To the People of
Maryland:
After sixteen months of oppression more galling than the Austrian tyranny, the victorious army of the
South brings freedom to your doors.
Its standards now wave from the
Potomac to
Mason and
Dixon's line.
The men of
Maryland, who during the last long months have been crushed under the heel of this terrible despotism, now have the opportunity for working out their own redemption, for which they have so long waited and suffered and hoped.
The government of the
Confederate States is pledged by the unanimous vote of its Congress, by the distinct declaration of its
President, the soldier and statesman
Davis, never to cease this war until
Maryland has the opportunity to decide for herself, her own fate, untrammeled and free from Federal bayonets.
The people of the
South, with unanimity unparalleled, have given their hearts to our native State, and hundreds of thousands of her sons have sworn with arms in their hands that you shall be free.
You must now do your part.
We have the arms here for you. I am authorized immediately to muster in for
