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Chapter 10: the Maryland Line.
After the First regiment was mustered out of service August, 1862, and the army of Northern Virginia returned from
Sharpsburg, the hope of
Maryland seemed dead.
The Second regiment and the First cavalry in the valley were ordered to report to
Brig.-Gen. William E. Jones, commanding the Valley district.
Steuart was brigadier,
Elzey was majorgen-eral, and
Johnson was colonel on a military court organized under an act of the Confederate Congress to sit as permanent general court-martial for each corps in the army.
The
Marylanders were more dispersed than ever.
When the campaign of 1863 opened, the Second Maryland led
Ewell's advance on
Winchester, and established its reputation for drill, for gallantry and for esprit, in the army.
From
Winchester Lee crossed the
Potomac and moved into
Pennsylvania.
Johnson, chafing at being in the rear when the army was advancing, convinced,
Hon. James A. Seddon,
secretary of war, that it was legal to constitute a regiment by consolidating the infantry and cavalry battalions, and he was commissioned colonel of the First regiment,
Maryland Line.
He was ordered to take command of all the
Maryland battalions and companies in the army of Northern Virginia, and authorized to organize regiments and appoint officers for them and report to
Maj.-Gen. Isaac R. Trimble.
He left
Richmond, took horse at
Charlottesville, and rode rapidly through the country to
Gettysburg, where he arrived on the evening of July 2d.
He reported his orders to
Trimble, who reported them to
Ewell.
Ewell had succeeded
Jackson in command of the Second corps,
