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of defense can be supplied at all seasons of the year within from thirty-six to forty-eight
hours. Annexed is a sketch showing the relative position of the arsenal to the principal
cities, towns and water courses in the vicinity, and also the roads to and from the arsenal.

N. BADEN,
First Lieutenant on Ordnance Duty.

Shortly after, or during the late war, the arsenal was abandoned as a military
post, and in 1880, the Federal Government relinquished the same to the State of
Maryland. The commandant in 1860, just preceding the commencement of the
war, was that distinguished soldier, Major (afterwards Lieutenant-General) Huger.
The State, after taking possession of the property, made no practical use of it;

in fact, it was an item of expense for several years, by reason of the salary of a
custodian. No repairs had been placed, on the property for a period of some
twenty years, and the condition at the time of the transfer to the care of the Mary-
land Line was little short of that of a ruin. Work was at once commenced to
rescue it from this sad plight in April, 1888, and on June 27, in the same year, had
so far progressed as to admit of the formal opening and dedication. Appropriate
exercises were held, with a large attendance of citizens from Baltimore and the
neighboring country. Addresses were made by Hon. George William Brown,
who presided; General A. H. Colquitt, United States Senator from Georgia;

General Charles E. Hooker, member of Congress from Mississippi; Hon. Ferd.
C. Latrobe, Mayor of Baltimore City; Hon. C. Ridgely Goodwin, State Senator
from Baltimore City; General Bradley T. Johnson, and others. Every year
since, reunions and like celebrations have taken place, which have been frequently
graced by the attendance of distinguished Confederates, many of whom have,
since the war, been prominent in the national councils of the country.

The administration of the Home rests with the board of governors of the
Association of the Maryland Line, and is under the immediate supervision of a
board of managers, who are largely aided in their duties by the labors of a board of
visitors, which is made up of well-known ladies, who give the benefit of their
counsel and are untiring in their efforts in caring for the sick and ministering to
their wants. The command of the Home is intrusted to a superintendent, Mr.
W. H. Pope, a gallant soldier of the Maryland Line, who, with his devoted wife,
have faithfully given their entire services to the institution.

It was determined from the first to make the institution in fact, what it was in
name — a home for those who sought its sheltering care, and this view was held
in the furnishing of the rooms, and the rules enacted for the government of the
inmates. These last have been framed so as to insure the least restraint possible
with the maintenance of proper discipline and decorum. The separate buildings