“We few we precious few, we band of brothers” Maryland Confederate Soldiers by the Numbers

By Daniel Carroll Toomey · Originally published June 2020 · pp. 4–5

For the last forty years I have been a serious student of Maryland’s Civil War history with equal enthusiasm for both the state’s Union and Confederate soldiers. One question that has always haunted me was how many Maryland men really went south to serve the Confederacy? In recent years the figure of 20,000 to 25,000 has been quoted. I believe that this number as well as that of Maryland’s Union soldiers is over estimated. In 1964 the Maryland Civil War Centennial Commission placed a plaque on a wall in the State House in Annapolis. It stated that 63,000 Maryland men served in the Union forces and 22,000 Marylanders served in the Confederacy. Let’s look at the Union volunteers first. In 1898 the State of Maryland published its Roster of Maryland Volunteers in two volumes. These unit rosters were compiled by creating a file card for every man in every unit at every rank he held. As a young man I remember seeing these cards when the State Archives were housed on the campus of Saint John’s College. The great fallacy rests in the obvious fact there were more cards than men. The following estimation of numbers may fall short of what is taught in a class on statistical analysis, but I hope my common sense approach will be appreciated. In 1990 Martha and Bill Reamy compiled an index to both volumes of the Roster. In paging through the index you will see many names with two, three, four, or even five different page numbers; this means there were that many index cards for the same man. Of greater importance is the fact that large numbers were counted twice. When the original members of the first Potomac Home Brigade Regiments completed their three year enlistments, all those with time yet to serve, or who chose to reenlist, were transferred to the newly formed Thirteenth Maryland Infantry and are thus counted twice. In similar fashion some 500 to 600 Black soldiers who transferred from the Union Army to the Navy are also counted twice. There are many more examples, but this should prove the point. The Index to the Roster of Maryland Volunteers contains 153 pages of names. Not wishing to count every name I did the next best thing. I counted every name on the first ten pages, and then multiplied the average of 244 names by 153 to get 37,378

soldiers, a far cry from 63,000. In 1883 General Isaac R. Trimble, in a speech before the third annual meeting of the Society of the Army and Navy of the Confederate States in Maryland, stated there were 20,000 Marylanders serving in the Confederacy. No supporting evidence was given but the figure was taken at face value. Goldsborough’s 1900 The Maryland Line in the Confederate Army, was the first real attempt to compile rosters of Maryland men in the Confederate Army, but was far from complete. The first serious book to address their numbers was Daniel D. Hartzler’s Marylanders in the Confederacy. Published in 1986, before the Internet and on line archives, it represents an unbelievable amount of research. Mr. Hartzler listed 241 pages of names of Marylanders serving in state designated units as well as every branch of Confederate service. Again, not wishing to count every name I multiplied the average of the first ten pages, 241 pages times 39 names equaled 9,399 men. In recent years several books have come out with rosters of specific Maryland units in Confederate service. Of course, these have taken advantage of many decades of advanced technology, but still represent a tremendous amount of research. Rather than duplicate their efforts, I have extracted the figures that apply to this discussion from their books and given them full credit for their work. The first of these is Robert J. Driver Jr.’s 1999) First and Second Maryland Cavalry, C.S.A. By actual count, the First Maryland Cavalry and Davis’ Battalion had 1,497 soldiers. The Second Maryland Cavalry by actual count yielded 613 names. The total for both rosters equals 2110 men. Robert J. Driver Jr. published in 2003 The First and Second Maryland Infantry, CSA. The rosters of both units include 1,876 men. Confederate Sailors, Marines and Signalmen from Virginia and Maryland by Robert J. Driver Jr. (2007), included telegraphers and secret service personnel with signalmen. From Maryland, there were 318 sailors, 25 Marines, and 50 signal and secret service personnel. There were also an additional 35 D.C. residents included in Driver’s text. The total was 428 attributed to Maryland. George L. Sherwood’s 2007 study, the First Maryland Artillery and Second Maryland

Artillery provided other Maryland names with 246 First Artillery soldiers and the Second another 229 to identify 475 Maryland artillerymen. The Third Maryland Artillery adds 351 to that total but their numbers are from an 1896 post war battery roster. The Third served in the Western Theater and received little or no support from home. Together the three Maryland artillery batteries had 826 men with the caveat that most replacements in the Third were not from Maryland. In 2017 Rick Richter published Three Cheers for the Chesapeake. This is the first history written about the Fourth Maryland Artillery. The low number roster total of 135 is due to the fact this battery never mustered over 93 men at one time. None of these figures account for transfers between units as discussed with the Union soldiers. The First and Second Infantry CSA would be a prime example of double counting some men. The total for all sources cited, except Hartzler’s book, is 5,375 men in Maryland designated commands. This figure does not include any references to men serving in non-Maryland units. It is known that Marylanders served in other state units in a variety of service branches throughout the Confederacy. It is highly unlikely that 10,000 to 15,000 men served in the non-Maryland units to reach the supposed 20,000 to 25,000 figure. Short of tracking down every man in every non-Maryland unit, I propose we assume the same number as identified in Maryland commands were in non-Maryland commands, 5,375 and 5,375, or 10,750, probably a higher figure than actually served. Any additions to this figure would be gratefully received. It is not the purpose of this piece to diminish the roll of Marylanders in Confederate service. The fact that there were fewer men than first thought, only makes their achievements that much greater. Sources:

• Bowling Jr., Garth E. Gateway to the Confederacy, Charles County, Maryland, Garth E. Bowling Jr. 2019. • Driver Jr., Robert J. First and Second Maryland Cavalry, C.S.A., Rockbridge Publishing 1999. First and Second Maryland Infantry, C.S.A., Willow Bend Books 2003. Goldsboro, W.W. • William, The Maryland Line in the Confederate Army 1861–1865, Butternut Press Reprint 1983. • Hartzler, Daniel D., Marylanders in the Confederacy, Family Line Publication 1986. • Maryland Civil War Centennial Commission, “Maryland Remembered” plaque on State House Wall 1964. Richter, Rick • Three Cheers for the Chesapeake, Schiffer Military History 2017. • Third Maryland Artillery Roster of the Third Battery of Maryland Artillery C.S.A. 1896. Sherwood, George L. • First Maryland Artillery and Second Maryland Artillery, Heritage Books 2007. • State of Maryland, History and Roster of Maryland Volunteers, War of 1861-5, 1898.

• Trimble, Isaac R. Our Infantry, speech delivered at the third annual meeting of the Society of the Army and Navy of the Confederate States in the State of Maryland, 1883.

Daniel Carroll Toomey, is a University of Maryland graduate. Mr. Toomey has authored several books on the Civil War including, The Civil War in Maryland, Marylanders at Gettysburg, and The Maryland Line Confederate Soldiers’ Home. He is also co-author of Baltimore During the Civil War, and Marylanders in Blue, all of which were published by Toomey Press. He has lectured for a number of historical organizations, as well as for the National Park Service and the Smithsonian Institution. He has also contributed to radio and television programs, and on two Civil War battle videos. Mr. Toomey is a member of the Surratt Society, the Maryland Arms Collectors Association and the Company of Military Historians, and was project historian for the Maryland Memorial erected at Gettysburg in 1994 and wrote the inscription for that monument.