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James Ryder Randall (1839 - 1908)
TRANSCRIPTION
Hark to an exiled son's appeal, Maryland! --from 2nd stanza1 of his Randall's poem "Maryland, My Maryland2." (1861)
NOTES: 1) The full poem has 9 stanzas. FOR YOUR INFORMATION
James Ryder Randall was born 1839 in Baltimore, Maryland. He attended Georgetown University, though he did not graduate. Notwithstanding, he became the chair of the English Department at Poydras College in Pointe-Coupée, Louisiana. He traveled to the West Indies and South America. On April 21, 1861, after a friend was killed in Baltimore less than two weeks after the American Civil War began in South Carolina. This incident stirred Randall’s Southern sympathies. That evening, Randall wrote a poem that is said to be American’s "most martial poem." It was called Maryland, My Maryland. It was first published in the New Orleans Sunday Delta April 26, 1861. The poem, the best known of all the poetry he wrote, quickly found its way back to Baltimore where it was eventually to the familiar music of O Tannenbaum [O Christmas Tree]. It became instantly popular and the most famous war song of the Confederacy. After the war was over in 1865, Randall served several positions with various newspapers. His final post was as an editor and correspondent for the Augusta Chronicle. He died in Augusta, Georgia January 15, 1908.
At the bottom of the monument it reads: - from 8th stanza of Randall's poem
Photos by Carlton Hughes, March 2001, Augusta, Georgia, USA REV. 01/15/2004 |
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