![[portrait, James Ryder Randall]](/msa/mdmanual/01glance/images/song.gif)
"Maryland, My Maryland" was adopted as the State song in 1939 (Chapter 451, Acts of 1939; Code General Provisions Article, sec. 7-318).
The nine-stanza poem, "Maryland, My Maryland," was written by James Ryder Randall in April 1861. A native of Maryland, Randall was teaching in Louisiana in the early days of the Civil War, and he was outraged at the news of Union troops being marched through Baltimore. The poem articulated Randall's Confederate sympathies. Set to the traditional tune of "Lauriger Horatius" ("O, Tannenbaum"), the song achieved wide popularity in Maryland and throughout the South.
James Ryder Randall (detail from postcard, Jack Kelbaugh Collection of Civil War Photographs, MSA SC4325-52, Maryland State Archives).
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