Maryland in the American Civil War a majority of the legislature, wished to remain in the Union, but did not want to be involved in a war against their southern neighbors, and sought to prevent a military response by Lincoln to the South's secession. After John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859, many citizens began forming local militias, determined to prevent a future slave uprising. The first bloodshed of the Civil War occurred in Maryland. Anxious about the risk of secessionists capturing Washington, D.C., given that the capital was bordered by Virginia, and preparing for war with the South, the federal government requested armed volunteers
Maryland in the American Revolution capital of the colonies when the Second Continental Congress met there during December 1776 to February 1777, after Philadelphia had been threatened with occupation by the British "Redcoats". Towards the end of the struggle, from November 26, 1783, to June 3, 1784, the state's capital Annapolis, briefly served as the capital of the fledgling confederation government (1781-1789) of the United States of America, and it was in the Old Senate Chamber of the Maryland State House on State Circle in Annapolis that General George Washington famously resigned his commission as commander in chief of the Continental Army on December 23,