Your Maryland

In the summer of 1863, Colonel William Birney began recruiting black men to fight in a newly formed regiment, the 4th United States Colored Infantry. Many men, both free and slave, were keen to sign up and fight for the Union. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The publication of Rachel Carson's book, "Silent Spring," in 1962 changes the way the public thinks about the health of the environment and the ways in which the use of chemicals effect all living things. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Making his way home to Maryland after the surrender at Appomattox, Confederate officer Henry Kyd Douglas was arrested in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and briefly detained in Washington during the trial of the Lincoln Conspirators.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On April 10, 1912, a group of prominent Baltimoreans boarded RMS Titanic of the White Star Line in Southampton, bound for New York on her maiden voyage. The journey did not go as expected. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In September 1814, after raiding and burning Washington, British troops turned their sites on Baltimore. They were met with great resistance from the Americans, and the planned invasion of Baltimore never took place.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Baltimore's Joe Gans was rated the greatest lightweight boxer of all-time by boxing historian and Ring Magazine founder, Nat Fleischer. In a rematch on May 12, 1902, he defeated Frank Erne and became Lightweight Champion of the World. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the spring of 1862, aspiring journalist G A Townsend traveled south by train and steamboat  to cover the Civil War. On his travels he met civilians and soldiers alike and came face to face with the realities of life during wartime.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On January 30, 1956, a devastating fire broke out at Arundel Park during a church fundraiser and oyster roast.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Baltimore socialite Wallis Simpson's life took a number of interesting turns over the course of the first half of the 20th century. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After working together for 22 years, Matthew Henson and Robert E. Peary located the North Pole in April, 1909. History, however,  would record only Peary's name as having made the discovery. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A colorful "history" of the bathtub, as told by H. L. Mencken.   

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1893, Mary Garrett,  daughter of B&O Railroad magnate  John Work Garrett,  uses her fortune to fund the nation's first co-educational medical school at Johns Hopkins. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald's collective creativity burned brightly until the end. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1851, Maryland farmer Edward Gorsuch formed a posse and tried to retrieve some runaway slaves that had fled over the Pennsylvania border. It did not end well.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joshua Barney and his Chesapeake fleet battle British forces during the War of 1812.  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Between 1851 and 1860, Harriet Tubman freed a reported thousand slaves from the Eastern Shore of Maryland. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The strike comes to a head in Baltimore, with railroad workers and other citizens rioting and fighting with National Guard troops.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In July, 1877, the overworked and underpaid railroad men of the B&O went on strike. The strike began in Western Maryland, and rolled east, picking up steam as it headed toward Baltimore.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Before he became a major league phenom, "Little George" Ruth learned about baseball, and life, with the help of Brother Mathias at St. Mary's Industrial School, a Catholic institution for "incorrigible" boys in Baltimore.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.