Description
By Joyce Bennett. Maryland was founded as a plantation colony like Virginia and its way of life did not differ greatly from Virginia’s. Everybody knows that the “Star-Spangled Banner” was written by Francis Scott Key as he watched the British attack on Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor during the War of 1812. But few know that, in 1861, Francis Key Howard, his grandson, wrote this: The flag which then he so proudly hailed, I saw waving at the same place over the victims of as vulgar and brutal a despotism as modern times have witnessed. Howard was one of the many Marylanders who were political prisoners of Abe Lincoln, arrested to prevent Maryland from seceding. As soon as Union occupiers departed, Maryland elected conservative Southern Democrats to office, a practice that continued well into the 20th century. Bennett knows the history and original culture of her commonwealth. She has watched that pleasant and very American culture—its speech, manners, cuisine, attitudes and traditions—being wiped out by newcomers who have turned Maryland into a part of the northeastern megalopolis. The things sadly lost are the things that constitute Maryland’s unique culture. Softcover, 214 pages, #775,
