Project sponsored by the Maryland Society of the Sons of the American Revolution
Recent posts: Finding the Maryland 400
Help Support the Maryland 400!
In August 1776, a group of soldiers—the Maryland 400—helped hold back the British Army at the Battle of Brooklyn, allowing the rest of the Americans to escape the field. The Marylanders lost a quarter of their men that day, but their stand saved the Continental Army, allowing it to live and fight another day. For […]
Revolutionary Book Review: George the Drummer Boy
The first book I ever read about the American Revolution was a children’s book called George the Drummer Boy, by Nathaniel Benchley, with illustrations by Don Bolognese. It tells the story of a drummer in the British Army who is stationed in Boston in 1775. His unit is chosen to march out of Boston to […]
A New Podcast Tells the Story of the Maryland Line
We are excited to share that a new podcast about the Revolutionary War, and Maryland’s soldiers, has been launched by Mission History. The series tells the story of the events that brought two armies, including nearly 2,000 soldiers from Maryland, to Camden, South Carolina in August 1781. The battle fought at Camden was one of […]
A Beating in Baltimore: Communal Violence during the Revolution
Today’s post comes from Marshall Cooperman of St. John’s College in Annapolis, who was part of the Maryland State Archives’ intern class of 2023. Marshall’s project team worked on cataloging a large collection of Revolutionary-era correspondence, and he came across the letters that tell this story while doing that work America in 1776 was a […]
Author Archives: Finding the Maryland 400
The Battle of Brooklyn in Five Objects: Number 1, William Sands’s Letter
The anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn will take place next Sunday. To commemorate it, we are beginning a new series: The Battle of Brooklyn in Five Objects. Every day this week we will feature an object from the collections … Continue reading
A Completed Company!
We are very happy to announce that we have recently completed work on another company! Last week we posted the final biography of a soldier in the Seventh Independent Company, which was raised on the Eastern Shore. While the company … Continue reading
Crime and Punishment in the Continental Army
From the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the American military justice system was governed by the articles of war, adopted on June 30, 1775. They were extremely similar to those used by the British enemy, and although both relied heavily … Continue reading
The Maryland 400 in the News
As some of you may have seen, there has been lots of news coverage about the Maryland 400 recently. A site in Brooklyn long said to contain the graves of the Marylanders killed in 1776 is being excavated ahead of … Continue reading
The Significance of December 10, 1776
If you’ve read a few biographies of the men of the Maryland 400, you may have noticed that many of the troops reenlisted on December 10, 1776. This is not a coincidence, but is the outcome of the reorganization of … Continue reading
Military or Jail: The Interesting Case of Private Everit
During both the Korean War and the Vietnam War eras, many soldiers enlisted after being given a choice by a judge: Join the military or go to jail. Today, the military will not allow anyone who has been convicted of … Continue reading
Exploring the Indexes
As the newest member of the Maryland State Archives research team, I have learned an incredible amount in my first few weeks here. If you missed the post where I introduced myself and talked a little bit about my work, … Continue reading
“Being Desirous to Settle my Worldly Affairs”: Private George Claypoole’s Will
Perhaps the most challenging aspect of our work researching Maryland’s Revolutionary War soldiers is connecting their military service to civilian life. It’s relatively straight forward to piece a man’s army history together, but finding records of that person’s life afterward, … Continue reading
Natalie’s Introduction
Hello everyone! My name is Natalie Miller and I am the new Maryland Society of the Sons of the American Revolution Research Fellow. I will be working with Taylor and our supervisor Owen Lourie on the Finding the Maryland 400 project. … Continue reading
Taylor’s Introduction
Hello readers, My name is Taylor Blades and much like many of the previous interns, I am a student at Washington College. I am working towards my B.A. in Political Science and Environmental Studies. I’ve always had a strong interest … Continue reading
Finding the Maryland 400 