Finding the Maryland 400

If you are in the area this week, head over to the Maryland Historical Society to see Patrick K. O’Donnell discuss his book Washington’s Immortals. Those immortals were, of course, the soldiers from Maryland.

The Maryland Line was built around a core of veterans, experienced men who had survived the Battle of Brooklyn and the rest of the 1776 campaign. The success of the Marylanders in the last years of the Revolutionary War owed much to the dedicated service of the men who volunteered to fight in the war’s earliest days. They were among George Washington’s most trusted troops.

O’Donnell’s book is full of wonderful stories, many of them about men we have written about as part of this project, men like William and Samuel McMillan, who escaped from a British prison, along with William Sterrett and James Peale. (see also here for more on the Peale family).

For more information about the lecture, see this flyer.

We hope you’ve enjoyed some of the changes we’ve made over the last few weeks. One of the big changes we made was updating the biographies page.  Our goal is to make it easier to learn about Marylanders during the war by adding short descriptions next to some of our favorite biographies.  Please check them out here and let us know what you think in the comments below!

Another helpful addition we made was creating a “featured posts” page, where you can easily find some of our most popular and informative posts we’ve made.  If you click here, you’ll also see that at the top of the page we now feature as ‘Editor’s Choice’ post of the month.  For the month of March, we selected the Editor’s Choice block to a post celebrating Women’s History Month.

We hope you like these changes and just know that more are on the way!

Would you like to come work for Finding the Maryland 400?

The Maryland State Archives is looking for a staff researcher to work on the project, researching and writing biographies of the soldiers of the Maryland 400, and updating the blog. This is a paid, full time position, with funding to last approximately six months, although there is the possibility of additional funding. This is an ideal position for a recent history graduate.

To apply, visit this link: https://www.jobaps.com/MD/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1=17&R2=005302&R3=0006. The application deadline is March 24.

This position is funded through the generous support of the Maryland Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Please forgive our appearance over the next three months while our website undergoes some changes. Your patience will be greatly appreciated and I promise it will pay off.  The upgrade will seek to streamline the website so that we can better highlight and emphasize the most valuable pieces of information here.  We will also be adding different educational tools to the website for students and teachers. Continue reading →