Maryland Historical Trust Removes Sign at Fort Garrison After Complaint About rhe Term ‘Hostile Indians’

A historical marker at Fort Garrison in Stevenson has been removed after officials received a complaint regarding its use of the term “hostile Indians.”

A spokesman for the Maryland Historical Trust, a state agency dedicated to preserving and interpreting the legacy of Maryland’s past, wrote in an email that the marker in Baltimore County had been removed after receiving a complaint about a line that read that the fort served “as a protection against hostile Indians.”

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Built in 1695, Fort Garrison was a stronghold against Native American attacks during the French and Indian War, which lasted from 1754 to 1763.

Bishop Aubrey Harley of Healthy Choice Ministries raised the issue with Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s office and others after seeing the marker and the word “hostile” a few months ago.

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It is indicative of weighted language and bias that some Americans have toward Native American history, Harley said, and not representative of the fact that the original colonists forcibly displaced the native population, mostly through violence and force.

“Subjugating the people and making them look like they’re not human is not justified at all,” he said.

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