Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 2.djvu/198

178 frequent conference. When Jackson moved toward Harper's Ferry, he was sent to Richmond with important dispatches from General Lee. This was the occasion of his appointment as a member of the military court then being organized, with the rank of colonel of cavalry. The recommendation of General Jackson was for the time not acted upon for the reason, creditable to Maryland, that so many general officers had already been appointed from that State.

On February 4, 1863, General Jackson renewed his recommendation for Colonel Johnson's promotion and urged his assignment to command Taliaferro's brigade of the Stonewall division, concluding an earnest appeal with the words, "I do not know of any colonel who, in my opinion, is so well qualified for the position in question." A week later Jackson again urged action upon his recommendation. In a few months came Chancellorsville, and the heroic Jackson was no more. Though his promotion was still delayed, Johnson, upon the call of the Marylanders in the valley, secured his relief from the military court and reached his comrades at Gettysburg on the morning of July 2d, intent upon his cherished plan of organizing the Maryland Line, which he had been selected to command. But the exigencies of the Pennsylvania campaign made this for the time impracticable, and his service until after the return to Virginia was as temporary commander again of the brigade of General Jones. In November, 1863, he was ordered to Hanover Junction, and there, as has been related, he finally brought together a considerable Maryland command. Toward the close of February, 1864, operating against Kilpatrick's raid, he had opportunity to render service of great value by the capture at Yellow Tavern of a dispatch from Dahlgren, and promptly acted as the emergency demanded. Gen. Wade Hampton in a letter to General Lee stated that he was convinced that "the enemy could have taken Richmond, and in all probability would have done so, but for the fact that Colonel Johnson