Like all too many, I have viewed slavery in the border states, most particularly in my native State of Maryland, as having been almost benign. After all, nearly half of all blacks living in the state were already free before the first shot was fired. Therefore, I assumed that Marylanders must have held a more enlightened view of chattle slavery than their fellow southerners, hence the ratification of the State Constitution of 1864 that emancipated the remaining slaves. Reading this book has taught me how wrong that impression was and has also given me a great deal of insight into the special, though no less horrible, realities of slavery as it existed in Maryland before and during the Civil War. For instance, I found the attempt by southern and eastern shore slaveholders to re-enslave free blacks living within the state's borders prior to the outbreak of hostilities particularly enlightening. I never would have learned about it had I not read this book since, not surprisingly, it was not covered in any other history book that I've read. Nor, for that matter, was the virtual re-enslavement of free blacks through the use of what was euphemistically called apprenticeship laws.
Thank you Professor Fields for shedding much needed light on a very difficult subject!
