[211] Who was the ranking admiral of the navy of the Confederacy? Who commanded the famous Merrimac and won the victory in Hampton Roads? Franklin Buchanan, a Maryland man. Who floated the starry cross from sea to sea and flung to the breeze the pure folds of our stainless flag, until the name and fame of the Alabama was wafted on every wind that blew, echoing along the shores of Spain and France and England, until the old Victory, Nelson's ship, lying in safe harbor this hundred years, could she have spoken, would have dipped her colors to the daring young Confederate cruiser! Raphael Semmes, a Maryland man, was her commander! Who made the great charge at Gaines' Mill and sacrificed his life for the South, leading the Stonewall Brigade at Cedar Mountain? Charles Sydney Winder, of Maryland! Who, “while helmets cleft and sabres clashing, shone and shivered fast around him,” who led his dashing battalion of horse to victory in many a bloody field? Who but our gallant “Light horse Harry” Gilmor, of Maryland, and peerless Ridgely Brown, slain in battle. Who was the brave soldier who commanded “the Maryland Line,” and, ever foremost in the fight, captured the famous “Bucktail” flag of the Pennsylvania regiment? It was Bradley T. Johnson, of Maryland! Who captured the first Federal flag of the war on the waters from the steamer St. Nicholas in Chesapeake bay? Colonel Richard Thomas Zarvona and Commodore Hollins—two Maryland men. And who was it that Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy—he to whom this memorial is to be erected—who was it he called to his side in the flush of victory at glorious first Manassas and greeted before the whole army with “Hail, the Blucher of the day?” This was Arnold Elzey, of Maryland. And who shall tell of Trimble, commander of Stonewall Jackson's old division, and Steuart and Breathed, with his superb battery of horse artillery, and Herbert and Zollinger, who won laurels for themselves and their native State by distinguished service in many a hard-fought battle? And young Murray, who gave his life at Gettysburg, where the noble men of Maryland, leaping up the deadly heights of Culp's Hill, a hundred yards ahead of their gallant comrades, planted their flag and won eternal fame and the gratitude of the South—for whom the glorious deed was done. And a stone—to my mind the greatest monument on the field of Gettysburg— marks the spot! Maryland had nine generals in the Confederate
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Richmond, VA. 1903.
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