Driver, Robert J., Jr. First and Second Maryland Infantry, C.S.A. Bowie: Heritage Books, 2003. Pp. "xx, 240." Cloth, illus., indexed, bibliog. ISBN 1-58549-901-3 Price $35.00, plus s+h.

They were called "Orphans"--men who enlisted to fight for the Confederate States of America but who lived in one of the Border States of Maryland, Kentucky or Missouri. These men were seen as soldiers who did not have a home in a war that many southerners and northerners alike placed so much emphasis on protecting. In Robert J. Driver, Jr.'s new book, First and Second Maryland Infantry, C.S.A., he painstakingly examines the record of two of these units that came from the farmlands and cities throughout Maryland. This is the first book written about these two units, and is Driver's second one devoted to Maryland units that fought for the Confederacy, and his first devoted to Maryland Calvary units. 

The best aspects of this book are the firsthand accounts collected by Driver. In describing an attempt by the First Maryland Infantry to capture a hospital that Union soldiers were using for protection during the battle of Front Royal, VA, Driver quotes from a soldier named John Post: "they fired at us from the hospital windows and doors, wounding six of our Regiment. We charged them, and such a getting out, you never did see. We drove them thro' the town, all the time ladies offered us [food and drink] going thro' and hate to think how foolish I was not stopping and getting some." (p. 72) Driver quotes one comical 

In general, Driver does an excellent job of telling the story of the two regiments. Not as well explained are the rest of the corps and the battles themselves. For example, during the account of the Battle of Gettysburg nothing is written about why the men were ordered to take Culp's Hill. During the Battle of Cold Harbor, VA in June 1863, the Second Maryland Infantry without explicit orders plugged a hole on the Confederate army's right flank, thus preventing more Federal troops from going through. Events like this need to be discussed more thoroughly in the book in order to make the reader more aware of the importance of what the Maryland units actually accomplished.

An interesting feature of the book is the almost 200 page section devoted to Muster Rolls of the First and Second Maryland Infantry, in which are listed the name, rank, company, regiment and service record of each soldier. The service records provide information about enlistments; battles where soldiers were wounded, killed, or captured; 

prison exchanges; desertions; and some dates and places of death and burial. Also included in the book are photographs of the men, many never before published, thus providing the reader and historian with another source to consult on views of the soldiers and their uniforms.

Overall, The First and Second Maryland Infantry, C.S.A., by Robert J. Driver Jr., is a book worth reading. The book does an outstanding job of tracing the movements and engagements of the unit during the entire war. The descriptions of war experiences make this book priceless. 

Copies may be ordered from Willow Bend Books, 65 E. Main Street, Westminster, MD 21157, 1-800-876-6103.

Roads in Anne Arundel County, 1765-1794
by Pat Melville

Information about roads and bridges in Anne Arundel County for 1765-1794 can be gleaned from laws passed by the General Assembly and minutes of the court found in (Judgment Record) in series C91. The legislation, mostly affecting the part of the county that became Howard County, clearly reflects the heavy emphasis on transportation concerns between Baltimore and areas toward the west and the need for good roads to and from mills. 

The first law specific to Anne Arundel County was enacted in 1774 (Ch. 21) and provided loans for the opening, straightening, and repairing of roads between Annapolis and Baltimore and Frederick. Actual accomplishments were probably minimal in the face of upcoming conflicts with Great Britain. 
Some road legislation resulted from petitions filed by individuals. The laws named commissioners to lay out the route and 

• Ch. 14, Acts of 1783: road from Dr. Ephraim Howard's tilting forge to the upper parts of Elk Ridge to intersect the main road to Elk Ridge Landing, going by William Hobb's dwelling plantation. Howard was the petitioner.

• Ch. 53, Acts of 1784: road from the mill seat of Nicholas Randall on the main falls of the Patapsco River. The route was to begin at or near Isaac Harlin's along the road leading to Ellicott's upper mill and then by Randall's mill to the road between Ellicott's lower mill and Baltimore at or near John Pierpoint's blacksmith shop. Randall was the petitioner.

• Ch. 37, Acts of 1792: two roads from the grist and fulling mills of Joshua Askew on the main falls of the Patapsco River, one to begin at David Cumming's new buildings on the main road by Ellicott's upper mills and the other to begin on the same road 2 miles west of Ellicott's upper mills. Askew was the petitioner.

Petitioners escaped personal expenses when roads were deemed beneficial to the general public. Then money was raised through subscriptions or taxes. A 1787 law (Ch. 2), with a stated purpose of transportation of produce to market, prescribed roads from Snells Bridge and Greens Bridge over the Patuxent River to the bridge over Patapsco Falls near Ellicott's lower mills. Subscriptions by individuals were identified as the source of funds for construction and payment of damages. The commissioners appointed to lay out the route were also authorized to enforce subscription payments by court action.
 

By Ch. 53, Acts of 1791 the court was directed to allocate taxes for the expenses involved in laying out a road from the turnpike in Baltimore County to intersect the road from Frederick Town at the county line near William Hobb's. The appointed commissioners were authorized to award contracts for construction, and supervisors were allowed to accept labor in lieu of road taxes. 

Heavily used private roads were eligible to become public facilities, if widely beneficial for transportation. Such a law was enacted in 1792 (Ch. 35). "�from time immemorial there hath been a road leading from Baltimore-town to the town of Frederick by Dillon's Field, Ellicott's upper mills, Cumming's new buildings, Fox's, the Red House tavern, Cook's tavern, and the Poplar spring�." Repair expenses were to be paid by petitioners or by those who benefited the most. The criteria for deciding who benefited was not outlined.

Entries about road matters in the Anne Arundel County court minutes were sparse in comparison to the earlier colonial period. The judges annually appointed overseers for maintenance, but the clerk did not record any itemized lists of public roads. 

Bridges were a frequent subject of concern before the court. In 1767 Henry Hall contracted to build a bridge over the Patuxent River at the landing just below Jeremiah Crabb's at Queen Ann Town and to maintain it for ten years. The court paid John Ellicott & Co. in 1772 for maintenance of Ellicotts Bridge over the great falls of the Patapsco River, and Ely Dorsey in 1773 for maintaining Push Pin Bridge over the Patuxent River. In 1783 Joseph Leek, Jr. agreed to build Greens Bridge over the Patuxent River.

Staff Activities

Elaine Rice Bachmann, Curator of the Commission on Artistic Property, participated in a recent decorative arts symposium sponsored by the White House Historical Association, "Presenting the White

Elaine moderated a panel discussion of three key participants in the restoration program led by Jacqueline Kennedy between 1961 and 1963. Her book, Designing Camelot, about the Kennedy redecoration of the White House, was published in 1997. The symposium ended with a tour of the White House State Rooms led by the curatorial staff.

On October 8th and 9th, Sasha Lourie and Ryan Polk, both Research Archivists, attended the 2004 Gordon Conference at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. On Saturday, Sasha presented the opening paper of the morning session "Furniture Perspectives" which consisted of four talks focusing on furniture-making in Annapolis, Washington, D.C. and North Carolina, Jamaica, and the Mississippi Valley.

Sasha's paper, 'Men...of some influence in the city': William and Washington Tuck and Annapolis Cabinetmaking, 1795-1838, was based on his M.A. thesis on the Tuck brothers and their furniture-making. His talk examined the early careers and furniture of William and Washington Tuck, their relationship with cabinetmaker John Shaw, and their work at the Maryland State House. It was part of a panel which examined the connections between early nineteenth-century cabinetmakers and public buildings. This was the fourth biennial Gordon Conference at MESDA, and the event drew curators, independent scholars, and collectors who share an interest in the broad field of southern decorative arts.
 

Michael McCormick, Director of Reference Services, chaired a panel discussion on Genealogists and Archivists at the MARAC Conference held in Pittsburgh, PA, on October 1 and 2. The panel represented state archives, historical societies, and public libraries. The session included a review of literature describing the history of the relationship between archivists and genealogists and examples of genealogical research in various types of repositories. The panelists discussed unique records, research approaches, growing use of adoption and other court records, and values of medical records to document family medical history.