After four years of arduous service, marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources. I need not tell the brave survivors of so many hard fought battles, who have remained steadfast to the last, that I have consented to this result from no distrust of them, but feeling that valor and devotion could accomplish nothing that would compensate for the loss that must have attended a continuance of the contest, I determined to avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose past services have endeared them to their countrymen. By the terms of the agreement, officers and men can return to their homes and remain until exchanged. You will take with you the satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed, and I earnestly pray that a merciful God will extend to you His blessing and protection. With an unceasing admiration of your constancy and devotion to your country, and a grateful remembrance of your kind and generous consideration for myself, I bid you all an affectionate farewell. Signed, R. E. LEE, _General_. Official: Signed, O. LATROBE, Lt. Col. & A. A. G. “ R. H. FINNEY, A. A. G. “ P. G. JOHNSON, A. A. A. G. To Captain JOHN W. TORSCH, Comd’g Sec. Md. Inf. [Illustration: Lt. Col. RIDGELY BROWN.] THE FIRST MARYLAND BATTALION OF CAVALRY. CHAPTER I. On the 15th day of May, 1862, there was assembled in a quiet room in the city of Richmond a little band of Marylanders, numbering eighteen men, who had just been transferred from Captain Gaither’s company, of the First Virginia Cavalry, and ordered to the “Maryland Line,” then organizing in the Valley of Virginia. The subject of their conversation was the formation of a company as a nucleus for a battalion of Maryland cavalry. “I have withdrawn,” said one, “from the First Virginia, to fight with the people of my native State, and if we do not form a company, I shall go into a Maryland command and shoulder a musket, if I cannot carry a sabre. It is a duty we owe her, and there are Marylanders enough here to represent her handsomely, if the proper steps are taken to assemble them.” “I entirely agree with Lieutenant Brown,” said a second speaker, (Frank A. Bond,) “and shall follow his example, though I see no reason why we should not now, in this very room, organize, and set to work recruiting, for I feel confident that in a short time we can gather from among those here and the many coming over, men enough to muster in.”