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: New York
The Midnight Attack on Stony Point
While each campaign year of the Revolutionary War had its own purpose and series of events, the main focus of the campaign of 1779 was to maintain the vital lines of communication between the Eastern and Southern states. George Washington … Continue reading
Battle of Brooklyn Roll of Honor
On August 27, 1776, after a week of anticipation, and hours of marching, the Continental Army fought the British at the Battle of Brooklyn, the first large-scale battle of the Revolutionary War. All told, the Americans lost about 300 killed, … Continue reading
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
The Prisoner and the Privateer
Two new entries have been added to the biography page! William Sterrett and Phillip Hawkins were Baltimoreans who fought in different companies of Smallwood’s Battalion at the Battle of Brooklyn. Both men were also survivors of the British prison ships … Continue reading
“If I Fall on the Field of Battle”
Captain Daniel Bowie wrote his last will and testament on the eve of the Battle of Brooklyn. The next day he was wounded in battle and captured by the British. While imprisoned he would succumb to his wounds and become … Continue reading
“A Cursed Affair”: The Loss of Fort Washington
“But alas! we must no longer think of holds and fortresses on the North River. There are, I hear, various opinions respecting the taking [of] fort Washington, some think that it was too easily surrendered, others say our men behaved well and that it … Continue reading
The Battle of White Plains
On October 28, 1776, the Continental Army had marched north of Manhattan, withdrawing to the hills of the village of White Plains. Since the Battle of Brooklyn, General Howe had been pursuing the Continental Army in an attempt to encircle … Continue reading
Taking Names
We recently dug up a document that lists several of the men who were taken prisoner at the Battle of Brooklyn. The list was written by Lieutenant James Peale, brother of the famed painter, Charles Willson Peale (you can read … Continue reading
The Peale Family: Picturing the Maryland Line
When the Maryland line was ordered to retreat from the Battle of Brooklyn, they were forced to ford a marsh. Many men were shot down in the quagmire and many more drowned. Two men related by marriage were part of … Continue reading
Finding the Maryland 400 