'THIS WORRISOME MODE OF EXISTENCE': THE LETTERS OF JOSIAH H. GORDON.

The article presents several edited letters of former Member of Maryland House of Delegates Josiah H. Gordon about the American Civil War. Gordon was incarcerated by Federal officials during the first months of the War. After the War broke out in 1861, Maryland teetered on the brink of secession and Federal officials suspected Gordon and other legislators of having Confederate sympathies. The letters written during the winter of 1861-62 reveal that life for political prisoners was horrific.