"Maryland, My Maryland": History, Lyrics & Controversy of the State Song

"Maryland, My Maryland" has been Maryland's official state song since 1939, but its Confederate origins and divisive lyrics have sparked decades of debate.

Origins: A Poem of Secessionist Fervor

Written in 1861 by James Ryder Randall, a Maryland native teaching in Louisiana, the nine-stanza poem was a visceral reaction to the Baltimore Riot (April 19, 1861), where pro-Confederate civilians attacked Union troops. Randall, a Confederate sympathizer, framed Maryland as oppressed by "Northern scum" and "tyrant's chain," urging the state to "avenge the patriotic gore / That flecked the streets of Baltimore."

Music & Adoption

• Set to "Lauriger Horatius" (tune of "O Tannenbaum" / "Mary Had a Little Lamb").
• Became popular Confederate marching song.
• Adopted as state song by Maryland General Assembly in 1939 (Chapter 451), during a period of "Lost Cause" nostalgia.

Lyrics & Controversy

The lyrics contain lines like:

"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..."

References to "Northern scum," "tyrant" (Lincoln), and secessionist rhetoric made it increasingly untenable. Attempts to replace or revise it began in the 1970s; a 2016 commission recommended retirement.

Current Status

• 2021: Maryland Senate voted 37–8 to repeal the song; House did not act before session ended.
• 2023: Legislation introduced again to designate a new song (e.g., "Maryland, My Home" by John B. Keane).
• As of 2024, it remains the official song but is rarely performed at official events. Many schools/organizations use alternatives.

Cultural Legacy

Despite controversy, the song is a primary source for Civil War-era Maryland sentiment—deeply divided, with strong Southern sympathies in Baltimore and Eastern Shore. It's studied in musicology and history courses as an artifact of memory politics.

Maryland's state song is a rare case where an official symbol is actively contested for its white-supremacist origins—a conversation still unfolding.