 |
Today
is 11/21/2008 and it is 10:09:13 PM |
 |
Maryland
in History
| About
our Flag -- The Maryland flag has been described as
the perfect state flag--bold colors, interesting patterns, and
correct heraldry--a
flag that fairly shouts "Maryland." The design of the flag
comes from the shield in the coat of arms of the Calvert family,
the colonial proprietors of Maryland. George Calvert, first Lord
Baltimore, adopted a coat of arms that included a shield with alternating
quadrants featuring the yellow-and-black colors of his paternal family
and the red-and-white colors of his maternal family, the Crosslands.
When the General Assembly in 1904 adopted a banner of this design
as the state flag, a link was forged between modern-day Maryland
and the very earliest chapter of the proprietorship of the Calvert
family. <more> |
Colonial
History of Maryland -- The
country near the head of Chesapeake Bay was first explored by
Captain John Smith. It afterwards formed part of the grant that
was made by Charles I. to Sir George Calvert, by title Lord Baltimore,
a Roman Catholic nobleman. Inspired by the same feeling that
had
moved the Puritans, he sought to establish a refuge in America
for men of his religious faith, who were persecuted in England.
With
this purpose he planted, in 1621, a Catholic colony in Newfoundland.
But the unfavorable soil and climate, and annoyances from the
hostile French, soon ended his hopes in that quarter. He next
visited Virginia,
but found there a religious intolerance hostile to his purposes.
The territory finally granted him extended from the upper Chesapeake
to the fortieth degree, the latitude of Philadelphia. <more>
|
| Civil
War Battles -->Battle of South Mountain -- It is
well known that Maryland's State Forests and Parks are home to
a rich variety
of cultural and historical resources. But did you know that one
of the areas managed by the Department of Natural Resources was
actually the site of a Civil War battle? Gathland State Park,
nestled in the first ridge of the Appalachians just west of historic
Frederick, was the scene of a little known yet quite noteworthy
conflict, the Battle of South Mountain. <more> |
| Civil
War Battles --> Antietam --
On September 16, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan confronted Lee’s
Army of Northern Virginia at Sharpsburg, Maryland. At dawn September
17, Hooker’s
corps mounted a powerful assault on Lee’s left flank that
began the single bloodiest day in American military history.
Attacks and counterattacks
swept across Miller’s cornfield and fighting swirled around
the Dunker Church. Union assaults against the Sunken Road eventually
pierced the Confederate center, but the Federal advantage was not
followed up. Late in the day, Burnside’s corps finally got
into action, crossing the stone bridge over Antietam Creek and rolling
up the Confederate right. At a crucial moment, A.P. Hill’s
division arrived from Harpers Ferry and counterattacked, driving
back Burnside and saving the day. Although outnumbered two-to-one,
Lee committed his entire force, while McClellan sent in less than
three-quarters of his army, enabling Lee to fight the Federals to
a standstill. During the night, both armies consolidated their lines.
In spite of crippling casualties, Lee continued to skirmish with
McClellan throughout the 18th, while removing his wounded south of
the river. McClellan did not renew the assaults. After dark, Lee
ordered the battered Army of Northern Virginia to withdraw across
the Potomac into the Shenandoah Valley. <more> |
Baltimore
Riot -- A clash between pro-South civilians and Union troops
in Maryland's
largest city resulted in what is commonly accepted
to be the first bloodshed of the Civil War. Secessionist sympathy
was strong in Baltimore, a border state metropolis.
Before
his inauguration, rumors in the city of an assassination plot
against Abraham Lincoln,
who was on his way to Washington, D.C.,
forced the president-elect
to sneak through Baltimore in the middle of the night. Anti-Union sentiments
there only increased once the hostilities commenced at Fort Sumter on April
12. A week later, one of the first regiments to respond to
Lincoln's call for troops
arrived in Baltimore by train, en route to the capital. Because the rail
line did not pass through the city, horse drawn cars had to take
the Massachusetts
infantrymen from one end of Baltimore to the other. An angry crowd of secessionists
tried to keep the regiment from reaching Washington, blocking several of
the transports, breaking windows, and, finally, forcing the soldiers
to get out
and march through the streets. The throng followed in close
pursuit. What had now
become a mob surrounded and jeered the regiment, then started throwing bricks
and stones. <more>
|
| MORE TO COME SOON |
|
|
