Md.'s divided loyalties during the Civil War complicate its memory

Last week, Maryland House Speaker Adrienne Jones called for the removal of a plaque located inside the Maryland State House commemorating both Union and Confederate soldiers from the Old Line state who, as the memorial notes, attempted “to do their duty as they saw it.”“History clearly tells us there was a right and wrong side of the Civil War,” Ms. Jones said, suggesting that the plaque — like the Confederate statues earlier removed from Rockville and Baltimore — undermines this truth. Its language reflects the history of the Maryland Civil War Centennial Commission and the state’s broader, complicated Civil War memory.At the outset of the Civil War centennial in the early 1960s, the Maryland commission crafted &quot;A Manual for the Observances of the Civil War in the Counties and Cities of the State of Maryland.&quot; One of its goals was to &quot;point out the common heritage and to emphasize the unity of this State and of the Nation that has developed since the dreadful conflict of 1861-1865.&quot;The commission said &quot;Marylanders supported whichever side their consciences dictated&quot; and attempted to present the divided loyalty of its state as a point of pride in history.Presenting the state's dual-identity manifested itself in various commemorative efforts, including the plaque in the State House. At its dedication on Oct. 5, 1964, Maryland Gov. J. Millard Tawes spoke of the state's wartime divisions before a crowd of 250. &quot;Some of the scars are visible even today, after the passage of a hundred years,&quot; he said. But &quot;most of the rancor and hostility has vanished.”The inscription on the plaque received strong criticism at the time of its dedication but from a very different perspective than Ms. Jones’. Then, the complaints were from the United Daughters of the Confederacy — particularly Ruby Duval, past president of the Maryland United Daughters of the Confederacy and a member of the Maryland Civil War Centennial Commission. Duval was frustrated that the plaque honored Union Marylanders at all. She had proposed a bronze plaque in the State House that would solely commemorate the Old Line State's Confederates. She expressed her frustrations in multiple letters to the executive director of the commission, Park Loy.Duval had hoped that her position on the centennial commission would allow her to actively cultivate a Confederate legacy for the state of Maryland. When she informed the Maryland United Daughters of the Confederacy of her appointment, she assured the women gathered that she would &quot;use every opportunity to bring our Confederate history to the fore.&quot; The language of the plaque represented a failure to keep her promise.The evolving perceptions of this one plaque in the Maryland State House reflect the evolving nature of Civil War memory across the United States in the last 50 years. The United Daughters of the Confederacy criticized the plaque for placing the sacrifices of Union soldiers on equal footing as that of Confederate soldiers. Now, the plaque is under fire for presenting both sides of the Civil War as morally equivalent and downplaying the righteousness of the Union cause.As our collective memory of the Civil War continues to evolve, Maryland will continue to be at the forefront of these conversations because of its unique place in the history of the Civil War and the divisions that remained within the state long after 1865.David K. Graham (david.graham@snow.edu) is an assistant professor of history at Snow College in Utah. His research focuses on the Civil War in American memory. He is author of “Loyalty on the Line: Civil War Maryland in American Memory” (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2018).

Md.'s divided loyalties during the Civil War complicate its memory

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