Joseph Yater, MSA SC 3520-17427

Joseph Yater enlisted as a private in the Seventh Company of the First Maryland Regiment, lead by John Day Scott, on March 8, 1776. [1]

The Seventh Company began their military career by training in Annapolis for six months. They then moved north, making it to Philadelphia by mid-July 1776 and to New York by August 14. They positioned themselves about one mile outside of New York with orders to prepare for battle. According to William Sands, a sergeant in the Seventh Company, they “had lost a great many of [their] troops [which] deserted from...Philadelphia and Elizabethtown, and a great many [were] sick in the hospital,” so the regiment was weakened before entering combat. [2]

The Seventh Company first met the British at the Battle of Brooklyn (Battle of Long Island) on August 27, 1776, where the Continental Army, led by General George Washington, fought to defend New York. American troops were severely outnumbered and surrounded when they were ordered to retreat. While the Seventh Company was withdrawing, they were again ambushed by British troops. About half of the First Maryland Regiment stayed behind to fight off the British long enough for the rest of the Americans to safely escape. Casualties were extreme, but so was the heroism that earned them the honorable name of the “Maryland 400.” Fortunately, the Seventh Company escaped without immense casualties, losing fewer than ten out of approximately 75 troops. Maryland losses totalled 256 men killed or captured, but without the Maryland 400, even more would have been lost. Despite their courageous actions, the battle was a defeat for the Americans. [3]

The Maryland Regiment helped secure America’s first victory at the Battle of Harlem Heights in September 1776 where they were praised for their “gallant behavior” and “splendid spirit and animation.” They fought again at the Battle of White Plains in October where, despite the Maryland troops’ immense improvement, there was no clear victory. Unfortunately, the First Maryland Regiment suffered greatly, including the loss of John Day Scott, the captain of the Seventh Company, and Second Lieutenant Thomas Goldsmith who was fatally shot while heroically attempting to save a soldier's life.

Yater survived the battles and reenlisted on December 10, 1776 when the First Maryland Regiment was reorganized. In 1777 the First Maryland Regiment fought at the Battle of Staten Island, and the bloody Battles of Brandywine and Germantown which were part of the Philadelphia campaign. All were British victories, however the Battle of Germantown was reported by John Adams to be considered the “most decisive proof that America would finally succeed.” [4]

In the spring of 1780, surviving Maryland veterans were part of the American Army that was ordered to march south to defend the colonies after the southern army had been almost entirely captured by the British. They traveled by land and sea, chosing the route that would deliver them swiftly while avoiding the men's hometowns which would give them an opportunity for an easy desertion. During the same time, the British were recruiting Loyalists to create a new militia in South Carolina. American troops had a continuous shortage of supplies, food, and clothing, and morale was extremely low.

On August 16, 1780, American troops led by American General Horatio Gates, including the First Maryland Regiment, met the British, at Camden, South Carolina. American militia forces fled immediately at the start of the battle, causing the First Maryland Regiment to become separated from their leader General Smallwood. General Gates also abandoned the American troops and fled while combat was still raging. American General Nathaniel Greene explained "he who has never seen the effect of a panic upon a multitude can have but an imperfect idea of such a thing. The best disciplined troops have been enerbated and made cowards by it. Armies have been routed by it, even where no enemy appeared to furnish an excuse. Like electricity, it operates instantly -- like sympathy, it is irresistible where it touches." [5] Despite the chaos, the Marylanders stood ready for battle. Their colonel, Otho Holland Williams, bravely took command and led the Marylanders into hand-to-hand combat with the British. Despite their valiant efforts, the American line crumbled and the army fled in disarray.

The American troops were crushed by the British. The Marylanders alone suffered 591 losses, or 40 percent of their troops. Colonel Smallwood, now being the senior-most officer, took charge. Smallwood did everything he could “to keep [the men] from totally dissolving in the days and weeks following the humiliating defeat.” [6] Among those losses was Joseph Yater who was taken prisoner. Another tragic casualty was that of American General Johann de Kalb, who was wounded eleven times and died a few days later. While on his death bed, de Kalb, assisted by his aide-de-camp, wrote a letter proclaiming he had "the greatest satisfaction in the testimony given by the British Army of the bravery of his [American] troop; and he was charmed with the firm opposition they [the Marylanders] made to a superior force, when abandoned by the rest of the army. - The exemplary conduct of the whole division, gave him an endearing sense of the merit of the troops he had the honour to command." [7]

-Natalie Miller, Maryland Society Sons of the American Revolution Research Fellow, 2017

[3] Mark Andrew Tacyn, "To the End: The First Maryland Regiment and the American Revolution," (PhD diss., University of Maryland College Park, 1999), 48-73; "Extract of a letter from New-York," 1 September 1776, American Archives, 5th series, vol. 2, p. 107.

[5] William Johnson, Sketches of the Life and Correspondence of Nathaniel Greene (Charleston, South Carolina: 1822), vol. 1 p. 496.

[7] Tacyn, 225. Johan de Kalb from Esther Mohr Dole, Maryland During the American Revolution (n.pl.:1941), p. 155.