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Brief History of Maryland Militia and Research Resources

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Brief History of Maryland Militia in the Revolutionary War; and Resources for Research

During the Revolutionary War, soldiers from Maryland served in three organizations:

  • The "Continentals": units created or designated to fulfill quotas levied by the Continental Congress, typically serving under Washington's command in the Continental Army.
  • "State troops": units created for full-time service.
  • Militia: part-time soldiers serving as needed for specific purposes usually within the boundaries of Maryland.

In addition, Maryland had its own Navy and a company of Marines.

Chronology

Maryland had a militia since the early days of the colony. Many Marylanders had served in the French & Indian War, and had experience when the Revolution began.

12 December 1774: Maryland urged its able freemen, aged 16 to 50 to voluntarily form militia units.

14 June 1775: The Continental Congress accepted responsibility to form an Army.

2 August 1775: Acting upon a request from Congress, Maryland sent two rifle companies for service in the Continental Army.

July-August 1775: Maryland authorized armed opposition to British troops and enacted mandatory service in the militia for all able freemen (with a few occupational exemptions). Forty companies of "minutemen" (part of the militia) were authorized to act outside the province when necessary.

December 1775-January 1776: The Minuteman experiment was abandoned. Maryland "state troops" were established, as well as a Navy and a company of Marines. The province was divided into five military districts with a Brigadier heading each. Most militia companies were organized into 38 battalions, with the battalions reporting to the appropriate Brigadier.

December 1775-February 1776: Two companies of minutemen (from Kent and Queen Anne's) were dispatched to the "Eastern Shore Battalion" in Virginia.

June 1776: Congress established the "Flying Camp" as a strategic reserve of the Continental Army. Pennsylvania and Delaware sent militia units for their portion, but Maryland, instead, recruited individuals to fill its portion. So the Marylanders of the Flying Camp were Continentals. The Flying Camp was discontinued in Dec 1776.

September 1776: Congress enlarged the Army to 88 battalions; Maryland was given a quota of 8. One battalion of the Continental Army was stationed in Salisbury to defend the Bay.

December 1776: Congress authorized an Army of 110 infantry regiments. This was the peak authorized size during the war; subsequently, the Army's size diminished.

July 1777: Military districts were abolished; instead each county was given a "county lieutenant" to command the battalion(s) within the county. Battalion numbers were dropped, although some persisted in an informal manner.

October 1780: Maryland created a "Select Militia" intended to have better training and a higher alert status. It also authorized 25-man "Horse Troops".

Evolution of Some Units

Some units evolved from militia to state troops, or from state troops to Continentals. This section briefly surveys some of those units.

1st Maryland Regiment

Some of the first Maryland volunteers of the Revolution were recruited by Capt. Mordecai Gist and organized 3 December 1774 as the Baltimore Independent Cadets. When State Troops were organized in January 1776, Gist was named 2nd major of the Maryland Battalion. It would seem likely that the Cadets were absorbed wholly or in part into the Battalion. In August 1776, the Battalion, commanded by Smallwood, was taken into the Continental Army as the 1st Maryland Regiment. [1]

2nd Maryland Regiment

The Seven Independent Companies of state troops were authorized by Maryland in January 1776 and were organized during March. These companies were later aggregated into a Continental regiment authorized by Congress in August 1776--the 2nd Maryland Regiment. [2]

Maryland Artillery Companies

Two companies of artillery authorized by Maryland in January 1776 were organized during March as the 1st Company of Matrosses in the Province of Maryland and the Company of Matrosses Stationed at Annapolis. A third company was formed during the subsequent winter. All three were adopted into the Continental Army in late 1777 as the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Maryland Continental Artillery Companies. In 1780, they were reorganized and combined with others to create the 1st Continental Artillery Regiment. [3]

References

  1. ↑ Wright, pp. 81, 277.
  2. ↑ Wright, pp. 81, 277.
  3. ↑ Wright, pp. 149, 336.

Research Resources

  • Clements, S. Eugene and Wright, F. Edward, The Maryland Militia in the Revolutionary War, Westminster, MD : Heritage Books, 2006.

This is a compilation of muster roles and other documents related to the Maryland militia. The material is indexed in various ways and is the best available starting point for documenting the service of an individual in the militia. 40-plus pages of front matter summarize legislative actions concerning the creation of Maryland militia and state troops, as well as the assignment of units to the Continental Army. Nearly 100 pages comprise an alphabetical list of militia officers with useful annotations. More than 200 pages provide transcriptions of available muster rolls and an alphabetical index to the names. A particularly valuable contribution is a careful differentiation of Continental units, state troops and militia units.

  • Scharf, J. Thomas, History of Maryland from the Earliest Period to the Present Day, 3 vols., Hatboro, PA : Tradition Press, 1967.

A detailed history, with extensive quotations from original documents. Available online at Internet Archive, https://archive.org.

  • Wright, Robert K., Jr., The Continental Army. Army Lineage Series (David Trask, editor). Washington D.C. Center of Military History, United States Army, 1983, 1989.

Commissioned by the U.S. Army’s Center of Military History, this book is the authoritative reference to the organization of the Continental Army. The book notes (pp. 277-280), that the seven Maryland regiments of the Continental Army provide the legacy for the current 175th Infantry Division of the Maryland National Guard.

This is a web presentation of: Bernard Christian Steiner, editor, Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, 1775-1783, Archives of Maryland, Volume 18, (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 1900). This is the most valuable single source for the names of Maryland soldiers in the Continental Army. Service in Maryland State Troops is also described; militia service is not covered. The web version has been translated via OCR to readable, searchable text; it appears that effort has been made to correct the inevitable errors of the OCR process. The website provides an option to see a page image. Page 2 of the Preface discusses some of the limitations of the collection. Reprints of the book (apparently made by imaging the pages) are available for sale. Page images are also available on FHL microfilms.

An odd version of the volume is included in the collection of ancestry.com as “Maryland Archives, 1658-1783,” ( https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6889/ ). The database covers selected volumes of the Archives, including Volume 18. The page images, however, are not browsable in a straightforward manner because the sections of the volume have been separated and re-arranged. In his study, this researcher found the version at msa.maryland.gov to be more easily usable. However, because of the inevitable variability in OCR, manual transcription, and indexing, it probably is sensible to search both if one is looking for a particular name.

Page images of the originally published book are available at Family Search (https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/187833-archives-of-maryland).

Suggestions for Additional Research

  • Clements provides, p. 45, a list of sources he researched in determining the service of militia officers.
  • Wright provides a huge bibliography, pp. 355-427, focused primarily on Continental service.

Revolution in Maryland

A list of resources found in the Archives and elsewhere.

  • F. Edward Wright, “Revolutionary War Papers of the Maryland Historical Societ: [sic] Manuscript Ms. 1814, a Genealogical View,” Maryland Genealogical Society Bulletin, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 358-374.

A list of manuscript held by the Maryland Historical Society, now called the Maryland Center for History and Culture.

Pension Records

  • “Index of Revolutionary War Pension Applications in the National Archives, Special Publication No. 40” (Washington, D. C. : National Genealogical Society, 1976)

Many pension records were lost in a fire in 1801 and the British Invasion of 1814. Later records are in the National Archives and are indexed in this publication.

  • Newman, Harry Wright, Records of the Revolutionary War, (Baltimore : Genealogical Publishing Co., 1967).

This document contains information on Maryland state pensioners.

  • Brewer, John M. and Mayer, Lewis, The Laws and Rules of the Land Office of Maryland (Baltimore : Kelly, Piet & Co., 1871).

This document is mentioned by Clements and is apparently among the collection of the Dallas Genealogical Society ( https://dallasgenealogy.org ). It describes properties in Western Maryland that were granted to veterans.

Suggestions for Researching Names and Units

For researching Continentals and State Troops, the Maryland Archives, vol. 18 is the appropriate starting point. It should be noted that the entire collection of Maryland Archives Online is searchable; one could search for names of interest. Pension records are also a useful adjunct.

Researching militia members and units can be more difficult. Of course, one should research pension records. In most cases, though, the Clements-Wright book is the appropriate starting point. If one does not have access to that book, then one could perform research in the sources that they cite, sometimes informally—listed below. [Annotations regarding availability, shown in square brackets, have been provided by the current researcher.]

General

  • Margaret Roberts Hodges, “Unpublished Revolutionary Records of Maryland,” 6 vols., bound typescript, Maryland Historical Society [now named the Maryland Center for History and Culture]
  • Edward Papenfuse, et al, An Inventory of Maryland State Papers, vol. 1 (Annapolis : Maryland Hall of Records, 1977).
  • Rieman Steuart, The Maryland Line in the Revolutionary War (Towson, MD : The Society of the Cincinnati of Maryland, 1969).
  • Roger Thomas, “Calendar of Maryland State Papers, The Brown Books,” (Annapolis : Hall of Records Commission, 1948). [This is available as a download at https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5300/sc5339/000127/000000/000001/unrestricted/msa_sc_5458_51_681.pdf .]
  • Maryland Historical Magazine, Maryland Center for History and Culture. https://www.mdhistory.org/ : viewed 30 Oct 2022.

Past issues can be searched and consulted at http://mdhs.msa.maryland.gov/pages/index.aspx Recent issues may require registration and/or membership.

Eastern Shore Battalion (Kent and Queen Anne’s counties)

The muster rolls of the two militia companies comprising the Eastern Shore battalion can be found in Maryland Archives, vol. 18. [Note that this battalion is distinct from Col. Richardson’s Continental Army battalion that was stationed on the Eastern Shore.]

Baltimore Town/County

“The Baltimore Artificers Company,” Maryland Historical Magazine,” vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 367-8; citing “the original in the collection of the Maryland Historical Society.” The 1777 initial enrollment in a Baltimore militia company.

Caroline County

Typescript of letters from Colonel Wheatley and Caroline County to the Governor 12 June and 21 June 1781. Maryland Historical Society [now named the Maryland Center for History and Culture].

Cecil County

“Militia Company Enrollment, Cecil County, Captain Stephen Hyland: September 8, 1775,” Maryland Genealogical Society Bulletin, vol. 33, no. 2, p. 340

Dorchester County

Elias Jones, New Revised History of Dorchester County Maryland (Cambridge, MD : Tidewater Publishing Co. : 1966). [This book is available for purchase from several sources. Its predecessor, the “Revised History” is available from Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/revisedhistoryof00jone .]

Harford County

Walter W. Preston, History of Harford County, (Baltimore, Press of the Sun Book Office, 1901). [This is available at Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/historyharfordc00changoog/ .]

Kent County

“Kent County Maryland and Vicinity List of Militia and Oaths of Allegiance, June 1775.” [This is available at FamilySearch.org, https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/254034 .]

Talbot County

“Bulletin Number Three,” Maryland Original Research Society, Baltimore : 1913. [This is available from Google Books with the relevant article beginning at https://books.google.com/books?id=ork-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA75 .]

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Maryland's navy and marines have not yet been studied in detail.





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Categories: Maryland Militia, American Revolution