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 […]
Tag Archives: Maryland
The Dysfunctional Company
At the beginning of this project one of our first tasks was to establish which companies were actually present at the Battle of Brooklyn This reason for this is obvious enough: so that we do not waste too much time … Continue reading
Battle Maps of Long Island
Hello all, We recently came across some very interesting maps that show the events of the Battle of Long Island in good detail. As some of you may have noticed, one of these maps is now the background for the … Continue reading
Desertion: Scourge of the Army
Only disease could pose a greater danger to the cause of American Independence than that of desertion. No army in the 18th century, not even well trained professional ones, could escape the inevitability that many of the soldiers would leave … Continue reading
237 Years Ago
On July 6, 1776 the Convention of Maryland ordered Colonel William Smallwood to march his 6 Companies stationed in Annapolis and the 3 Companies in Baltimore to Philadelphia. Joining them would be three of the Independent Companies, specifically those under … Continue reading
An Anecdote from the Wartime Service of Gassaway Watkins
Gassaway Watkins, one of the men of the Maryland 400, wrote down a brief account of his service before he died. Unfortunately, only part of the document still exists, as evident by its abrupt end. However, the sketch is long … Continue reading
Progress Update
While the first few days of work consisted mainly of us learning about the battle and creating a framework to organize what we find, the last several days have seen Daniel and myself doing more research on the men of … Continue reading
Beginnings
The first week of my time at Maryland State Archives has passed and the project to identify the members of the Maryland 400 has officially begun. This first week of work has been mostly dedicated to building a foundation on … Continue reading
Introduction
This blog will follow the research of the Maryland State Archives Military History Research Internship team as they attempt to uncover the identities of the soldiers who made up the Maryland 400 in the Battle of Long Island during the … Continue reading
Finding the Maryland 400 