Maryland State Archives

What’s in a State Song? : History & Controversy
The Inspiration: Baltimore Riot of 1861
After the battle of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 President Abraham Lincoln called for militia units from Northern states to travel to Washington, D.C. in an effort to protect the capital from Confederate threats in Virginia. On April 19, 1861 the Sixth Massachusetts Militia marched through Baltimore from the President Street Rail Station to the Camden Rail Station, which was just over a mile away.

As the troops attempted to transfer stations in Baltimore, they were attacked by a mob of secessionists who threw cobblestones, bricks, bottles, and other debris at them. In response, the soldiers fired their weapons into the mob, causing civilian casualties.

Although the soldiers reached the station to reboard, they did not do so without loss; thirty-six soldiers were wounded and four were killed. Additionally, at least a dozen civilians were killed in the riot.

A Poem: ‘My Maryland’
James Ryder Randall, a twenty-two year old Baltimorean who was teaching in New Orleans, Louisiana at the time, read reports of the Baltimore riot or as some Southern newspapers called it, the "Massacre,” and quickly responded by writing his poem, "My Maryland." Believing that a friend had died in the riot, he was outraged by what he saw as an attack on Maryland citizens.

James Ryder Randall read the poem to his friends, who promptly begged him to print and share it. With their encouragement, he sent it to the local paper, the New Orleans Delta. It was published and the locals began singing it to the tune of “My Normandy.”

By the next month, after it appeared in the journal The South the poem reached two Maryland society sisters, Hetty and Jennie Cary. They made an important change to the words- adding the “Maryland,” in front of “My Maryland” for the refrain. After her sister arranged it, Jennie Cary sang the poem before her glee club, setting it to the tune of “O Tannenbaum,” a German Christmas carol that had become popular in the United States.

Southern sympathizers identified with the song’s idealism and supported its author’s vehement opposition to Northern control. It soon became synonymous with the Confederate cause throughout the South. ,p> ‘My Maryland’: What does it say?
Perhaps because of their intensity, the words to James Ryder Randall’s poem “My Maryland” have caused debate in the past and among present-day Marylanders. When he wrote it, James Ryder Randall expressed his own outrage at the civilian casualties killed during the Pratt Street Riot. He hoped to encourage his home state Maryland to stand with other Southern states like Virginia and suggested that she secede from the Union. Additionally, his poem reminded residents of Maryland’s proud state history and important Marylanders.

In the poem, James Ryder Randall called for Maryland residents to oppose the “despot’s heel,” a scathing phrase he used to describe President Lincoln. As the Civil War began, “My Maryland” served as a rallying call for those who identified with Confederate sympathies, describing the Union army and Northern sympathizers as the “Northern Scum.” Interestingly, it was not until 1939 that the poem was codified as the State song, seventy-four years after the end of the Civil War.

State Song: Let’s make it official!
In Chapter 451 of Article 41 of the Laws of Maryland, the Acts of 1939, James Ryder Randall’s poem “My Maryland” was recognized and legalized as the official State Song of Maryland. The law established that the song would be sung to the tune of “Lauriger Horatius,” or “O, Tannenbaum,” the same tune the Cary sisters had used to spread the poem during the Civil War. The song was approved largely because it was already thought of as a state symbol.

Controversy : A Poem in Dispute
As early as 1935, Marylanders have opposed James Ryder Randall’s lyrics because of sectional tension it inspires and it has caused quite the controversy. Since the 1970s several bills have come before the Maryland legislature with the intention of changing the lyrics of the state song. Many, including an initiative by the fourth-graders at Glen Burnie Park Elementary School argue that the new lyrics should be replaced by a poem with the same name, written in 1894 by John T. White,an Allegany County teacher. White’s poem is politically milder and a more pastoral poem.

The opposition to James Ryder Randall’s song stems from his use of derogatory terms for President Lincoln and the North, as well as from his futile support of secession. Maryland, a slaveholding state, did in fact stay in the Union. Opponents of the 1861 poem seek to replace it with lyrics they feel more clearly represent Maryland’s contemporary tolerance and diversity, arguing that the present song is out of touch with Maryland’s modern culture.

Supporters of James Ryder Randall’s poem argue that the lyrics can teach Marylanders about the state’s history and heritage; even if some lyrics could be interpreted as offensive, they represent a specific time in history where Maryland residents stood divided. Americans divided themselves into secessionists, unionists, and abolitionists as the Civil War waged; with border states like Maryland suffering deep internal divisions. Some believe changing the song would be revising history.

Not one of the attempts to change the lyrics has been approved by the Legislature.

 Excerpts I want to use from poem Maryland, My Maryland:
I
The despot's heel is on thy shore,
Maryland!
His torch is at thy temple door,
Maryland!
Avenge the patriotic gore
That flecked the streets of Baltimore,
And be the battle queen of yore,
Maryland! My Maryland!

VI
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,
Maryland!
Arise in majesty again, Maryland! My Maryland!

IX
I hear the distant thunder-hum,
Maryland!
The Old Line bugle, fife, and drum,
Maryland!
She is not dead, nor deaf, nor dumb-
Huzza! She spurns the Northern scum!
She breathes! She burns! She'll come! She'll come!
Maryland! My Maryland!

OBJECT LABELS

(Used in the background) A portrait by Katherine Walton titled James Ryder Randall, dating from 1905, presently displayed in President Miller’s office. Maryland State Art Collection, MSA SC 1545-1072.

(Also used in the background) - Print, engraving, by William Momberger "Attack of the Massachusetts 6th at Baltimore, April 19th 1861." From The Great Rebellion Connecticut: Hurlbut, Williams, & Co. 1862. Image shows civilians hurling stones and brandishing clubs in response to the Union troops during the Baltimore Riot. Morris L. Radoff Memorial Fund Collection Maryland State Archives, MSA SC 4645-5-4.

Published in 1904, War Songs and Poems of the Southern Confederacy 1861-1865 by An Ex-Confederate contains anthems sung by Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. Maryland State Archives, MSA SC 5406-1-2.

Broadsides, one of the most common forms of printed material throughout the nineteenth century were often used to print announcements, proclamations, and ballads. They were inexpensive and easy to disseminate. This broadside poem “The Drummer Boy” was written by James R. Brewer and published in Annapolis on July 28, 1862. It was regarded as a Southern tune with a strong Confederate identity. Maryland State Archives SC 2125-1-3.

Sheet music for “Maryland, My Maryland,” by James Ryder Randall, composed by A.F. Gibson, published by George Willig, Baltimore, 1862. Dedicated to Miss C.L. McKim. Maryland State Archives, MSA SC 1204.

A prayer book signed by James Ryder Randall dated June 10, 1907, the inscription reads: “With the best wishes of Your Sincere Friend, James R. Randall. Earth hath no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.” Maryland State Archives, MSA SC 2203.

A handwritten copy of “Maryland, My Maryland,” written on reverse side of stationery from the U.S. Senate, by James Ryder Randall, 1894. Maryland State Archives, MSA SC 4926.

A letter from James Ryder Randall to Maud Tanner Heath, a friend he met in New Orleans around 1906. The two shared a love of history and books and often wrote to one another. Maryland State Archives, MSA SC 2203-1.

Maud Tanner Heath donated a horoscope-like prediction she held onto that was made for James Ryder Randall when he was 15 years old. Heath suggested it was done by a phrenologist, a supporter of the pseudoscience that focused on measurements of the human skull and brain areas having localized functions. Maryland State Archives, MSA SC 2203-3.

Portraits of James Ryder Randall were featured in the Baltimore Sun on July 7, 1907. Maryland State Archives MSA SC 2203-2.

Musical Score of “Maryland, My Maryland,” arranged for orchestra, chorus, and organ by Frederick Morden. Performed February 11, 1979, Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. Maryland State Archives, MSA SC 1148.