Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 27.djvu/347

 Rh Captain Maury was ordered to rejoin the Mounted Rifles at Fort Inge, on the Leona river, in Texas. He served four years in Texas. His life was full of adventure, chasing Indians, chasing buffalo and deer, and engaging in all the other pastimes which offered themselves to the young officer. The stories General Maury loved to tell of the adventures of those days were humorous and thrilling.

In 1856 General Maury was ordered to Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, to assume the duties of post commander and superintendent of cavalry instruction. During his service there Lieutenant Maury, by authority of the War Department, published a new system of tactics for mounted riflemen, which was used by both armies during the war between the States, and is still embodied in the tactics of the United States regular army.

When ordered away from Carlisle, in 1860, Lieutenant Maury was promoted to the rank of captain and appointed adjutant-general of the Department of New Mexico. Captain Maury left his wife at her father's home, in King George, and proceeded to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The march across the plains to Fort Union was a succession of stirring incidents, fights with Indians being the chief. The headquarters of the regiment were at Fort McIntosh, near Laredo.

The life pursued by Captain Maury was much similar to that he had lived and enjoyed while stationed on the Leona river years before—fighting, hunting and fishing.

After serving at Fort Union for some time, Captain Maury was transferred to Santa Fè. Life in that city Was happy and gay, and many friendships were formed, soon to be broken by the mailed hand of war. In a delightful volume published by General Maury a few years ago, entitled "Recollections of a Virginian," he gives a graphic picture of his last days in the old army. The majority of the officers had been pronouncedly Southern in their sympathies, but as the time drew near when it was apparent that they would have to espouse the cause of the South or give up their commissions, they became very averse to discussing the subject. Maury had to be extremely careful in his expressions. He had the feeling of being watched. One evening in May, 1861, an anxious group was gathered in the office of Adjutant Maury. There was Loring, the grizzled regimental commander, who had fought through two wars and was destined to win honor and glory in another. There was also Lieutenant John Pegram, of Virginia, who was to gain distinction as