Customer Reviews

Maryland: The South's First Casualty

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This fascinating book describes events in Maryland just prior to and during the War Between the States. It focuses on thecharacter of the State and the political climate of the time in contrast to so many other Civil War books that simply rehashtroop movements and military tactics. Although Dr. Talbert's book is thoroughly documented with extensive footnotes and somewhat scholarly, he still managed the distinct achievement of writing in a very readable style that tells a story which is difficult to put down -- even though we may already know theoutcome. Modern political correctness has obscured from memory many of the events that took place in Maryland. Dr. Talbert, however, brings them together and provides a record which preserves the facts for posterity. He covers many fascinating facts and stories which together paint a clear picture of an unequivocally Southern State that was denied its will. Maryland: The South's First Casualty also includes a section containing brief biographi

How can someone write a book on Maryland in the Civil War and not mention Antietam, Monocacy or pretty much anything else usually associated with the War? Here's how - by writing a book about how pure and free Maryland was oppressed by the mean old Federal Gummint. This is unreconstructed southern revisionism at its worst. Don't waste your money!

I gave this book a five-star rating only because Amazon.com would not allow me to give it six.

I've met so many Marylanders who don't see themselves as having a Southern heritage. Their reading this book would reveal a completely different history than what they (all of us, in fact) have been taught to believe about their people and their state. Surely, it would give them a wholly different view of the historical identity of their ancestors and, thereby, themselves.

I think that the most crucial factors surrounding the suppression of the basic human rights of the Marylanders of 1861, with the sole purpose being to prevent their secession, was not only because their having seceded would have surrounded Washington, D.C. by a seceded Virginia and a seceded Maryland, but their having seceded would have most probably led to the secession of Delaware and possibly other states in the area.

This is a MUST-HAVE book for anyone who has an interest in the truth concerning the war and the role played by Maryland, but also for the person interested in the history and identity of the people of the great state of Maryland.

As an ancestral native of Talbot County, on Maryland's own Eastern Shore, I'm proud that we still have people like Bart Talbert out there defending our status as a Southern state. In my travels throughout the deeper South, I've often had to defend my accent and my heritage against those who view Maryland natives as "Northerners." It's sad that more people, particularly the young, seem to have no interest in the history of their people that is continually being erased. There is overwhelming evidence that Maryland would have thrown her lot with the Confederacy, had not Linclon's unconsitutional military occupation and a traitorous governor entered into the fray. Of course, it didn't help matters any that Maryland is geographically separated from the rest of the South by a very large bay. There was also the wholly unconstitutional election for Maryland's new governor, where votes for the Southern candidate were disqualified, and the mass imprisonment of politicians and prominent citizens who dared defy the Tyrant. In any case, Talbert presents good, albeit brief evidence here of what the truth really is. I would also recommend that readers explore other historical works on the subject like "Maryland and the Confederacy", by Harry Wright Newman, and a "Southern Star for Maryland", by Lawrence M. Denton. It pains me greatly that this book, and the two others I've mentioned, are all out of print. I've heard that Bart Talbert is now back in Maryland and teaching within the state's university system, and I can only hope that the knowledge he's capable of passing on to students there is appreciated by them and not lost.