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A Brief History of the First Maryland Volunteer Infantry

by Patrick McSherry
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General:

The First Maryland Volunteer Infantry served its term of service in the continental United States. It did not see overseas service.

Unit History:

Following President McKinley's call for volunteers, the regiment began organizaing from elements of the First Maryland Volunteer National Guard. The regiment was sent to Camp Wilmer at Pimlico, Maryland. Here between May 16 and May 29, 1898, the unit was mustered into the federal service as the 1st Maryland Volunteer Infantry. At the time of muster in, the regiment consisted of forty-three officers and 1,044 enlisted men.

In late May, the regiment was sent to Fort Monroe, at Hampton, Virginia as part of the military Department of the East.  Here the regiment spent its time in training. The men expected a transfer to take part in the invasion of Puerto Rico. The transfer came too late. The fighting of the war ended by armistice on August 12, 1898.  In September, the regiment was transferred to the First Brigade of the Second Army Corps. The regiment was ordered to Camp Meade, at Middletown, Pennsylvania, with the Second Army Corps and was present there from mid-September  until at least until Mid-October, 1898. At Camp Meade, the 1st Maryland was encamped next to the 10th Ohio and 35 Michigan volunteer infantry regiments

Eventually, the regiment was ordered to Augusta, Georgia, where it was mustered out of service on February 28, 1899. The Spanish American War had ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898.

At the time of its muster out, the regiment consisted of forty-nine officers and 1,070 enlisted men. During its term of service, the regiment lost twelve enlisted men to disease, and one man to an accident. Thirty-two enlisted men were discharged on disability and fifty-threee men deserted.



Bibliography:

Clerk of Joint Comittee on Printing, The Abridgement of Message from the President of the United States to the Two Houses of Congress. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1899). Vol. 3, 196, 494.

Cosmas, Graham A., An Army for Empire : The United States Army in the Spanish American War. (Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Publishing Co., 1993).

Statistical Exhibit of Strength of Volunteer Forces Called into Service During the War with Spain; with Losses from All Causes. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1899).

Thomas and Williams, History of Allegany County, Regional Publishing Company, (1923) Vol. 1 pgs. 401, 402, 403 (submitted by Barbara Jean Hott granddaughter of Wilber H. Johnson)


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