2nd Maryland Infantry The 2nd Maryland Infantry was an American military regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War . It should not be confused with the 2nd Maryland Infantry , CSA , which was composed of Maryland volunteers who fought for the Confederacy during the war . The regiment fought at numerous battles during the course of the war , and lost 5 officers and 84 men killed and wounded , plus 3 officers and 134 men died of disease , for a total of 226 casualties . History . Origins . The regiment was raised in Baltimore from May through October 1861 . Col . John Sommer , a Mexican - American War veteran , was appointed as its first commander . In the spring of 1862 , the regiment traveled to New Bern , North Carolina , where it was incorporated into Maj . Gen . Ambrose Burnside ' s IX Corps of the Army of the Potomac . In July , the Second Maryland was dispatched along with the rest of Burnside ' s command to aid in Maj . Gen . George McClellan ' s foundering Peninsula Campaign outside of Richmond , arriving shortly after the Battle of Cedar Mountain . On August 18 , 1862 , the Second raided a Confederate signal station at Clark Mountain , Virginia , which resulted in the discovery of a large number of Confederate troops in the area . The information confirmed that Confederate General Robert E . Lee had turned his attention to the Union Army of Virginia — headed by Maj . Gen . John Pope — and allowed Pope to shift his forces to meet the new threat . Action at Bull Run . At the Second Battle of Bull Run ( August 28 – 30 , 1862 ) , the regiment saw its first large - scale action . On the afternoon of the 29th , the Second Maryland , as part of James Nagle ' s brigade in Burnside ' s IX Corps , assaulted troops under the command of Confederate General T . J . " Stonewall " Jackson , entrenched in an uncompleted railroad cut . After elements of the brigade pulled back in the face of a Confederate flanking attack , the Second Maryland found itself surrounded on three sides . The unit fought its way back to Union lines , but at the cost of nearly 200 men killed , wounded or captured in scarcely 15 minutes of combat . Antietam . At the Battle of Antietam ( September 17 , 1862 ) , the Second was again called to assault a well - entrenched Confederate force . Union commander George B . McClellan had tasked Burnside with opening up a southern front to the battle to divert Confederate forces from a simultaneous attack taking place on the north end of the field . Burnside attempted to throw his corps across Rohrbach ' s bridge , a small stone crossing henceforth known as " Burnside ' s Bridge . " The crossing was defended by 400 Georgians under the command of Confederate Brig . Gen . Robert Toombs , whose men had dug themselves into the 100 - foot high wooded bluff which overlooked the west side of the bridge . After one abortive attempt to take the bridge with Col . George Crook ' s Ohio Brigade — which resulted in skirmishers of the 11th Ohio Infantry taking 139 casualties — Burnside ordered Nagle ' s brigade to assault the position . After traveling for several hundred yards down a road running parallel to the creek , and open to flanking fire the entire way , Nagle ' s brigade , with the 2nd Maryland and 6th New Hampshire in the vanguard , broke before reaching the bridge . The Marylanders sustained 67 casualties out of an active force of less than 300 men . They fell prey to the Confederate sharpshooters and artillery , and the attack fell apart . After Antietam , the regiment ' s acting commander during the engagements at Second Manassas and Antietam , Lt . Col . Jacob Duryée , resigned after the Second ' s appointed commander , Thomas Allard , reported for duty . By this time , the regiment numbered less than 150 men out of the 900 that had left Baltimore less than a year earlier . Fredericksburg and Knoxville . The Second saw limited action at Fredericksburg , where they were held in reserve for most of the day before making a late assault on a stonewall at the base of Marye ' s Heights manned by Confederate forces . After receiving a withering fire , the Second called off the assault and lay on the field and continued firing until relieved after dark . Many of the 2nd Infantry ' s surviving members were captured during the Siege of Knoxville on November 17 , 1863 , and sent to the infamous Andersonville Prison in Andersonville , Georgia . Approximately 70 , 000 Maryland men fought for the Union during the Civil War , and approximately 20 , 000 fought for the Confederacy . List of Battles . The Second Maryland participated in these battles , plus numerous lesser engagements : Casualties . The regiment lost 5 officers and 84 men killed and wounded , plus 3 officers and 134 men died of disease , for a total of 226 casualties .