USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume II > Part 12
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From this time onward, until the close of the war, it is impossible to distinguish the military services of the men of Talbot, or of any other county of the State, from those of their companies in arms. There is no evidence that the recruits of each county were enrolled in the same company, nor that they were even placed in the same battalion. They were probably distributed according to the needs of the different organi-
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zations. It has already been noted that the officers from this county were variously distributed in several of the battalions. Whatever honor, therefore, was acquired by the Maryland line, and undoubtedly this was great, it is not always possible to divide it, with due regard to their just deserts, among the several divisions of that line, regiments and companies; on the contrary every part is entitled to wear the laurels won by the conduct of the whole. Sometimes, it is true, the historic muse peering through shadowy obscurities of shifting camp fires, the dust of marches and countermarches, and the smoke of battle, has been able to distinguish certain bodies, large and small, of Maryland troops commanded by officers whom this county may claim as her own peculiar sons, and has noted down upon her commemorative tablets the names of those that have shown unusual endurance in the midst of hardship and privation, or conspicuous firmness in presence of danger. But these names are few, whether of officers or their commands; and of the humbler soldiers that went from these our borders, the vast majority have gone down to undistinguished graves, so that the most industrious annalist, thus far, has not been able to rescue their memoirs from ob- livion: illacrimabiles urguentur ignotique longa nocte.
Before the opening of the campaign of 1777 it became necessary to move a body of troops into the lower part of this peninsula for the purpose of bringing into subjection the tories of Sussex County, Del- aware, and of Worcester and Somerset Counties, Maryland, who were in open insurrection against the State authorities and in league with the enemy. These troops, a portion of the Maryland levies, marched into the disaffected district under Col. Gist, but were soon joined by General Smallwood, who broke up, in a measure, the treasonable organ- izations, by arresting the ring leaders, whom he sent to jail, and by requiring the others to take an oath of allegiance, or in case of refusal to be also imprisoned. But the pressing requirements of the Command- er in Chief, rendered it necessary that these troops should join the main army. Their place was taken by Col. Richardson's battalion, which probably contained more of the men of Talbot than any other, as it seems to have been recruited chiefly upon the Eastern Shore. Com- missioners were sent into the troubled counties to act in connection with the military officers, and under their direction, the stringent orders of Congress, were carried into effect. Dangerous persons were required to remove from the counties of their residence to some remote situation, military organizations were dissolved and disarmed, some of the more turbulent members were arrested, others compelled to take refuge
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with the enemy, and a stringent oath of allegiance was required of all the suspected who remained at home. Before this insurrection had been entirely quelled the new Legislature had met and had passed most rigorous acts "to prevent the growth of toryism." At a later date there was an outbreak of the royalists in Caroline and Dorchester counties which was promptly subdued. In 1778 one Cheney Clows headed an insurrection in Queen Anne's county, for the suppression of which it was necessary to call out the militia. There was no evidence whatever that, at any time during the war of the Revolution, there was any overt act of treason in the county of Talbot, or any concerted movements of persons disaffected to the patriot cause. As great an unanimity pre- vailed here as in any county of the Province or State.
The main army under General Washington, which had been in winter quarters at Morristown or its vicinity, spent the spring and early sum- mer months in filling its depleted ranks, in perfecting its reorganization, and in watching the movements of the enemy whose designs were not clearly revealed. The approach of the army of Burgoyne from Canada, apparently for the purpose of forming a junction with General Howe, and cutting off all communication with New York and the New England States, determined the Commander in Chief to move his army towards the north; but after a portion, including Sullivan's division, embracing the Marylanders, had crossed the Hudson, these troops were recalled, as intelligence had been received that the British army had been em- barked on board ships and transports and has sailed towards the south, its destiny being as yet not fully known. But on the 22nd August the division under Gen'l Sullivan, containing the Marylanders under Small- wood and Debore, attacked Staten Island, then held by a body of royal Americans. The result was not happy, Smallwood lost many men, and Sullivan did not escape censure. Before this affair, however, information was received that the British fleet was in the mouth of the Delaware Bay, and it became known that Philadelphia was the objective point of attack, but whether by the Delaware of the Chesapeake was not known till later, when the fleet was reported as entering the latter bay, and steering toward the north. As soon as the purposes of the enemy became apparent, appeals were made by Congress for the assem- bling of the militia of Maryland, as well as Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, for co-operation with the regular forces for the defence of Philadelphia. Two thousand men were asked of this State, of whom the Eastern Shore should supply seven hundred and fifty, and they were to assemble in Georgetown in Kent county as soon as possible. For
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the purpose of hastening the assembling and organizing of these men, Gen'l Smallwood and Colonel Gist were sent there regular from the regular army, the one to the Western and the other to the Eastern Shore. Richardson's battalion, which had been disciplining the tories of the Peninsula to loyal ways, was to be united with the militia from this shore. The militia from the Western Shore was re- quired to assemble towards the head of the Bay, as it soon became evident that the enemy intended to make a landing at the head of Elk River and march toward Philadelphia. Richardson's battalion of Eastern Shore men had anticipated this movement, and by impressing the horses, wagons and carts of the people of the vicinity, they had succeeded in removing beyond the reach of the enemy the greater part of the public stores that had been there accumulated for the use of the main army. The presence of the British fleet in the Chesapeake had created great alarm among the planters seated along its shores, and in conformity with the advice of Congress as well as with the dictates of private interest they had removed much of their live stock, grain, and household valuables into the interior.45 The militia from the Eastern Shore were very slow in assembling, owing it would appear, more to want of arms, than actual reluctance to meet the dangers and encounter the hardships of a campaign. There is an obscure record which inti- mates that a company recruited in Talbot and commanded by Capt. Gibson, marched as far as Middletown, Delaware, but was unable to join the main army in time to participate in the battle at Brandywine.
It would not be within the scope of this paper to give an account, however brief, of the operations of the opposing armies in the campaign which, commencing with the battle of the Brandywine46 was illustrated by that of Germantown, and closed with the skirmish at Edge Hill. This belongs to general history. It is sufficient here to say that the Maryland troops participated in almost every conflict, generally with
45 On the 27th of Aug. General Howe issued another of his proclamations, under a belief that there was a large body of the disaffected in the section he was now invading. This was addressed to the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, the lower counties of the Delaware, and the counties upon the Eastern Shore of Maryland. About as little, if indeed as much effect, was produced by this, as by his others. It is said this proclamation was read by Mr. William Hindman at the door of Talbot Courthouse, and for this he was censured by the politicians in after years, as smacking of Toryism.
46 There is a tradition pretty well substantiated that a Talbot soldier, Lieut. Perry Benson, supported Gen'l Lafayette from the field after he had been wounded at Brandywine.
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great credit to themselves, but sometimes, unfortunately, their reputa- tion was blurred by conduct on the field of which no Marylander can be proud. But it must be said in extenuation that they were only the raw militia whose firmness was the subject of humiliating comment. It is presumable that the Talbot companies were engaged, and they are entitled to share in whatever honors were reaped in this campaign, and justice requires that they should divide whatever reproach was incurred. The main army went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. The Mary- land militia returned to their homes, but Smallwood's regulars faring better than their compatriots in arms, were comfortably quartered in and around Wilmington.
While the soldiers of Maryland were thus engaged in vindicating the rights to independent existence, her statesmen were exercising that right by the enactment of laws for the carrying into practical effect the provisions of the Constitution which had been framed the previous year, with admirable wisdom. The first session of the first General Assembly of the new State commenced on the 5th of February and ended on the 20th of April, 1777. On the 13th of the month first named, Mr. Thomas Johnson was chosen Governor by the joint vote of the two houses, was inaugurated with much ceremony, and proclaimed on the 21st. Mr. Matthew Tilghman received one vote, but he had previously been elected the president of the first Senate of Maryland, a position which he continued to hold until 1786, when he retired from public service. In the first Executive Council of the State elected on the 14th of Febru- ary, 1777, Mr. Edward Lloyd of this county had a seat. He was again elected in October of the same year a member of the second Council, and again in 1778, a member of the third Council, when also Col. James Hindman, who had previously resigned his post in the army, was chosen a member of the same honorable body. On the first Monday in October, 1777, there was held the second election under the Constitution for members of the Lower House of Assembly, when Messrs. Nicholas Thomas, Howes Goldsborough, James Benson and John Gibson were made the delegates from Talbot, and upon the meeting of the Legisla- ture, Mr. Nicholas Thomas was chosen speaker of the house of which he was a member. But while the Assembly was thus engaged in inaugur- ating the new government-getting its machinery into place and in order for the regular working of the engine of state-it was not less diligent in providing for the army, upon the success of which, the con- tinued existence of that government depended. During the sessions of 1777 and 1778, provisions were made for maintaining the proper
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quota of troops of the State in the field,47 by voluntary enlistment, for which bounties were offered, and by compulsory draughts. Those men who were already in the service had their comfort and welfare looked after and provided with supplies of clothing and blankets. Facilities were afforded for the operations of the army of the United States, by the authorizing of forcible seizure of means of transportation whenever they were required by the exigencies of the service. At the October session of 1778, an act for the relief of disabled and maimed officers and soldiers, marines and seamen was passed. Extraordinary powers were conferred upon the Governor and Council, for the protection of the State, and the promotion of the efficiency of the military forces, whether in the line or in the militia; and for the execution of their orders, as well as the resolutions of the Assembly, an officer hitherto unknown, who bore the title of "Lieutenant of the County," was appointed for each of the counties. On the 29th June, 1777, Col. Christopher Birk- head was selected by the Legislature as the Lieutenant of Talbot county.
Active operations in the field commenced with the evacuation of Philadelphia by the British army in June, 1778, and with its march through New Jersey towards New York under Gen'l Clinton, who had superseded Gen'l Howe. He was quickly followed by Washington, who coming up with the enemy at Monmouth, gave battle, the result of which, though not decisive, was most honorable to the American Arms. Here the Maryland line acquired new distinction for its firmness in the presence of the enemy is clearly attributable much of the success that was achieved. Whether men of Talbot are entitled to any of the honors won upon this day cannot be determined. None of their names are legible on the scroll of fame. But in this battle there was a native of Talbot, though a citizen of New Jersey, and bearing a commission of Brigadier General of the militia of the State who acquitted himself most creditably, and has received honorable mention by historians. This was General Philemon Dickinson, the brother of the Hon. John Dickinson, a gentleman who, if he did not possess the intellectual culture and abilities of the statesman, his kinsman, was a man of greater decision of character. The county of his birth should be proud of the honor his career reflects upon it. After the battle of Monmouth, the British Army moved towards the north followed by the American forces. The subsequent operations of this year were not such as call for any
47 In March, 1778, it was ordered that 2902 troops should be raised either by voluntary enlistment or by draft. Of these, 1057 were required of the Eastern Shore counties, 105 being the quota of Talbot.
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notice in this contribution. It may be well to mention, however, that it was during 1788 that treaties were formed with France, by which that country was pledged to give material assistance to the Americans in their struggle-an event of the utmost importance in our national history. The French fleet arrived in the Delaware soon after the departure of the British, upon their evacuation of Philadelphia. The presence of the French relieved the people of Maryland, residing along the shores of the Chesapeake and its tributaries, of much of the maraud- ing to which they had been subject both from British vessels and priva- teers fitted out by the loyalists. Early in December the army went into winter quarters, the Marylanders building huts for their protection at Middlebrook, which was made the headquarters of the commander-in- chief.
During the winter the authorities of Maryland were actively engaged in filling up the ranks of the Maryland line, and furnishing soldiers in camp with those necessaries which the inclement season, and their generally destitute condition demanded. The operations of the main army in the year consisted rather in watching the movements of the enemy than in any "enterprises of pith and moment," and the cam- paign was upon the whole without consequences of importance to either party. In the capture of Stony Point by General Wayne, one of the most creditable affairs of the war, Maryland troops participated, behav- ing with a gallantry at least equal to that of their fellow soldiers of the other States. In May of this year a detachment from the British squad- ron that lay in New York harbor, having on board marines and soldiers, entered the mouth of the Chesapeake and ravaged portions of Virginia. Great alarm was communicated to the people of Maryland who were exposed to the depredations of this force which was expected to ascend the Bay and lay waste the counties along its shores. None was more exposed to depredations and injury from a naval enemy than Talbot, her geographical formation and position being such as to permit incur- sions from the fleet into almost every part of her territory. The Gov- ernor of the State ordered the militia in all the tidewater counties to hold themselves in readiness to repel the invaders and General Gist, who in former years had commanded the troops of this class drawn from this section, was sent from the main army to take charge of the defences of the State. This detachment from the fleet of the enemy, however, after being pretty well glutted with the pillage and plunder of some of the Virginia counties, returned to New York, and joined the squadron, without further prosecuting what appears to have been a
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mere marauding expedition. These alarms of the people along the shores of the Chesapeake were frequent during the war, which required the militia of this and other counties similarly situated to be constantly upon the alert-a condition of things which however annoying served to keep alive the military spirit among the people, and to this cause may be attributed in great degree the ability and willingness which Maryland exhibited to keep her full quota of troops in the field and even to furnish recruits to the lines of other States less infused with the spirit of warlike resistance.
In October of 1778 a general election was held, at which Messrs. Robert Goldsborough, Thomas Sherwood, Howes Goldsborough and John Stevens were chosen delegates to the lower house of assembly, which with the senate, met on the 26th of the same month and year, and again in March and July of the following year. One of the most important acts of this Legislature was that entitled an "Act to estab- lish select vestries." No part of the social system in this State was more profoundly deranged by the organism of the Revolution than that which discharged the functions of religion. The church of England was really a part of the government. It was the established church of the Province. The parishes were civil divisions of the territory. The incumbents of those parishes were the appointees of the Lord Proprie- tary, or his Governors. The stipends of these appointees were derived from annual levies, collected as all other levies, by the sheriffs of the counties and paid over to the vestries, of which the rectors were the principal vestrymen, ex-officio. The vestries were really civil officers elected by the qualified voters of the parishes, not only having the tem- poralities of the church in hand but also the morality of their constitu- ents in a certain degree, under their censorship. By the adoption of the constitution in 1776 all this machinery was laid aside. The selection of the ministers was left to the vestries. These vestries no longer having a legal status, the pay of the clergy from the public fund ceased, and, in general, affairs ecclesiastical were placed in a condition of chaos. It is to be noted, however, that the Commissioners and Justices of the Peace for the county continued to levy the usual church rate of forty pounds of tobacco per poll up to the time of the adoption of the con- stitution, and the incumbents of the parishes, who were associators, or willing to take the prescribed oaths, were allowed to receive their usual stipends up to November, 1777, after which time these entirely ceased, and the clergy became dependent for support upon the benevo- lence of their several congregations, and the income from the glebes
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with which some of the parishes were endowed. The object of the " Act to establish select vestries" was to give to the vestries such legal status as the changed condition of affairs allowed. Many of the clergy of the established church of the province were royalists in sentiment. Some had abandoned the parishes, others had been dispossessed, before the adoption of the constitution; and, when the "Act for the better security of the government" was passed in 1777, which forbid anyone "to preach or teach the gospel"48 who refused to take the prescribed oaths of allegiance to the State, yet others, who had up to this time exercised their functions, were debarred from the pulpits. The people of Talbot were fortunate in having in the two parishes which included much the greater part of the county clergymen of undoubted loyalty to the patriot cause, the Rev. John Gordon of Saint Michael's parish and the Rev. Jacob Henderson Hindman of Saint Peter's parish, one of whom at least was a member of the Committee of Observation for the county, a body composed of no others but men of approved fidelity to the cause.49 Besides having ministers in entire sympathy with them upon political subjects, the vestries held glebes, in each of the parishes and other properties, which yielded an income for the partial support of the rec- tors, each of whom possessed also private means of no inconsiderable amounts. Under these favorable circumstances, therefore, the people of the county did not suffer a deprivation of their ecclesiastical privileges. After the resignation of Mr. Hindman in 1779 St. Peter's parish was forced to be content with such ministrations as could be given by Mr. Thomas Gordon, as layreader, until another regularly ordained clergy- man could be induced to accept the small pay which the parish was able to afford. This clergyman who was prevailed upon to accept the parish was the Rev. John Bowie, who, though a non-juror, was accused of toryism while in his parish in Worcester, from which he was removed by the order of the convention, was, in the year 1780, accepted as rector, he partially supporting himself by teaching a school.
In this connection it is proper to mention that the Methodists had begun their inroads upon territory that had been regarded as the peculiar domain of the church, at or about the time of the outbreak of the Revolu-
48 Passed at the Oct. session 1777, Chap. XX, Sec. seventeen.
49 Among the names given in this contribution of members of the Com. of Obser- vation appear those of the Rev. John Gordon and Jacob Hindman. The Rev. Ethan Allen, who is not to be implicitly relied upon, says this Jacob Hindman was the Rev. Jacob Henderson Hindman, and there is nothing to contradict this statement.
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tion. Their ministers were generally among the suspected as many of them were Englishmen, and were supposed to follow Mr. Wesley in his politics as in his dogmatics. One preacher, named Rodda was detected in Kent of Queen Anne's in circulating Howe's proclamation, and he was driven from his circuit by the exasperated people, and compelled to take refuge on board the British fleet. In 1778 Rev. Joseph Hartley was ar- rested in Queen Anne's county, and again, in 1779, in Talbot county. Here he was confined in jail where he remained three months, but was finally released on bail In 1780 Freeborn Garrettson, a native American was confined in jail in Cambridge. In the year 1782, an act was passed, entitled " An Act to relieve non-jurors from certain disabilities" in which was embodied a provision "that no person of the sect, society or profes- sion of the people called Methodists, shall be fined for preaching the gos- pel without taking the oath or affirmation prescribed by the 'Act for the better security of the government;' unless it shall appear that such Methodist, by his actions and conduct hath manifested a disposition inimical to the present government." Whatever jealousy may have existed in the earlier years of the revolutionary period of the Methodist preachers, the converts to that system became in the end the most ardent patriots, for to the warmth of patriotism was added the heats of religious antagonism to the church which, in the minds of most, was identified with English authority.
The Quakers, the only other religious body within the county of any considerable numerical power, were non-combatants, and objected on religious principle to the employment of militia force, even for resist- ance to similar force on the part of the British government. But no- where does there exist any evidence that these people, the State of Mary- land, or in Talbot county, which was one of their strongholds, were not in thorough sympathy with the patriot cause, a sympathy which was strengthened by their opposition to the church establishment. Their brethren in Philadelphia had suffered from their open antagonism to this cause, so far that several had been hung as tories.
This whole subject will be treated of more at large, when opportunity shall be found to give an account of Religion in Talbot.
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