As Maryland remembers the sesquicentennial of the Dred Scott decision Tuesday, historians recall several local connections to the landmark Supreme Court case that pushed the nation to the brink of Civil War.

Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, who delivered his infamous pro-slavery opinion March 6, 1857, was related to Raphael Taney, a landowner and the namesake of Taneytown, a city of 5,400 in northwest Carroll County.