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- [00:00]
Ben
Oh, welcome to a classic ridiculous history episode, folks. We love all kinds of. I don't know, they call us silly for this, but we love stuff like state birds and you know, state statements.
- [00:15]
Noel
Yeah, yeah, any state craft whatever. No, I've actually only just recently kind of become less terrified of birds, so I'm learning all about state birds these days. But state songs are fun, right?
- [00:26]
Ben
Songs?
- [00:27]
Noel
Yeah, it's not even something I knew that every state had.
- [00:30]
Ben
Mm. Yeah, every state apparently has a song and it may not be the ones that you think of when you think of that state. In this classic episode, we are exploring something that surprised the heck out of both of us. The state of Maryland has a weird, weird banker for their official song.
- [00:55]
Noel
Oh Maryland, my Maryland. Making references to things like Northern Scum and calling out a war with their ops. Man, there's some fire bars in this tune. We're going to jump into the story of Maryland state song right now.
- [01:12]
Ben
It's better over here.
- [01:14]
Noel
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- [01:43]
Savannah Guthrie
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- [02:03]
Noel
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- [02:42]
Savannah Guthrie
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- [02:50]
Noel
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- [03:21]
Savannah Guthrie
Hi everyone, it's Savannah Guthrie. And Hoda caught me from the Today show. Nobody does the holidays like today. From festive performances and great gift ideas to tips for the the perfect holiday feast, Join us every morning on NBC and make TODAY your home for the holidays. Holiday magic is in the air, and DSW's got all the shoes to make your season extra merry. Believe you've got parties to attend and lists to check twice. So DSW is taking care of the details like gifts to make their eyes all aglow. Styles that bring joy to your world. Brands everyone wants like Ugg, Nike, Birkenstock and more and deals to make your budget bright. Find the perfect shoes for you and yours at a DSW store near you.
- [04:04]
Ben
Or dsw.com ridiculous history is a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, hello, hello, and thank you for tuning in. We're going to begin today's episode with a bit of song, a goodie. I hear the distant thunder hum Marilyn.
- [04:49]
Noel
My Marilyn the old line bugle fife.
- [04:52]
Ben
And drum Marilyn, my Marilyn she is not dead nor deaf nor dumb Pizzas burns the northern scum she breathes, she burns she'll come, she'll come Marilyn, my.
- [05:09]
Noel
Marilyn.
- [05:12]
Ben
What you just heard, friends and Neighbors, is an excerpt from one of the most famous songs in Maryland's history. Hello, I'm Ben.
- [05:23]
Noel
Oh, I'm Noel. What was it that gave it away? Was it the O, Maryland? O, Maryland.
- [05:27]
Ben
Mm. Yeah, and we only played a part of that song, but trust us that that sick hook comes into play multiple times.
- [05:35]
Noel
Well, it starts off, you know, innocently enough as a nice rollicking if derivative tune. What's that tune, Ben? I can't quite put my finger on it.
- [05:44]
Ben
I'm pretty sure we both know it's.
- [05:45]
Noel
Otanembaugh vaguely holiday centric. Yeah, okay, I was being coy, but right starts off innocently Enough, lyrically speaking. And then the part we play, things take a bit of a turn, don't they, Ben?
- [05:59]
Ben
They. And we also hope this amuses our estranged super producer, Casey Pegram, whom we promise is still out and about, but will come in from the cold very soon. Noel, should we read that last verse for anyone who didn't get it?
- [06:17]
Noel
Yeah, yeah. I mean, those big booming, you know, swingle singer type voices could have obscured some meaning there.
- [06:24]
Ben
So they're saying, I hear the distant thunder hum Maryland, the old line bugle fife and drum. Maryland, so far, so good.
- [06:34]
Noel
Fine.
- [06:34]
Ben
Yeah. She is not dead, nor deaf, nor dumb. Huzzah. She spurns the northern scum.
- [06:41]
Noel
Oh, wait, what?
- [06:42]
Ben
She breathes, she burns. She'll come, she'll come. Maryland, My Maryland.
- [06:48]
Noel
Oh, man, they're really into Maryland. I'm sorry, the northern scum.
- [06:52]
Ben
Yes, yes indeed, my friend. The northern scum. You see, the scum song, that was for a long time the state song of Maryland turned out to be belligerent to other states in the fair union.
- [07:10]
Noel
Of the U.S. but, Ben, why would they do that?
- [07:12]
Ben
I'm so glad, I'm so glad that we asked this question today because it's one of those historical, I don't know, historical footnotes that everyone would just accept as normal. Let's face it, many people here in the US don't pay that much attention to the song of a particular state.
- [07:34]
Noel
Yeah, I think ours is Georgia on My Mind. Right. And that's sort of rare to have something of a modern song like what you would consider a pop type song as your state song. Typically, there are more classic folky type songs. Right.
- [07:51]
Ben
And as you said, they're also occasionally plagiarized in terms of melody.
- [07:57]
Noel
Well, you know, there's only so many melodies.
- [07:59]
Ben
There are only so many notes to go around. And the lyrics to this song, which you can find in full with a little bit of Google Fu or which we might post on Ridiculous Historians when this episode comes out.
- [08:10]
Noel
I'm more into Google Kwon do myself.
- [08:13]
Ben
Yeah, you're a Google Kwon Do. So it's all about the. What is that? The grapple?
- [08:18]
Noel
Yeah, Sweep, sweep the leg. I don't know about any of this stuff, man. I'm just spitballing here. But here's a little passage in the tune that really makes us think. And this is what kind of got us to dig into a little bit more background here. Avenge the patriotic gore that flecked the streets of Baltimore and be the battle queen of your Maryland, my Maryland kind of this personification of Maryland as being some sort of badass avenging warrior. Right. And what are these Gore flecked streets of Baltimore referenced here?
- [08:55]
Ben
Right. And right before we get to that, I just want to establish what I was saying. We'll go ahead, I'll do it. We'll post these lyrics in full because you really should read along with them if you can to see this. There's a lot of illusion and reference in this. And you're absolutely right, Noel. There's something more to the story here. When we see this personification of Maryland as a heroic protector of downtrodden people and it traces back to a real life event, isn't that correct? One that occurred in 1861.
- [09:32]
Noel
A real life event, indeed. And it's something. It really drew attention to, something that I was unaware of. I think Maryland, and I think northern, I think Maryland is right next to New York. I think it's like got the same sensibilities and historical leanings. As it turns out. Not the case.
- [09:52]
Ben
No. Yeah, that's a mid Atlantic state. But during the time of the Civil War and for a lot of time during the formation of what would later become recognized as the modern U.S. sure, Maryland was considered a southern state. Very much so. Both geographically and culturally.
- [10:11]
Noel
Yeah. Ideologically as well. Right.
- [10:13]
Ben
Yes. Because Maryland, you see, had a lot of tobacco and as a result they were a slave state for some time.
- [10:22]
Noel
So Ben, let's get back to those Gore speckled streets of Baltimore, which is pretty dope to rhyme. Gore in Baltimore.
- [10:29]
Ben
Yes, Let us travel there. The Gore soaked streets in question are themselves in Baltimore, specifically a street called Pratt Street P R A T T. On April 19th in 1861 on Pratt street in Baltimore, there was a conflict that led to a riot, or what some would call a massacre between two ideologically opposed groups in the city.
- [11:01]
Noel
That's right. Honest Abe Lincoln, the president, you might have heard of him, was not the most popular guy. He actually had a nickname that I only just recently discovered, the rail splitter. You know about this?
- [11:12]
Ben
I've heard about this, yeah.
- [11:13]
Noel
I guess it means.
- [11:14]
Ben
What's the full story?
- [11:15]
Noel
Well, I guess I can only assume it means because he divided the country.
- [11:18]
Ben
Oh, yep, there's that.
- [11:20]
Noel
Yeah. So that's what happened. Right. You had like the Union versus the Confederacy, Confederacy being the pro slave states that wanted to secede from the Union. And then you had the primarily northern Union states and the Union army. Lincoln called for a rallying of troops to protect the capitol in Washington D.C. after the bombarding of Fort Sumter in. Is it Charleston? Charleston, South Carolina, I believe. Right?
- [11:47]
Ben
Yes, that's correct. Yeah.
- [11:49]
Noel
And which apparently wasn't of particular military strategic value to the north, but it became this kind of symbol of Union forces that. To the point where it was symbolically, I suppose, attacked by Confederate forces. And that is when the Civil War really kicked off.
- [12:12]
Ben
Yeah. The first shots of the war that occurs in the first battle of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. And so Lincoln, as we said, needs to protect D.C. and he orders a ton of troops to go to the Capitol and prepare for war with the Southern states who are seceding from the Union. A lot of these troops were brought through a major transportation hub at the time, Baltimore City. But there was a problem because in Maryland, there were tons and tons of people who, even if they were generally anti war, they were sympathetic with the.
- [12:52]
Noel
Confederate side to secession, to this idea that they should be allowed to do that if they so chose.
- [12:58]
Ben
Yeah.
- [12:58]
Noel
And they really resented this notion of Union troops passing through their city. They saw it as intimidation in some form, or even the idea that they would be there to prevent them from seceding if they wanted to, and to, you know, try to hold them at gunpoint in the Union.
- [13:18]
Ben
Right. Yeah. And that's a fact that we can't gloss over, because you can imagine how easily people could perceive it that way. Even if it is not intended to be a show of force, it comes across as one, and there's no way around it. This leads to simmering, unsustainable tension, because there were two sides. There were people who were out and out Confederate sympathizers saying we should join with what we see as the good cause, the right to secede. And then there were other people who were saying, we object to waging a war against our states to the south, our Southern neighbors, whether or not we agree with their aims.
- [14:07]
Noel
Right. And whether or not this gentleman, Baltimore Mayor George W. Brown, personally agreed with those aims isn't clear from what I've read. But what he knew was that it wasn't going to go particularly well if these Union soldiers marched through his city. And so he actually wrote a letter of warning to Abe Lincoln, and it went as such. The people are exasperated to the highest degree by the passage of troops, and the citizens are universally decided in the opinion that no more should be ordered to come. The authorities did their best to protect both strangers and citizens and to prevent a collision, but in vain. It is my solemn duty to inform you that it is not possible for more soldiers to pass through Baltimore unless they fight their way at every step. So there had already been a trickle of forces going through, because, as we said, there was this railroad hub. They had to switch lines to Camden station, which was a mile and a half west of the PW&B depot, where they would get off and march through the city to the other line and then make their way directly to Washington, DC. So there had clearly already been some tensions in the streets during previous passings through of these forces. And the mayor was really trying his best to keep these tensions at a simmer rather than boiling over to keep.
- [15:27]
Ben
An increasingly fragile peace. Unfortunately, his efforts, as well intentioned as they were, were in vain. And as Union troops came through Baltimore on their way south In April of 1861, they were attacked by mobs and Union troops, as well as Baltimore residents, Civilians, mind you, were killed in these riots.
- [15:58]
Noel
Yeah, this gets super hairy super quick. There's another story, too, involving travel on this line. Lincoln himself had to pass through this area undercover of night because of the Union sympathizers there and fear that there would be an attempt on his life. So there was actually like a political cartoon that was circulating of Abe Lincoln kind of sheepishly peeking out of a boxcar as though he were, you know, a thief in the night, kind of. So, yeah, he. Lincoln had only won, I think, something in the neighborhood of 3% of the vote in Baltimore during the election. So not, not a well liked guy. But similarly to the Lincoln story, at first no one knew that there were troops on this train that was coming through. It looked like any other freight train.
- [16:46]
Ben
Right. The arrival of the soldiers was largely not registered by the civilians, the people just walking around in Baltimore. But rumors started spreading very quickly. And again, as we said, there was that, what, 3% approval rating you mentioned.
- [17:04]
Noel
Not so good.
- [17:05]
Ben
Not good at all. And the residents and the local community leaders absolutely publicly disliked the new administration of the Union. And when they found out that the soldiers, specifically volunteers from the 6th Massachusetts, I believe when they found out they were in the city, that they were about to make the transfer to Camden, they were doing this in daylight. And there was a relatively short distance for them. Right. It was, let's see, it's like they go four blocks north, two blocks south. Like we have the blocks mapped out. And this short distance is where everything hits the fan, historically speaking, because the Baltimoreans are already very sensitive, these rumors are becoming increasingly believable to the average citizen. Railroad officials already anticipate that there could be trouble. And if trouble occurs, it will occur. In this switch.
- [18:17]
Noel
Did you know that during that switch, they would literally unhook the train cars from the track and pull them through town with horses?
- [18:25]
Ben
Yeah.
- [18:26]
Noel
That's wild. So that was happening, right, with these soldiers. And it kind of ended up like a, you know, a Wild west wagon train shootout. Because even before this crazy decoupling situation happens, the soldiers were noticed.
- [18:43]
Ben
Yeah, the soldiers were noticed. And the soldiers themselves from Massachusetts were prepared because the commander, Colonel Edward Jones, had received these warnings from railroad officials. So they were ready for a situation to go sideways, to go pear shaped or appropriate for this episode, for things to go south. So imagine the tension inside these cars. These guys are sitting ducks. They know. Their commander knows that if something is going to go wrong, it's going to go wrong in this fateful passage between railroad stations. So inside the cars, the soldiers are literally trying not to look out of the windows. Because just like the beginning, maybe, of a zombie film, you mentioned Wild West. To me, it feels like a zombie thing where you see one straggler approach.
- [19:40]
Noel
Right.
- [19:40]
Ben
And then more, and then more and then more because workers and residents of the area start following the line of cars, which is, I believe, about seven cars long at this time.
- [19:53]
Noel
That is correct. And they were pulled by horses down Pratt street heading towards this Camden station. And the crowd gets bigger and bigger and more unruly. People are shouting, Jeff Davis, as in Jefferson Davis, who was the president of the Confederacy.
- [20:10]
Ben
And as this simmer grows into a roiling boil, all of a sudden something snaps. People start throwing stones at the very last coach.
- [20:25]
Noel
Like big old paving stones.
- [20:27]
Ben
Yeah, yeah. Not pebbles, bricks.
- [20:28]
Noel
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And some of them were armed with pistols. I think someone got their thumb blasted off, you know, bleeding out in the streets there. People were getting hit. So all of the cars, except for two, got to where they needed to go. But these mobsters, I'm gonna call them, were doing stuff like they were throwing obstacles in the road, like anvils and sand and anchors. I mean, they were ready, I guess, right? This is crazy. And so the cars that were remaining that were blocked, the soldiers had to get off.
- [21:03]
Ben
And again, we have to emphasize that they had no sympathizers in the crowd on their side.
- [21:09]
Noel
Sure didn't seem like it.
- [21:10]
Ben
Yeah. There was nobody standing by moving anchors away from the road. No, in fact, there was a businessman named Charles Pendergast who supplied people with crowbars and pickaxes and said, you know, and convinced them, not that it took much arm twisting, convinced them to pull the rails up from the street. Because the paved streets we should mention had rails to make it easier for the horses to pull the cars.
- [21:39]
Noel
Exactly. So let's just clarify real quick. So this first onslaught on these troops came while they were still in the cars. Right.
- [21:47]
Ben
Right.
- [21:47]
Noel
They were trying their damnedest not to make eye contact with the zombie weirdos that were outside that you mentioned earlier. But then, of course, they unleashed hell on these cars, Started literally firing upon them and throwing paving stones, like I said, through it. And a guy got his thumb blown off. And that was when he asked Major Benjamin Watson, who was in this car with him, for permission to fire on the crowd. And he granted this permission. And so they were able to kind of shoot up and away a volley of shots.
- [22:19]
Ben
Yeah. Through the windows. Meaning to disperse the crowd. Got a warning shot. Yeah. Not to hurt.
- [22:24]
Noel
No, not directly to kill. And that was enough to get them a little bit more freedom where they could kind of proceed for a second. For a minute.
- [22:34]
Ben
Yeah. Because after not much time had passed, this began to turn into a full on gun battle. And the rails were successfully pulled from the pavement. So there wasn't a way for the horses to continue pulling the cars. And this means that the stranded soldiers have to do something incredibly dangerous, a last resort. Over 200 of them have to get out of the cars in gunfire and walk their unlucky keisters to the train station.
- [23:13]
Noel
Yeah. And they formed sort of a phalanx, like a formation. And in the hopes that they could keep these rioters at bay, I do want to read a pretty cool quote from this article on history Net about this particular event called Baltimore riot of 1861. In this car, the major gives kind of a pep talk where he says that you will likely be called horrible names. People will throw things at you. People will do anything they can to mess with you. And he uses the term, even if they throw stones, bricks, or other missiles at you, just don't look at them, don't pay them any mind. But if you're fired upon and any one of you is hit, your officers will order you to fire. Do not fire into any promiscuous crowds, but select any man whom you may see aiming at you and be sure you drop him.
- [24:02]
Ben
So don't hurt anyone who is just standing with the crowd. Protest.
- [24:06]
Noel
Yes.
- [24:07]
Ben
But if someone is aiming to do possibly fatal damage, take him out.
- [24:12]
Noel
So now this has come to pass. This was earlier. This was them kind of like preparing for what might happen. Gripping their rifles. They were all issued a certain number of rounds in preparation for this hairy journey. And now the s has hit the F, my friend.
- [24:28]
Ben
Yes, very much so. And there's a merchant named Richard Fisher. He is doing business with a sea captain from Spain, a Spanish guy. They're watching these rioters on the second floor of Fisher's business. And the sea captain says, you seem much agitated. This is nothing. We frequently have these things in Spain. To which Fisher replies, in Spain, this might mean nothing. In America, it means civil war. And he was correct. Because this situation, as we said, this situation is turned terrible very, very quickly. The columns are moving forward, trying to get to the station. They are surrounded on all sides by this howling mob of people shouting racial epithets of a very specific time and threatening their lives. We are going to kill you before you reach the station.
- [25:24]
Noel
They call them white n words. I'm just going to put that out. I'd never heard that one before. That's outrageous. It just goes to show, like, again, my notion of the ideology of Baltimore, way off. Ben did not know about any of this stuff. And so, yeah, the soldiers fired back. The rioters fired on the soldiers. Stray bullets are flying everywhere. Paving stones are hitting people in the face. It is an absolute ship show, my friend. And they did finally make it to Camden station, but not without some casualties. And these casualties would be considered some of the first of the civil war. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 to 11 of these assembled lunatic riders, a bystander who was a child, I believe, who caught, like, a ship cabin boy who caught a bullet in the gut.
- [26:13]
Ben
A stray bullet, which is an ugly way to die. And slow.
- [26:16]
Noel
Reservoir dogs. Have you seen that? With Tim Roth? That's no Good. Yeah. And 24 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians, according to a report from NPS.
- [26:30]
Ben
And on the other side with the soldiers. Four died. There were four casualties. 36 soldiers were in some way wounded. And we don't have the exact accounts of the degree of damage they received. So, you know, one guy obviously lost his thumb. That's a tremendous bummer. But there may have been people who were just slightly wounded, you know? Yeah.
- [26:54]
Noel
There's no real record of, like, how many people just had to hobble off to get, you know, triaged.
- [27:01]
Ben
Right. And there may have been people who were rendered useless in the war effort. This episode of ridiculous history is brought to you by ebay motors.
- [27:12]
Noel
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- [27:22]
Ben
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- [27:35]
Noel
I could probably also use some new brakes, some shocks and struts. This baby deserves a new air filter.
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Ben
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- [27:44]
Noel
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Ben
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- [27:58]
Noel
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- [28:09]
Ben
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- [28:16]
Noel
You know what you love more than your car itself is driving it. You're serious when it comes to engine maintenance and locked in when you're headed into a build.
- [28:25]
Ben
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Noel
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- [28:48]
Ben
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- [28:50]
Noel
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Ben
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Noel
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Ben
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Noel
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- [30:16]
Savannah Guthrie
It's Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Copy from the Today show. We love this time of year. There's so much to celebrate. That's right, nobody does the holidays quite like today all season long. Join us for special performances with the brightest stars. Plus festive recipes to whip up the perfect holiday feast. And great deals on the hottest toys and gifts for everyone on your list. So join us every morning on NBC to make today your home for the holidays.
- [30:44]
Bob Dylan
Congratulations to CBS Sports and Sony Electronics for their first place wins for innovation in industry at this year's unconventional awards by T Mobile for business. In a collaboration that was clearly built on breaking new ground, CBS and Sony created a first of its kind broadcast for the PGA Championship. Using a custom built T Mobile private 5G network to power the live production, they deployed a 5G wireless camera system throughout the event. The network's speed combined with Sony's innovative ultra low latency video codec allowed for seamless, high quality footage without disruption. With that innovative approach, CBS gave broadcasters the tools they need to do what they do best. Take their coverage to entirely new places. These innovations will shape the way live sports are covered moving forward. And for that, T Mobile congratulates Sony and CBS for their unconventional thinking.
- [31:50]
Ben
But that is the riot in a nutshell. Why are we talking about this riot? Why are we Talking about the 6 Massachusetts infantry, this change of trains? We're talking about it because one of the people who died was the friend of a journalist and poet named James Ryder Randall, also a resident of Baltimore, Maryland.
- [32:22]
Noel
Yeah, and I think he originally came from Louisiana, so he was already super entrenched in the idea of owning slaves. And that southern ideology that was such a huge part of this divide.
- [32:34]
Ben
It was originally just a poem. It became a song when it was set to. To music to the tune of the German O Tannenbaum or Lauriger Horatius by Jenny Carey, who is the sister of Hetty Carey. And we had a cool note from our pal Christopher who said Hetty Carey could be, quote, sort of kind of considered the Confederate Betsy Ross.
- [33:00]
Noel
Right. Because she designed the Confederate flag. Yeah. And also was married to a guy whose last name was Pegram. That's weird.
- [33:08]
Ben
Yeah. You Notice Casey is never in the same room when we mention that guy.
- [33:12]
Noel
Yeah, well, this is the first time.
- [33:13]
Ben
Yeah. But technically, that means he's never been in the same room.
- [33:16]
Noel
Well, technically, he's never in the same room because we're in the shipping container and he's out in the real world.
- [33:20]
Ben
We're in a partition of a room.
- [33:21]
Noel
Okay, that's fair.
- [33:22]
Ben
But what makes a room. That's a story for a different day. So the song, this Maryland State song.
- [33:30]
Noel
Is Marilyn My Maryland.
- [33:31]
Ben
Yeah. Is the equivalent of a diss track today. And we can see through the lyrics that they're clearly. You know, the mention of a titan clearly referring to Abraham Lincoln. Northern scum is clearly referring to the.
- [33:46]
Noel
Union, to the invading horde.
- [33:48]
Ben
Right, right, right. And Randall himself wrote this as a protest poem, but did not originally plan for it to become a state song. He was also known as the poet laureate of the lost ca.
- [34:06]
Noel
Oh, that's like. That sounds like a very backhanded compliment.
- [34:09]
Ben
It feels very emo to me.
- [34:11]
Noel
I know.
- [34:11]
Ben
It's like the album name for an unreleased Bright Eyes track.
- [34:15]
Noel
I like it.
- [34:15]
Ben
Yeah. So this song remains a protest song. It's not the official state song yet, and we'll get to when that happens. But Maryland is not all of a sudden cowed by the Union just because this one riot occurred. Right. As a matter of fact, they doubled down, I believe. Yeah.
- [34:39]
Noel
It didn't beat them down right away, but the effects were pretty definitive. The governor and the mayor that we talked about earlier called out for militia forces to come in and keep the peace in the streets. And then a little later, In June of 1861, Maryland did, in fact, vote to secede from the Union. But by that time, essentially because of their actions in this riot, Maryland was occupied by Union forces.
- [35:11]
Ben
Yeah. Which is weird because according to a couple of different articles, one by Michael Dresser over at the Baltimore sun, originally after the riot, to quell tensions, Lincoln himself had promised that they wouldn't do that, and then that's exactly what they did.
- [35:29]
Noel
Yeah. Can you fill in the gaps there for me a little bit? I was kind of having a hard time wrapping my head around what happened. It looks like they had these militia forces. They were trying to keep the peace, but there was a threat made against a fort. A Union fort.
- [35:44]
Ben
Yeah, Fort McHenry. So Fort McHenry in the aftermath of the riot becomes in incredibly important. Like in July, the very next month, there's a grand jury that's already indicting several people for their role in the riot. After the riot, there are still skirmishes occurring between just the local police and citizens. And Mayor Brown and Governor Hicks, as you said, asked Lincoln to please don't send any more troops through our town. This is bad for everybody. It's a lose lose. And he said a couple of different conflicting things. It was at a peace delegation, who's speaking at a YMCA meeting. True story. And he said that no matter what people say about it, Union soldiers were neither birds to fly over Maryland nor moles to burrow under it. So Hicks, the governor, authorized the mayor to send the militia. You know, mention the militias to disable the railroad bridges into the city. He said he didn't do it. But the stories differ. And Fort McHenry, in this crazy will they, won't they debate over putting Union soldiers in there. Fort McHenry becomes a place for the Union forces to detain people. There's a newspaper editor who gets detained. There is a man who is supposed to be a Maryland militia state soldier was detained. And the legal system is getting involved. And Fort McHenry becomes this sort of center for the Union forces. And quite controversial.
- [37:33]
Noel
Yes. And the reason that the occupation of Maryland really kicked off was that the Fort McHenry was under attack by some secessionists. And one of these militia units was sent to help out with that. And then the commander in charge, General Butler, of the same unit of troops that had come into Baltimore in the first place during the riot.
- [37:57]
Ben
Six mass, exactly.
- [37:58]
Noel
Yeah. He kind of knew, based on previous events that there were secessionists in the ranks of these militiamen and agreed to accept their assistance, but didn't really want them to get too close.
- [38:12]
Ben
Right.
- [38:12]
Noel
Didn't want them to get too close. He said if they did get any closer than the. There was like a chapel that was a mile and a half from the fort, then they would unleash gunfire upon them.
- [38:23]
Ben
And again, we find ourselves in an untenable, unsustainable situation. A city largely divided and separate from, in many ways, the aims of the federal government. However, as you can tell, despite the precarious nature of the state, city and federal government relationship, ultimately, many of the very, very extremely pro Confederate Baltimoreans and civil leaders, they leave town, they go.
- [38:59]
Noel
South, and not on a rail, because they had already pried up all the rails. Right.
- [39:04]
Ben
And they eventually, about 60,000 Marylanders end up fighting for the Union, and only about 20 to 25,000 end up fighting for the Confederacy.
- [39:15]
Noel
Yeah. Cause that's one thing that we didn't really talk about. A lot of places I read There were. There was kind of a split in Maryland because it was below the Mason Dixon line. So it was. They did have this kind of sense of themselves as being more part of the South. They depended on slavery for commerce with the tobacco and it being sort of a hub for trade. But it was a little more divided than maybe initially seemed to be the case.
- [39:38]
Ben
Yeah, many places were pretty divided and not ideologically homogenous.
- [39:44]
Noel
Because here's the thing. Who's going to take to the streets and put themselves life and limb, in harm's way? It's not the casual racists. It's the hardcore ones, the real zealots, the ones that would probably go on to cut bait, leave town, go fight for their cause.
- [40:01]
Ben
Right, right. And here's one fact that many people may miss when we hear this story. Because, of course, the riot is the huge big tent item, right? But later that year, on September 17, 1861, when the legislature reconvened to discuss the riot, the aftermath of the riot, and what could be construed as unconstitutional actions on the part of the US president. On that day, 27 state legislatures, that is 1/3 of the General assembly, were arrested and jailed by the feds because Lincoln, you see, had suspended habeas corpus.
- [40:42]
Noel
And habeas corpus being like rules of engagement kind of stuff.
- [40:47]
Ben
Habeas corpus is the way a person can legally report unlawful detention or imprisonment. It's ordering someone to bring a detained person to a court to determine whether it's legal to keep them in jail.
- [41:04]
Noel
Got it.
- [41:05]
Ben
So suspending habeas corpus means we could just throw you in jail, Sort of.
- [41:09]
Noel
Like how we do with, you know, Guantanamo Bay and stuff.
- [41:12]
Ben
History is much more of a circle than a straight line. This episode of Ridiculous history is brought to you by ebay Motors.
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Noel
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Ben
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Noel
I could probably also use some new brakes, some shocks and struts. This baby deserves a new air filter.
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Noel
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Noel
You know what you love more than your car itself is driving it. You're serious when it comes to engine maintenance and locked in when you're headed into a build.
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So ebay created my garage where all you have to do is add your ride's info to get the exact parts that fit. When you see that green check, you're a click away from that part, clicking perfectly into place.
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So now that you know all that.
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Noel
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Ben
Hi.
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Savannah Guthrie
Everyone, it's Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb from the Today Show. We love this time of year. There's so much to celebrate. That's right Nobody does the holidays quite like today all season long. Join us for special performances with the brightest stars. Plus festive recipes to whip up the perfect holiday feast and great deals on the hottest toys and gifts for everyone on your list. So join us every morning on NBC to make today your home for the holidays.
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Bob Dylan
Congratulations to CBS Sports and Sony Electronics for their first place wins for innovation in industry at this year's unconventional awards by T Mobile for Business. In a collaboration that was clearly built on breaking new ground, CBS and Sony created a first of its kind broadcast for the PGA Championship. Using a custom built T Mobile Private 5G network to power the live production, they deployed a 5G wireless camera system throughout the event. The network's speed combined with Sony's innovative ultra low latency video codec allowed for seamless, high quality footage without disruption. With that innovative approach, CBS gave broadcasters the tools they need to do what they do best. Take their coverage to entirely new places. These innovations will shape the way live sports are covered moving forward. And for that, T Mobile congratulates Sony and CBS for their unconventional thinking.
- [45:58]
Ben
So because they arrested so many people at once, the legislative session was canceled and Maryland could not continue debating secession or anti war movements.
- [46:10]
Noel
Yeah, not to mention the fact that they were already under Union control.
- [46:13]
Ben
Absolutely.
- [46:14]
Noel
But as we said before, a lot of the zealots decided to take off and go fight for the Confederacy. One of them, surprise, surprise, was the guy who wrote that poem, no way. Yeah, James Ryder Randall. He took off and went to Georgia. And there's a really great quote in this article from npr. Maryland Gets Closer to Retiring State Song that Calls Northerners Scum that kind of sums up Maryland's position in the war in general. From their state archives. It described it as walking a tight row between the Union and the Confederacy. In addition to being physically between the two sides, Maryland depended equally on the north and the south for its economy. Although Maryland had always leaned toward the south culturally, sympathies in the state were as much pro Union as they were pro Confederate.
- [47:05]
Ben
And now let's use our fast forward buttons just a bit. The song, which exists for decades afterwards as a very popular protest song in some circles, becomes the official state song of Maryland in 1939 and remained so until this year, until just a few months ago as we record this. In March of 2018, state senators approved a bill that would strip Maryland, my Maryland of its designation as the official state song and rebrand this pro Confederate anthem as an historical tune.
- [47:42]
Noel
Yeah, kind of a demotion, I guess, which makes sense in the cultural moment that we're having with racist monuments. Yeah, yeah, they're getting covered up, getting pulled down by the people. You know, here in Georgia we got a lot of that going on.
- [47:57]
Ben
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And some still remain today because to paraphrase William Faulkner, history is not over. It's not even the past yet. You know, and interesting point there, Noel. 1939. That was the same year Gone with the Wind was released. So I wonder if culturally there was an impetus to tap into that romanticized picture of antebellum South.
- [48:25]
Noel
Yeah, it's funny, in a place, Athens, Georgia, you may know from its place in the music industry with REM and the B52s and all that. I lived there for a while and there are a few Confederate monuments there. And somebody, it being kind of a hipster college town, some clever, clever devil put up a sign on one of the monuments saying second place, you know, implying that the Confederates, they lost the war. So why do we need monuments? Some people say it's heritage, it's, you know, memorializing our history rather than these negative ideas. You know, there's an argument to be made for that, I suppose, but I think there's probably better ways of doing it than having giant obelisks in the middle of intersections.
- [49:09]
Ben
Right. And there's also a lot of interesting stuff we won't have time for today regarding the plagiarization of melodies in state songs, the weird in between status that a lot of state songs occupy. Like there are other state songs that have used the melody of Otanenbaum. Right. There are other state songs that for a while had derogatory things, or at least at the very least, implications and allusions inherent in the verse. And at this point, as Maryland moves this song from an official status to a slightly less prestigious historical status, we have to ask ourselves, how many of these vestiges remain statues, as you said, Noel, obelisk songs. I mean, hopefully there's not like a racist state bird or something. So we want to hear from you, whether you are in the US or abroad. What is a silly official thing about your state or country and where did it come from?
- [50:22]
Noel
Yeah, and you know, Confederate monuments fur em or Aginum.
- [50:25]
Ben
And if so, why? Or why not?
- [50:26]
Noel
Exactly. You can write to us@riculous stuffworks.com you can catch us on the social medias, or we are ridiculous history on Facebook and Instagram. You can check out our Facebook group, the Ridiculous Historians, where there's always fun stuff popping off.
- [50:39]
Ben
Oh, oh, oh, and let me check, let me check. We're almost there. As we were going into the studio today, we were on pins and needles, or at least I was, to see when we get our 1000th member of Ridiculous historians. And right now, as we're closing, we're at 995.
- [51:03]
Noel
Oh man, we're so close. It's fine.
- [51:06]
Ben
We were texting about this this all day. But if you're already, if you're already on this group, we, we appreciate it. And I'm, I'm especially enjoying all the hilarious memes and dives into history and the fantastic stories we're reading.
- [51:22]
Noel
It is a lot of fun. So check us out there and leave us a nice review on itunes. We appreciate that too. And please join us next time when we talk about a particular baseball game. A no hitter, in fact. That was done while on some psychedelic drugs.
- [51:40]
Ben
No spoilers. Tune in and we'll talk to you very soon.
- [51:42]
Noel
See you then. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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Ryan Seacrest
The flavor, the tradition and the spirit of Carne Asada lives on at Del Taco. Join the Asada today with Del Taco's new limited time half pound Chipotle Carne Asada Steak Burrito. Packed with sweet, spicy and smoky flavor. Wrapped up and grilled to perfection, the whole Carne Asada steak menu delivers the bold flavors you crave with epic burritos, loaded fries and street tacos starting at just $2.99 only at Del Taco.
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Noel
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Noel
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- [53:51]
Ben
Have one more act for you this evening.
- [53:54]
Noel
I don't even need to say his name.
- [53:56]
Ben
Mr. Bob Dylan.
- [53:58]
Noel
From the director of Walk the line.
- [53:59]
Ben
At Ford vs Ferrari.
- [54:01]
Ryan Seacrest
If anyone is going to hold your attention on stage, you have to kind.
- [54:03]
Noel
Of be a freak. And starring Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan.
- [54:06]
Ben
Are you a freak? Hope so. Once upon a time you just so.
- [54:10]
Noel
Inspired by the true story.
- [54:12]
Ryan Seacrest
I want to know which side he's on this Christmas.
- [54:16]
Noel
They just want me singing blowing in the wind for the rest of my life. Bobby, what do you want to be?
- [54:23]
Ryan Seacrest
Whatever it is they don't want me to be. How does it feel?
- [54:26]
Noel
He defied everyone. Turn it down.
- [54:28]
Ben
They lie to change everything.
- [54:33]
Ryan Seacrest
He's our Elvis with no direction.
- [54:36]
Noel
Timothy Chalamet Edward Norton El Fanny Monica.
- [54:40]
Ben
Barbaro make some noise BD Track Some mud on the carpet.
- [54:44]
Noel
Complete unknown A complete unknown Only theater's Christmas day. Rated R. Under 1790 Mid without parent.