William Nevitt
MSA SC 3520-17217
Biography:
William Nevitt enlisted in Captain Nathaniel Ramsey's Fifth Company, part of the First Maryland Regiment, in 1776. [1] 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, who were joined by their Hessian allies.
Nevitt and his company served in the Battle of Brooklyn on August 27, 1776. In the beginning of the battle, Ramsey's company, Nevitt included, was placed at the front of the lines. Fortunately, "hardly a man [in the company] fell," even though they took the first line of fire from the British. [3] Other companies of the Maryland Line did not fare so well. Years later, Captain Enoch Anderson of the Delaware Regiment wrote about the Battle of Brooklyn, saying
"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...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." [4]
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 have been decimated, resulting in the end of the war. This heroic stand is likely the root of the regiment's nickname the "Old Line," and those who made the stand in the battle are remembered as the Maryland 400.
At least sixty-nine Marylanders, including Nevitt, were taken prisoner. [5] Nevitt likely did not fare well as a prisoner. This is because the British were not ready for the large number of prisoners they captured. Since Britain was not at war with a foreign country, the captured Continentals were cruelly treated as rebels, rather than prisoners of war, and were abused and tortured. [6]
Many Maryland prisoners were exchanged with British forces in late 1776 and early 1777. Nevitt was exchanged at the end of 1776 and received back pay after his release. [7]
Unfortunately, there is no definitive information of William Nevitt after his release.
- Burkely Hermann, Maryland Society of the Sons of the American Revolution Research Fellow, 2016
Notes
[1] Return of Prisoners from Captivity in New York, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, MdHR 19970-06-25/01 [MSA S997-6-59, 1/7/3/11].
[2] Arthur Alexander, "How Maryland Tried to Raise Her Continential Quotas." Maryland Historical Magazine 42, no. 3 (1947), 187-188, 196.
[4] Enoch Anderson, Personal Recollections of Captain Enoch Anderson: Eyewitness Accounts of the American Revolution (New York: New York Times & Arno Press, 1971), 21-22.
[5] Henry P. Johnson, The Campaign Around New York and Brooklyn (1878; reprint, New York: Da Capo Press, 1971), 174-5, 177, 179.
[6] George C. Doughan, Revolution on the Hudson: New York City and the Hudson River Valley in the American War of Independence (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2016), 72.
[7] Return of Prisoners from Captivity in New York; Pay for William Nevitt, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, MdHR 19970-2-4-2 [MSA S997-2, 1/7/3/8].
Return to William Nevitt's Introductory Page
|
Tell Us What You Think About the Maryland State Archives Website!
|