That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
Here to-night is a Marylander whom I may mention for the reason that, while in command of the Maryland Line, in 1864, he led a small squadron of men in pursuit of a brigade of Kilpatrick’s cavalry, and, when attacked in the rear by a column outnumbering his force by seven to one, turned upon the enemy and brought off twice as many prisoners as the number of men in his own command, besides inflicting a severe loss in killed and wounded. Well may it be written that “no exploit of the war, on either side, exceeds this for skill, daring and cold courage.” In token of admiration of his services, Gen. Wade Hampton, of South Carolina, presented to Gen. Bradley T. Johnson, the hero of the day, a sabre, which was the fellow of that which he had worn and used himself, on many a hard-fought field. Later still, Gen. Lee fitly described Gen. Johnson as “bold and intelligent, ardent and true.”
There was another—the beau-ideal of gentleness and bravery. Though almost a stranger, he cared for me day after day with exquisite patience and gentleness, during the disability caused by a wound I received at Mechanicsville. It was easy, indeed, to love him, for he had the simplicity of the child, the faithfulness of the woman, the chivalrous valor of the knight of old. On the field at Gettysburg he poured out for us his blood. He is in my thought of thoughts to-night—William H. Murray, of Company A, 2d Maryland regiment, who is well described as “the most gallant spirit that fought and died for the South.”
Far harder would have been the lot of the Maryland soldiers, far more difficult would it have been for them to enter into the service, if they had not the active assistance of our Southern women. The Maryland Line, as you know, was organized in May, 1861, for the special purpose of representing our State in the Confederate army. It had, therefore, no State to look to for arms or clothing. Virginia had not arms enough for her own necessities, and there was danger that the Maryland battalion would be disbanded, because of the impossibility of procuring arms. In this exigency Mrs. Bradley T. Johnson volunteered to go to North Carolina, her native State, and there appeal to her countrymen for assistance. The journey was difficult, but she made her way to Raleigh, N. C., and obtained from Governor Ellis 500 Mississippi rifles, with ten thousand cartridges and necessary equipment. In Richmond Mrs. Johnson procured a supply of blankets and camp equipage, and ordered that a number of tents be made at once. On June 3, 1861, ten days after she left camp on her difficult mission, she delivered to her gallant husband the results of her enterprise. The historian justly says that the following receipt of the Chief of Ordnance of Stonewall Jackson’s command has probably no parallel in the history of war:
“Received, Ordnance Department, Harper’s Ferry, June 3, 1861, of Mrs. B. T. Johnson, five hundred Mississippi rifles, (cal. 54,) ten thousand cartridges and thirty-five hundred caps.”
The Maryland Line adopted resolutions thanking Mrs. Johnson “for her earnest, patriotic and successful efforts in arming and equipping the command,” and pledging themselves, “that the arms she has obtained shall, at the close of the war, be returned to the State of North Carolina without stain or dishonor.” The arms were not so returned, unless some Federal officer has generously undertaken to fulfil the pledge. In this “era of good feeling” it would not be out of place. But certain it is that these arms, wherever they now may be, were borne in honor and surrendered without discredit.
The astonishing facility with which Mrs. Johnson effected what had appeared to be almost an impossibility can be accounted for. The daughter of the Hon. R. M. Sanders, of North Carolina, she enjoyed the benefit of the respect in which her distinguished father was held. The graces of person and qualities of mind which were her just inheritance, gave the power to accomplish an enterprise which required the “daring gallantry of a man, with the persuasive power and perseverance of a woman.” There is revolutionary blood in her veins. It is no new thing for those of her line to be classed with patriots who are stigmatized as Rebels. The grandfather of Mrs. Bradley T. Johnson was William Johnson, of South Carolina, who was Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1801 to 1836, and her great grandmother, Sarah Johnson, was the wife of William Johnson, a conspicuous patriot in Charleston in the Revolutionary war. When the city was occupied by the British in 1781, Sarah Johnson concealed cartridges, and other ammunition, in her petticoats, and so carried to the patriots beyond the lines the means of continuing the fight. So Mrs. Johnson emulated, in our civil war, the deeds of those of her lineage in the conflict which gave independence to what were then the “free, sovereign and independent States.”
Whilst Mrs. Johnson was in Raleigh, N. C., in quest of arms, an address was delivered by the hon. Kenneth Raynor, who aptly said:
“If great events produce great men, so in the scene before us we have proof that great events produce great women. It was one that partook more of the romance than of the realities of life. One of our own daughters, raised in the lap of luxury, blessed with the enjoyment of all the elements of luxury and ease, had quit her peaceful home, followed her husband to the camp, and leaving him in that camp, has come to the home of her childhood to seek aid for him and his comrades—not because he is her husband, but because he is fighting the battles of his country against a tyrant”