James Ryder Randall poetry collection

James Ryder Randall was born on January 1, 1839 in Baltimore, Maryland to Ruth Marie Hooper (1816-1897) and John Killen Randall (1806-1883). The eldest of six, his siblings included Mary (1840-1911); Emily (1844-1918); William (1846-1903); Fannie (1848-1915); and John (1850-1915).

Randall studied at Georgetown University, although he did not receive a degree. After leaving school, he traveled around South America and the West Indies. Upon his return to the United States, he accepted a teaching position at Poydras College, Pointe-Coupée, Louisiana, where he taught English Literature. He penned his famous poem, "Maryland, My Maryland" after hearing of the attack upon the federal troops in Baltimore on April 21, 1861, where his friend Francis X. Ward was killed. Randall sympathized strongly with the Confederate cause, and his words reflect as such, alluding to President Lincoln as a tyrant, and the Union as "Northern scum." A German muscian of southern sympathies set the poem to the tune of "Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum", and it became a popular battle hymn of the Confederacy.

After the war, Randall engaged in newspaper work, and eventually became the Washington correspondent for "The Augusta Chronicle." He continued to write poetry, although his work never achieved the same success as "Maryland, My Maryland."

In 1864, he married Katherine "Kate" Spann Hammond (1843-1914), a Georgia native. The couple were parents to: Harriett "Hattie" (1866-1927), married Samuel C. Adams; Marcus Hammond (1870-1929); Ruth Marie (1875-1952); Maryland (1879-1948), married Harry McIntosh Wall; and Lizette (1885-1906), married Robert Lee Robinson.

James Ryder Randall died at the age of 69 on January 15, 1908 in Augusta, Georgia, and was buried there in Magnolia Cemetery. "Maryland, My Maryland" was adopted by the state's general assembly as the state song on April 29, 1939. It was voted out on May 18, 2021.