1st Maryland Infantry , CSA The 1st Maryland Infantry , CSA was a regiment of the Confederate army , formed shortly after the commencement of the American Civil War in April 1861 . The unit was made up of volunteers from Maryland who , despite their home state remaining in the Union during the war , chose instead to fight for the Confederacy . The regiment saw action at the First Battle of Bull Run , in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign , and in the Peninsular Campaign . It was mustered out of service in August 1862 , its initial term of duty having expired . Many of its members , unable or unwilling to return to Union - occupied Maryland , went on to join a new regiment , the 2nd Maryland Infantry , CSA , which was formed in its place . History . Baltimore riots of April 1861 . By April 1861 it was clear that war between North and South was inevitable . On April 19 Baltimore was disrupted by riots , during which Southern sympathizers attacked Union troops passing through the city by rail , causing what were arguably the first casualties of the Civil War . Major General George H . Steuart , commander of the Maryland Militia ordered his militia to assemble , armed and uniformed , to repel the Federal soldiers , as Steuart himself was strongly sympathetic to the Confederacy , along with most of his senior officers . Perhaps knowing this , and no doubt aware that public opinion in Baltimore was divided , Governor Thomas Holliday Hicks did not order out the militia Joining the Confederacy . During the early summer of 1861 , several thousand Marylanders crossed the Potomac river to join the Confederate Army . Most of the men enlisted into regiments from Virginia or the Carolinas , but six companies of Marylanders formed at Harpers Ferry into the Maryland Battalion . Among them were members of the former volunteer militia unit , the Maryland Guard Battalion , initially formed in Baltimore in 1859 . Captain Bradley T . Johnson , commander of Company A . , refused the offer of the Virginians to join a Virginia Regiment , insisting that Maryland should be represented independently in the Confederate army . It was agreed that Arnold Elzey , a seasoned career officer from Maryland , would command the 1st Maryland Regiment . His executive officer was the Marylander George H . Steuart , who would later be known as " Maryland Steuart " to distinguish him from his more famous cavalry colleague JEB Stuart . The 1st Maryland Infantry Regiment was officially formed on June 16 , 1861 , and , on June 25 , two additional companies joined the regiment in Winchester . Its initial term of duty was for twelve months . Civil War . In June 1861 General Johnston evacuated Harper ' s Ferry , and the 1st Maryland was ordered to assist in destroying its arsenal of weaponry . Battle of Bull Run . At the First Battle of Bull Run , also known as the First Battle of Manassas , on July 21 , 1861 , the 1st Maryland was combined with the 13th Virginia Infantry , 10th Virginia Infantry and 3rd Tennessee Regiments to form the 4th Brigade , led by Brigadier General E . Kirby Smith . Smith ' s men were late in arriving at the battle and approached the Confederate left near Chinn Ridge . The battle got off to a bad start when Elzey was forced to assume temporary command of the brigade , as General Smith was shot from his horse and injured by enemy fire . However , Elzey was able to bring his men into line facing the flank of the Federal army , the brigade commanded by General Oliver O . Howard . His men advanced to the edge of a wood without being detected by the Union army and opened fire , after which they charged over open ground into the Union position . Soon they were joined by Colonel Jubal A . Early on the Confederate left flank and shortly afterwards Howard ' s line began to disintegrate . As the federal forces fled , General Beauregard congratulated Elzey , commending him as " the Blucher of the day " . After the battle Elzey was promoted to Brigade Commander , and Colonel George H . Steuart was given command of the 1st Maryland Regiment . Major Bradley Johnson was appointed his second in command . During the winter of 1861 - 2 the regiment was quartered at Centerville . In April 1862 it was marched back to the Rappahannock River , and assigned to the command of General Richard S . Ewell , following which the regiment joined General " Stonewall " Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley , meeting him at Luray , Virginia . At this point an unsuccessful attempt was made to form a " Maryland Line " in the CSA , uniting all Maryland units under one command . Training and discipline . Under Steuart ' s command the regiment was drilled relentlessly . Steuart soon began to acquire a reputation as a strict disciplinarian , eventually gaining the admiration of his men , though initially unpopular as a result . Steuart was said to have ordered his men to sweep the bare dirt inside their bivouacs and , rather more eccentrically , was prone to sneaking through the lines past unwitting sentries , in order to test their vigilance . On one occasion this plan backfired , as Steuart was pummeled and beaten by a sentry who later claimed not to have recognized the general . Eventually however , Steuart ' s " rigid system of discipline quietly and quickly conduced to the health and morale of this splendid command . " According to Major W W Goldsborough , who served under Steuart at Gettysburg : " . . . it was not only his love for a clean camp , but a desire to promote the health and comfort of his men that made him unyielding in the enforcement of sanitary rules . You might influence him in some things , but never in this " . George Wilson Booth , a young officer in Steuart ' s command at Harper ' s Ferry in 1861 , recalled in his memoirs : " The Regiment , under his master hand , soon gave evidence of the soldierly qualities which made it the pride of the army and placed the fame of Maryland in the very foreground of the Southern States " . Shenandoah campaign and the expiry of the regiment ' s term of duty . On May 17 the initial 12 - month term of duty of C Company expired , and the men began to clamor for their immediate discharge . By this time Steuart had been promoted brigadier general , assigned with the task of forming the Maryland Line , and Colonel Bradley Tyler Johnson had succeeded to command of the regiment . Johnson reluctantly agreed with the men , but could not disband the entire regiment in mid - campaign , and discontent began to spread . By May 22 , on the eve of the Battle of Front Royal , discontent became open mutiny . Steuart and Johnson argued with the men to no avail , though news of the rebellion was kept secret from General Jackson . When given orders to engage the enemy , Johnson addressed his soldiers : Johnson ' s speech seems to have worked where threats had failed , and the Marylanders rallied to the regimental colors , seizing their weapns and crying " lead us to the enemy and we will prove to you that we are not cowards " Battle of Front Royal . At the Battle of Front Royal , May 23 , 1862 , the 1st Maryland was thrown into battle with their fellow Marylanders , the Union 1st Regiment Maryland Volunteer Infantry . This is the only time in United States military history that two regiments of the same numerical designation and from the same state have engaged each other in battle . After hours of desperate fighting the Southerners emerged victorious . When the prisoners were taken , many men recognized former friends and family . According to Goldsborough : Among the prisoners was Charles Goldsborough , captured by his brother , William Goldsborough , who would go on to write the history of the Maryland Line in the Confederate Army . Battle of Winchester . Just two days later , on May 25 , 1862 , the 1st Maryland fought again at the First Battle of Winchester , another Confederate victory . After the battle , Colonel Johnson , who was described by Goldsborough as " one of the handsomest men in the First Maryland " , was the recipient of some not entirely welcome female attention : Battle of Cross Keys . The unit again saw action at the Battle of Cross Keys on June 8 , where the 1st Maryland were placed on General Ewell ' s left , successfully fighting off three assaults by Federal troops . At Cross Keys George H . Steuart , was severely injured in the shoulder by grape shot , and had to be carried from the battlefield . A ball from a canister shot had struck him in the shoulder and broken his collarbone , causing a " ghastly wound " . The injury did not heal well , and did not begin to improve at all until the ball was removed under surgery in August . It would prevent him from returning to the field for almost an entire year , until May 1863 . Peninsula Campaign . On June 26 the 1st Maryland fought at the Battle of Gaines ' Mill where the regiment held off an assault by Federal infantry until the Baltimore Light Artillery could be wheeled into place to dislodge the Federal troops . They saw action the next day when they participated in an attack which captured a number of guns , weapons and many prisoners . The regiment also saw action on 1 July 1862 at the Battle of Malvern Hill , this time a Union victory . The regiment was held in reserve , but still suffered severe casualties from the heavy barrage of the Federal artillery . On July 2 they fought off a Federal cavalry attack in a brief skirmish . Disbandment . By late summer the Southern capital of Richmond , Virginia was considered safe from Federal attack , and the Regiment ' s one - year term of duty having expired , it was soon disbanded . Company A . was assigned to escort duty , bringing General Jackson ' s prisoners to Richmond , and soon after this it was mustered out of service . On August 17 the rest of the regiment was also disbanded at Gordonsville , Virginia . In September 1862 the regiment ' s former commander , Colonel Bradley Tyler Johnson , and many members of his staff , finding themselves without a command , offered their services to General " Stonewall Jackson " . However , the soldiers of the disbanded regiment found themselves in a precarious position , being unable to return home to Union - occupied Maryland , having effectively committed themselves to the Confederacy for the duration of the war . With little choice but to fight on , many went on to join other units of artillery , or cavalry , while others waited to form a new Maryland Infantry Regiment , which would become known as the 2nd Maryland Infantry , CSA in order to distinguish it from the original regiment . The new regiment would suffer such severe casualties during the course of the war that , by the time of General Robert E . Lee ' s surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9 , 1865 , only around forty men remained . Archival Collections