[43]
Before that time, however, the Maryland Legislature had given to the Association of the Maryland Line the old arsenal at Pikesville, in Baltimore county, nine miles from Baltimore, with a liberal annual appropriation.
The governors of the association appointed a Board of Lady Visitors, with Mrs. Johnson as president, and she forthwith organized them for their work.
She divided them into committees, and assigned one committee for each month in the year, the visiting committee being responsible for the sanitation and food of the inmates.
Under this management and supervision the Soldiers' Home of Maryland has been conducted these twenty odd years, averaging more than 100 old soldiers, who are sheltered in its protecting care, who are fed, lodged, clothed, and cared for as no other old soldiers in this country are, North or South.
The Home is Mrs. Johnson's monument.
But she has left a larger, wider, more imperishable monument in the memory of her heroism, of her dauntless courage, of her great heart, cherished all over the States of the Confederacy.