Maryland My Maryland

I had no idea our state song was so goddamn evil!

Here are some highlights:

The despot's heel is on thy shore, Maryland!
...referring to Lincoln

Avenge the patriotic gore
That flecked the streets of Baltimore,
Referring to the Baltimore riots in 1861 that occured when federal troops marched through the ultra-pro-Confederate Baltimore city on their way to protect Washington, DC.

Remember Carroll's sacred trust,
Remember Howard's warlike thrust,
Carroll = Charles Carroll, the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence
Howard = John Edgar Howard, a Marylander who fought in the battles of White Plains, Monmouth, and Cowpens during the Revolutionary War.

With Ringgold's spirit for the fray,
With Watson's blood at Monterey,
Ringgold = Samuel Ringgold, Marylander, called the "Father of Artillery," and the first US officer to fall in the Mexican American War (Battle of Palo Alto, 1846).
Watson = William H. Watson, a Lieutenant Colonel who also died in the Mexican American War (Battle of Monterey, 1846).

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 amain,
Arise in majesty again,
Maryland! My Maryland!
Holy shit! That's pretty awful. What's interesting is that this song was written in 1861. John Wilkes Booth shouted "sic semper tyrannis" in 1865 as he was killing Lincoln. I imagine it was a popular phrase back then until Booth made it unfashionable. Kinda like little moustaches were probably all the rage until the 1940s.

Better the fire upon thee roll,
Better the blade, the shot, the bowl,
Than crucifixion of the soul, Maryland! My Maryland!
Yeah, if Maryland doesn't get to have slaves, then that's akin to crucifixion! Ironically, on paper, Maryland got to keep its slaves two years longer than the states that seceded (if you believe the unenforcable Emancipation Proclamation).

Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum!
She breathes! she burns! she'll come! she'll come!
Damn Northern scum! "Scum" is in the state song! Scum!

A big reason Maryland didn't leave the Union was because Lincoln had as many pro-Confederate leaders and leaders arrested as he could. (Typically, the state was divided into the Unionist northern and western counties and the Confederate eastern and southern counties, the latter including Baltimore.) As a result, when the General Assembly met to discuss secession, the legislature was able to unanimously decide they would not seceed. With the Confederates out of the way, Maryland was able to ban slavery in 1864 and give the right to vote to non-white males in 1867.

This was officially declared the state song in...

get ready for it...

1939!

Who was sitting there going, "Hey, remember when we wanted to leave the Union to join the Confederacy in that war they lost, but we didn't? Well, let's make this horrible song about wanting to leave our state song!"

Lousy state.

So, anyway, there is a Bill (2009 Maryland House Bill 1241) that if passed would change the lyrics to another poem also called Maryland My Maryland by John T. White, written in 1894. It's much less horrid (see the Bill linked above for the lyrics).

When I make the Anteitam trilogy for RVG, perhaps I shall record both versions of the song as bonus tracks