Summary:
May, 1864, Confederate General Orders providing for the formation of Maryland
regiments. The orders establish Camp Maryland at Staunton, VA, for the
purpose.
Richmond,
March 23, 1864.
I. The second and third paragraphs of General Orders, No. 8, Adjutant and Inspector Gen.'s Office, series of 1862, are hereby revoked.
II. With a view to facilitate the organization of citizens of Maryland into companies, squadrons, battalions, and regiments, in accordance with the act to authorize and provide for the organization of the Maryland Line, published in paragraph I, General Orders, No. 8, above referred to, a camp will be established at Staunton, Va., to be called Camp Maryland, and a camp near Hanover Junction, to be called Camp Howard.
III. The troops now under the command of Col. Bradley T. Johnson will for the present occupy Camp Howard, and all other Maryland companies, squadrons, and battalions will, upon their written application, be detached by commanding generals from their present commands and ordered to proceed, for the purpose of being organized into regiments, either to Camp Maryland or to Camp Howard, as they may elect.
IV. All persons now in service in other than Maryland companies who are, or were at the commencement of the war, native or adopted citizens of Maryland, and who desire to join companies from their own State, will, upon their application in writing with reliable evidence of their citizenship, addressed and sent directly to the commandant of Camp Maryland or to the commandant of Camp Howard, be transferred to the Maryland Line, and at their option will either be assigned to Maryland companies now existing, or, provided the number be sufficient, organized into new companies with the privilege of electing company officers. And persons now in service in Maryland companies who are citizens of other States will, upon their request in writing, accompanied by proper evidence of their citizenship, be transferred by commanding generals to any company from their own States in the army to which they belong.
V. Upon receipt of orders from this office making transfers in accordance with the preceding paragraph commanding generals are direct to forward the men so transferred to the camp designated in charge of commissioned officers, and they will furnish every possible facility for the prompt movement of companies, squadrons, and battalion as directed in the third paragraph of this order.
VI. All native or adopted citizens of Maryland who are not now in the Confederate service will, upon application to either of the commandants herein mentioned within the next sixty days, be enlisted into the Maryland Line, and at their option assigned to existing Maryland companies or organized into the new companies hereinbefore provided for.
VII. Maj.-Gen. Elzey is relieved from the command of the Department of Richmond and assigned to the command of the Maryland Line. He will for the present take immediate command of Camp Maryland. Col. Bradley T. Johnson will assume command of Camp Howard. They will at once proceed to carry out the purpose of these orders.
By order:
S. COOPER,
Adjutant and Inspector Gen.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 4, Volume 3, Serial No. 129, Pages 248, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
