE PUBLISHED/CREATED: January 30, 1980
SOURCE: Washington Post (Washington, DC)
REPOSITORY: Maryland State ArchivesDESCRIPTION: "Tidying Up Our History With Aid of the Eraser."
DATE PUBLISHED/CREATED: January 29, 1980
SOURCE: Washington Post (Washington, DC)
REPOSITORY: Maryland State ArchivesDESCRIPTION: "Maryland's state song."
DATE PUBLISHED/CREATED: February 16?, 1980
SOURCE: Evening Capital (Annapolis)
REPOSITORY: Maryland State ArchivesDESCRIPTION: "Why Maryland sings about Yankee despots."
DATE PUBLISHED/CREATED: July 22, 1981
SOURCE: News American (Baltimore)
REPOSITORY: Maryland State ArchivesDESCRIPTION: "Civil War buffs call state songs vital to heritage."
DATE PUBLISHED/CREATED: March 12, 2001
SOURCE: Washington Times (Washington, DC)
REPOSITORY: Maryland State Archives
Additional Media Resources
Maryland at a Glance, State Symbols: Maryland State Song - Maryland! My Maryland!
Secondary Resources
Abel, Ernest L. "Maryland-born James Ryder Randall penned one of the Civil War's most stirring songs in honor of his state" America's Civil War (July 1998): 8
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Credits
Teaching American History in Maryland is a collaborative partnership of the Maryland State Archives and the Center for History Education (CHE), University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), and the following sponsoring school systems: Anne Arundel County Public Schools, Baltimore City Public School System, Baltimore County Public Schools, and Howard County Public Schools.
Other program partners include the Martha Ross Center for Oral History, Maryland Historical Society, State Library Resource Center/Enoch Pratt Free Library, with assistance from the National Archives and Records Administration and the Library of Congress. The program is funded through grants from the U.S. Department of Education.
This document packet was researched and developed by Nancy Bramucci.
Maryland State Archives • 350 Rowe Boulevard • Annapolis, MD 21401 • 410-260-6400 • archives@mdsa.net