Signed, O. Latrobe, Lt. Col. & A. A. G.
“ R. H. Finney, A. A. G.
“ P. G. Johnson, A. A. A. G.
To Captain John W. Torsch, Comd’g Sec. Md. Inf.
Lt. Col. RIDGELY BROWN.
THE
FIRST MARYLAND
BATTALION OF CAVALRY.
CHAPTER I.
On the 15th day of May, 1862, there was assembled in a quiet room in the city of Richmond a little band of Marylanders, numbering eighteen men, who had just been transferred from Captain Gaither’s company, of the First Virginia Cavalry, and ordered to the “Maryland Line,” then organizing in the Valley of Virginia. The subject of their conversation was the formation of a company as a nucleus for a battalion of Maryland cavalry.
“I have withdrawn,” said one, “from the First Virginia, to fight with the people of my native State, and if we do not form a company, I shall go into a Maryland command and shoulder a musket, if I cannot carry a sabre. It is a duty we owe her, and there are Marylanders enough here to represent her handsomely, if the proper steps are taken to assemble them.”