SECOND REGIMENT INFANTRY.

THIS regiment was organized at Baltimore, Md, from June to
September, 1861, to serve three years. On the expiration of its term
of service, the original members (except veterans) were mustered out,
and the organization, composed of veterans and recruits, retained
in service until July 17, 1865, when it was mustered out by
reason of close of war. This regiment, like the First Maryland
Infantry, was raised under the President's call of May 3d, 1861; a
few of the companies were mustered into the service of the United States in June, 1861,
but the recruiting of several other regiments at the same time delayed the completion
of the organization, and it was not until the month of September, 1861, that the entire
regiment was mustered in.

The officers and men were mainly from Baltimore, and on the 8th day of October,

1861. the field officers were appointed by the President, John Sommer, a soldier of the
war with Mexico, being commissioned as Colonel.

Colonel Sommer held this position until April 24, 1862, when he resigned, and the
command devolved upon Lieutenant-Colonel J. Eugene Duryee until September 22d,

1862. when he resigned, and Colonel Thomas B. Allard, having been appointed, joined the
regiment at Wheatland, Va., in October, 1862, and assuming command, retained it until
he resigned at Blair's X Road, Tennessee, January 19, 1863, being succeeded in com-
mand by Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Howard, who was killed July 30, 1864, at "The
Crater" while leading his regiment in the charge. Captain B. F. Taylor, the ranking
captain present, assumed command and was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel.

Subsequent to this the regiment had no colonel, its numerical strength greatly
reduced by hard service not being sufficient, under the rules of the War Department, to
entitle it to an officer of that grade.

After the regiment had undergone a preparatory training in drill and discipline
for active field service, it was assigned to the 9th Army Corps and joined the command
of General A. E. Burnside, in North Carolina, in the Spring of 1862, and did its duty
nobly in that glorious and successful campaign- that redeemed the sound coast of the old
North State.

During the Peninsular Campaign the regiment, with Reno's Division, of which it
formed a part, was sent to reinforce McClellan before Richmond, but arrived at Fortress
Monroe after the battle of Malvern Hill, too late to be of service, and was ordered to join the
Army of Virginia under Major-General Pope, near Culpepper, Va., and participated in
the campaign leading up to its culmination at the battle of Antietam, Md., September
17, 1862, where the regiment specially distinguished itself in the famous charge result-
ing in the capture of the Stone Bridge, now known in history as the Burnside Bridge.