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 […]
Category Archives: Maryland 400
Revolutionary Veterans II: Levin Frazier, Soldier, Sailor, Land Owner
Levin Frazier, a farmer from Dorchester County, illustrates the possibilities of success for the veterans who chose to remain in Maryland after the war. He was born a poor man in his home county, and it is unlikely that he … Continue reading
Revolutionary Veterans I: Mark McPherson, Kentucky Gentleman
Mark McPherson, a planter born in Maryland to a marginally successful family, left his home state despite having land and means in Maryland. A resident of Charles County, he inherited land from parents who died while he was still young. … Continue reading
The Fates of Revolutionary War Veterans
Today, the Revolutionary War is remembered as a triumph of liberty, a great struggle for the ideal of freedom that the American colonists so greatly desired. In truth, however, it was much more. The Revolution was not just a war … Continue reading
The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
Listen my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the Eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year. So wrote Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in … Continue reading
Family in Uniform
Finding the Maryland 400 seeks to not only identify the individuals who made up the First Maryland Regiment, but it also explores the links between these individuals that were forged and tested by the Revolutionary War. The danger and uncertainty … Continue reading
The Forage War and the Battle for New Jersey
In many ways, Joseph Nourse’s experiences in winter camp at Morristown were nothing like most of the army’s. On February 15, 1777 he wrote that he “read Homers Odyssy, which I borrowed from Lord Sterling,” a moment of culture which … Continue reading
William Chaplin: Defector to the British
The American colonies’ direct relationship with Britain meant that there were many colonists who did not support the Revolutionary War, and even the act of enlisting into the Continental Army did not mean that a person was devoted to the … Continue reading
Project Updates
Hello all, A short note about some recent changes to Finding the Maryland 400. We have exhausted all of our project funding, which means that we have unfortunately had say good bye to Emily, although she has been able to … Continue reading
Maryland 400 in the News
Some of you may have already seen it, but the Maryland 400 was featured in The Baltimore Sun on Friday: “Researchers bringing Md. Revolutionary War heroes to life.” The story has great photos and video about our work, and
Introducing the Interactive Map
Geography physically connects us to the past in a way that can dust the cobwebs off of history and make it more accessible to the modern world. This interactive map shows where Smallwood’s men came from and the places where … Continue reading
Finding the Maryland 400 