A key part of this project is to compile a roster of all the men of the First Maryland Regiment who fought at the Battle of Brooklyn. The document linked below lists the names of all known members of the First Maryland and the seven Independent companies, whether they were present at the Battle of Brooklyn, if known, as well as everything known about their fate at the battle. The information in this database comes from the initial muster rolls from early 1776, as well as scattered pay records, soldiers’ pensions, correspondence, and other sources.
We do not know the names of all the soldiers, nor do we know what happened to many of them. Although the Council of Safety ordered that a full muster roll be compiled when the army left for New York, and Col. William Smallwood later transmitted a list of all men who were killed or captured, neither of these lists has survived. There are three companies for which we have identified fewer than half the soldiers: the Fifth, Fifth Independent, and Seventh Independent.
In total, all nine companies commanded by Col. Smallwood fought at the battle, along with the Fourth, Fifth, and Seventh Independent Companies (the other four Independents did not arrive in New York until sometime after the battle). If the Maryland troops had been at full strength, there would have been eight companies of 74 men; one company of 78 men; and three companies of 104 men, for a total of 982. However, we know that not every company was at full strength. Some were short of men before the army left for New York, and illness and desertion further reduced the ranks.
If you have questions about anything you see here, please leave a comment below or send an email to msamaryland400@gmail.com.
My 5th Generation grandfather was a Hessein soldier during the Revloutionary war. I had a document stating he was in a Jaeger unit and reported AOL. Johann Georg Fazenbaker (born Feßenbecker), III born 1757 in Heidelsheim, Karlsruhe, Baden-Wuerttemberg he died May 10, 1810 in Barton, Allegany, Maryland, United States. He married Elizabeth Wickett Fazenbaker (born Corbus) born Sep 1763 in Germany and died 1825 in Barton, Allegany, Maryland, United States. They married in 1778 at Firm Rock, Allegany, Maryland, United States. Would love to find more information regarding him and anything regarding him
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Finding the Maryland 400 
My 5th Generation grandfather was a Hessein soldier during the Revloutionary war. I had a document stating he was in a Jaeger unit and reported AOL. Johann Georg Fazenbaker (born Feßenbecker), III born 1757 in Heidelsheim, Karlsruhe, Baden-Wuerttemberg he died May 10, 1810 in Barton, Allegany, Maryland, United States. He married Elizabeth Wickett Fazenbaker (born Corbus) born Sep 1763 in Germany and died 1825 in Barton, Allegany, Maryland, United States. They married in 1778 at Firm Rock, Allegany, Maryland, United States. Would love to find more information regarding him and anything regarding him
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