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A Border State:
"Maryland remained a mute inglorious Maryland. The state was sandwiched between the upper and lower millstone! The Eastern shore... were Southern sympathizers. Western Maryland was for the Union."
-- Georgia Civilian
Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri were "Border States" -- slave states that remained in the Union. Because Maryland surrounded Washington, DC, on three sides, it assumed special importance.
Early in 1861, secessionists tried to sway Maryland but President Lincoln took strong action to foil them. In September, Union authorities arrested pro-secession members of the state legislature, preventing a vote that might have taken Maryland out of the Union.
As the war progressed, Lincoln took care not to alienate Maryland and the other Border States. When he issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, the President excluded the Border States. Maryland would abolish slavery on its own in 1864.
A Crucial Crossroad:
At Monocacy Junction, located on the banks of the Monocacy River three miles south of Frederick, the mighty Baltimore and Ohio Railroad crossed the main highway from Frederick to Washington, DC. The railroad had helped bring Frederick pre-war prosperity. Due to its strategic importance, Federal troops would guard Monocacy Junction throughout the Civil War. |