Discover the Story

On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces bombarded the Union garrison at Ft. Sumter in South Carolina, igniting the Civil War.

The border state of Maryland would eventually commit itself to the Union cause, but tensions and divided loyalties continued to assert themselves throughout the war. Citizens of the mid-Maryland border region, composed of central Maryland and parts of neighboring states, had to cope with the profound impact of the war as armies from both the North and the South marched, camped, and fought here.

Discover the compelling stories of the Civil War experience in the mid-Maryland border region in the following sections.

John Brown launched his raid on Harpers Ferry, Abraham Lincoln was elected president, and the border region wrestled with loyalties.

Union and Confederate armies both tried to gain control of this important border region.
After the war, mid-Marylanders struggled to reintegrate into their communities returning veterans from both sides of the war.
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