Maryland State Archives
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Straddling Secession:
Thomas Holliday Hicks
and the Beginning of the Civil War in Maryland


Thomas J. McKaig
From History of Allegany County, Maryland
By James W. Thomas and T. J. C. Williams, 1923
Severn Teakle Wallis
MSA SC 5598-4-56
George William Brown
MSA SC 5598-4-56
T. Parkin Scott
Willem Wirtz
Oil on canvas, 1930
MSA SC 5590-2-31

Among those arrested by Union troops were Baltimore Mayor George William Brown, Senator Thomas J. McKaig, and Delegates Severn Teakle Wallis and T. Parkin Scott. Most of those arrested were held without trial in military prisons, including Fort McHenry in Baltimore, and released in 1862. McKaig was held only for a short time, while some, like Brown, Wallis and Scott, were imprisoned for the duration of the war, and never faced charges.

Many of those arrested became prominent political figures after the Civil War. Brown and Scott both served as judges of the Baltimore City Supreme Bench, while Wallis went on to become an influential attorney.

During the same time, Union authorities closed The South and The Baltimore Exchange newspapers and arrested their editors for publishing possessing "correspondence of a treasonable nature." Both papers, which were strongly secessionist, resumed publication about a week later.



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