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none had been the recipients of more flattering recognition from the Generals
in command, and none were prouder of their record. But it had at last become
absolutely necessary that the ranks of the regiment should be filled up. An
order had long before been issued to recruit and thoroughly organize the Mary-
land Line, and the First Maryland was to be the nucleus upon which it was to be
formed, but until now the regiment could not be spared. Therefore, about the
middle of July it was ordered to proceed to Charlottesville for the purpose of
carrying out the order of the War Department. But there were few Maryland
recruits to be had, and but few Marylanders who cared to be transferred fom the
regiments from other States in which they had so long served, and in which they
had formed associations not to be parted from.
After remaining at Charlottesville until the 4th of August the regiment was
ordered to Gordonsville.
General Jackson had in the meantime been detached from the army watching
McClellan at Harrison's Landing, and was known to be in the vicinity of Culpeper
watching Pope. Therefore, when the order was given to move to Gordonsville
it was confidently expected the regiment would soon rejoin its old commander,
Jackson. But these hopes were never to be realized. The First Maryland had
participated in its last battle, and was within a few days to cease to exist.
On August 9, 1862, Jackson fought Banks at Cedar Run, or Slaughter's
Mountain, as it is sometimes called, and again administered to that General a
crushing: defeat. Here that splendid young Maryland soldier, General Charles
S. Winder, fell, but there was no First Maryland there to avenge his death, as
there had been that of Ashby. The First Maryland had, however, from Gordons-
ville, heard Jackson's guns, and chafed under the restraint to which they were
subjected. Little did this handful of battle-scarred veterans then dream of the
humiliation in store for them. It was better that they did not know it.
On August 12 the prisoners captured at Cedar Run were brought to
Gordonsville, and Colonel Johnson detailed Company A, under command of
Captain W. W. Goldsborough, to convey them to the prisons in Richmond.
Company A, under Captain Bradley T. Johnson, had been the first company
formed in the regiment, and had done the first service at Point of Rocks, and it
was destined to perform the last, for the very day the company with its prisoners
arrived in Richmond, George W. Randolph, then Secretary of War, issued his
order for the disbanding of the regiment, and upon receipt of this order, on the
17th day of August, Colonel Johnson mustered the men out of the service amid a
scene of lamentation that perhaps had never before been witnessed under the
circumstances, and strong men, veterans who had stood up and faced death on
many a bloody field, wept like children. The little Maryland flag, which had been
carried as the regimental colors in all its battles, was that day folded forever, but
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