Existing comment:
1861: One Family, One Flag?
Over the course of the Civil War, Union forces confined over 2,000 prisoners of state at Fort McHenry. One of them was Frank Key Howard, the grandson of Francis Scott Key. On September 13, 1861, federal authorities arrested Howard for his editorials in The Baltimore Daily Exchange. Howard's views show how difficult it was for Marylanders to choose sides. Howard initially disagreed with the secession of the southern states, but also believed that force should not be used to bring them back into the Union. His criticism of the Lincoln administration resulted in his arrest and the closure of his newspaper.
"I could not but contrast my position with his, forty-seven years before. The flag which he had then so proudly hailed, I saw waving, at the same place, over the victims of as vulgar and brutal a despotism as modern times have witnessed."
-- Frank Key Howard, September 14, 1861 |