On the 1st of June, the enemy moved on the South Anna bridges, Johnson’s small command of one hundred and fifty sabres and Griffith’s battery contesting every foot of ground, in a fight from daylight until two o’clock in the afternoon, when they were driven back by a brigade of the enemy’s cavalry. It now becomes my painful duty to record the death of one of the best and purest of men, Lieutenant Colonel Ridgely Brown, who in the day’s fight was struck in the head by a stray ball and instantly killed. The death of this good and generous man was a sad blow to his little command, by whom he was almost idolized, and Johnson lost an officer who had been invaluable to him, for to his sound judgment and advice he was much indebted for his success in the affair with Kilpatrick. In a General Order issued on the 6th of June, Colonel Johnson thus speaks of his death: HEADQUARTERS MARYLAND LINE, } June 6, 1864. } GENERAL ORDER NO. 26. Lieutenant Colonel Ridgely Brown, commanding First Maryland cavalry, fell in battle on the 1st instant, near the South Anna. He died, as a soldier prefers to die, leading his men in a victorious charge. As an officer, kind and careful; as a soldier, brave and true; as a gentleman, chivalrous; as a Christian, gentle and modest; no one in the Confederate army surpassed him in the hold he had on the hearts of his men, and the place in the esteem of his superiors. Of the rich blood that Maryland has lavished on every battle field, none is more precious than this, and that of our other brave comrades in arms who fell during the four days previous on the hill sides of Hanover. His command has lost a friend most steadfast, but his commanding officer is deprived of an assistant invaluable. To the first he was ever as careful as a father; to the latter as true as a brother. In token of respect to his memory, the colors of the different regiments of this command will be draped, and the officers wear the usual badge of military mourning for thirty days. By order of Colonel Bradley T. Johnson. GEO. W. BOOTH, A. A. G. A correspondent in the Richmond _Sentinel_, who signs himself “A Virginian,” pays the following handsome tribute to his memory: