USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume II > Part 13
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Returning, now, from this disgression, to the current of events, it may be noted here that a petition presented to the State authorities and signed by the officers of the Maryland line for more adequate provisions for their support while in the service, the great depreciation of the cur- rency having rendered their pay insufficient to defray their actual expenses, or supply their actual needs, had the names of two officers of
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this county attached, Major Archibald Anderson and Capt. Jono- than Gibson. To this petition the assembly responded favorably by ordering in July, 1779, that the officers should be furnished with certain clothing and rations of provisions, irrespective of the cost of the articles supplied. This was better than any extra allowance of the money of the country which had an unsettled value.
Again in October of this year, the annual election for members of the House of Delegates was held when Messrs. Henry Banning, John Gibson, Richard Johns and Christopher Birkhead were chosen to represent the people of Talbot in the General Assembly. Evidently the conserva- tive element had been eliminated. Upon the meeting of this body in November, the term of service of Governor Johnson having expired, it proceeded to the election of his successor. The choice of the members of the two houses was divided between Mr. Edward Lloyd, of this county and Mr. Thomas Sim Lee of Prince George, but it ultimately fell upon the latter, who became the second governor under the State constitution. In the Executive Council, chosen in 1779, and in those of the succeeding years to 1786, Talbot had no member. The Hon. Matthew Tilghman, as has been noted, continued to be one of the sena- tors who were not then as now representatives of the counties, but elected from the State at large. The authorities, executive and legis- lative, continued to feel and exhibit the same interest in the progress of the war, as those of previous years. To maintain the quota of men in the field, additional levies were made, each county being required to fur- nish its due proportion. Where voluntary enlistment was not effectual in procuring the required number, the militia of each county was divided into as many classes as the county was required to furnish recruits, and each of these classes was required to "furnish a recruit, to take up a deserter or pay the bounty" necessary to secure a recruit, which bounty was not to exceed fifteen pounds in each hundred pounds of the assessed property of the class. The act, of which this was one of the provisions, stated that the levy for the State was fourteen hundred men. This same assembly passed other acts for maintaining the number and efficiency of the forces in the field which need not be enumerated. The finances of the State, at this time were in a deplorable condition owing to the enormous depreciation of the paper issues, both Continental and State, received much of its attention and the more, that this condition fur- nished the greatest embarrassment in the prosecution of the war which was the supreme interest. One of the devises fallen upon to relieve the public treasury was the solicitation of voluntary contributions from
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citizens of the State. A list of contributors, chiefly members of the General Assembly, shows the following names of citizens of Talbot, with the amount agreed to be paid affixed: Matthew Tilghman, 4 hogs- head tobacco; Henry Banning, 1 hogshead tobacco and 200 pounds paper money; John Gibson, 1 hogshead tobacco; Christopher Birkhead, 1 hogshead tobacco; William (?James) Hindman, 2 hogsheads tobacco.50
Resuming now the thread of the narrative of the operations of the army, as far as they relate to the troops of Maryland, and therefore of the men of Talbot, the first movement to be noted is the detachment of the Maryland line from the main body and its transference to the army of the south. It was marched to the head of Elk, where it was embarked on board transports, which had been impressed for this serv- ice, and conveyed down the Bay to Petersburg, Virginia, whence it was marched to join the army then under the command of Gen'l Gates. The Marylanders were under Gen'l De Kalb, with Smallwood and Gist as generals of brigade.
The first encounter with the enemy was at Camden, South Carolina, on the 16th August, 1780, where the American army received such a disastrous reverse, but whence the Marylanders carried off so many honors, though leaving great numbers of their dead upon the field.51 In this battle three officers belonging to Talbot, were certainly present. Major Archibald Anderson, Capt. Perry Benson and Capt. Jonathan Gibson. Of Major Anderson's behavior in again and again rallying the first brigade, to which he belonged, after it had been made to recede by overwhelming numbers, which the enemy was able to bring against this body after the disgraceful retreat of the North Carolina militia, and of his great activity in rallying the fugitives so as to present a bold front to the triumphant enemy, and thus save the army from utter destruction, history has made fitting mention, and he has thus received a part of the meed to which he is entitled. Of Benson in this engage- ment we know nothing more than that he was present, and his intrepid- ity of conduct upon other occasions gives us assurance that upon this his bravery and firmness did not desert him. The records of the battle mention the wounding of a Capt. Gibson. Without possessing an abso- lute certainty that this was Capt. Jonathan Gibson of Talbot, there is a strong probability that it was. If so his wound must have been slight, for Capt. Jonathan Gibson participated actively, as is of record, in immedi-
50 Scharf's Hist. Md., vol. ii, p. 375.
51 The pride of every Marylander in the troops of his State is justified by the universal testimony of all historians of this battle.
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ately subsequent affairs. As is well known Gen'l De Kalb was mor- tally wounded, and dying testified in moving terms to the exemplary conduct of the troops under his command in presenting a firm opposi- tion to a superior force when abandoned by the rest of the army. The losses in this battle of the Maryland line had been so great that a reor- ganization became necessary, and the troops were arranged in one regiment under Col. Otho Holland Williams, and two battalions under Majors Archibald Anderson and Hardman. The supernumerary officers returned to Maryland to assist in recruiting the depleted ranks, and among those was General Gist who was enabled, before the end of the year in some measure to supply the places of the missing. It does not appear that Maryland troops participated in the memorable fight at Kings Mountain, where a severe blow was delivered to the enemy. No other conflict of the opposing armies occurred during 1780 in the South. With the most impressive episode of the whole war, the capture and execution of Andre, Talbot is connected through an officer, who after the war married here and became a citizen of this county. This was Captain, afterwards Col. John Hughes of Harford county, who was in command of the guard having this amiable but unfortunate gentle- man in charge after his arrest. A warm attachment sprang up between these two soldiers. Capt. Hughes did everything in his power to render Major Andre comfortable during his confinement, furnishing from his own scanty resources those conveniences of which the prisoner felt the need; and it is said that among the mementoes of him, which are still preserved in the tower of London, are the comb, brush and towels marked "John Hughes," which were used by him while awaiting the result of his trial. It is also said Major Andre before starting to the place of execution placed in the hands of his devoted friend a minia- ture of his former betrothed, and a letter to her, with the request that he would forward them to her in England which request was faithfully complied with. Leaning on Capt. Hughes's arm Andre walked to the gallows, and for him this friend performed the last sad duty of bandag- ing his eyes with a scarf taken from his own person.52
During the year 1780, as in years previous the Chesapeake Bay was infested by marauders which the gallies and barges belonging to the
52 Genealogical notes of the Chamberlaine family by Hon. J. B. Kerr, p. 46. Hanson's "Old Kent," p. 55. This story is given as current tradition relates it, and as it is told in family history; but the writer of this contribution has not been able to verify it, and there are parts of it which are indubitably untrue. Col. Hughes lived at Lombardy in Miles River Neck.
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State never had been entirely able to expel. These were chiefly tories from the lower part of the peninsula. They committed many depreda- tions, and carried their outrages to the extent of taking life. They were much encouraged in their piratical adventures by the entrance of the British into the Bay in the latter part of the year, under General Leslie. The following letter of the Hon. Matthew Tilghman to the Governor of the State gives an account of the capture of some of these marauders by a citizen of the Bayside of this county.
TALBOT COUNTY, Sept. 2, 1780.
SIR :- The bearer, Col. William Webb Haddaway, waits on you with two prisoners captured in a small boat which to'ther day was taken from his landing together with his own boat. This was done on the morning of the 31st of last month. The Colonel immediately assembled a num- ber of spirited young fellows who cheerfully joined him, fitting them- selves out with arms and what ammunition they could muster, and in a small row boat pursued, and in about twenty-four hours came up with and re-took the hindmost boat. The other belonging to the Colonel was entirely out of their reach. His was really a spirited exer- tion. It does honor to the State and deserves the highest applause. I really wish it may be in your Excellency's and Council's power to enable these brave men to do more. I am satisfied, if it was possible to furnish a vessel of force, the same persons who have shown so much alacrity, activity and bravery on this occasion would do a great deal towards routing these disturbers of our peace and regaining the property which must be of the greatest consequence to many unhappy sufferers; and if a vessel can be got, the Colonel, I am convinced, will be able to get as many men as will be sufficient to man her. I am persuaded you will afford him every encouragement and assistance in your power, and I am with the greatest respect, your excellency's most obedient and most humble servant, MAT. TILGHMAN.53
Again in October of 1780 there was an election for delegates to the Lower House of Assembly, when the following gentlemen were returned from Talbot: Messrs. James Hindman, Nicholas Martin, James Lloyd Chamberlaine, and Edward Lloyd. The Legislature assembled soon after the election. One of the first measures to engage its attention was the providing for the defence of the State from the enemy who, under General Leslie, had on the 16th of October sailed from New York with a large force and had entered the lower Chesapeake, and taken posses- sion of Norfolk and Portsmouth. In ignorance of the ulterior design of the British commander, but believing that he would not confine him-
53 For this letter, never before published, the writer is indebted to Col. J. T. Scharf.
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self to the Virginia waters, and the counties bordering thereon, but extend his inroads into Maryland passed an act "to embody a number of select militia, and for immediately putting this State in a proper posture of defence." By this act twenty thousand men, twelve thou- sand from the Western and eight thousand from the Eastern Shore were to be selected armed and equipped.54 They were to be volun- teers, to serve until December 10, 1781. In addition, an "Act for the defence of the Bay" requiring the equipment of "four large barges, fitted with sails and oars, armed with swivels, and carrying each at least twenty-five men; one galley armed with two 18 and two 9 pounders and swivels; one sloop or schooner capable of carrying ten 4 pounders." A troop of horse was ordered to be raised for the protection of Somerset and Worcester counties where the tories continued to give much trouble. All the inhabitants of the islands below Hoopers straits, with their property, were removed to the main, and the seizure of all their vessels, boats and canoes was authorized. While the Chesapeake was thus in command, as it were, of the British, and communication between the Eastern and Western Shores precarious, it was deemed necessary to adopt some expedient by which the orders of the government at Annap- olis should have effective execution on the opposite side of the Bay, and therefore it was resolved by the Legislature that "five of the prin- cipal gentlemen of the Eastern Shore are constituted a special council, any three of whom on actual invasion of the enemy, or when the State is imminently threatened with an invasion, may exercise, on the Eastern shore, during such occasion, all the powers vested in the executive," with certain restrictions that need not here be specified. Of this special committee Mr. Matthew Tilghman was one.55 In December, Gen'l Leslie, who had been ordered to reinforce Cornwallis in the south, was succeeded by Arnold, the traitor, who in January entered the Chesa- peake with fifty sail and a land force of fifteen hundred men. Of the depredations and devastations of Arnold general history gives such full account as to impart additional blackness to a character which had been sufficiently dark without those shades which his deeds in Virginia contributed to its portraiture. Never thoroughly trusted after his treason, Arnold was superseded in March, 1781, by General Philips, who brought reinforcements with the evident purpose to make the lodg-
54 This is the number as stated in Hanson's Laws, but it is so large that doubt is thrown upon the statement.
55 Hanson's Laws, 1780, Chap. XXVII, manuscript memoir of Hon. Matthew Tilghman, by his daughter Ann Maria Tilghman.
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ment which had been secured in Virginia permanent and to render that State the centre of military operations.
Reverting for a moment to matters of a civil or political nature, it is proper here to note the passage by the Legislature of 1780-81 of an act to ratify the Articles of Confederation-a step which this State had long hesitated to take because of her unwillingness to relinquish to certain other States the lands of western territories, which she claimed and wisely claimed, should be held as the common property of the States confederating. Her final accession to the plan-she being the last to yield her objections-caused that great charter to become the funda- mental law of the nascent nation, and gave consistence, form and per- petuity to an union which up to this time had been a political abstraction without definition, cohesion or stability. The delegates in Congress were directed to subscribe to the Articles, and this was accordingly done on the first of March, 1781, by Messrs. Daniel Carroll and John Hanson. Another act of importance was finally passed, after much and warm discussion. This was an "act to seize, confiscate and appro- priate all British property within this State." Under the title British property was claimed the property not only of residents of Great Britain, but of those Americans who adhered to the royal cause. It is to be noted that the Honorable Matthew Tilghman and William Hindman, both of whom at the date of this act were members of the State Sen- ate, opposed its passage. Under the operations of this bill, the county records indicate that certain lands in Talbot belonging to English mer- chants, trading in the Chesapeake, having their stores and factors at various points, were sold by the commissioners under this act. Among those whose property was seized and sold in this county was Mr. Mathias Gale of the firm of Gale & Ponsonly of London, who held land near Kingston. A part of Turkey Neck, in the same vicinage was sold to William Merchant, and the proceeds of the sale paid in part to General Smallwood for the purpose of promoting recruiting, and the remainder to the Treasurer of the Western Shore. Another act repealed the tax upon resident non-jurors, whose refusal to take the oath did not proceed from disaffection to the State government.
After the disastrous battle of Camden, where the Maryland line had suffered such a terrible depletion, the authorities of the State used every possible exertion, and adopted almost every expedient to fill the ranks. Early in the year 1781 active operations were resumed by the opposing armies in the South, if it can be said they had been suspended by a southern winter which admits of campaigning throughout the year.
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A portion of the Maryland troops were placed under General Morgan, having as their immediate commander Col. John Eager Howard. On the 17th of January they encountered the enemy, and then was fought the glorious battle of Cowpens, in which the men of Maryland acquired such honors as an hundred years have not dimmed. In achieving this victory, it is stated, upon good authority56 that Captain Perry Benson participated. Again on the 15th of March at Guilford Court House the Marylanders, who really composed the greater part of the regulars in General Greene's army, defeated the enemy, and maintained that distinction which they had heretofore won; but among those who laid down their lives upon the field of battle was Major Archibald Anderson, of this county, the same officer who had behaved so creditably at Cam- den. It is to be regretted that so little is known of this capable officer and brave man. Diligent effort has been made to discover traces of him before the war. Nothing has been thus far learned of his parentage or the date or place of his birth. That he was a citizen of Talbot has been claimed because he early enlisted in a company recruited in this county. His case affords a conspicuous instance of the neglect of Mary- landers to perpetuate the memories of those who have served her in the council or in the field. Captain James Hindman, recommending him for promotion for his conduct at the battle of Long Island, said: "Lieut. Anderson is as good an officer as any in the Maryland service, and I have no doubt when his character is inquired into, you will find I say no more of him than he deserves." A letter written from camp two days after the battle of Guilford C. H., thus speaks of him: "Major Anderson and Ensign Nelson are amongst the slain. Both were brave and both are justly lamented. Anderson was an excellent officer, but I regret his loss equally as a friend, for he was possessed of the most endearing social virtues."57 At Guilford, Benson also fought, as doubt- less did other men of Talbot "to fame unknown." "This battle," as remarked by Bancroft, "transformed the American army into pur- suers, the British into fugitives." Again on the 25th of April, at Hob Kirk's Hill in South Carolina, near the old battleground of Camden, the Marylanders were brought into the conflict with the enemy, and
66 Biographical sketch of General Perry Benson, by the Hon. R. H. Golds- borough, published In the Easton Gazette of Oct., 1827. It is here stated explicitly that Benson was present at Cowpens and Guilford, and this statement was doubt- less founded upon information imparted by Benson himself.
57 American Archives, 5 series, vol. iii, Scharf's Hist. Md., vol. ii., p. 416. Taken from the Maryland Journal of April 3, 1781.
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after maintaining for a while their old prestige, were, through some blundering compelled to leave the field, and thus convert what at one time promised to be a great victory into an indecisive battle. In this affair Captain Benson was conspicuous for the part he took in the move- ments preliminary to the engagement of the main forces. The following account of his conduct is taken from the biographical sketch of him, before referred to, and as to the facts related, was probably derived either from Benson himself or from one who accompanied Benson to the war at Hob Kirk's Hill and Ninety-Six "he gathered laurels which the blighting touch of time cannot destroy." In the first of these two last mentioned engagements he commanded the picket guard, con- sisting of about one hundred and twenty men. On the part of the Amer- ican army this day was devoted to foraging and to those other duties of the camp, which it is absolutely necessary at times to perform; and although every precautionary step was taken which the prudence and vigilance of the commanding general deemed proper, dispersed as must have been the army at the time, and engaged in their various employ- ments, it could not have been prepared at a moment's warning to repel the attack the enemy were about to make. The dauntless and firm hero, Captain Benson, knowing the situation of the American army, and feeling the importance of the station he occupied, taking counsel of his patriotism and his valor, immediately determined with his little band to receive the shock of the whole British force, and if possible, to check its advance, until the American army might have time to form and meet the enemy. He communicated his brave resolve to his sol- diers, and calmly and patiently awaited the approach of the hostile army. When fairly within the range of his muskets, he opened a fire so galling and so deadly, as to throw confusion into the British columns, who believing, from the reception they met with, that they had encountered not a picket guard, but the whole American army, attempted to display into line of battle. The "intrepid Captain Benson" as a historian of the Revolution has termed him, when he had fired six rounds, and lost in killed and wounded all but thirty-three of his brave soldiers, and the enemy within thirty yards, and not till then, gave orders for a retreat. But for the gallantry of this exploit, unparalleled, we suspect, in the annals of warfare, the whole American army might, perhaps, have fallen an easy prey to the enemy.58 In the books of general history as well as
58 Biographical sketch of General Benson by Hon. Robt. H. Goldsborough. A more temperate account of Benson's part in this action is given in the Memoir of Gen. Benson, prepared by the author of this contribution, and published in the Easton Star of Jan. 14, 1879.
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those of the State, the command of the pickets, which retarded the advance of the British General Rawdon, is said to have belonged to Kirkwood of Delaware. Unless Capt. Kirkwood ranked Benson, it will be perceived that there is a conflict of testimony as to the claims of each of these brave men for having secured, by his firmness, the necessary time to enable General Greene to form his army in line of battle to meet the advancing foe. But it would seem that General Greene himself has settled this matter by his stating in his orders of the day, issued immediately after the battle, that the pickets were under Captains Benson and Morgan. On the 22d of May General Greene commenced the siege of Fort Ninety-Six, which was the only place, except Wilmington and Charleston, then held by the enemy in the Carolinas. It was determined to attempt to capture the place by assault, and to "Maryland and Virginia troops was assigned the dan- gerous and honorable duty of carrying this desperate attempt into execution on the left, while other troops were to a like attempt on the right. Of the part taken by Captain Benson in this affair a detailed and particular account has been given in the memoir of him, by the author of this contribution, already mentioned. Scant justice has been done him by historians, and the claims he has made have never received the consideration they seem to merit. Here this brave man was terribly wounded, and though he for a long time hovered between life and death, he finally rallied sufficiently to return home, and before he was again fitted to take the field, active hostilities had ceased. A letter of Capt. Jonathan Gibson to the father of Capt. Perry Benson, written after the battle, indicates that he too, was a participant in the assault. The failure at Ninety-Six was followed in September, by the battle of Eutaw Springs, where the Marylanders, under Col. Otho Holland Williams, retrieved whatever reputation they had lost, and won additional laurels. Here Capt. Gibson, the same that has been so often mentioned, while engaged in this hotly contested field, received the decoration of an honorable wound. The southern army afterwards invested Charlestown, S. C., and finally caused its evacuation on the 14th of December, 1781.
While these events were occurring in the South, the enemy was con- centrating a force in Virginia, at the mouth of the Chesapeake, with a view, as stated above, of making that State the seat of the most important military operations. Gen. Cornwallis, after the battle at Guilford Court House, when Greene marched into South Carolina, moved northward to Virginia, and forming a junction with the forces
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