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SEVENTH REGIMENT INFANTRY

Compiled from original  sources by Col. Charles E. Phelps, Brevt. Brig. Gen. U. S. V., at the  request of the Commissioners, under the Act of 1896, Ch. 134, "to  provide for the completion of the records of the soldiers, etc.,  accredited to the State of Maryland in the late Civil War, etc." 

This regiment was  recruited from the northern line of Maryland counties, under the call of  July 1, 1862, for "three years or the war.'' Toward the end of August,  1862, nine companies had been enrolled and mustered in Baltimore, and  went into " Camp Harford," a spot now included within the limits of  Druid Hill Park. The aggregate strength of the regiment at that time was  784 officers and men. Pressing exigencies of the service hurried it  into the field before it had received its tenth company, the men  recruited for which were mustered into other regiments. The tenth  Company, K , was composed of the re-enlisted men of the Tenth Maryland  (a six months' organization), and joined the regiment in April, 1864. 


Material of the Regiment.

There were very few  foreigners in this regiment. Most of the line officers and men were  substantial farmers, mechanics and laboring men from the rural  districts. Very shortly after they had come to know each other, a  unanimous preference for the mounted service took shape in a formal but  unsuccessful application to the War Department for transfer to the  cavalry. 

Two companies (C and H)  were raised in Harford County, one (D) in Baltimore County, and one (F)  in Carroll. Three (B, E and G) were recruited in Frederick County, and  two (A and I) in Washington County. There was no city company in the  Seventh until joined by company K, above mentioned, and this company was  composed of young active men, clerks, etc., from Baltimore. 

The Seventh Regiment  was raised and originally commanded by Colonel Edwin H. Webster, of  Harford County, a representative from Maryland in Congress.  Lieut.-Colonel Charles E. Phelps, subsequently promoted Colonel, and  later Brigadier-General by brevet, was a member of the Baltimore bar,  and had been Major of the "Maryland Guard," somewhat celebrated just  before the war as a thoroughly drilled volunteer battalion, most of  whose members went South. Major William H. Dallam was a prominent and  highly esteemed lawyer of Harford County, and enjoyed the confidence of  the entire community in which he lived. He had served the public in the  capacity of Clerk of the Circuit Court and for many years as State's  Attorney. 

Adjutant George L.  Tyler and Quartermaster Thomas S. Nesbitt were young gentlemen of  prominent families in Frederick and Washington counties respectively.  Surgeon James H. Jarrett and Assistant Surgeon (afterwards Surgeon)  Robert K. Robinson were well-known practitioners of Harford County. The  line officers, as a rule, were all highly respected citizens of their  several counties. Two of the captains, Edward M. Mobley, of Washington  County, and David T. Bennett, of Frederick County, were subsequently  promoted in succession to the command of the regiment, made vacant by  casualties of service. Captain Daniel Rinehart, of Carroll County, was a  brother of the world-renowned sculptor. 


First Service.

Early in September,  1862, the advance of Lee's army into Maryland occasioned frequent  reports of the immediate proximity of his cavalry. The streets or  Baltimore were barricaded, and before the Seventh had progressed so far  in its tactics as the battalion drill, it was, on several occasions,  ordered into line in expectation of a raid. 

Maryland Brigade.

On the 8th of  September, 1862, it was brigaded with the 1st, 4th, 6th and 8th  Regiments of Maryland Infantry and Alexander's Battery of Baltimore  Light Artillery, under the command of Brigadier-General John R. Kenly.  From that time on, until muster out at the end of the war, the military  history of the Seventh is mainly identified with that of the famous  Maryland Brigade, composed of the organizations just named, with the  exception of the Sixth and Alexander's Battery, subsequently assigned  elsewhere. 

The  Maryland brigade continued a part of the 8th Army Corps nominally,  although serving successively under General Franklin, General Couch and  General French, either as an independent brigade or in detachments,  until on the 11th of July, 1863, it was definitely assigned to the Army  of the Potomac as the 3d Brigade, 3d Division, 1st Army Corps. 

In January, 1864, it  became the 2d brigade of the same division. Upon, the reorganization of  the Army of the Potomac under Lieutenant-General Grant, in March, 1864,  the old first corps was merged in the fifth, and the Maryland brigade  was then designated 3d Brigade, 2d Division, 5th Army Corps. After the  Battle of the Wilderness and the first engagement at Spottsylvania, this  division was so shattered that it was broken up, and most of its  regiments assigned to other commands, the Maryland brigade serving  temporarily as an independent organization, reporting to corps  headquarters. Upon the reorganization of the division in June, 1864, the  Maryland brigade finally became the 2d Brigade, 2d Division, 5th Army  Corps, until mustered out May 31, 1865. 


At the Front.

As soon as the result  of the battle of Antietam was known, the Maryland brigade, which, until  that time had been required to guard and picket the approaches to the  city, was ordered to the front. Its first service in the presence of the  enemy was between Hagerstown and Williamsport, where they found General  Reynolds with a body of raw, un-uniformed Pennsylvania militia, engaged  in trying to hold in check a force of the enemy's cavalry. Much to the  relief of the militia, the Marylanders were promptly deployed in their  front, and, upon their advance, the opposing force withdrew, their  artillery covering the retreat with a few inaccurate shots. This was on  the 19th of September, 1862. 

From that time on,  until the 29th of October, the Maryland brigade remained in camp in the  vicinity of Williamsport, guarding the fords of the Potomac; the cavalry  videttes of the enemy, Wade Hampton in command, being in sight on the  other side. After some days of excitement, forming line of battle,  marches and counter-marches, the routine of drill again began, and this  growing tedious, many of the men took advantage of the lull to go home  on short visits without leave, after failing to receive furlough. They called this taking a "french," and indignantly disclaimed the idea of desertion. Numbers, in fact, were so near their homes that they could easily make the round trip between tattoo and reveille. 


The Upper Potomac.

On the 29th of October,  1862, the Seventh Regiment was ordered on detached duty, guarding a  river front of about five miles from McCoy's Ferry to Dam No. 5,  headquarters at Four Locks. McCoy's Ferry was the point where Stuart's  cavalry had broken through on their famous raid, a few days before,  surprising and capturing the signal station on Fair View Mountain, close  by. One of the most interesting points in the vicinity was " Old Fort  Frederick," built as a defense against Indians, and at that time one of  the few remaining structures to be found in this country worthy to be  called a "ruin." 


Refugees.

From the summit of Fair  View could be seen three States, the encampment of McClellan's army at  Harper's Ferry and Lee's encampment at Martinsburg. This lookout was at  that time a great resort for Union refugees from Virginia. Many of these  had served on the other side as unwilling conscripts. They were  naturally very much wanted, and they knew it. As our army advanced into  the sacred soil, back went the refugees, some piloting our columns as  guides. These men were the most vigilant of videttes, keenly snuffing  the southern air for the dreaded cavalry raid. 

The belt of Virginia  soil immediately in front of the Seventh Maryland was almost entirely  inhabited by the families of these refugees, and the great rendezvous of  the refugees themselves was Fair View. Here they watched from day to  day their deserted homes across the river, sometimes witnessing with  their own eyes their hogs and sheep taken, often exchanging signals with  their families, and when signals were satisfactory, stealthily crossing  in skiffs or wading the ford. 

Many of the younger  refugees had enlisted in Maryland cavalry regiments, and under the  command of such men as Cole, Vernon, Russell, Firey and others, did good  service as scouts and guides. Their presence and influence contributed  materially to impress upon those organizations the character for  vigilance, enterprise and daring for which they were distinguished. 

But to the older and  more timid refugees the regiment was indebted for many panicky rumors,  startling announcements, hasty "falling's in." It was characteristic of  the men upon every such occasion that they never became skeptical, but  took
each alarm as it came, in perfect good faith, always "falling in" with  as much alacrity as if the crash of battle were sounding in their ears. 


Substitutes.

Early in December, the  regiment received its first installment of " substitutes,'" an accession  of less than doubtful value. There were fifty or more in this batch, of  all nationalities, most of them suspiciously well drilled. These  disinterested patriots were brought up under guard, with their $300 or  $400 each in their pockets. Some had "jumped" the guard on the cars,  quite a number vanished the first night, most of them afterwards  deserted, and a half dozen or so turned out reliable soldiers. On  the 12th of December, 1862, the Seventh returned to Williamsport,  finding there only the Eighth, the First having gone to Maryland Heights  and the Fourth to Baltimore. 


Cordiality of Citizens.

The feeling of the  people of Western Maryland towards the soldiers was, with very few  exceptions, cordial and thoroughly sympathetic. In return, the instances  of invasion of private right on the part of the soldiers were extremely  rare, they were discountenanced by the men, and promptly punished when  discovered. 


Maryland Heights.

On the 21st of  December, 1862, the Seventh and Eighth, with Alexander's Battery,  started for Maryland Heights, where the whole brigade was finally  settled in winter quarters. 


West Virginia Campaign.

On the 4th of April,  1863, the Seventh crossed the river and encamped on Bolivar Heights, and  on the 27th the Seventh and Fourth were transported by rail to Oakland,  under orders which indicated a campaign in West Virginia, then much  exercised by a dashing raid under Imboden and Jones. On the morning of  the 29th, the Seventh left knapsacks behind at Oakland in charge of the  Fourth, and made a forced march all that day and most of the night  across the Alleganies, the memory of which was destined to become a  standard of comparison in all future campaigns of the Seventh. For  several weeks the regiment remained in the vicinity of Rowlesburg, the  several companies being so disposed as best to guard the railroad bridge  on Cheat river and the high trestles near by.  There  was practically but one sentiment among the West Virginians here—all  were zealous Unionists, and everywhere officers and men found themselves  at home. Nothing could be more primitive than the life of these  mountaineers. The clothes they wore, the food they ate, the beverages  they drank, everything was home-made. Much use was made of maple sugar  in a variety of forms; spinning and weaving their own flax and wool,  they dyed with madder or black oak bark. 


Bolivar and Maryland Heights.

On the 16th of May the  West Virginia campaign was closed, the men turning their backs with  regret upon the wild freshness and romance of mountain life, and finding  their old tents on Bolivar Heights just as they had been left, guarded  by the sick and crippled. 

For some days the  Seventh was the only Union force on the Virginia side of the Potomac,  except a few cavalry. Guerrillas were reported in front, and the  regiment was much weakened by heavy details for picket and scout duty.  On the 23d of May an unfortunate incident occurred at an outpost on the  Blue Ridge, where several demonstrations had been made on the pickets of  the Seventh. Lieutenant Gorrell, of Company H (Harford County), was in  command of this outpost of twenty men, and ventured beyond his advanced  sentries on a private reconnoissance. Returning, he failed to hear the  challenge of the sentry, who failed to recognize his officer in the1  darkness. He was shot through the lung and disabled for further service.  A few days after, a personal difficulty between two non-commissioned  officers resulted in a severe pistol wound to one of them. The shooting  was clearly a case of self-defense. 

'On the 5th of June,  1863, the Seventh moved across the river to its old drill ground on  Maryland Heights, and the brigade was once more united. 


Gettysburg Campaign.

A new and eventful  chapter in the history of the Civil War was now upon the eve of  development. The air, which for several days past had been heavy with  rumor, now, on the 14th of June, throbbed with distant cannonading in  the direction of Winchester. The  flash of the guns and shells could be seen after dark. The next day the  tongue of rumor was busy with a thousand startling reports, all of  which centered around the established fact that Milroy's command at  Winchester had been crushed by an over-whelming force of the enemy on  their march to transfer the seat of war to the Northern States. We heard  with especial regret that our old comrades of the Sixth Maryland and  Alexander's Baltimore Battery had shared in the general disaster, but  without loss of reputation. 

Toward the end of June,  Hooker came and ordered Maryland Heights to be abandoned. The troops  were in line ready to march. It was then reported that the order had  been countermanded by Halleck. They did not march. The next report was  that Hooker was out and Meade in command. By his order, General French, a  regular and a Marylander, made his appearance and took command of the  troops on Maryland Heights, comprising the Maryland brigade, some heavy  artillery and the wreck of Milroy's command. 

On the 30th of June the  position was abandoned. Big guns were spiked or hauled down to the  canal, and ammunition which could not be removed was destroyed. During  this process, while the troops were moving down, an accidental explosion  in the magazine of a thirty-pounder battery filled the air with  fragments, killing and wounding twenty-one men. 


Under French to Frederick.

On the 1st of July the  two brigades of French's column, Kenly's and Morriss', continued the  march through the Middletown Valley to Frederick, the heavy firing of  the first day's battle of Gettysburg being at times audible on the left.  On the 2d of July a ringing order was issued with the announcement that  "any officer, no matter how high his rank, or soldier who fails of his  full duty at this crisis, will suffer death, under immediate trial by  drum-head court." This order was followed up by a choleric visit from  French to every regiment and picket post, the deliberate design of which  seemed to be to exasperate the entire command to the fighting pitch.  Such, at least, was its effect. On the next day (July 3d), the command  was paraded through town in column of platoons equalized, field music  playing, on the march to Monocacy Junction. At the corner of Market and  Patrick streets the column passed General French in review, and at all
points was loudly cheered by the citizens. On each of these days,  especially the third, the sound of artillery continued from the  direction of Gettysburg.

It was understood that  French was acting as the reserve of Meade's army, keeping open its line  of communication and covering Washington and Baltimore. In the event of  Meade's defeat, it is easy to see that his task would have been one of  vital importance. 

On the 4th day of July,  1863, the news of a great victory at Gettysburg flew like wildfire,  followed up by long trains of captured wagons and prisoners, escorted by  cavalry. All was activity and vigilance, constant marching and  counter-marching, posting of pickets and calling them in again, with  hourly expectation of something important to happen immediately. Late in  the day the Seventh was counter-marched back to its old bivouac on  Rizer's farm, west of Frederick, on the Harper's Ferry road. 

In the early dawn of  the 6th, as the field officer of the day was riding along the out-posts,  he descried an object swinging from the limb of a tree, surrounded by a  force of cavalry. They reported that the body was that of a spy, caught  with the evidence in his boots, and hung by drum-head court by order of  General Buford. He was easily recognized as a former visitor to the  camp of the Maryland Brigade, offering various small articles for sale  and getting up ornamental company rolls. 


Army of the Potomac.

General French was then  assigned to the command of the third corps, and Kenly's brigade hurried  back to Maryland Heights. The Seventh being on picket at the time, did  not start with the brigade, which had a skirmish as they occupied the  Heights. As soon as the Seventh was relieved by its namesake, the famous  Seventh New York Militia, National Guard, it rejoined the brigade,  which, on the 10th of July, moved out through Pleasant Valley to a point  near Boonsboro. The march was directly toward the sound of cannon. The  march was a forced one of seventeen miles, the day was hot and sultry,  and many of the best men fell out from sheer exhaustion. The straggling  was excessive and much of it was unavoidable; most of the stragglers  came up during the night. 

Here the Maryland  brigade brought up against the Army of the Potomac and reinforced its  weakest corps, being designated as the 3d Brigade, 3d Division, 1st  Corps. General Newton commanded the corps, Kenly the division and  Colonel Dushane, of the first Maryland, commanded the brigade. 

The next day the  brigade took its place in the corps line of battle, drawn up in a field  along the Hagerstown pike. The men opened their eyes as the reserve  artillery thundered by, battery after battery, the heavy Parrot guns  drawn by ten or twelve horses each. From the time they struck the Army  of the Potomac, they had found themselves in an atmosphere of novelty  and wonder. The thinned ranks of many of the regiments, shrunken by  losses in battle to the proportions of a company or so, the tattered and  bullet-ridden colors, and those queer-looking badges worn by men and  officers, of various devices, shapes and colors, corresponding with the  conspicuous standards borne by mounted orderlies, following every  movement of the general officers, formed the principal
subjects of curiosity and topics for discussion among the men of the  Maryland brigade. Many are still living who will remember the thrill of  pride with which, on that day, the brigade and division standards were  received, and the corps badges attached. 


Skirmish at Funkstown.

After several changes  of position, on the 12th of July the Maryland brigade was brought into  contact with the enemy near Funkstown. The Seventh being called on for a  company to relieve the skirmishers of the sixth corps in its front, it  happened to be the turn of company I to go on that duty. This company  (Captain E. F. Anderson) was raised in the neighborhood, and most of the  men had harvested or hunted over the ground. Ridges of limestone  cropping out here and there furnished accidents of position of which the  skirmishers of both sides made it a point to avail themselves quite  liberally. Lee was at that moment preparing to withdraw his army across  the Potomac, a fact unknown to our side, and he was holding his  entrenchments only to cover the retreat. Accordingly,  the work of our skirmishers went on prosperously and they advanced  gradually, pressing back the enemy's skirmishers. The next morning  Company I, with a loss of only one man wounded (Scoffin), was relieved  on the skirmish line by Captain Bennett, Company E. 

A marksman on the other  side had been observed to make several close shots, one of which had  grazed Captain Bennett's ear and drawn blood. The latter stationed one  of his best shots behind a wheat stack, with directions to shoot that  man the next time he showed his head above the rifle pit. The captain  then lifted his cap slightly on the point of his sword, and instantly  the Confederate marksman showed himself, but before he had time to pull,  Corporal Mahaney, of Company E, resting his rifle through the stack,  had anticipated him, and he was seen to leap from out of the rifle-pit  and fall forward upon his face. The corporal was afterwards killed in  the Wilderness. 

One of the incidents of  this skirmish was a struggle for the possession of Stover's barn, which  was finally carried by our men, when the barn was opened on by the  enemy's artillery. After this, the enemy sent out a flag of truce to get  the body of one of their officers. 


Retreat of Lee.

During that night the  retreat of Lee's army was ascertained by the pickets of the Maryland  brigade, who captured a number of stragglers. The next day, 14th of  July, 1863, the 1st Corps, following the sixth, marched through the two  strong lines of earthworks just abandoned by the enemy, the men noticing  the fresh graves of a number of Confederates who fell during the two  days' skirmish. 

On the 15th the march  was resumed to Crampton's Gap, some twenty-five miles, passing a brigade  of prisoners captured at Falling Waters. Another day's march brought  the corps to Petersville, where the wagon trains came up, and a brief  interval was employed in resting and refitting. 


Advance into Virginia.

On the 18th the Potomac  was crossed at Berlin on a pontoon bridge, and Middleburg was reached  on the evening of the 20th, where the officer in charge of the brigade  picket experienced the luxury of posting pickets after dark in a strange  country, among woods tangled with under-growth, and meadows treacherous  with ditches and swamps. The command stayed at Middleburg all the next  day, indulging in blackberries to an unlimited extent, which, as a  sanitary measure, was a success. 

Rappahannock Station.

The march was resumed  through White Plains and Warrenton Junction, reaching Rappahannock  Station on the 3d of August, 1863, where a brisk cavalry skirmish was in  progress, indicating renewed contact with Lee's army, now at the end of  its retreat. This fight between Buford and Stuart was plainly visible  across the Rappahannock, and it was watched with interest, because it  was taken to be the prelude of another pitched battle. It turned out to  be only a reconnoissance in force. 

The Seventh was at this  time separated from the Maryland brigade, and it was understood that  it, together with some regiments from other brigades, constituted the  reserve of the 1st Corps. Among the many rumors in constant circulation  was one to the effect that the Seventh Regiment was to be detailed as  "sharpshooters." It had been reported that during the two days'  skirmishing at Funkstown the fire of our Companies I and E had been  especially effective. It had been learned officially (so went the rumor)  that the enemy's loss during that skirmish in front of the Maryland  brigade alone had been eight killed, including a captain, and fifteen  wounded. In point of fact, nothing was certainly known about anything. 

It was mysteriously  whispered in select circles as a particularly choice tit-bit of rumor  that "we" had learned to read the enemy's signals, with many cautions to  be very careful of the secret, lest the rebels should get hold of it  and immediately change their signal code. There was but little incident  of any kind to vary the monotony of camp life at Rappahannock station.  Deserters were occasionally shot under sentence of court-martial in some  of the neighboring camps, and it was the accepted policy to make these  executions as public and ceremonious as possible, to strike terror into  the substitutes and bounty-jumpers. 

Quite in contrast with  the dull monotony of the camps in rear, the picket line or extreme front  in contact with the enemy is always interesting. Our division outposts  at that time occupied a front of  over two miles, the line between the two armies had not been  straightened out, and the opposing sentries were within hailing  distance, in some cases. This situation sometimes gave occasion for  ludicrous mistakes. A too sociable disposition was at times indulged,  resulting in the trading of newspapers, coffee, tobacco, etc., but this  intercourse was always promptly repressed by the authorities as soon as  discovered. 

About the middle of  September a division of cavalry, supported by the second corps, pushed  on as far as Culpeper, not without resistance and loss. A rumor  prevailed that we had captured colors, a large number of prisoners and  ten guns, reduced afterwards to three. 


Advance to the Rapidan.

Early on the morning of  the 16th of September, 1863, the long expected order came, and after a  march of ten or twelve miles through Brandy and Stevensburg, tents were  pitched about half way between that place and Culpeper Courthouse, on  Mountain Run. The march was toward the sound of cannon, and many dead  and crippled horses were passed. 

Here the paymaster made  his appearance, and several officers were informed that their pay had  been stopped until their regulation "ordnance returns" were duly  forwarded. As Government officials became more experienced, greater  strictness and more "red tape" was used, and many obscure and neglected  "army regulations," which had been a mystery to inexperienced officers  and the despair of department clerks, were revived and peremptorily  enforced by the quick stimulus of "stopping pay." The next move was to a  piny old field on Potato Run, near Stewart's house, where, towards the  end of the month, the division was paraded on three sides of a square to  witness the shooting of a substitute deserter from the Fourth Maryland.  He followed his coffin around the square with unmoved expression and  steady step, keeping time to his own dead march, and, after the  execution, the troops were marched in review past the bloody remains. 

On the 27th of  September, 1863, another move was made about four miles westerly to  Summerduck Run, and on the morning of the 29th, just after the brigade  guard had been mounted, with the assistance of the brigade band, there  was another move west to a point near Cedar Run, guarding Raccoon Ford,  of the Rapidan. The division was here masked by a dense forest of heavy  timber. Blazing trunks of solid hickory, piled with reckless  extravagance, cheered the men with a genial air of home comfort and  lighted the path of mounted orderlies. 


Meade's Retreat.

Another active campaign  was now at hand, to counteract a rapid flank movement of Lee's army  toward Meade's rear. The movement commenced, so far as the Seventh was  concerned, at two o'clock on the morning of October 10, 1863, by a  forward demonstration of the 1st Corps upon Morton's Ford of the  Rapidan. From this point the retreat commenced that night, and the  Rappahannock was re-crossed at Kelly's Ford. It was at this time a  frequent subject of remark among the men that they had often heard  firing in front and on the flank during a march, but never before in the  rear. From a hill above the ford, looking back, could be distinctly  seen every shell as it burst in the air, the distant Blue Ridge forming a  dark background for the puffs of white smoke. The hot cavalry fighting  which had been going on all day did not end with it, and there continued  to be seen the flash of the guns and of the bursting shells until long  after dark. 

At one o'clock on the  morning of October 13, 1863, began the heaviest march yet made, from  Kelly's Ford to a point beyond Bristoe Station, some twenty-seven or  eight miles, carrying eight days' rations. If the private soldiers of  the Seventh had been polled, their verdict would have been that this  eight days' ration business was a fraud. There was never more than about  four or five days eating in them; the balance was a dead loss to the  men as well as to the Government, spoiled by mixture, by wet, by  perspiration, by dirt, by mildew, sometimes by bugs, until the revolting  pasty garbage would be heaved out on the roadside. The only parties  benefited were the contractors, for, as a rule, a reissue of three days'  rations, when attainable, was an absolute necessity. 

It was nearly ten o'  clock at night when the Seventh bivouacked a mile or so beyond Bristoe,  in a place selected for purely military reasons, with no reference, of  course, to convenience or comfort. Those whose good luck it was to  stretch themselves under the warm shelter of some level spreading pine,  upon ground softly padded with fragrant leaves, soon forgot the toils  and burdens of that march. Those whose misery it was to be detailed for  picket, must be left to their own reflections, aching backs, and  blistered feet. 


Centreville.

At daylight of the  14th, the 1st Corps resumed the march northward, and the Maryland  brigade took its turn in guarding the ammunition train. It was now  apparent that the two armies were running a foot-race on parallel lines  for the strongly fortified and commanding position at Centerville. Bull  Run was crossed at Blackburn's Ford at noon, and the Heights of  Centerville were gained two and a-half hours later, just half an hour  ahead (so the rumor went) of Lee's advance. Marching over the old Bull  Run battle ground, the solid earth quaked and shuddered, and the air  throbbed with the sound of cannonading from Bristoe in rear, and from  Thoroughfare Gap on left front. 

At about four P. M. the  firing from Bristoe reached its climax and continued until after dark,  the flash of each gun being plainly seen from Centerville Heights, and  the firing becoming both more distant and desultory until about eight  o'clock, when it ceased. This was shortly afterwards understood to mean a  gallant and successful fight of the second corps under Warren, with A.  P. Hill's corps, which was defeated, with the loss of five guns and four  hundred and fifty prisoners. 

The next day the  division was drawn back to a point near Chantilly and thrown in (as was  said) between the other divisions of the first corps and the sixth. Here  the men were again put into a state of expectancy by a very lively  fusillade and some cannonading south and southwest. Two hours later this  firing grew more distant, and bore more to the west. The cause was not  explained. Probably another cavalry reconnoisance. 


Lee's Retreat.

After being  countermarched to Centerville early on the 19th of October, 1863, the  1st corps marched south, in pursuit of Lee's now retreating army,  crossed Bull Run at the Stone Bridge, heard heavy firing directly in  front, formed column of brigades on a ridge upon the other side of Bull  Run, and loaded. The corps then resumed its march over the ground of the  first and second Bull Run battles, and about 3 P. M. went into camp at  or near a burnt out village named Haymarket. 


Skirmish, at Haymarket.

The whole Seventh  Regiment was then ordered to picket the front from the Leesburg pike on  the right to the Thoroughfare Gap pike on the left, with a strong post  well advanced on each road, a mile and a-half in front of Haymarket.  Before the posting had been completed, a lively skirmish suddenly  commenced between the advanced post on the left and Stuart's cavalry. 

It appeared that during  the cavalry fight at Buckland Mills, Kilpatrick had thrown one of his  brigades (Davies') forward into a bad position, where it was confronted  by Stuart, outflanked by Fitzhugh Lee, and routed. It was hotly pursued,  and in
steeple chase style dashed through the picket line of the Seventh  Maryland. The small outpost on the Gap road promptly opened fire and  brought the foremost riders to a stand. But  being rapidly reinforced every moment, they soon displayed a front,  which threatened the capture of the entire outpost, several of whom had  fallen. Captain Makechney then fell back with his little command before  the cautious advance of the enemy for some two hundred yards, when he  was met by Colonel Webster and posted by him on the picket line, which  had retained its position, and now again opened fire upon the advancing  force, which was again brought to a stand. In the meantime the delay  afforded by the check had enabled a battery of horse artillery with  Davies' brigade to get into position on a ridge in rear of our picket  line, and the battery was promptly supported by the 143d Pennsylvania,  under Colonel Dana, moved up by order of General Kenly. After a few  rounds from the battery and some more skirmishing along the picket line,  night fell, the enemy's cavalry withdrew, and the battery, with the  rest of Davies' brigade, retired to the rear. 

By some oversight on  the part of the officer in command of the picket line of the division,  which was to have connected on our left, an interval was left between  the Gap road and a stream some little distance southwest. Through this  opening a dash was made by the enemy's cavalry after dark, and a number  of our pickets cut off and captured. The renewed firing on the picket  line caused General Kenly to order up the 1st Maryland  (Colonel Wilson) to the support of the Seventh, and a round or two from  the 1st Maryland ended the affair. The fight commenced just before  sunset and ended about 8 P. M. There were only the three left companies  of the Seventh engaged, all from Frederick County (B, G and E). Loss—one  killed, five wounded, sixteen prisoners, including Lieutenant Hagan, of  Company G. Colonel Webster received a ball through his clothing and  narrowly escaped capture, being at the time of the last dash in the act  of inspecting his pickets, when the enemy's cavalry charged past and  within a few yards of him. 


Bristoe Station.

Several days were then  passed at Thoroughfare Gap, and on the 24th of October,1863, the 1st  corps made a heavy mud march, the men wading Broad Run and other swollen  streams to Bristoe Station, where it entered upon the duty of guarding  the railroad and picketing its approaches. 

On November 6th the  resignation of Colonel Webster, consequent upon his re-election to  Congress and the demands of his political friends for his active aid in  the pending struggle for emancipation in Maryland, was accepted, and on  the following day he took leave of the regiment. A meeting of the  officers was held and resolutions were adopted expressing the  appreciation of the regiment of the many admirable qualities of their  late commander, and their regret at the separation. Lieut.-Colonel  Phelps was thereupon commissioned Colonel, and Capt. E. M. Mobley,  Major, vice Major Dallam, permanently disabled by illness, the result of  exposure. 


Guarding Prisoners to Alexandria.

A brilliant charge of  General Russell, at Rappahannock Station on the 7th, had resulted in the  capture of four guns and 1600 prisoners, and on the same day a dash  ordered by General French at Kelly's Ford secured over 400 more. Before  the trains containing these prisoners reached Bristoe on their way to  the rear, under a small provost-guard, on the afternoon of the 9th,  despatches had been received by Col. Dushane, commanding the Maryland  brigade, indicating an attempt by a strong force of the enemy to  intercept the trains and effect, if possible, a rescue. The colonel of  the Seventh was ordered to be in readiness with his regiment, reinforced  by a company of the 1st Maryland, to board the train upon their arrival  at Bristoe, and guard them to Alexandria. There were two trains of  eighteen freight cars each. The first train did not arrive until long  after dark, and, owing to mistake or panic, dashed by without slackening  speed. A few minutes later the second train arrived, but made such a  short stop that numbers of the officers and men were not able to reach  their places on the roofs of the cars. Dr. Jarrett, surgeon of the 7th,  made for the only open door he saw, probably supposing, in his  innocence, that some inside accommodation had been reserved for at least  the "field and staff," and was immediately and not at all ceremoniously  pulled in by the guard. In the darkness and confusion, the inside guard  (of the 20th N. Y.) mistook him for a prisoner who had been trying to  escape, and rejected all his protestations as "weak inventions" of the  enemy. The doctor found himself in a car densely crowded with Louisiana  Irishmen, where he was closely watched by the guard inside as a  specially intelligent and dangerous prisoner, capable of framing very  plausible stories. The train reached Alexandria at two o'clock in the  morning. The prisoners were then turned over to a guard in waiting and  marched to the old capitol prison, and the Maryland boys, relieved of  all further responsibility, found (to them) sumptuous quarters at  "Soldier's Rest." 


Soldier's Rest.

The spacious enclosure  which contained the various buildings was stockaded to the height of  fifteen or twenty feet, with banquettes and loop holes for musketry. The  first impression, naturally, was that this stockade was only designed  to check our hungry and misguided Southern brethren in case any portion  of them, with force and arms, should desire to participate in the  hospitalities of the place. The next idea that suddenly presented itself  to the astonished minds of our boys, after they had duly washed, eaten,  drank, rested, and frankly sought to penetrate into the external world,  was, that the same stockade answered equally "well to keep them in. All  the outlets were guarded by armed men in the Frenchy, sky-blue uniform  of the ''Invalid Corps." The officer on duty was a polite young fellow  who had left an arm at Gettysburg, and at his invitation the field and  staff spread their blankets on the floor of the guard room, adjoining  the large hall where the men slept. 


Bristoe Again.

The next morning, the  necessary preliminaries for transportation having been easily arranged  (and nothing was ever found easier or less encumbered with red-tape than  getting transportation to the front), the Seventh exchanged the romance  of soldiering for the reality, and in due time was found once more at  Bristoe, taking its share of duty with the rest of the Maryland brigade  in picketing the railroad and its approaches from Manassas Junction to  Kettle Run. 


Rappahannock Again.

The Maryland brigade  left Bristoe on the 23d, and marched some twenty miles to a point near  the Rappahannock, and three days later moved camp to the bluffs on the  north bank, near the railroad bridge. Meade's demonstration upon Mine  Run occupied the closing days of this month, during which Kenly's  division was held in reserve, guarding the line of communication. 


Paoli Mills.

As soon as things began  to look settled again, the men occupied themselves in putting up winter  quarters, but were not allowed to begin even to feel at home in them. The  3d of December, 1863, was a day of stir and bustle, troops and trains  coming back from the front, and on the next day the Maryland brigade  marched before daylight, crossing the river to a point on Mountain Run,  near Paoli Mills. This was another of those dark, forced marches,  leaving wagons behind and halting on the way to load. One of the rumors  was that Lee had crossed the Rapidan, and we were going to meet him  halfway. Sunrise dissipated these rumors, and the rest of the march was  more leisurely conducted, as though we had found out that all Lee wanted  was to be "let alone." 

To compensate the men  for their unprofitable investments in real estate, they now walked into,  and literally hung up their hats in, ready-made substantial log cabins,  well roofed with heavy oak slabs. For these accommodations, as well as  for the bunks and other trimmings, they were indebted to the kind  forethought of unknown friends in General Lee's army, probably some of  the very men who afterwards received the polite attentions of the  regiment in helping them to Alexandria. 


Culpeper C. H.

The day before  Christmas the snug log cabins at Paoli were vacated, and the 1st corps  again marched forth into the unknown. Crossing the railroad at Brandy  Station, we soon came in sight of our old friend Mount Pony, and,  passing through Culpeper, Kenly's division bivouacked on a hillside a  half mile or so south. After one or two changes the Maryland brigade, on  New Year's Day, 1864, finally settled down in winter quarters upon the  slope and crest of a ridge east of the railroad, between Culpeper and  Mount Pony, Colonel Phelps being, at this time, temporarily in command  of the brigade, now designated, by the consolidation of the other two  brigades, 2d Brigade, 3d Division, 1st Army Corps. 

For two or three months, or until the arrival of General Grant, the history of the Army  of the Potomac is one of mere drill and routine. Early in February  there was a cavalry reconnoissance across the Rapidan, and the whole  first corps marched down to Raccoon Ford in support. The detail of this  movement was but a repetition of previous experiences—the same picket  firing in front, the same interesting prospect of immediate battle, the  same lying out in the rain and tramping back in the mud to the same old  quarters. 


Army Routine.

The Seventh Regiment  had long since found itself a comparatively insignificant unit in a vast  and complex organism. Tied in meshes of red tape, it was subject at  every turn to the innumerable minute and rigid exactions which could  alone secure the symmetry of the colossal system. It will be found  suggestive to glance over the musty files in some regimental  headquarter's desk—that of the Seventh, for instance. Here are, to begin  with, orders—no end of orders; orders from the War Department, from  army headquarters, from corps headquarters, from division, brigade and  regimental headquarters; here are infinite reports, returns,  requisitions, receipts, abstracts, vouchers, blanks in duplicate,  triplicate and quadruplicate; here are applications "approved and  respectfully forwarded," applications returned with disapproval and  endorsements of all sorts; here are details for courts-martial, courts  of inquiry and military commissions; here are endless details for guard,  for picket, for police, for the pioneer corps, for the ambulance corps,  for the quartermasters', commissary and ordnance departments, details  as orderlies, guards and provost-guards at the several headquarters,  details for fatigue and working parties ; an occasional detail for  recruiting service (a rare and soft thing); leaves of absence and  furloughs granted, ditto refused; here are circulars, certificates,  discharges, descriptive lists of recruits, descriptive lists of  deserters, inventories of the effects of deceased soldiers, abstracts of  unserviceable ordnance stores, boards to assess value of officers'  private horses, pay rolls, muster rolls, muster in and muster out rolls;  and here are inspection reports, criticising one regiment for  unsanitary condition, another for neglect of military courtesy in  saluting, a third for want of schools of tactical instruction. And so on  through the whole tedious catalogue, and all this mechanism requiring  the consumption of tons of stationery, acres of printed blanks, the  tugging this way and that of many thousands of braying mules, and the  incessant galloping to and fro of staff officers, mounted orderlies and  couriers, always with an intense air of the utmost importance. 


Regimental Routine.

This was about the life of the army in brief, looking at it as an organism. Taking
a nearer view, the history of one regiment was about that of every other  regiment, and the history of one day pretty much the same as that of  every day. Reveille at daylight, police call fifteen minutes after,  surgeons' call, breakfast, guard-mount, drill, recall, dinner, drill  again, recall again, first call for parade and company inspection,  second call and dress parade with retreat at sunset, tattoo about nine  P. M., with taps twenty minutes later; so began, continued and ended the  soldier's day. On Saturdays there was a special inspection of quarters,  and the coverings of the tents, weather permitting, were removed. On  Sundays drills were omitted, regimental inspections preceded  guard-mount, and the men were assembled for divine service, for which,  unfortunately, the Seventh was compelled to depend upon the chaplains of  other commands. On the last day of the month was inspection and muster,  and muster

for pay when the paymaster came. 


Drill.

The afternoon was  devoted to battalion and the morning to company drill. Brigade and  division drill, and evolutions of the line were 'specially appointed.  The evenings were all supposed to be devoted by the officers to  "recitations in tactics and revised army regulations," either at  regimental or brigade headquarters, and the hours appointed for drill  were, by express order, "to be employed in exercise and not in resting."  Particular attention was required to the skirmish drill, and target  practice. The penalty for inattention and blundering in drill was the  "awkward squad," whose "balance step," "goose step," "shanghai step,"  and other gymnastic eccentricities, sometimes with loaded knapsacks,  never failed to cause sufficient diversion to outsiders. 

In the Seventh, it was  the invariable practice to close every battalion drill with the "rally  on the colors." Ranks were broken, the companies mixed, and as much  confusion and disorder made as possible. While this was going on, the  colors were advanced or retired over the rise of a neighboring hill, as  much out of view as practicable, and markers posted. At the drum signal,  the color-guard loudly cheered, and the men raced, with a great shout,  to find their places in line or in column, according to the position of  the markers. The men greatly enjoyed this exercise, and its value was  soon practically illustrated in the Wilderness campaign. 


Discipline.

There was never much  trouble in the discipline of the Seventh. So far as the men were  concerned, ordinary guard-house discipline sufficed for the common run  of petty offenses. The few deserters who were caught and brought back  were, of course, turned over to general court-martial for more serious  punishment. There had not been a single officer court-martialed down to  this period of its history, although one had resigned on request, and  two were marked as deserters, with whom it would have fared badly if  they had been caught. Neither of these three could be said properly to  have belonged to the regiment, in the sense of being identified with the  society from which it came. At the time the regiment crossed the  Rapidan in May, two of its officers marched in the rear under arrest and  charges, one of them, by express order from the War Department, for  some technical breach, but at the first heavy firing in the Wilderness  they were both ordered to resume their swords and expect no other trial  than that which awaited them in the woods. 


Gen. Grant—Consolidation.

So matters went on, or  rather stood still, until the last week in March, when the Army of the  Potomac was struck as if by lightning. In the general reorganization  ordered on the 23d of March, the old First Corps was "consolidated" out  of existence, its 3d division was broken up, and the Maryland brigade  was assigned to Warren's Fifth Corps and became the 3d brigade of its 2d  division, under Gen. John C. Robinson, a regular army officer of  distinction. The brigade was allowed to wear its old badges. Gen. Kenly,  in taking leave of his command, was greeted with a hearty expression of  good will and regret. Lieutenant-General Grant was at Culpeper, and the  saying among the men was that they were being "lieutenant-generalized." Twice  they were ordered out to be reviewed by him, and each time came back  with- out that satisfaction, the men calling him "Un Seen Grant." At  last, on the 29th of March, Grant himself, assisted by Meade and Warren,  did actually review the 2d and 4th divisions of the 5th Corps,  comprising the consolidated three divisions of the old First. 

It is now admitted that  this consolidation, the reason for which was the reduced strength of  infantry regiments, was an unfortunate move to be made at the outset of a  sharp campaign. Among the organizations whose prized record and  associations were thus ignored, and whose cherished identity was lost,  there was naturally at first some soreness and wounded esprit de corps.  (Humphrey's Va. Campaign, 3.) The  ceremony was like ail others of the kind, except that the marching past  in review was dispensed with. There was no cheering as the conqueror of  Donaldson and Vicksburg uncovered before each stand of regimental  colors. He rode slowly, in a business like, quiet manner, along the  front of the massed battalions, looking critically as he passed, not at  the buttons, but at the faces, which, in turn, looked critically at him.  The men agreed that they saw nothing at all striking about him or his  outfit; nothing for effect, no self-consciousness, further than a sort  of shy, half embarrassed, half-bored look, on the surface, and behind it  a certain depth of expression, as of reserve force, grit, pluck, will  power, energy, and masterful grasp.


Camp Talk.

The following, from a  letter from camp written at about the same time, throws some light upon  the topics then engaging the attention of the men : " For some time past  rumors have been afloat that our brigade is to be ordered home to vote  on the 6th of April. Of course, the men who have failed to obtain  furloughs are in ecstacies at the idea. One report goes so far as that  we are to be permanently detached from this army. It would not be honest  to deny that this prospect is also immensely popular. The discipline is  severe, the marching heavy, duty tough and quarters rough, and,  whatever the newspapers may say, all men are not spoiling for a fight  all the time. No furloughs, no frenches, no hen-roosts, no whiskey, not a  pig. They look back wistfully upon the good old days of the upper  Potomac and West Virginia, and think they left there the flesh pots of  Egypt to come and perish in this wilderness, where the quails are  regulation salt pork, and the manna moldy hard tack. There are some of  us, however, who would, if the choice were presented to us, decide to  take our chances with this army. On the eve of the fourth campaign of  the Civil War, we have hopes that it will be the decisive one. There are  battles to be fought, and our ranks will be thinned, but if we fall, it  will be no more than we bargained for when we volunteered, and if we  survive there will be satisfaction, glory and promotion—perhaps. The  steadiest, oftenest tried, best disciplined and most unfortunate army in  the world is about being led by the ablest and most successful general  of the war. We feel a faith that it will at last be led to victory. And  to have participated in a victorious and conclusive campaign of the Army  of the Potomac would be an experience and a record that we would not  exchange for milk and maple sugar." 


Furlough.

The brigade was not  ordered home to vote, but the Seventh was fortunate enough to have a  friend "at court," and, after failing in his efforts in behalf of the  whole brigade, Col. Webster at length succeeded in obtaining for his old  regiment a furlough from the 1st to the 8th of April, with  transportation to Baltimore. Upon arriving there the regiment was  practically disbanded, and the men went home. The confidence thus  reposed was not abused, except in a very few instances. Promptly, upon  the day named, the regiment reassembled in Baltimore. There was no loss  by desertion, but, on the contrary, the handsome acquisition was made of  144 first-class recruits from Baltimore, almost enough to make up all  the losses which the regiment had ever sustained. These men had all
served their time in the 10th Maryland, a six months' organization, and  had re-enlisted for the war for that regiment, which failed to reach the  required strength; and upon application made by them through their  officers, the War Department ordered that the re-enlisted portion  thereof, composed of one company of eighty-seven men with their  officers, and a squad of fifty-seven men with one officer, be  transferred and assigned to the Seventh Maryland. With this cheering reinforcement, the Seventh resumed its old quarters, where times had continued as dull and quiet as ever. 


Stripping for Fight.

Soon, however, every  sign began to indicate that the great army was at last stripping for  fight. Transportation was being reduced, surplus baggage was packed off  to the rear, and, as if the work was not going on fast enough, on the  afternoon of the 2d of May, a tornado struck the camp, tore off all the  tent roofs, demolished many of the cabins, blew down many trees and  covered everything with red dust. The Seventh was out on battalion drill  at the time ; field and staff had to dismount; men were actually lifted  off their feet. On the whole, it was a pretty strong hint to leave 

The camps of a cavalry  division now made their appearance in front near the base of Mount Pony,  and one of their preliminary movements was a raid upon the private  horses of the Seventh, and the capture, while innocently grazing, of a  valuable horse belonging to the Adjutant, and a spare horse of the  Colonel's. The latter was seen a few days later crossing the Rapidan on a  pontoon bridge; no time then for swapping horses, or claiming stolen  ones. 

Behind camp, and  between it and Culpeper, glittered the bright pieces of Wainwright's  artillery brigade of our corps. On the crest of a ridge back of this, a  red line of earthworks was being industriously thrown up, in full view  of the enemy's signal station on Clark's Mountain. What those banks were  made for, just on the eve of an advance, was one of those mysteries  that still remain unexplained, unless for the purpose of deluding the  enemy into the belief that we intended to stay behind them for "three  years or the war," or run back to them after defeat. 


The Rapidan Crossed.

Heavy weights thrown  off, weather not unfavorable, roads as good as ever they were likely to  be, all are waiting for the word "go," when, on Tuesday, 3d of May  (1864), the general officer of the day goes out to order in the picket  line, and advanced copies of Meade's printed address to the army, dated  4th May, are handed around and read at dress parade. Following that came  the order to be ready to move at midnight, with a caution against  making unusual fires. 

The rolls of the  Seventh at this time show an aggregate of 794, and its effective  fighting strength, on the morning of the first battle in the Wilderness,  was 556, including 26 officers, with Colonel Phelps in command.  Early  on the morning of May 4 the Fifth Corps had pulled out, and at noon  crossed the Rapidan at Germanna Ford. Flankers were thrown out on the  right, and, after a cautious progress of some five miles or more, the  Maryland brigade bivouacked for the night in a piny old field near the  old Wilderness tavern. 


Wilderness—First Day.

At  daylight of the 5th the Maryland brigade (Colonel Denison), now acting  separately, took position on the high clearing near the Lacy House, from  which were seen heavy columns of troops disappearing in the thicket,  and the skirmishing fire playing around the unseen heads of these  columns as they deployed. After some marching and counter-marching, as  if prospecting for a good location, the brigade deployed along an edge  of small timber facing west or northwest, in what might be called the  right center of the general position, and advanced in line, brigade  front, through the woods, brush and undergrowth. After some 500 yards or  more of such scrambling, the ragged line suddenly stumbled upon another  line of somebody else's skirmishers, waiting for something to turn up.  It was then discovered that these were the skirmishers of the "Iron  Brigade" of western regiments, which had the right of way, soon came up  from the rear, passed through intervals formed for the purpose, swept  forward, through the woods, skirmishers ahead, and in a few minutes  became hotly engaged. Their battle for some time prospered, hundreds of  prisoners were sent to the rear, with several colors, and considerable  ground was gained. Then the tide turned, the first symptoms being the  suspicious numbers of supernumerary attendants upon the wounded, soon  followed by stragglers with the usual discouraging reports. An aid,  galloping from the front, wanted to know who commanded these troops, and  was referred to Colonel Denison. He said he had no time to go to him;  "tell him the rebels are driving our right, and there is no support on  that flank." This message was promptly communicated to Denison, who  remarked with great composure that he had just received an exactly  similar report about the left. The Seventh held the left of the brigade,  its left emerging from the woods into a clearing of the Hagerson farm,  south of the Orange Pike. Near the edge of this clearing a venerable  mounted officer, unattended, said to be General Wadsworth, his white  locks streaming, was shouting, "Where is my second line? Bring up my second line !'' Before  any response could have been given, the crisis came ; the Iron brigade  had fairly broken to the rear, the enemy close upon their heels,  charging after colors, picking up prisoners, until they rushed  impetuously up to the very muzzles of the leveled pieces of the Maryland  brigade (at some points of the line), our men having held their fire to  the very last minute so as not to injure our, retreating friends. Then  followed a hot and bloody duel at close range, which lasted nobody knew  exactly how many minutes, but long enough, at all events, to clear the  front of the Seventh, at least, from every sign of alive Confederate.  The fire slackened on both sides, but it appeared at a glance that this  was but a lull in the storm. All that now remained of the brigade was  the Seventh and a fraction of the Eighth on its right. The entire right  wing of the brigade, formed of the Fourth and First, with most of the  Eighth, had been flanked and "fell back, rather irregularly, about a  mile." (Camper and Kirkeley, page 128.) 

It should be noted that  only a small battalion of the 1st Maryland is here referred to; the  majority of that regiment, having lately re-enlisted, were on "veteran  furlough," under Colonel Dushane.  There  was nothing now in front of the Confederate force but the small command  of Phelps, just referred to, which found itself isolated, left flank  "in the air," right flank in the bush. When the attack was shortly after  renewed, there was also a mischievous fire from fugitives who had  rallied some distance back in the thicket, and who doubtless supposed,  in good faith, that everything had fallen back when they did. Under  these discouraging circumstances some of the rank and file began to grow  unsteady, and the utmost exertions of the officers were required to  keep the line firmly in place, seconded by the dauntless bearing of the  color guard. By a hot and well-directed file fire the position was  stubbornly maintained, until at last Denison rode up and ordered Phelps  to "fall back steadily." The movement was executed by word of command as  if on drill, the men reloading while marching by the rear rank, then  halting, facing front and firing at short intervals. Some men, it is  true, were lost at each halt, but, from the difficult character of the  ground, nothing else could have been expected.
The same difficulties equally obstructed the rapid advance of the enemy  in anything like good order, and the deliberate and steady punishment  they were getting warned them of the inconvenience of approaching in bad  order. At all events, they did not deem it prudent to follow up their  cautious pursuit for more than one or two hundred yards, and, as soon as  the command reached a small stream where a good defensive position was  found, they were effectually checked, and the men were given a halt to  blow and cool off by its side in the heart of the Wilderness. 

After a short rest, the  command was visited by an aid and conducted still further to the rear,  and occupied a line of breastworks near the Lacy House, connecting with  Crawford's Division. It was about noon when the battle opened, and about  3.30 P. M. when the breastworks were occupied. They had been hastily  thrown together of logs. The dry leaves had taken fire from the burning  cartridge papers, and the flames had caught the works. After putting out  this fire, a field return was taken, showing but 278 of the Seventh  present. These, with about one company of the Eighth, included all that  was left of the Maryland brigade, until the missing regiments and men  came up from the rear later in the evening, surprised to find their  comrades alive. There being no space for them in the line as formed,  they were placed in a second line.  

 

Loss.

The loss of the Seventh  Regiment on the first day of the Wilderness (5th May, 1864) was eleven  killed, two officers and forty-one men wounded, and seventeen missing.  The missing included men killed or wounded, but not heard from, and a  few prisoners taken. The officers wounded were Capt. David T. Bennett  and Adjutant George L. Tyler. Sergeant Noble H. Creager, afterwards  first lieutenant, was twice wounded before retiring. These three were  all from Frederick County. Colonel Phelps had several bullets through  clothing and horse killed under him. Captain Bennett, for conspicuous  gallantry in this action, was promoted lieutenant-colonel. He was shot  in the face while engaged in a revolver duel with a Confederate officer,  both in advance of their lines, and refused to leave the field until  ordered to the rear by the colonel. The loss of the entire Maryland  brigade (including the 7th) was two officers and eighteen men killed,  six officers and ninety-three men wounded, and one officer and sixty men  missing. The brigade went into action about 1300 strong. 

 

Victory.

Meanwhile, an attack  had been made upon the breastworks in the immediate front held by the  other brigade of the division, and this attack had been repulsed. The  troops of the second line had been rallied into position, and all was  now steadiness and confidence where, but a few moments before, there was  disorder fast verging upon wreck. The men were ordered to lie down (on  account of shell), and all awaited the expected onslaught, whether its  main fury should burst upon front or rear. 

The storm, however, had  reached its height and spent its energy; our brave allies of the second  corps, driven from their first line of works, had rallied and retaken  them, and, although repeatedly attacked, were not to be driven again. By  five o'clock, the enemy was completely repulsed at all points on  Hancock's front, with heavy loss. 

Later  in the evening, the Maryland brigade was thrown into the second line.  Skirmishing, more or less heavy, continued until night fell, and,  indeed, to some extent throughout the night. The  loss of the Seventh on this second day of the Wilderness was slight,  there being but three men wounded, one from each of the three left  companies. Worn out with the long day's work, the men had scarcely  settled for sleep when an order came to build a second line of works,  fifty paces in rear of the first. The companies were divided into  reliefs, and all night long the woods resounded with the music of axes,  picks and spades, fires being allowed along the line. These two parallel  lines of works are distinctly visible to this day. 


Wilderness—Third Day.

Daylight came, but not  the expected attack. The morning was occupied mainly in clearing brush  and timber in front of the works thrown up during the night, in  strengthening the position, and in burying the dead. As  the heat of the sun increased, the men began to spread their shelter  tents, and to construct brush arbors. Here they slept awhile, waking up  now and then as the skirmish firing came closer and hotter, suddenly  swelling at times into a volume like that of a line of battle, and then  subsiding to a scatter. 

It is an interesting  fact that fighting caused little interruption in the postal service, and  mails were, with more or less regularity, collected and distributed on  the battlefield. About 10 A. M.  the brigade mail carrier collected letters from the different regimental  headquarters. A hasty note from those of the Seventh said : "As I  write, our skirmishers are engaged about 500 yards to the front, and  heavy firing is heard on the right. My  trust is in the mercy of God. If we are defeated, I have no wish to  survive so immense a disaster. If we are victorious and I should fall, I  shall be satisfied to have my memory associated with so glorious a  triumph." 

Later in the day  the brigade was moved back to an edge of the clearing before mentioned,  in the vicinity of a fine strong spring, where arms were stacked and  beef slaughtered and distributed. The battle of the Wilderness had  passed into history, as a "wild, weird struggle, where 200,000 men were  mixed up, like a hole full of snakes, with their tales intertwined" (F.  Lee's "Life of Lee"). In the quaint words of an old English ballad : 

"They both did fight, they both did beat,
They both did run away;
They both quick marched,—again to meet,
The quite contrary way." 


The Famous Night March.

Soon after eight o'clock began the historic forced night march to turn Lee's right.
The movement was by the left flank, fifth corps leading ; Robinson's  division and Maryland brigade in advance, which was thus the leading  infantry brigade of the army. 

At first, nobody knew  whether it was advance or retreat. Soon, the apparent direction,  jubilant spirit and extreme rapidity of the movement gave currency to  the flattering rumor that Lee's whole army was in full retreat, and that  Grant was after him, hot foot. The double lines of Hancock's Corps,  through which we were being rushed, rapturously cheered our advance as  conclusive proof, and their cheers, in turn, confirmed our confidence. 

The first halt was to  throw out flankers on the right, when, after an hour or more of hard  marching, the long lines of works were at last cleared. Plunging into  the mysterious gloom of a deep cut and washed out road, men occasionally  tumbled into rocky furrows, or stumbled over carcasses. At intervals,  darkness would be made visible on the right by a blazing brand dropping  from some distant tree-trunk, still aglow in the depth of the  Wilderness, like a signal-light of goblins. The low, damp air, reeked  with the pungent, acrid snuff of horse and human slaughter. 


Combat with Fitz Lee.

Shortly before daylight  (Sunday, 8th of May, 1864), the head of column emerged into the open  country around Todd's Tavern, where a cavalry division was found, and a  halt was ordered. No sooner were arms stacked than the men dropped,  falling asleep directly they touched ground. Before, however, they had  fairly stretched themselves, they had to be punched, kicked and shaken  up to learn that more fighting was in order, before either lodging or  breakfast. The crack-crack of carbines, reverberating in the forest  glades ahead, closed up yawning jaws and put snap into numb legs. Merritt's  cavalry division, on the road to Spotsylvania Court House, was meeting a  serious obstacle in Fitzhugh Lee, and, after considerable dismounted  fighting, got out of the way of the infantry, which had been annoyed by  the shifting movements of the led horses. The Maryland Brigade was then  deployed on both sides of the road, the Fourth on the skirmish line.  Successive barricades of felled timber across the road were struck and  carried, the enemy making a stand at each obstruction. In the language  of the Confederate courier who bore the verbal message from Stuart to  Fitz Lee, informing him of the march of Anderson's Corps to his relief  and "urging him to hold out to the last at any sacrifice," it was of the  "last importance that Fitz Lee should delay the advancing column and  cover the position at Spotsylvania Court House as long as possible. His  division of cavalry encountered the head of the Federal column of  infantry near Todd's Tavern, about four miles from the Court House, and,  dismounting his men and fighting with carbines, fell slowly and  stubbornly back. The fighting was dreadfully severe, and many of the  flower of Virginia's youth went down before the terrific volleys of the  Federal infantry." The same writer then gives a spirited account of the  reckless daring with which the horse artillery was handled by Major  Breathed in covering the retreat, to which he attributes great  importance in retarding the advance of the Maryland brigade, which led  the Federal column, until the arrival of Anderson's Corps.
(In Memoriam—Major James Breathed, No. 3.) 

Substantially the same  account of this action is given by Stuart's chief of staff, who calls it  "one of the severest conflicts in which Fitz Lee's division was ever  engaged." (McClellan's "Campaigns of Stuart's Cavalry," 407.) 

While this was the way the affair looked to the cavalry, their infantry opponents,
whose loss was trifling, took it much less seriously. In fact, compared  with what was to immediately follow, it seemed to them more like a  picnic. 


Wilderness—Second Day.

Before daylight  of the 6th of May, the Maryland brigade was relieved in the works by the  Pennsylvania Reserves, and stacked arms in close column by regiment  (Seventh, as usual, by wing) on the Lacy clearing, near Grant's  headquarters.  About 7 A. M. a New  York regiment, the 14th Brooklyn, came up from guard, duty in the rear,  and by order reported to the Maryland brigade, its Colonel (Fowler), by  seniority, taking command. He commanded the brigade for that day only,  his regiment being then ordered elsewhere. It was thought at the time to  be an extraordinary performance—in the midst of a great pitched battle,  to place an entire stranger, with a strange staff, in command of  troops, who had been ably handled the day before by their own commander  (Denison), who had shown himself brave, self-possessed, cool-headed and  judicious. It was an error, and in direct consequence of it, later in  the day, the command narrowly escaped a great disaster, as will shortly  appear. 


In Support of Hancock.

After several changes  of position and reinforcing the troops engaged on the Orange Pike on the  right, about 3 P. M. the Maryland brigade was hurried over to the left  to support Hancock on the Brock road, and was formed by General Robinson  in two lines in rear of his first brigade to right of Birney's  division. In this position the Fourth, First and Eighth formed a second  line, and the Fourteenth Brooklyn and Seventh Maryland a third, the left  of the Eighth and Seventh being both projected into a swamp. The young  timber here was dense and choked with undergrowth. The third line was  some 25 yards in rear of the entrenchments along the Brock road, a short  distance north of its intersection with the Orange plank road, about  midway between it and Germanna plank road. 

Very soon after the  brigade got into position, the fight on this part of the field reached  its climax. The log breastworks along Hancock's front took fire from the  burning leaves, the direction of the wind favored the enemy, Hancock's  first line was driven out of the works, the fight to regain them was  going on. While this was taking place on our near left, not within  sight, because nothing could be seen through the thicket, the Maryland  brigade, the Seventh regiment in particular, was going through a very  extraordinary experience. 

Scarcely had the  brigade got fairly into position, when the din of battle upon the left  rapidly drew nearer. Not only so, but it soon appeared to pass beyond  our left, to get behind that flank into our left rear. As before stated,  the Seventh held the left of the third line, and so dense was the brush  that but a few files could be seen at once. The firing increased in  volume, individual exclamations could be distinctly heard, the screaming  and exploding of shell in quick succession rose above the continuous  crash of musketry, stragglers and fugitives were seen to burst through  the bushes. Every sign indicated the necessity for a prompt change of  front to meet the impending attack upon the rear. General Robinson, at  the right of the line, was notified, and erroneously explained that the  line made a sharp angle on the left. The officer who had communicated  this information was on his way back, when he met General Birney, riding  hastily from Han- cock's front to General Robinson with precisely the  same information, followed by an orderly, who was at that moment shot  from his horse and killed. Immediately after Birney communicated with  Robinson, the second and third lines were faced to the rear. 


An Awkward Fix.

And now rides up a  stranger, purporting to be a staff officer, with a verbal order to the  Colonel of the Seventh, "Swing your right around immediately." Being  faced to the rear, our proper right was then our left. To be certain,  "Which right was meant ?" The officer replied that he gave the order  just as he had it from Colonel Fowler. He was asked whether the order  meant a "change front forward on Tenth Company," the effect of which  would be to swing around our proper right, but our then left, and the  precise movement dictated by the situation. He said "I suppose so," and  rode off. The tactical command  for this movement was given : “By company, right half wheel, etc.," the  Tenth Company established on the new line, and the Ninth as it came up,  but when the next was partly in position, some hesitation and confusion  were noticed towards the centre of the regiment. The other companies  were not following up the movement. Riding  up to see what was wrong, the Colonel found the right wing engaged in  executing an entirely different movement under the direction, as it  afterwards appeared, of some staff officer who had faced those companies  about and was trying to bring them by a flank to a "Change front to  rear on First Company." 

At that moment, the  situation of the regiment was such, that by no fault of any one  connected with it, but through the improper interference of a blundering  staff officer, a total stranger, it was broken into fragments, lost  from each others' sight in the bushes, the left companies forming on one  line, the right companies somewhere else, and the centre nowhere. The  roar of battle in the immediate vicinity was deafening, nobody could be  heard, nobody that was wanted could be seen, and, to make confusion  worse confounded, a panic struck some of the troops of the second line  who, fell back in disorder upon the Seventh whilst in the predicament  above described, bewildered by conflicting orders and false movements. 

In the midst of this  scene the Colonel of the 14th Brooklyn, whose temporary staff officer  had done the mischief, rode up to the Colonel of the Seventh, while in  the act of repairing it, and used some hasty expressions, which were  afterwards handsomely withdrawn when the facts were understood. In fact,  the accident would have been avoided had the latter's suggestion been  acted on and the captains of companies been notified of the precise  movement to be made by inversion in the dense thicket. 


The Rally on the Colors.

Fortunately for such an  emergency, the Seventh had been specially drilled in getting mixed up  and straightened out again. A simple "rally on the colors" brought order  out of chaos, as if by magic. It was only needed to find the color  company (Company C, Harford County, Captain Bouldin), face it square to  the nearest racket, and a round of hearty cheers promptly attracted the  broken files from either flank. The men fell into ranks by the instinct  of habit, and the line was re-established in much less time than had  been required to dislocate and scatter it. It was then an easy matter to  adjust its alignment to that of the other regiments, which was done  under the supervision of General Robinson. 

 

Parallel March of Anderson's Corps.

All this time nothing  whatever was known of the parallel and unobstructed march upon an inside  track of Anderson's (late Longstreet's) Corps for the same objective  point. Nothing of it appears to have been learned by the Union cavalry,  although the routes pursued by the opposing forces were but one or two  miles apart. Meade and Sheridan had some hot words over it later on,  each holding the other responsible. (Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan,  Vol. I, p. 367.)

Lee's whole army in  full retreat to Richmond ! Nothing in front but a rear guard of cavalry  and horse artillery trying to cover his retreat! Whereat, there was  extreme elation. Foot-sore, famished, jaded as the men were, on that  theory they felt as if they could have kept on to Richmond, if  necessary. Unhappily, that was not the situation, but quite otherwise. 


General Stuart's Compliments.

While about three miles  of stubbornly contested ground were being thus wrested from Fitz Lee's  cavalry, another force, under Stuart in person, was engaged in throwing  up a hasty but sufficient line of timber defenses, and Anderson's  leading division, under Kershaw, was taking position behind them, with  artillery somewhat advanced on his right, to enfilade an attacking  column. Here Stuart remained to witness the expected assault. (Southern  Hist. Soc. Papers, March, 1879; 67 War Records, 1036-1056.) 

These important works  commanded the fork of the Brock Road, one branch leading to Spotsylvania  Court House, one and a-half miles southeast, and the other leading to  the old Court House, about two miles south, the Block House being about  half way. Both roads directly or indirectly pointed to Richmond. Since  the war, a small settlement has made its appearance at the fork, with a  post office, called "Sunlight." 


General Warren's Speech.

Reaching the high  clearing about Alsop's farm, Warren saw this line of works in a skirt of  woods along the ridge of Laurel Hill, and energetically addressed his  troops as they came up. While the Seventh was passing his white horse,  he was heard to exclaim, with an impulsive gesture, at each sharp, crisp  sentence : "Never mind cannon ! Never mind bullets ! Press on and clear  this road. It's the only way to get your rations." 


Formation for Assault.

Robinson's three  brigades were promptly formed in three parallel columns of attack,  column by regiment, the Seventh, as usual, doubled by wing, and in rear  of the Eighth and the battalion of the First. The Fourth made the charge  with another brigade to left. The Maryland brigade formed on the right  of the division, near the spot where General Sedgwick fell the following  day, indicated now by the Sedgwick monument. A battery took position on  the right of the Maryland brigade and opened fire, but was not allowed  time to get the range, and made no impression upon the works, which  could have been easily breached by a few well-directed shell. 

The formation was in an  edge of timber, about four hundred yards from the works, the  intervening space being an undulating, open field. These works on  Spotsylvania Ridge, otherwise Laurel Hill, are still to be seen, in fair  preservation, together with the epaulement for the advanced battery on  the Block House road, to their right. 

At first, the men  generally failed to take in the gravity of the situation. Their senses  were simply stupefied by sleepless overwork. They had been temporarily  braced up by the intoxicating excitement of combat and pursuit, but,  when massed in close column, they acted as if they supposed the next  order would be to stack arms and rest, preparatory to throwing up  entrenchments, as in the days of McClellan and Meade.


First Assault at Spotsylvania, or Battle of Laurel Hill.

Instead of that, came  the startling command : "Battalions Forward ! Guide Center!" The men  responded with a hearty cheer and at the word "March !" stepped off with  life, with no music but that of their own voices. There were ringing  yells of defiance from the works as the enemy's picket line drew in.  Most of the field and staff hastily dismounted as the movement began,  and left their horses behind. General Robinson led his division; that  is, he rode abreast of the front rank of the Maryland brigade on its  right, followed by Colonel Denison, also mounted. 

The  enemy opened with shell, followed by canister and then double canister,  from the crossfire guns on their right. Kershaw's veterans, behind the  works, lost no time in proceeding to business. Their fire increased in  intensity as the attack advanced. In addition to the advantage of  position, they were in better shape physically than their assailants. It  is true they also had made a ha,rd night march, but it was a peaceable  one, and the delay interposed by Fitz Lee, as already stated, had  enabled them not only to get in ahead, but had given them margin enough  for what breakfast they had and a good rest, while the jaded Federals  were expending what little energy they had left in more marching and  fighting. They had even found their breast works ready made for them.  The shooting, however, of the defendants was not as good as might have  been expected under the circumstances. The best shots had been carefully  picked out for the battalions of  sharpshooters attached to Kershaw' s division. The sharpshooters had  done extra work all night in flanking the exposed left of Anderson's  column, and were late in reaching the battle-ground. Still, it must be  admitted that the shooting, although not ideal, was good enough  practically, and the other side have no right to complain. Had those  sharpshooters been present, it is probable that this particular  narrative would not have appeared. (Kershaw's Chief of Staff, Col. E. L.  Costin.) 

There was, of course,  no skirmish line in advance of the assaulting columns, as has been  erroneously stated. (Humphrey's Va. Campaign, 60, an incorrect account  from a very high authority.) The men had not been required to remove  caps from the nipples of their pieces, no caution against firing had  been given. 

Naturally enough, the  front rank was goaded into a return fire; individual progress was as  naturally retarded by the act of aiming and reloading; men from the rear  pressed impatiently forward to repeat the process. In this way, ranks  and regiments soon became intermingled, straggling was made easy, the  time of exposure was fatally prolonged. The Seventh, which was in the  rear when the movement commenced, soon found itself working up to the  front, but in a rather mixed condition. The rattle and crash were such  that no commands could be heard, and this mischievous return fire, which  was helping that of the enemy to destroy the impetus and solidity of  the charge, could not be stopped. 


Fall of Commanders.

At the distance  of about fifty yards from the works General Robinson was shot from his  horse and borne from the field, with the loss of a leg. Many years  after, in 1895, he received a "medal of honor" from the War Department  for conspicuous gallantry on this occasion. Colonel  Denison, commanding the Maryland brigade, was about the same time shot  from his horse, and assisted to the rear with the loss of his right arm.  He was brevetted Brigadier for this action, was again wounded later in  the campaign, and brevetted Major-General. 

 

A Forlorn Hope.

Upon the fall of these  two ranking officers, the command of the division, or what there was of  it in sight (the two left brigades having been repulsed or mingled with  the Maryland Brigade), was promptly assumed by the Colonel of the  Seventh Maryland. The situation, at that moment, was very plainly that  of a forlorn hope, calling for nothing but quick and reckless work. What  remained of the movement was no longer a column, but a bunched and  ragged line. At points where the enemy's fire was most concentrated,
the drone of bullets blended into a throbbing wail, like that of a  sonorous telegraph wire pulsing in a strong wind, punctuated by the pert  zip of the closer shots. The din and racket were such that but few  could have heard the commands: "Hold your fire! Double quick !" What was  plainly seen in front, was the sudden appearance of the new commander,  pointing with sabre to the breastworks, and trotting up towards them,  until horse and rider came down. Following closely, was Captain Anderson, of the Seventh, and when he fell, or possibly before he fell, all was over. 

The unordered retreat  left these two officers lying within ten paces of the works, Anderson  having stopped three bullets while taking a step forward, just after an  unsuccessful attempt to extricate Phelps from the weight of his dying  horse. Anderson was well in the lead of everything when he fell, and for  his conspicuous gallantry on this occasion, and in the Wilderness, was  subsequently brevetted up to lieutenant-colonel. He commanded one of the Washington County companies (Co. I). 


Capture and Rescue.

After two hopeless  attempts at escape, in one of which he was severely wounded and in the  other waylaid and robbed by stragglers, Phelps was taken back to a  Confederate field hospital, where he had not only proper but exceptional  treatment, and the next day was recaptured, together with over three  hundred Union prisoners, by Sheridan's cavalry at Beaver Dam Station. He  was present at the battle of Yellow Tavern where General Stuart was  mortally wounded, and at the battles of Meadow Bridge and  Mechanicsville, where the enemy, commanded by Bragg and under the eye of  the Southern President, Jeff. Davis, made a desperate fight for the  defense of Richmond. Returning to Baltimore by the James River route, he  was honorably discharged in September, 1864, upon resignation and  surgeon's certificate of disability, brevetted Brigadier-General, and  elected to Congress. Among the prisoners recaptured as above were  Lieutenant Lightner of Company F (Carroll County) and Sergeant Walton of  Company K (Baltimore City). 


Losses.

The loss of the  Maryland Brigade in this action was one hundred and ninety-two killed,  wounded and missing. Its present effective was about one thousand and  fifty; but of this number, the Fourth Maryland, as before stated, made  the charge with another brigade, and company D of the Seventh was  detached in support of a battery. The actual charge was made by about  seven hundred men. The loss of  the Seventh was ten killed, two officers and thirty-seven men wounded,  and six prisoners. Among the killed was the brave color sergeant, George  Stockham, of Harford County, and two color corporals, Solomon Rohrer of  Co. I, and S. M. Dick of Co. H. Two color corporals were wounded, but  the colors were saved. From first to last, the enemy's fire appeared to  be mainly concentrated upon the mounted officers and color bearers; of  these, not one escaped. 


Assault Renewed.

Griffin's division came  up shortly after Robinson's, and went in on his right. Their attack was  repulsed with even greater loss. One regiment in particular, the  gallant Eighty-third Pennsylvania, which had several men bayonetted  inside the works, actually lost fifty-seven in killed and mortally  wounded alone. 

Crawford's division,  coming up after Griffin, had, at first, more success on the left,  driving the enemy (Humphrey's brigade) for some distance and taking many  prisoners. It was this  temporary success, which encouraged Colonel Phelps, at that time wounded  and under guard to the rear, to make the last of those attempts at  escape, before mentioned. But Humphrey, being reinforced by Ramseur,  regained the lost ground and drove back the Pennsylvania Reserves  (Crawford's division) to the main line, which was speedily entrenched. 


Practical Suggestions.

Such was the  first assault upon the enemy's works at Spotsylvania, 8th of May, 1864,  sometimes called the battle of Laurel Hill. It was the first of a long  series, almost uniformly with similar result, well illustrating the  cardinal maxim of war, "Never do exactly what your enemy wants."  It  is questionable whether, with the modern improved fire-arms, any such  assault will be ever again attempted. If it should be, the following  principles of common sense are suggested by the practical experience  above mentioned : 

1. The supreme effort should not be exacted of men in bad physical condition,
when such condition is one of extremity. 

2. The works should be breached in places by artillery before the infantry attack. 

3.  No dismounting of individual officers should be allowed, unless in the  discretion of the general it is proper for all to dismount, which will  probably be the case hereafter. 

4. The men should be  told beforehand exactly what is expected of them, and how many minutes  they will be exposed, provided they keep moving and hold their fire.  They should be especially cautioned that the delay of aiming and firing  only increases the risk, and should be encouraged to hope that great  celerity of movement, the exhibition of bayonets fixed, and a bold  front, may demoralize the enemy, cause him to shoot high, and in all  ways diminish their own risk. 

5. The standing order  against quitting the ranks to help wounded off the field should, in all  such cases, be strictly and literally enforced by a provost guard  conspicuously present, supplemented by an ambulance corps known to be at  hand, and known to be adequate. 

6.  If such conditions cannot be had, any officer who orders an attack in  front? Upon steady troops behind cover, should be held strictly  responsible for the resulting disaster, and should not be allowed to  throw the blame upon his men. 

7. The movement, if  undertaken, should be personally and closely watched by the general who  ordered it, and his staff, and praiseworthy efforts of individuals  should be noticed and suitably acknowledged. 

8. Any color sergeant  who does his duty and survives should be made a commissioned officer at  once. In fact, such should be the understood rule as to every engagement  where the casualties amount to ten per cent, or over. 


Subsequent History.

The several actions  which have thus been partially and imperfectly described, from the fifth  to the eighth of May, 1864, inclusive, were typical of the whole  Virginia campaign of 1864 and 1865, during which the Seventh Maryland  shared the fortunes and losses of the Maryland Brigade—a story already  sufficiently told by Camper and Kirkley, in their "Historical Record of  the First Maryland Veteran Infantry." 

To this it is only  necessary to add that the command of the Seventh Regiment devolved upon  Major Mobley, until the return of Lieutenant-Colonel Bennett, upon his  recovery from his wound in July, 1864. Colonel Bennett was again wounded  in action, April 1, 1865, at the battle of Five Forks, and thereupon  Major Mobley continued in command until the muster out; was wounded at  Weldon Railroad, 18th of August, 1864, and was brevetted Colonel "for  faithful and gallant service." The strength of the regiment having been  reduced below the regulation standard, the vacant colonelcy was never  filled. 

The story of this long  and bloody campaign is one of constant marching and fighting, and yet  there is hardly an important event of all those later experiences which  does not find its counterpart in some incident of the battles in the  Wilderness, the forced night march out of it, the protracted combat with  retreating cavalry, or the assault upon the works at Spotsylvania. 

Dark days of disaster  were relieved by occasional flashes of victory, as at the battle of  Weldon Railroad on 21st of August, 1864, and of Five Forks, on the 1st  of April, 1865. And finally, with many sad memories of fallen comrades,  the few fortunate survivors had the proud satisfaction of participating  in the crowning glory of Appomattox. 

Whatever well-meant but  costly mistakes may have swelled the "butcher's bill" of this  sanguinary campaign, they were all eclipsed by the dazzling surrender of  Lee, and the peerless magnanimity of Grant, that did him even greater  honor than his magnificent success. 

There can be claimed  for the Seventh Maryland one distinction, that although accidental, is  unique. It so happened that this regiment was to furnish the last man  wounded in the Army of the Potomac. His name is Robert N. Weller,  Corporal, Company E (Frederick County). He was struck by a piece of  shell, fired by the First North Carolina battery, on the 9th of April,  1865, just before the surrender, at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.  (C. and K., 1st Md. Infantry, p. 203.) 

This incident will  recall to mind that the first blood to be shed in the Civil War was that  of Maryland, mingled with the blood of Massachusetts, in the streets of  Baltimore, on the 19th of April, 1861; and that the last blood spilled  in the Revolution was that of an officer of the Maryland Line, Captain  William Wilmot, killed in a skirmish on John's Island, S. C., November  14, 1782.

The casualties in the  Seventh Regiment were as follows: Killed in battle, one (1) commissioned  officer and seventy-eight (78) enlisted men—total, seventy-nine (79);  died of disease, etc., one (1) commissioned officer and one hundred and  nine (109) enlisted men—total, one hundred and ten (110); or an  aggregate death list of one hundred and eighty-nine (189). 

The marches of the  Seventh Regiment aggregated 1137 miles, and it was transported by rail  803 miles, a total distance of 1940 miles. 

The Seventh Regiment took part in the following engagements, etc.: Skirmish at
Funkstown, Md., July 12, 1863; skirmish at Haymarket, Va., October 19,  1863; reconnoissance from Culpeper to Raccoon Ford, Va., February 6 and  7, 1864 ; battle of the Wilderness, Va., May 5 to 7, 1864; skirmish with  cavalry and battle of Laurel Hill, Va., May 8, 1864; battle of  Spotsylvania, Va., May 9 to 20, 1864 ; battle of Harris' Farm, Va., May  19, 1864; battle of North Anna, Va., May 23 to 27, 1864; battle of Shady  Grove, Va., May 30, 1864; Bethesda Church, Va., May 31 to June 1, 1864;  Cold Harbor, Va., June 2 to 5, 1864; assault on Petersburg, Va.,  1864-'65; Weldon Railroad, Va., August 18 to 21, 1864; Poplar Spring  Church, Va., September 30, 1864; Chapel House, Va., October 1 to 3,  1864; Peebles Farm, Va., October 7 to 8, 1864; Hatchers Run, Va.,  October 27, 1864;
raid to Hicksford, Va., December 7 to 12, 1864; Dabneys Mill, Va.,  February 6, 1865; White Oak Road, Va., March 31, 1865; Five Forks, Va.,  April 1, 1865; Surrender at Appomattox, Va., April 9, 1865.  

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