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CHAPTER IV.

After a stay of several weeks at Fairfax Court House, the First Maryland and
the Third Tennessee were ordered to rejoin the other two regiments of Elzey's
Brigade, then at Fairfax Station, some three miles distant. The change was
gladly welcomed for several reasons, the principal one being the knowledge that
the grounds were larger, and, therefore, better adapted not only for camp
purposes, but for company and regimental drill. The First Maryland was
encamped for many weeks at Fairfax Station, and it was there, above all other
places that it was brought to the state of efficiency, both in drill and discipline,
that caused it to be envied by every other regiment in the brigade.

Colonel Steuart's rigid system of discipline quietly and quickly conduced to
the health and morale of this splendid command. His officers had to report to
him daily to be examined in their various duties, and there were soon but few
of them who could not have commanded the regiment had occasion required it.
He was exacting with them, although just and impartial, and so he was with his
men. It was only natural that such strict discipline should at first have been
distasteful to all, but when they began to see its fruits they heartily seconded him
in his efforts to make the First Maryland the peer of any regiment in the Confed-
erate service. Strict and faithfully carried out sanitary regulations helped to make
the health of the men almost perfect, and when either the companies or the
regiment were out on drill the men from other commands surrounded them and
witnessed their evolutions with great interest.

Colonel Steuart possessed an admirable quality, and one that is seldom found
amongst old army officers. He was opposed to court-martials except for serious
offenses. On all minor charges he sat in judgment himself, and some of his
modes of punishment were unique. Possessing, as has been said, the implicit
confidence of his men, they followed him fearlessly into the thick of the fight,
knowing that when he called, they must be there, and that their lives would not
be rashly or needlessly sacrificed. Whilst he admired the fighting qualities of the
Third Tennessee, his spirit was shocked at their utter lack of discipline, and he
thought he could inflict no greater humiliation, either on his officers or his men,
than to call them Tennesseeans.

In the latter part of August, 1861, the ranks of the First Maryland were added
to by the arrival of Company I, which had been raised in Richmond, and mus-
tered into the service of the Confederate Government on June 15. It would have
joined the regiment before, and shared in the glory of Manassas, but for the fact
that the men did not procure their uniforms and equipments until the first of