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
What’s In a Name: Companies, Regiments, and Battalions
Revolutionary War military terminology can be pretty confusing. Starting today, we are publishing periodic posts to help explain what some of these words mean, moving towards a full glossary of eighteenth-century military terms.
Enlistment Bounties: Use and Abuse
When men enlisted to fight in the Revolutionary War, they left home with the expectation that they would be properly paid for their military service. However, that’s not what happened. Paychecks lagged severely behind schedule, with some men never receiving … Continue reading
“The child…was almost entirely destitute of maintenance and support”: A trust fund for Captain Edgerly’s son
Edward Edgerly served in the Maryland Line for five years, enlisting as a sergeant in February 1776. He fought at the Battle of Brooklyn that August, earning a place among the famed Maryland 400. In 1777, he received a commission … Continue reading
The Case of Thomas Connor, Who Didn’t Die in Battle
Of the 256 Marylanders who were killed or captured at the Battle of Brooklyn (more than 25 percent of the regiment), very few have so far been identified by name. We know the names of just four who died and … Continue reading
We Have Completed the Seventh Company!
We have some exciting news to announce: we have completed biographies of all the known soldiers of the Seventh Company!
Another Completed Company!
We have recently completed the biography of the last remaining Second Company soldier, and are excited to say that yet another company is done! We’re one step closer to having biographies of all of the Maryland 400’s soldiers.
Becoming “Amply Supplied with Very Good Shoes”
Winters for the Continental Army soldiers were brutal. Although fighting usually ceased and the troops took up winter quarters, there was no break from military life. In addition to freezing temperatures and food shortages, troops were plagued by inadequate uniforms, … Continue reading
A Pennsylvanian in the Maryland Line?
Most Maryland 400 veterans returned to Maryland after their military service ended. Many, perhaps most, of them stayed in the state afterward, but plenty moved on instead, mostly heading west in search of land. Michael Waltz, a private in the … Continue reading
A Hot Cup of Patriotism
As you sit down to enjoy your morning, afternoon, or evening cup of coffee (don’t worry, we won’t judge you if you’re in that last category), do you ever wonder how America became a coffee society? According to scholars, it … Continue reading
Death by Pig
While researching soldiers and their families from the Revolutionary War, it can be difficult to uncover reliable information. We have written about some of our methods before, and you can read one of those posts here. However, sometimes the best … Continue reading
Finding the Maryland 400 