11

As soon as Captain Steuart took charge he found that several companies
were only skeletons, with no prospect of filling up to the legal complement, and
by authority of General Johnston he consolidated the companies of Price and
Holbrook, thus making six companies of the battalion, which thus consisted of:
Company A, Captain Bradley T. Johnson; Company B, Captain C. C. Edelin;

Company D, Captain James R. Herbert; Company E, Captain Harry McCoy;

Company F, Captain Louis Smith; Company G, Captain Wilson C. Nicholas.
Three companies from Richmond were subsequently ordered to it, consisting of
Company C, Captain E. R. Dorsey; Company H, Captain William H. Murray;

Company I, Captain Michael Stone Robertson. And these nine companies
constituted the First Maryland Regiment.

It was organized June 16, 1862, by commissioning Arnold Elzey, late Captain
of Artillery, United States Army, as Colonel; George H. Steuart, late Captain
of Cavalry, United States Army, as Lieutenant-Colonel, and Bradley T. Johnson
as Major.

After General Joseph E. Johnston had evacuated Harper's Ferry and fallen
back to Winchester, that General learned that much property still remained at
Harper's Ferry which had escaped the torch of Lieutenant Jones when he
evacuated the place. Among this property were 17,000 gun stocks, which at
that time were of inestimable value to the Confederate Government. Lieutenant-
Colonel Steuart, with his Maryland command, was ordered by General Johnston
to Harper's Ferry to complete the work of destruction that had been left undone
by Lieutenant Jones, and remove the property above mentioned. How well and
fully this duty had been performed is shown by the following official order of
General Johnston :

HEADQUARTERS, WINCHESTER, June 22, 1861.
Special Order.

The commanding General thanks Lieutenant-Colonel Steuart and the Maryland
regiment for the faithful and exact manner in which they carried out his orders on the
19th instant at Harper's Ferry. He is glad to learn that owing to their discipline no private
property was injured and no unoffending citizen disturbed. The soldierly qualities of the
Maryland regiment will not be forgotten in the day of action.

BY ORDER OF GENERAL JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON.

W. H. WHITING, Inspector-General.

When the middle of May had passed, it was rumored in the camp of the
companies in Richmond that the men from Maryland were to be organized and