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command, and he more than once expressed himself to that effect. He felt for
them in their exile, for they were not citizens of a seceded State, and their self-
sacrifice won his admiration and excited his sympathy.
The latter end of August, 1864, the strength of the battalion was augmented
by the arrival of Company H, commanded by a Captain Callan. This company
had been enlisted for the cavalry, but was for some reason assigned to the Second
Maryland Infantry, because Callan and his men claimed to be Marylanders. This
was not a fact. There were few of them who had ever been in the State, and
with some exceptions they were a bad lot. But the battalion soon got rid of
Captain Callan and his Lieutenants, and for awhile the company was commanded
by Sergeant Thomas O'Brien, an old United States soldier, and a good man. By
the time Hanover Junction was reached later in the season the undesirable element
had taken their departure, and what remained did good service. In February of
(Tie following year Lieutenant J. Thomas Bussey, of Company D, was elected to
the command of the company.
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