MARYLAND! MY MARYLAND!! AIR--- "MY NORMANDY."
[Baltimore? 1861?]. Broadside, 6-1/4" x 7." Laid down on card stock. Eight verses, each in eight lines, printed in two columns separated by a border. Very Good.
"Avenge the patriotic gore / That flecked the streets of Baltimore. . ."
Randall's inspiration for the Song was the disastrous march of Massachusetts troops through Baltimore on their way to defend Washington. Several variant imprints appeared, some adapted to Union sympathies, others, like this one, expressing Confederate sentiments.
"The verses of this broadside are from the poem entitled "Maryland, My Maryland" written by James Ryder Randall, a Baltimorean living in Louisiana at the start of the Civil War. The speaker of this broadside asks Marylanders to rise up and overthrow the "despot's heel" and refuse to pay the "vandal toll" (i.e., one's freedom for one's life). In this Confederate sympathizer's view, Abraham Lincoln is the "despot" (or "vandal") whose actions the speaker believes brought bloodshed ("patriotic gore") to Baltimore streets during the Baltimore Riot of 1861. "Carroll" is Charles Carroll, a signer of the Declaration of Independence from Maryland. "Howard" is John Eager Howard, a Revolutionary War hero from Baltimore. "Key" is probably Francis Scott Key, who penned the "Star-Spangled Banner" during the War of 1812. "Sic semper" is from Virginia's motto, "Sic semper tyrannis," meaning "thus ever [death] to tyrants." "Old Line" is a nickname for the State of Maryland, a title reportedly earned by brave Marylanders during the Revolutionary War." [on line Digital Maryland No. mdbv152_002.]
The New York Times printed this version of the Song in its 30 March 2021 article disclosing that Maryland was about to repeal it as its State Song.
Wolf C107. Rudolph 163. Item #41228
Price: $600.00