Francis Thompson
MSA SC 3520-17495
Biography:
Francis Thompson enlisted as a private in the First Maryland Regiment's Second Company, commanded by Captain Patrick Sim, in January 1776. After enlisting, Thompson and his company traveled to Annapolis, joining five other companies of the regiment that were stationed there; three additional companies were in Baltimore. Commanded by Colonel William Smallwood, the regiment was the first unit of full-time, professional soldiers raised in Maryland for service in the Continental Army. [1]
In July, the regiment received orders to march to New York, in order to defend the city from an impending British attack. The Marylanders arrived in New York in early August, where they joined with the rest of the Continental Army, commanded by General George Washington. On August 27, 1776, the Americans faced the British Army at the Battle of Brooklyn (sometimes called the Battle of Long Island), the first full-scale engagement of the war. The battle was a rout: the British were able to sneak around the American lines, and the outflanked Americans fled in disarray.
During the retreat, the Maryland troops fought their way towards the American fortifications, but were blocked by the swampy Gowanus Creek. Half the regiment, including the Second Company, was able to cross the creek and escape the battle. However, the rest were unable to do so before they were attacked by the British. Facing down a much larger, better-trained force, this group of soldiers, today called the "Maryland 400," mounted a series of daring charges, which held the British at bay for some time, at the cost of many lives, before being overrun. They took enormous casualties, with some companies losing nearly 80 percent of their men, but their actions delayed the British long enough for the rest of the Continental Army to escape. In all, the First Maryland lost 256 men, killed or taken prisoner. [2]
Thompson survived the battle, and continued to serve with the Marylanders through the rest of the difficult fall and winter of 1776. While the Maryland troops demonstrated their skill and bravery, the Americans were nevertheless pushed out of New York, and put on the run through New Jersey. Not until late that winter did they secure revitalizing victories at Trenton and Princeton.
At the end of 1776, Thompson reenlisted in the First Maryland Regiment for a three-year term. During this period, he probably took part in the disastrous raid on Staten Island (August 1777), and the major battles of the Philadelphia Campaign, Brandywine (September 1777) and Germantown (October 1777). The Marylanders also fought at the Battle of Monmouth (June 1778). Although his term of service ran through the end of 1779, Thompson reenlisted that January, agreeing to serve for the rest of the war. [3]
While 1779 was a relatively uneventful year for the Maryland Line, in the spring of 1780, they marched south to help counter new British threats in the Carolinas. That August, the Marylanders took catastrophic casualties at the Battle of Camden, losing some 600 men--about one-third of their troops. The next year, however, the Americans rebuilt, and earned a series of victories at Cowpens (January 1781), Guilford Court House (March 1781), Ninety-Six (May-June 1781), and Eutaw Springs (September 1781), pushing the British north out of the Carolinas towards Yorktown, where they surrendered in October. In the course of these battles, the Maryland soldiers gained a reputation as brave and dependable, and were a cornerstone of the army. Thompson and the First Maryland Regiment spent 1782 back in South Carolina, where British forces lingered for most of the year. Finally, after seven years of service, Thompson was discharged on April 18, 1783. [4]
Unfortunately, little definite information is known about Thompson after his discharge. He lived in Maryland for at least the next year, and received periodic payments from the state, money owed to him for his army service. However, since there were multiple men with his name living in Maryland in the years after the Revolutionary War, nothing more can be determined about his life. [5]
Owen Lourie, 2017
Notes:
[2] Return of the Maryland troops, 27 September 1776, from Fold3.com; Mark Andrew Tacyn "'To the End:' The First Maryland Regiment and the American Revolution" (PhD diss., University of Maryland College Park, 1999), 48-73. For more on the experience of the Marylanders at the Battle of Brooklyn, see "In Their Own Words," on the Maryland State Archives research blog, Finding the Maryland 400.
[3] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, pp. 168, 359, 432, 512, 558; List of receipts of soldiers who were paid upon discharge, 27 December 1779, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, box 3, no. 7-21, MdHR 19970-3-7/21 [MSA S997-3-94, 1/7/3/9]. Even though Thompson is listed among the discharged soldiers, he appears to have reenlisted and served past 1779. Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, NARA M881, from Fold3.com; Muster Roll, First Company, Maryland Battalion [formerly First Maryland Regiment], 1 November 1780, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, box 15, no. 31, MdHR 19970-15-31 [MSA S997-15-38, 1/7/3/13]; Journal and Correspondence of the State Council, 1779-1780, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 43, p. 64.
[4] Tacyn, 216-225; Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 558.
[5] Journal and Correspondence of the State Council 1781-1784, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 48, p. 409; Intendant of the Revenue, Ledger, Liber A9, p. 17, 29 January 1784, MdHR 1781 [MSA S165-2, 1/1/4/16].
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