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not before it had been fondly embraced by the brave men who had so often
followed it to victory.

And this same little flag fell into befitting hands. By a unanimous vote of the
battalion the color-bearer, Edwin Selvage, with a committee, was appointed to
take it Charlottesville and present it to the noble woman who had so faithfully
stood by them in their hour of need — Mrs. Bradley T. Johnson. The following
letter is her acknowledgment of the honor shown her:

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA, August 18, 1862.
To Edwin Selvage, Color-Bearer and the First Maryland Regiment:

Gentlemen :—This emblem of your courage and State pride I have received. The
trust you have reposed in me shall be sacredly guarded, and only to the same organization,
with officers and men, will I ever yield it.

I take this means of assuring you all that, as I have been with you in all the trials you
have undergone in the South, so will I ever be; and no member of the First Maryland

Regiment will ever want a friend while I live.

MRS. BRADLEY T. JOHNSON.

In disbanding the First Maryland Regiment, the Secretary of War meant to
cast no reflection upon it. He was influenced to do so by men from Maryland
who were ambitious to lead a Maryland command in the field, and who repre-
sented to the Secretary that around the material from it another regiment could
be rallied, for at that time many Marylanders were arriving in Richmond.
Another fine battalion was formed, it is true, of which the men of the old command
formed a part, but when it came to an election for officers they preferred to
choose men to lead them who had seen service.

Of the disbanded regiment, Colonel Bradley T. Johnson, Captain W. W.
Goldsborough, Lieutenant George W. Booth and Surgeon Richard P. Johnson
joined the command of General Jackson, then near Culpeper, and offered their
services as volunteers in any capacity. On the 21st of August, 1862, General
Jackson assigned Colonel Johnson to the command of the Second Virginia
Brigade, in the absence of General J. R. Jones, who was absent on' sick leave.

The important part this brigade took in the three days' battles at Manassas
won the admiration of General Jackson, for it was only through the determined
courage displayed by the Second Brigade, stimulated by the daring of their new
commander, that the heavy columns of the enemy were foiled in their efforts to
get possession of the railroad cut on the afternoon of the 30th of August :

There was no more desperate fighting during the war than that at this point,
and when ammunition was expended the Confederates fought with stones. The