Hello!
My name is Cassy Sottile and I am a junior at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. This fall, I will be writing biographies for the Maryland 400 project.
I am currently double majoring in English and history, with a double minor in journalism and theatre. During the academic year, I am the news editor for our college newspaper The Elm, stage manage for the theatre department, tutor history and academic skills at our campus tutoring center, and participate in the Peer Mentor program. I am from Frederick, Maryland, though most of my family is originally from New York.
In the spring 2018 semester at Washington College, I took a course “Finding the 400,” which focused on writing a biography for a Maryland 400 soldier that we would spend the semester investigating their story and what happened to them after the war. It is because of this class that I have the wonderful opportunity to further investigate soldiers of the Maryland 400, and continue researching them to help write their stories that have been previously been undiscovered.
Early American history has always been an area of interest and passion for me, and I am excited and thankful to have the chance to continue researching the period, and try to find these lost men of history to tell their stories.
I would like to thank the Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and its donors, particularly Dr. Jack London of the Sons of the American Revolution, for making this opportunity possible for me .
If there are any questions or comments about anything I write or post, please don’t hesitate to comment or reach out! I would love to answer questions if I can or learn about something I have not encountered before.
— Cassy Sottile
Finding the Maryland 400 
Welcome aboard Cassy! We look forward to seeing your posts and updated biographies. We are so glad that multiple groups and individuals have supported this mission. Maryland should be so proud of her native sons that went to NY to defend the nation with Washington and these stories should be told and retold. Thank you again for your participation and anticipated work.
You sound like you have a great background for this work so we are looking forward to reading your work. Being from Frederick and York means some of your ancestry may include these heroes who fought in the Revolution and War of 1812 as many of those families were involved.
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My 5th great-grandfather was Peter Mantz, Sr. He was born in Chester, PA, but his family had moved to Frederick, Maryland in 1775. Peter was part of The Toms Creek Gamecock Brigade. Peter raised his own unit of soldiers from Frederick and was a Captain in the 1st Maryland Battalion of the Flying Camp by July 1776. His unit fought at The Battle of Brooklyn. Peter was temporarily made a Major from 5th September to 1st December 1776. Peter was reinterred from his family graveyard to Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Frederick. His tombstone has a long story on it, that has unfortunately become unreadable over time.
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Linda,
Thanks for writing in about your ancestor Peter Mantz. He and his part of the Flying Camp saw combat around New York in 1776, including at Fort Washington, where they took heavy losses. One of the officers in different company in Mantz’s regiment, William Beatty, kept a diary of his time in the army. You can read it online here: https://archive.org/details/marylandhistoric3190mary/page/104. It’s likely that Mantz’s company had similar experiences to Beatty’s.
One note: the Maryland Flying Camp was not at the Battle of Brooklyn; it was still forming in Maryland and traveling to New York at the time of the battle. Most Flying Camp regiments arrived in New York in early September.
It’s good to hear that Peter’s grave site is still marked, even if the stone has deteriorated over time.
Thank for checking us out!
Owen
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