Customer Reviews

A Southern Star For Maryland: Maryland and the Secession Crisis

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Although at times it sounds like a masters-level thesis, Denton's A Southern Star for Maryland is a decent overview of how Maryland reacted to Secession Fever and how the state was compelled to stay in the Union. Denton provides some interesting numbers and analysis to support his thesis that Marylanders were inclined to join the Confederacy, detailing the general pro-Southern nature of the state. He also does a good job of detailing the quick and effective (and often legally questionable) movement by federal officials and Union volunteers to squash pro-secession sentiments in the state.

The book is well written and factual. The author's treatment of Gov. Hicks, in my opinion is wrong. He presents Mr Hicks as slow and indecisive. Mr Hicks was an opportunist, prevaricator and scum. His complicity in the capture of Maryland is obvious from his subsequent appointment to the Senate, whilst all of the "Secesh" state and municipal office holders were jailed. I might also point out that Anna Ella Carroll was a good freind of his.

Otherwise, it's a well researched and prepared book and says things that need to be told. Unfortunately, in today's "PC" world, I wonder how many are listening.

As a arm chair history buff, I found this book well researched and written with plenty of back up notes. Written by a Johns Hopkins Faculty member lends it credit as well. The victor always writes history and sadly, Marylands history is slanted towards the northern view which is at odds with the facts. Had Maryland not been invaded, she would have left the union to join her sister states of the south. Thousands of her residents and politicians were seized by the northern troops and sent to prisons up north, the free press closed and personal property confiscated- all without warrants. Members of Francis Scott Keyes family were amoung those locked up. The Constitution and Bill of Rights were trampled asunder by the federal government and President Lincoln. Sadly, the government we have today is not the one established by our founding fathers but is a product of the military might of the northern states and their economic/political desires.

Mr Denton fails to take in many factors that of Lincoln not wanting MD not falling into the Confederacy such as the Port of Baltimore, and its central rail hub with connections to the west. The book also fails to mention that If MD fell to the Confederacy it would put Washington DC behind Confederate lines. There are some other facts left out that Mr Denton chooses to leave un-noticed. His main concern is the Election of 1860 and its effect on MD.