On the evening of the 12th, the battalion (with the exception of Bond’s company, which was detailed to remain with Colonel Herbert,) was ordered to join General Ewell, who, much to their surprise, was at Front Royal, moving on Winchester. In the skirmishing which ensued around that place, they took an active part.
After the capture of Milroy’s forces, at Winchester, General Jenkins with his command was ordered to precede the army of General Lee into Pennsylvania, and to his command the First Maryland was temporarily assigned. With him the battalion operated for some time, skirmishing with the enemy at various points, and participating in the battle of Gettysburg.
On the retreat from Gettysburg the little battalion was called upon to show of what metal it was composed.
Here, along with other cavalry, in covering the retreat and protecting the immense wagon trains, they were continually engaged with the overwhelming forces of the enemy. Many and terrific were the encounters; but, hand to hand and sabre to sabre, they contested every foot of ground, losing many men in killed, wounded and prisoners. Upon this memorable retreat every officer and every man proved himself a hero. It seems invidious to particularize where so many were truly brave; but still, I will say, that among that heroic band, none shone more conspicuously than Captains George W. Emack and Warner E. Welsh. Fighting desperately, their deeds of daring at times amounted almost to madness.
At length Hagerstown was reached. Upon the very heels of the First Maryland, and Tenth Virginia commanded by Colonel Lucius Davis, pressed the would-be incendiary and assassin, Ulric Dahlgren. Furiously he charged the Confederate column in the very streets of the town. The Tenth Virginia, in the rear, was thrown into confusion, and fell back and passed the command of Captain Bond. But that little band of heroes were not to be affected by the unmanly panic, but moved at the same dogged, determined pace. Bond was but waiting for the Virginians to get by. The enemy were within a hundred yards of him, and an unguarded Confederate wagon train was at their mercy. That wagon train must be saved, for it contained much of General Ewell’s supply of ammunition. “Fours, right-about wheel, march! Charge!” rung out the command; and in an instant the gallant fellows had obeyed the order. Bond, mounted upon his fiery mare, Bertha Rives, was too quick for his followers, and darting like lightning, amid a shower of bullets, he found himself within twenty yards of the astonished enemy before he was able to check her. Here, for an instant, that brave man confronted almost certain death, as the muzzle of his pistol swept from right to left, in search of a victim. He was found, a quick, ringing report is heard, a spasmodic motion of the leg, and Ulric Dahlgren was a cripple for the brief remainder of his wicked life.
All this, reader, did not occupy half the time I have taken to relate it, for in an instant Captain Bond’s men were at his side, and closed with the enemy. A desperate hand-to-hand conflict ensued, but they were driven back in confusion, pursued by the relentless Marylanders, who cut them down at every step. The wagon train was saved, and the command received the congratulations of General Ewell.
Alas! it was but a little while after that the chivalrous Bond was himself wounded and a prisoner. Having passed Hagerstown, whilst riding too far back to the rear, he was struck in the leg by a piece of shell from a Confederate battery which was firing over him, and terribly injured. He was taken back to Hagerstown, where everything was done by the noble women of the place to relieve his sufferings. He eventually recovered, and is now a thriving farmer at his home in Anne Arundel county.
CHAPTER IV.
But little of moment occurred after the engagement at Hagerstown; and crossing the Potomac with the army, the First Maryland repaired to Winchester to recruit. It was here that the company under the command of the noble Schwartz joined it.
After a stay of ten days at Winchester, the battalion was ordered to join the brigade of General Fitzhugh Lee, then encamped near Leetown. Soon after, on the promotion of that General to the command of a division, it was assigned to the brigade of General Lomax.