FIRST REGIMENT INFANTRY. 11

eral Banks' Army, only five thousand strong, then at Strasburg, would have been inevi-
table, as the enemy would have commanded the only practicable line of retreat.

This little command had for several hours gallantly fought vastly superior numbers,
crossed both branches of the Shenandoah river in the face of a heavy fire, with the enemy
both in front and rear, contesting every foot of ground for several miles, until they were
finally overwhelmed.

The regiment lost fourteen officers and men killed, forty-three wounded, and five
hundred and thirty-five captured. About two hundred and fifty men effected their escape
under cover of the woods, and company E, on detached duty at Linden Station, eight
miles distant from Front Royal at the time of the engagement, learning of the fate of the
regiment, effected an orderly retreat.

The sacrifice was not in vain ; Col. Kenly had promptly advised General Banks of
the condition of affairs, and, by his splendid defense, enabled Banks' Division to effect a
safe retreat from Strasburg.

The remnant of the regiment proceeded, under orders to Baltimore, for reorganization,
etc., where it remained until September, 1862, when the famous Maryland Brigade was
formed, consisting, at the time, of 1st, 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th Regiments of Infantry, to-
gether with Alexander's Battery of Baltimore Light Artillery. (The 6th Regiment of
Infantry and Alexander's Battery were subsequently detached from the brigade and
assigned to other commands.)

On the 18th day of September the regiment, with the Maryland Brigade, left Balti-
more under orders to join the Army of the Potomac, then on the Antietam.

In November, 1862, the returned prisoners of war rejoined the regiment.

The regiment continued on duty on the upper Potomac and constituted a part of the
1st Brigade, 1st Division, 8th Army Corps.

On the 9th day of April, 1863, the regiment and brigade proceeded by Baltimore &
Ohio Railroad to Grafton, West Virginia, to repel an invasion by a large Confederate
force. After an energetic but brief campaign the enemy rapidly retreated, and the com-
mand returned to Maryland Heights, opposite to Harper's Ferry, where it remained until
the 30th day of June, 1863, when, as a portion of French's Division, it marched to Fred-
erick, Maryland, by order of the War Department, in order to act as a reserve to the
Army of the Potomac, then engaged in the Gettysburg campaign, and also to protect the
Government at Washington.

On the 6th day of July, 1863, the command was ordered to retake and occupy Mary-
land Heights, the enemy being in full possession and engaged in repairing the bridge
that had been destroyed by Cole's Maryland Cavalry a few nights prior thereto, to pre-
vent the enemy from capturing and removing the valuable ordnance stores on Maryland
Heights. After a brisk engagement, the enemy were driven away and the Heights re-
occupied.

The brigade, of which the regiment was a part, now became the 3d Brigade, 3d
Division, 1st Army Corps, which it joined July 10, 1863, near Boonsborough, Maryland,
and aided in the final movements of the Army of the Potomac in Maryland, which
resulted in the retreat of the Confederate army, under General Lee, into Virginia.

The regiment crossed into Virginia again on the 18th day of July, 1863, with the
Army of the Potomac, and participated in all of the active campaigns in Virginia inaug-