Isaac Buttrim
MSA SC 3520-17199
Biography:
Little is known about Isaac Buttrim apart from his military record. In May 1776, Isaac enlisted in the Capt. Nathaniel Ramsey's Fifth Company, part of the First Maryland Regiment, but was absent for the muster roll, serving on guard at the time. [1] The First Maryland Regiment are the first troops Maryland raised at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Maryland was more than willing to do its part to recruit the men needed for the eight Continental batallions that had been assigned to the state. [2] A few days after independence was declared, the First Maryland Regiment was ordered to New York so it could join the forces of General George Washington. [3] The regiment arrived there in early August, with the Battle of Brooklyn set between the Continental Army and the British Army, joined with their Hessian allies. [3]
Buttrim and his company served at the Battle of Brooklyn in late August 1776. Ramsey's company, Isaac included, was placed at the front of the lines, but "hardly a man [in the company] fell," even though they took the first line of fire from the British. [4] This confirmed the assessment of the British Parliament's the Annual Register which described how "almost a whole regiment from Maryland…of young men from the best families in the country was cut to pieces" but brought men of the Maryland 400 together. [5] Years later, Captain Enoch Anderson of the Delaware Regiment wrote about the Battle of Brooklyn, saying the following:
"A little before day, we marched towards the enemy, two miles from our camp we saw them. A little after daylight our Regiment and Colonel Smallwood's Regiment from Maryland, in front of the enemy took possession of a high commanding ground,--our right to the harbour. Cannonading now began in both armies...Colonel Smallwood's Regiment took another course,--they were surrounded but they fought hard. They lost about two hundred men, the rest got in. A hard day this, for us poor Yankees! Superior discipline and numbers had overcome us. A gloomy time it was, but we solaced ourselves that at some other time we should do better." [6]
The Battle of Brooklyn fits into the larger context of the war beyond the fact that this was the first large-scale battle of the Revolutionary War. If the Maryland Line had not stood and fought the British, enabling the rest of the Continental Army to escape, then the Continental Army would been decimated, resulting in the end of the Revolutionary War. [7] This heroic stand gave the regiment the nickname of the Old Line and those who made the stand in the battle are remembered as the Maryland 400. [8]
Records show one Isaac Buttram marrying Ann Lyal on December 26, 1793 in Baltimore County, this could be the same as Isaac Buttrim, but nothing else is known. [9] While Isaac was not a general, his role as a soldier in the Revolutionary War is still worth noting.
- Burkely Hermann, Maryland Society of the Sons of American Revolution Research Fellow, 2016.
Notes
[1] Archives of Maryland Vol. 18, 640.
[2] Alexander, Arthur. How Maryland Tried to Raise Her Continential Quotas. Maryland Historical Magazine 42, no. 3 (1957), pp. 187-188.
[3] Truitt, Jeffrey W. "'Animated by the Spirit of '76?': The Motivations and Aspirations of the Revolutionary War's Common Soldiers." Senior Thesis, Washington College, 2014. pp. 16.
[5] Tacyn, Mark Andrew. "'To The End:' The First Maryland Regiment and the American Revolution." PhD Dissertation, University of Maryland College Park, 1999. pp. 4.
[6] Enoch Anderson. Personal Recollections of Captain Enoch Anderson: Eyewitness Accounts of the American Revolution. New York: New York Times & Arno Press, 1971. pp. 21-22.
[7] Truitt. "Animated by the Spirit of '76?," 17, 46.
[8] Ibid, 18, 38.
[9] Barnes, Robert W. Baltimore County Families, 1659-1759. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1989. pp. 89.
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