Jacob M. Campbell,

Barnabas M'Dermit,

John P. Linton,

Captain Davis,

On the 27th of February, 1862, the regiment was ordered to Washington, and, upon its arrival, wentinto camp near Bladensburg Cemetery. Company and regimental drill was practiced under thestrictest discipline. Here the altered flint-lock muskets furnished by the State, were exchanged forthe Belgian Rifles. On the 25th of March, the regiment was ordered to report to Brigadier Keim, ofCasey's Division; but, on the following day, the order was countermanded, and, on the 29th, it wasordered to proceed to Harper's Ferry, and report to Colonel Miles. Upon his arrival, Colonel Campbell was directed to make the following disposition of his force along the line the Baltimore andOhio Railroad: Company G, Captain F.B. Long, at Back Creek Bridge, eight miles west ofMartinsburg; company F, Captain G.W. B. Davis, at Sleepy Creek Bridge, nine miles further west;company D, Captain Thomas H. Lapsly, at Alpine Station, five miles beyond the Sleepy Creek post;company I, Captain William B. Bonacker, at Sir John's Run, six mile further west; company C,Captain E.D. Yutzy, at Great Cacapon Bridge, five miles west of sir John's Run; company H,Captain John O. Billheimer, at Rockwell's Run, six miles beyond; company E, Captain Patrick Graham, at No. 12 Water Station; Company B, Captain John H. Hite, at Paw Paw, three or fourmiles further on; company K, Captain Edmond R. Newhard, at Little Cacapon Bridge, andcompany A, Captain John P. Suter, at South Branch Bridge, sixteen miles east of Cumberland, andsixty-two miles west of Martinsburg. The distance to be guarded was fifty-six miles. Regimentalheadquarters were established at first at Great Cacapon, but subsequently at Sir John's Run.

The country through which that portion of the railroad runs, which the regiment was required toguard, was considered by the rebels as their own territory, and the majority of the population, in thevicinity, was rebel at heart. Numerous guerrilla bands, led by daring and reckless chieftains, rovedthe country, pillaging and burning the property of Union inhabitants, and watchful for and opportunityto burn the railroad bridges, cut the wires of the telegraph, and destroy the road. To guard this greatthoroughfare, of vital importance to the government, to suppress guerrilla warfare, to affordprotection to the harassed and helpless people, was the duty which the regiment was assigned toperform. Colonel Campbell at once assumed, as a cardinal principle, that the true way to deal withguerrillas was to assume the offensive, and hunt them, instead of waiting to let them hunt him. Almostdaily, for some part of the line, squads were sent out to engage and capture these roving bands, ledby such notorious partisans as Edwards, | White, | Imboden, | and M'Neil, and many were brought in.Some of these were sent to Harper's Ferry, others, less guilty, upon taking the oath of allegiance,were released, while the most notorious were sent to Camp Chase, Ohio.

On Sunday morning, the 25th of May, 1862, all the locomotives on the railroad west of Harper'sFerry, were hurried through to Cumberland, the engineers bringing the first intelligence of the retreatof Banks, and the approach of Stonewall Jackson to Martinsburg. At nine o'clock that night ColonelCampbell received the following dispatch from Colonel Miles: "Concentrate your regiment at SouthBranch. General Banks defeated and driven through Martinsburg. Expect an attack here hourly.Mean to fight."

Fortunately, Colonel Campbell had detained one engine, and this he immediately dispatched forcompany G, nearest to Martinsburg, and most exposed to the enemies advancing columns. Itarrived not a moment too soon; for as the company moved away the rebel advance began to swarmin, and soon set fire to the deserted camp, and the railroad bridge which the company had beenguarding. A train procured from Cumberland was sent out and the companies were all successivelypicked up and carried west to South Branch. Here the Potomac was spanned by a substantial ironbridge, the only one left standing by the rebels during their occupation of the road in the precedingsummer. The telegraph wires were now severed and all communication with headquarters was cutoff. Lieutenant Colonel M'Dermit was sent out with two companies on the 28th to reconnoiter, andon the 31st Colonel Campbell proceeded down the road with two companies as far as Back Creek,without meeting any opposition. The destruction of the bridge at this point prevented furtherprogress, and he returned to camp. On the 1st of June he dispatched two companies undercommand of Major Linton to the Great Cacapon, for the protection of the bridge. In the meantime,Jackson had been driven from the valley, and on the following day the Colonel received the followingorder, by telegraph, from Colonel Miles: "Colonel Campbell and command will occupy the railroadas before." By nightfall all the companies were at their old posts.

The success of Jackson, and the consequent withdrawal from the road, had inspired his roving bandswith new life, and they became more troublesome than ever, wandering up and down the country,pillaging, indiscriminately, from friend and foe. The several companies were kept constantly on thealert, and with an energy and enterprise rarely equaled, the territory was scoured, many of thesquads penetrating the interior twenty and thirty miles, capturing and dispersing the guerrillas,restoring stolen property, and successfully protecting and preserving the road. From June 1st toSeptember 10th, two hundred and thirteen guerrillas and two hundred and seventy-three horses,together with muskets, sabers, pistols and other military trappings, were captured.

The rebel army having defeated M'Clellan upon the Peninsula and Pope at Bull Run, was nowadvancing into Maryland on the Antietam campaign. On the 11th of September his advance guardreached Back Creek, where he surprised and captured some of the pickets of company G.Communication with Colonel Miles was again severed, and soon after Harper's Ferry was investedby Jackson, the post, garrison, and immense military stores falling into the hands of the enemy.Colonel Campbell now telegraphed to General Kelly, in command in West Virginia, for orders.Kelly declined to give any, but advised the withdrawal from the road This the Colonel decided notto follow, and clung to his position, which had now become perilous, his little band of nine hundredmen, without artillery or cavalry, being the only Union forces, at that time, in the hostile territory ofVirginia.

On the 12th, Colonel Campbell, taking a small detachment from company I, Captain Bonacker, atSir John' Run, and another from company D, under Lieutenant Gageby, proceeded in open platformcars to Back Creek. There he was joined by Captain Long, with a small force, in all but sixty-sixmen. Proceeding cautiously towards North Mountain, and awaiting until the main body of the enemyhad passed, Colonel Campbell made a bold and impetuous attack upon his rear guard. The rebels,ignorant of the numbers of the attacking force, were thrown into confusion, and precipitately fled. Inthis spirited sortie two of the enemy were left dead upon the field, seven were wounded, nineteenwere taken prisoners, and thirty stands of arms and one caisson were captured. Leaving a smallforce, with Major Linton in command, at Back Creek, Colonel Campbell returned to headquarters,and immediately re-established telegraphic communication with the advance post. Two days laterthe enemy again advanced his pickets to the neighborhood of Back Creek. A division of his armywas engaged in destroying the railroad, with headquarters at Martinsburg. Learning that the enemy'spickets had advanced, Colonel Campbell, with detachments from companies C, D, and I, hastenedto the support of Major Linton. "From their stations," says a correspondent, "the enemy's picketscould see but one side of the Colonel's camp at the bridge, and struck with this fact, he conceivedand executed a happy device. Leading in his detachments on the exposed side, he marched themover the hill, out of sight of the enemy, and again and again back to the road and through the camp,thus conveying to the rebel pickets the impression that the post had been strongly reinforced. Thatnight three hollowed logs were mounted upon the wooden breast-works, and with the soldiers' gumblankets wrapped around them, presented the appearance of formidable siege guns. To completethe deception the men bored holes in the stumps with a large auger, and charging them freely withpowder, set them off regularly morning and evening."

Skirmishing with the enemies pickets was kept up until the 21st, when company G, which washolding the bridge, was attacked by a considerable force of the enemy. Upon receipt of intelligenceof its approach, Colonel Campbell moved his train, with his forces hastily collected, to the support ofthe menaced detachment; but before he arrived, Major Linton had been attacked with anoverwhelming force, and was obliged to fall back, bringing off all his men, but losing his camp andgarrison equipage. The enemy advanced and burned the railroad bridge, but hearing the whistle ofthe locomotive bringing up Colonel Campbell's force, and suspecting an ambuscade, and the arrivalof reinforcements, hastily fell back. Colonel Campbell pushed out his pickets again to the bridge,where they arrived before the ruins had been extinguished.

After the battle of Antietam, General M'Clellan, unaware of the presence of any Union troops southof the Potomac, sent a cavalry force to picket the Maryland shore. Seeing soldiers in blue acrossthe river, they regarded Colonel Campbell's men as rebels in disguise, and it was with difficulty thatthey could be undeceived. Upon the surrender of Miles, the brigade to which the regimentbelonged, had disappeared. A report of its position to the General-in-Chief soon brought an orderattaching it to General Franklin's command. At daylight on the 4th of October, the rebel General Imboden, with a force of infantry and cavalry, seven hundred strong, attacked company K, Captain Newhard, at Little Cacapon. The men were at roll-call when the enemy, under cover of a densefog, rushed into their camp, and the first intimation that they had of his presence was a volley firedfrom their own rifle-pits. They immediately seized their arms, and attempted to drive out the hostileforce; but the odds were too great, and they were forced to yield. Thirty-five of the companyescaped; but Captain Newhard, and fifty of his men were captured. Seven of the company werewounded. The enemy had two killed and eight wounded. Moving rapidly to Paw Paw, whereCaptain Hite was stationed with company B, Imboden divided his brigade, and, with one columnkeeping the Captain amused in front, sent the other to the rear, and before the latter was aware ofhis situation, he was fast between the two. Bringing up two small guns within easy range of Hite'sposition, Imboden demanded his surrender. As resistance was sure to entail a useless slaughter, thecompany yielded. Learning the fate of two of his companies, Colonel Campbell quicklyconcentrated his force at Sir John's Run. Imboden approached within six miles, and afterreconnoitering the position for a day, unwilling to attack, withdrew to Winchester, and the remainingcompanies of the Fifty-fourth were returned to their old posts.