THIRD REGIMENT INFANTRY.

THE Third Regiment of Infantry, Maryland Volunteers, was organ-
ized at Baltimore and Williamsport, Md., from June 18, 1861, to
February 17, 1862, to serve three years. On the expiration of its
term of service the original members (except veterans) were mus-
tered out and the veterans and recruits consolidated into a battalion
of four companies, and remained in the military service of the
United States until July 31, 1865, when it was mustered out of
service by reason of close of the Civil War and by order of the War Department.

The organization of this regiment was commenced at Baltimore, Md., in August,
1861, by Colonel J. C. McConnell, under special authority from the Secretary of War;
five companies were raised and were known as Companies A, B, C and D; the fifth com-
pany being incomplete, was, upon completion, known as Company H.

On the 16th day of February, 1862, four companies of infantry, who had been
enlisted in the summer of 1861, at Williamsport, Washington County, Md., many of
whom were Union men and refugees from Berkley and Jefferson Counties, Va., were
assigned to the Third Regiment of Infantry, and designated as Companies A, B, C and I
(the latter company being incomplete). In consequence of this consolidation, the
original Companies A, B, C and D became Companies D, E, F and G, respectively.

On the 11th of May, 1862, the companies bearing the designation of E, F, H and I
were broken up, and the men were distributed among Companies A, B, C, D and G.

These discontinued companies were replaced by four companies recruited for the
German Rifles or Fourth Maryland Infantry, and the Baltimore (or Dix's) Light
Infantry, both of which had failed to perfect their organizations.

The Companies transferred from the Fourth Infantry were styled E and H, and
those from the Dix Light Infantry I and K.

The regiment then comprised nine companies, namely, Companies A, B, C, D, E, Gr,
H, I and K; a tenth company (F), composed of nine months' drafted men, organized
October 15, 1862, at Easton, Md., was assigned to the regiment February, 1863. This
company was mustered out of service Sept. 2, 1863.

John C. McConnell was the first colonel of the regiment.

On the 24th day of May, 1862, the Third Regiment of Infantry proceeded to Har-
per's Ferry, Va., then endangered by the advance of General (Stonewall) Jackson's
Confederate Army, and was assigned to General N. P. Banks' army, subsequently better
known as the Twelfth Army Corps. The regiment, with Banks' Division, participated
in the severe battle of Cedar Mountain, Va., August 9, 1862, and all of the subsequent
movements and engagements incident to the campaign under General Pope.