Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 29.djvu/263

 A Maryland Warr'mr <ul llt-m, 247

ble line (in much the same way that the First Maryland and Third Tennessee advanced upon, drove the enemy and saved Jackson's flank at First Manassas.) In this bloody battle of Second Manassas, Captain Goldsborough was severely and it was then thought mortally wounded; but careful nursing by hospitable Virginians in the Bull Run mountains restored him in time (in the latter part of 1862) to take the captaincy of Company " G," Second Maryland Infantry (which succeeded the First Maryland), being shortly afterward elected major, under Lieutenant-Colonel James R. Herbert, who had been Captain of Company " D," in the First Maryland.

Under these brave veterans as field officers, with much active ser- vice, the new Maryland battalion soon became a magnificent fight- ing phalanx. This regiment was in the flank attack upon the Federal General Milroy's force at Winchester, in June, 1863, which resulted in their total defeat and the capture of about four thousand in all. Milroy, outlawed by President Davis, escaping with a few hundred cavalry. Major Goldsborough, reconnoitering, was one of the first officers with a detachment to enter the town.

In the battle of Gettysburg, the Second Maryland, in General George H. Steuart's brigade, Johnson's division, participated with conspicuous valor and suffered dreadfully. They helped carry the enemy's advanced works on Gulp's Hill on the evening of the second day July 2, 1863 the ascent being over huge rocks and other serious obstructions; yet while breaking the alignments and delaying the advance, the large boulders served in a measure to shield the men from the bullets of the enemy. Nightfall came, yet the brave band pushed on, directed by the continuous flash from the rifles be- hind the breastworks. When close upon the enemy, Major Golds- borough sought Lieutenant-Colonel Walton, commanding the Twenty-third Virginia next on the left of the Second Maryland who in the desperate situation proposed a combined assault, to which Goldsborough cheerfully assented, and promptly getting his three left companies in line, on the right of the Virginians, both advanced as rapidly as possible, executed a right half-wheel, enabling them to take the enemy in flank and reverse, and rushed upon the works. The Yankees ' ' skeedaddled ' ' to the rear and took refuge behind a supporting entrenched line. The remaining companies of the Second Maryland charged up to the works. The loss in killed and wounded was heavy, and among those very dangerously wounded was Lieu- tenant-Colonel Herbert, who was left in the enemy's hands when the