Many of the Americans who fought for the Maryland Loyalist Regiment never saw their homes again. Many left the United States and relocated to other portions of the British Empire, such as Nova Scotia. James Chalmers didn’t remain idle long after the war. He again went into action writing pamphlets on the Revolution and other political topics. He attempted to resecure some of the vast holdings that he lost in Maryland. Eventually, he became an inspector general of colonial troops in the West Indies. He died in London on October 4, 1806.
The war never left many of the men and officers. Some were haunted by the condition we now call post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Peter Jaquett was “a cross, morose and quarrelsome man. It was a hard matter for anyone to keep on speaking terms.” Many combat veterans experienced the night terrors that accompany PTSD. Ensign Bryan Philpot’s son later recalled his father’s nightmares, which involved seeing men drown in Gowanus Creek or watching a cannonball sheer off the head of a wounded soldier sitting next to him.
The lucky ones could apply for a pension. Initially, Congress granted pensions only in very special cases. If the veteran was impoverished, he or a surviving spouse could apply in 1818 for a pension of half his wages. In 1832 things became a little easier, but only a handful of veterans were still alive then. The veteran typically went to the local courthouse and swore under oath to his recollections of the war. These applications could be challenged for a variety of reasons. Even Peter Francisco’s pension was initially challenged, likely because his exploits were so extraordinary. The giant resubmitted his application and provided affidavits from Ansolem Bailey and several officers, who confirmed that he was at Stony Point and other battles. His application was eventually accepted. Virginia and Massachussets even voted to name March 15 Peter Francisco Day.
Shoemaker George Dias wasn’t so lucky. The African American who was severely wounded during the war and was “so poor and sickly that he cannot [could not] earn any thing.” He was “so poor he has not had a Bed to sleep on for three years and his whole personal Property consisting of a few Instruments of his Proffesion, he carries about with him in a small Bag.” Another African American, Thomas Carney, suffered a similar fate. He was afflicted with rheumatism and “unable to do much work.” He had very few possessions: a pair of “cartwheels and shafts, two old straw beds, some furniture, one plow,” and some farm animals. What he did have was a strong bond of friendship with his brothers-in-arms, including Captain Perry Benson, whose life he saved at Ninety Six.
In the eighteenth century and until 1833, the United States maintained debtors’ prisons under federal law, and some states maintained them even longer. Those who didn’t pay their personal debts could be sent to these facilities, a fate suffered by many veterans. Despite his brilliant success during the war, Light Horse Harry Lee found himself behind bars for failing to pay what he owed. The traumatic experience was something his famous son Robert E. Lee never forgot. When Harry Lee wasn’t performing physical labor to work off his debts, he spent his remaining free time writing his memoirs.
Gist and Nathanael Greene, along with many other officers, incurred substantial debts in order to pay their men’s expenses and keep the army in the field. Even after the state of Georgia awarded Greene a Loyalist plantation, debts that he had accrued during the war remained. He died nearly bankrupt, leaving his widow to battle with Congress to be made whole.
Afterword
The actual burial site of the 256 Immortals who fell in the Battle of Brooklyn remains unknown to this day. An archaeological study in 1957 by the National Park Service and another in 2008 were conducted on the supposed site, but the nature of the soil makes it difficult for ground-penetrating radar to identify objects buried in the area. The earliest known mention of a mass grave dates back to 1869, when Henry Field, who wrote an early history of the Battle of Brooklyn, identified the block of Third Avenue between Seventh and Eighth streets as the resting place of the Marylanders. The claim was based on testimony from Adrian Van Brunt, who bought the property soon after the Revolution and “was often heard to say that the ground was sacred . . . because it held the remains of the Maryland Regiment.” In the early 1900s an apartment house was built on the site, and the landowner claimed that there were fifteen burial trenches, each one hundred feet long, on the lots. The son of the contractor who did the work later stated that his father had found “the bones of some thirty bodies, in regular or military order.” However, these reports have never been substantiated with remains. The Marylanders’ bodies may yet be under a city street, buried under an automobile repair shop, or in the general area of the Old Stone House. Every month the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency finds the lost remains of American service members in locations around the world, including remote islands in the Pacific. Surely its attention can be drawn to Brooklyn. In a country with a four-trillion-dollar budget and many of the world’s billionaires, funds should be allocated to find these heroes and purchase this hallowed ground.
It is a national tragedy that the Immortals—whose collective sacrifices changed the course of the Revolution and, ultimately, this nation—have yet to receive the full honor they deserve.
Acknowledgments
The writing of this book was an astonishing journey that spanned more than five years spent combing through the letters, diaries, pension files, and other words of this great generation. It involved not only finding the documents of the Revolution but also walking the grounds where the Marylanders fought and lived. I’d like to thank the many park rangers and other volunteers that I met along the way. I strongly encourage my fellow Americans to visit these hallowed sites, such as the Old Stone House, Green-Wood Cemetery, Hobkirk’s Hill, Stony Point, Cowpens, Eutaw Springs, Guilford Courthouse, Camden, Valley Forge, and all the other major battlefields where the Marylanders fought. It is ironic that some of the most beautiful places in America are also the grounds where so many Americans gave their full measure of devotion.
This book would not have been possible without the help of many valuable repositories of historical information. I’d like to thank the staff at the Old Stone House in Brooklyn, including Executive Director Kimberly Maier. I’d also like to thank the staff at the National Archives Record Administration in Washington, D.C., the Maryland State Archives, the professional and extremely knowledgeable staff at the Maryland Historical Society, the New York Public Library, the Library of Congress, the Public Records Office in Kew, the Brooklyn Historical Society, the Long Island Historical Society, and other historical societies and libraries around the country that I visited many, many times. Thanks in particular to the New-York Historical Society, which opened its doors just for me during its renovation; specifically, I’d like to thank Dr. Louise Mirrer and Jean Ashton.
In addition, words can’t express how grateful I am to historian, author, and editor of the Journal of the American Revolution, Don Hagist for going through the manuscript line-by-line and making improvements to the book. Don, also an expert on Britain’s role in the Revolution, furnished several priceless sources from the British perspective.
Every author has many friends on whom he leans for advice and early reads, and I leaned on mine and am most grateful for their time and thoughtful comments. Thanks to Cyndy Harvey for all of her wisdom and editorial advice. Thanks to Justin Oldham for looking at many drafts and providing feedback. I’m extremely grateful to Glenn F. Williams, historian at the U.S. Army Center of Military History, who examined the book in detail and provided valuable comments. I’m also indebted to historian and editor of the Journal of the American Revolution Don Hagist, who spent several weekends going through the manuscript line by line. Also thank you, David Mitchell, Ben Ibach, Lieutenant Commander Gray Connelly, Rick McQualter, Dean Hall, James Noel Smith, and Theana Kastens. Special thanks also to historian and literary agent Roger S. Williams. I’m grateful to my family, including my beautiful daughter, Lily, for their support. I’m deeply in debt to my fiancée, the
beautiful and brilliant Dr. Lori Snyder, who provided countless comments and suggestions to strengthen the book. In addition, I appreciate the hard work of my literary agent, Andrew Zack.
I’m most grateful for the brilliant comments and reshaping provided by my outstanding editor, Jamison Stoltz. And this book would never have become a reality without the vision and support of my publisher, the legendary Morgan Entrekin.
Sources
My journey with the Marylanders began more than five years ago when I found the “MARYLAND HEROES” sign in New York City. An extremely important aspect of my research for this book involved going to all the major battlefields where the Marylanders fought. I traveled from north to south, from Stony Point to Eutaw Springs.
In 2010 I had the pleasure of touring the Brooklyn battlefield with Colonel Willy Buhl, a seasoned military officer who helped plan the operation to clear Fallujah. Willy was the commanding officer of the Marines of 3/1, with whom I was embedded during that epic battle, and he later helped introduce me to many great stories that later became my books We Were One and Give Me Tomorrow. Running across the sign with one of the finest fighting Marine officers was just one of many full-circle and serendipitous moments I’ve had in career. Although many experts doubted there were enough sources to tell the untold story, his words convinced me to pursue the Marylanders’ story: “If anyone could tell their story it’s you, Pat.”
To reconstruct the Marylanders’ story, I utilized thousands of original sources housed in hundreds of libraries, repositories, and archives. The Maryland Historical Society, located in Baltimore, was an invaluable resource, and I am most grateful for the assistance the staff offered. The New-York Historical Society was also extremely helpful, as was the Library of Congress. Pension files were obtained through Fold3, which had taken the original paper and microfilm files from the National Archives and digitized them.
Many of the quotations in this book retain their original spelling and punctuation; however, some were edited slightly to allow for greater readability.
Notes
All page numbers refer to the print edition of Washington’s Immortals. Please use the search feature on your reader to locate the text that corresponds to the note entries below.
Preface
xi “gentlemen of honour, family, and fortune.” Gist Papers, Roll 1, Maryland Historical Society (MHS). The papers were microfilmed, and the author has complete copies of all the microfilm rolls and spent hundreds of hours reviewing them. To appeal to a large readership, the author decided to use the term “Patriots” versus “Whigs” for Americans who advocated independence. Although patriots existed on both sides, depending on your point of view, the book does closely examine the nature of the conflict as both a revolution and a civil war. Please see the “Sources” section of the book for a description of the first time the author encountered the sign regarding the Marylanders’ mass grave and his motivation for writing the book.
xii “Close up! Close up!” Henry Whittemore, Heroes of the American Revolution and Their Descendants: Battle of Long Island (Brooklyn, NY: Heroes of the Revolution Publishing Co., 1897), Preface.
xii “[continued] pouring the . . . of hail.” Joseph Plumb Martin, Private Yankee Doodle: Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier (Jamestown, VA: Eastern Acorn Press, 1962), 26.
xii “the flower of . . . to atoms.” Walt Whitman, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 27, 1846.
xii “closed their ranks over . . . the foe.” Thomas Field, The Battle of Long Island (New York: Long Island Historical Society, 1869), 201.
xii “Good God! What . . . day lose!” Maryland Gazette Collection, Maryland State Archives (MSA) SC 2731 January 9, 1772–September 10, 1779 M 1282
xiii The Immortals or the Maryland 400. The number of Marylanders killed and captured remains a mystery and in dispute. Some historians believe that more than 100 men were captured and 256 killed to come to the figure 400.
xiii “an hour, more . . . its history.” John Thomas Scharf, History of Maryland, 1765–1812 (Hatboro, PA: Tradition Press, 1879), 247.
Chapter 1: “Gentlemen of Honour,
Family, and Fortune”
3 “infinitely, the dirtiest place I was ever in.” David Hackett Fischer, Washington’s Crossing (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 143.
3 “the Damndest Hole in the World.” Ibid.
3 Biographical detail on Mordecai Gist from “Mordecai Gist,” Maryland State Archives (MSA SC 3520-15852).
3 “frank and genial manner.” Ibid.
4 “a company composed . . . of humanity.” Gist Papers, MHS.
4 “by all the Sacred . . . and Country.” Articles of Incorporation, Gist Papers, MHS; Maryland Historical Magazine, 4 (1909): 372–74.
5 “We, the Baltimore . . . Continental Congress.” Baltimore Independent Cadets, Articles of Incorporation, Maryland State Archives (MSA).
5 “contrary to the true . . . this Engagement.” Ibid.
7 “The arrangement essentially . . . the Crown.” M. Christopher New, Maryland Loyalists in the American Revolution (Centreville, MD: Tidewater, 1996), 4.
9 “a Uniform Suit . . . half Boote.” Papers of Mordecai Gist, MHS, Roll 1 microfilm.
9 “for the defense of the state.” The colonies didn’t officially become states until July 4, 1776. However, for the purposes of this book, the terms state and colony are used interchangeably.
10 “You are to be drawn . . . four quarters.” James R. Gaines, For Liberty and Glory: Washington, Lafayette, and Their Revolutions (New York: W. W. Norton, 2007), 44.
11 “About three hundred . . . Twenty thousand.” Mordecai Gist Papers, MHS; Gist Letterbook, Meyers Collection, New York Public Library.
Chapter 2: Smallwood’s Battalion
and the Birth of an Army
12 Description of the Fountain Inn from Mary Ellen Hayward and Frank R. Shivers Jr., eds., The Architecture of Baltimore: An Illustrated History (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004), 17.
12 “satisfaction in the appearance . . . and men.” Scharf, History of Maryland, 72.
12 “May the town . . . an end.” Ibid.
13 “a mixed multitude . . . every department.” George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.
14 “He possessed the . . . great command.” Ron Chernow, Washington: A Life (New York: Penguin Press, 2010), 185.
14 “at the expense of the Continent.” John Adams to Elbridge Gerry, letter, June 18, 1775, in Letters of Members of the Continental Congress, Edmund Cody Burnett, ed. (Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1921), 135.
14 The Maryland Convention. Maryland’s Whig or patriot government, was first called the Annapolis Convention and included all the counties of Maryland. In 1775, the Annapolis Convention was renamed the Assembly of Freemen.
14 “in the pay and for the defense.” “William Browne,” MSA, 18:4.
14–15 “of a battalion . . . of firearms.” Maryland Convention 1776, Proceedings 1774–1776 (Baltimore, 1836), 94. The battalion also included a company of marines.
15 “encamp out among . . . or Tents.” He complained, “We stand here exposed and remain in a most Defenceless state.” R. Beall to Council, May 29, 1776, MSA, 11:452.
16 “Success alone is . . . Mordecai Gist.” Gist to Robert Munford, October 24, 1775, Mordecai Gist Papers, MHS.
17–18 “There are a good . . . we have.” “Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety, August 29, 1775 to July 6, 1776,” Maryland State Archives (MSA), 11:212.
18 Biographical detail on Edward Veazey from Edward C. Papenfuse et al., A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635–1789, 2 vols. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979–1985); MSA, 426:851.
18 Biographical detail on Bryan Philpot Jr. from “Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Troops in the American Rev
olution, 1775–1783,” Archives of Maryland 18.
18 Biographical detail on William Sterrett from “William Sterrett,” MSA 3520-16728.
18 Biographical detail on James Fernandis from “James Fernandis,” MSA SC 3520-16770.
18 Biographical detail on John Bantham from pension application of John Bantham. Pension applications are located at NARA (Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files), NARA M804, S 2806, 33, and accessed via microfilm or online at Fold3.com. We also consulted an excellent transcription at the Southern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Statements and Rosters transcribed and annotated by C. Leon Harris.
19 “have a very Respectable . . . this Town.” Ewing to Smallwood, January 10, 1776, “Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety, August 29, 1775 to July 6, 1776,” MSA, 11:95.
19 Age and height information from Muster Rolls from MSA.
19–20 Free African Americans also . . . remained enslaved. One document, “Return of Negros in the Army,” provides a rough tally of African Americans serving in the American army. Smallwood’s Battalion lists sixty men while Gist’s 2nd Maryland lists thirty-five African Americans on the muster rolls.
20 Information about Daniel Brophy from Woolford to Council of Safety, March 25, 1776, MSA.
20 “man of magnificent . . . in battle.” Whittemore, Heroes of the American Revolution, 62.
Chapter 3: Girding for War
22 “It was just . . . ineffective.” Major General B. P. Hughes, Firepower: Weapons and Effective Use on the Battlefield, 1630–1850 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1975), 26.
22 “Powder is not . . . four men.” Maurice de Saxe, Reveries on the Art of War, trans. Gen. Thomas R. Phillips (London, 1757; reprint, Mineola, NY: Dover Publishing, 2007), 32.
22 “Mr. Keener . . . he comply’d.” Ewing to Council of Safety, letter, February 12, 1776, MSA, 11:155.
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