Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

John Callenan
MSA SC 3520-17200

Biography:

John Callenan, sometimes spelled Callahan or Cullanan, enlisted in Captain Nathaniel Ramsey's Fifth Company, part of the First Maryland Regiment, in May 1776. [1] He was present among the Maryland 400 at the Battle of Brooklyn. The First Maryland Regiment were 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 to fill the Continental Army's depleted ranks. [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. The regiment arrived there in early August, with the Battle of Brooklyn set between the Continental Army and the British Army, joined by their Hessian allies.

He and his company served at the Battle of Brooklyn in late August 1776. Ramsey's company, Callenan 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. [3] This confirmed the assessment of the British Parliament's 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 it brought men of the Maryland 400 together. [4] 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." [5]

The Battle of Brooklyn, the first large-scale battle, fits into the larger context 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. 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.

As Maryland reorganized its soldiers in December 1776, Callenan re-enlisted as a private for three more years. [6] During that term of service, Lashley took part in the defense of Philadelphia, as the Americans sought to protect their capital from the British. He probably also saw combat at untold smaller skirmishes and engagements. The Americans also had severe supply problems during this period, and the soldiers of the Continental Army suffered greatly from starvation and illness.

On August 22, 1777, Callenan fought at the Battle of Staten Island. Along with other members of First Maryland Regiment, Callenan attacked a regiment of New Jersey loyalists and were ordered to cut off their retreat. [7] They were surprised to come across a group of British soldiers, an engagement that led to their retreat. 1st Lieutanent William Wilmot of the 3rd Maryland Regiment described the battle in vivid detail and was dismayed that Continental soldiers had surrendered:

"...thay came down on us with about 1000 of their herows, and attacked us with about 500 of their new troopes and hesions [Hessians] expecting I believe that thay should not receive one fire from us but to their grate surprise thay received many as we had to spair and had we had as many more thay should have been welcome to them, thay maid two or three attempts to rush on us, but we kept up such a blaze on them, that thay were repulsed every time, and not withstanding we was shure that we must very soon fall into their handes...When we see them running back from our fire there was such a houraw or hussaw from the one end of our little line to the other that thay could hear us quight across the river, but what grieved me after seeing that it was not the lot of many of us to fall and our ammunition being expended, that such brave men were obliged to surrender them selves Prisioners to a dasterley, new band of Murderrers, natives of the land [Loyalists], when our ammunition was all spent Major Sturd [Steward] took a whight hankerchief and stuck it on the point of his Sword, and then ordered the men to retreet whilste he went over to their [the British] ground, and surrendered, for he had never gave them an inch before he found that he had nothing left to keep them of[f] with." [8]

In short, the troops of the First Maryland Regiment were fatigued and at least ten men were captured as prisoners of war including a lieutenant, an ensign, a corporal, a fifer, and six enlisted men, most of whom were veterans from the 1776 campaign. [9] One of these men was John Callenan. [10]

He was released from captivity in July 1778 and later discharged on December 27, 1779. [11] It is unclear what happened to him after 1779 since there are others of the same name who served in the Continental Army during the war. [12] In the end, while no other details of his life, other than his military service, are known, Callenan's story is worth telling.

- Burkely Hermann, Maryland Society of the Sons of American Revolution Research Fellow, 2016.

Notes

[1] Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution Archives of Maryland Online vol. 18, 91, 640. His first name may have been short for Jonathan.

[2] Arthur Alexander, "How Maryland Tried to Raise Her Continential Quotas." Maryland Historical Magazine 42, no. 3 (1947), 187-188, 196.

[3] "Extract of a letter from New York: Account of the battle on Long Island." American Archives S5 V2 107-108.

[4] Mark Andrew Tacyn, "'To The End:' The First Maryland Regiment and the American Revolution" (PhD Diss., University of Maryland College Park, 1999), 4.

[5] Enoch Anderson, Personal Recollections of Captain Enoch Anderson: Eyewitness Accounts of the American Revolution (New York: New York Times & Arno Press, 1971), 21-22.

[6] Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution Archives of Maryland Online vol. 18, 91.

[7] Tacyn, 136.

[8] Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary of the U.S. Army Vol. I. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1903), 598; “General Sullivan’s Descent Upon The British On Staten Island—The Escape Of William Wilmot.” Maryland Historical Magazine, 6, no.2 (June 1911) p. 141-142. For more on the Battle of Staten Island see "He had never gave them an inch before he found that he had nothing left to keep them off with" on Finding the Maryland research blog.

[9] Tacyn, 137.

[10] Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution Archives of Maryland Online vol. 18, 91.

[11] Ibid; Tacyn, 175, 284.

[12] Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution Archives of Maryland Online vol. 18, 402, 426, 473, 509, 530, 581.
 

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