31

August. After Manassas they were detailed to guard the prisoners in Richmond
who had been captured in that battle, until they were ordered to join the First
Maryland at Fairfax Station. The company was composed of young men
principally from Charles County, Maryland, and it was officered as follows :

Captain, Michael S. Robertson; First Lieutenant, Hugh Mitchcll; Second
Lieutenant, Hezekiah H. Bean; Third Lieutenant, Eugene Diggs.

During its stay at Fairfax Station, the regiment was frequently called upon
to perform duties of an important and a hazardous character. General J. E. B.
Stuart had formed an attachment for it, and when he needed the support of
infantry he usually asked for the services of the First Maryland. It thus came
about that it took part in the capture of Mason's Hill, and that after that fight
Companies G and I, respectively commanded by Captains Wilson C. Nicholas
and Michael S. Robertson, were detailed to aid in the capture of Upton's and
Munson's Hills. In the fight at Upton's Hill Private Fountain, of Company I,
was killed, and Lieutenant Hugh Mitchell, of the same company, was wounded.

Near the close of the fall of 1861 the enemy became restive. The small force
of cavalry and infantry which held Munson's and Mason's Hills was withdrawn,
and it and all outlying bodies were ordered to Centreville, which place was being
strongly fortified by Generals Jonhston and Beauregard in anticipation of the
enemy's advance in force at an early day.

It was Juliet who said to Romeo : "Parting is such sweet sorrow that I
could say 'Good night' until tomorrow," but it was not thus that the boys of the
First Maryland felt when they broke camp at Fairfax Station to march to Centre-
ville. There were pleasant associations connected with their stay at the former
place. Life-long friendships had been formed, kindnesses had been showered
upon them, and so the last reveille seemed to have a note of discord in its music,
and the summons to "Fall in!" was not responded to with that alacrity which
always characterized men " so dauntless in war "as the sons of Maryland. It
was on this camp, too, which they were leaving, that Mrs. Bradley T. Johnson and
those lovely maidens, Constance, Jennie and Hettie Carey, used to throw the
sunlight of their smiles. They cheered and ministered to the sick; they looked
after the comforts of those who were hale and hearty, and the charm of their
sweet and gracious presence turned gloom into sunshine, and shone like an oasis
on the dreariness of camp life. Many of the men whom they were wont to cheer
have passed away; some died on the battle-field, others in the quiet of home; but
they could never have forgotten those gentle women. And as for the survivors
of that camp, men who are now growing old, there is not one who does not still
remember those autumn evenings when the stirring music of "The Bonnie Blue
Flag," "Maryland, My Maryland" and "Away Down South in Dixie." floated
through the camp, upborne by the rich voices of these noble women and the