Booknotes: Northern Duty, Southern Heart

New Arrival:
• Northern Duty, Southern Heart: George Proctor Kane's Civil War by H. Leon Greene (McFarland, 2023).

Maryland's George Kane remains one of the poster boys of Border State divided loyalties, and opinions, then and now, regarding his actions and character run the gamut. His life story is the subject of Leon Green's Northern Duty, Southern Heart: George Proctor Kane's Civil War.

From the description: "Before the Civil War, George Proctor Kane had been a businessman, thespian, political appointee, philanthropist and militiaman. During the war, as Baltimore's chief of police, he harbored the divided loyalties familiar to the border states--Southern in his sentiments yet Northern in his allegiances. As the city's top lawman, he sought to reform Baltimore's "Mobtown" image. He ensured that President-elect Lincoln, passing through on the way to his inauguration, was not assassinated(,)" and he "protected Union troops marching to defend Washington, D.C."

Kane's most controversial official act was his involvement in the burning of key bridges leading into the smoldering tinderbox that was the city of Baltimore in early 1861 (Greene believes he was "probably" ordered to do so by the mayor and the Maryland governor). In the introduction, the author seems to agree with Kane's defenders that the bridge arson was in the main a dutiful protective measure against further violent riots, its result being the saving of citizen and soldier lives.

More from the description: Because of his actions during the early-war crisis period and doubts about his loyalty, Kane "was eventually imprisoned as a Southern sympathizer, denied habeas corpus as his captors transferred him from prison to prison."

"This book recounts Kane's enigmatic public life before and during the Civil War, his Confederate activities after prison and his return to serve as mayor of Baltimore."