Bartholomew Finn
MSA SC 3520-17845
Biography:
Bartholomew Finn enlisted as a private in the Third Company of the First Maryland Regiment, led by Captain Barton Lucas, on February 2, 1776. The Third Company was recruited primarily from Prince George’s County, Maryland, but traveled to Annapolis in the spring of 1776 to train for several months. [1]
Finn’s enlistment is the only record of him serving with the First Maryland Regiment. However, on July 20, 1776, a man named Bartholomew Finn enlisted in a Flying Camp company based in Harford County. Given how uncommon his name was, it is entirely possible he was the same man, and that he left the Third Company to enlist in the Flying Camp, which was not permitted. There are no records of any Bartholomew Finns living in Maryland after the war, which makes the situation even more confusing, as we cannot determine if there may have actually been two different men with the same name. [2]
If they were two different men, then Bartholomew Finn fought with the First Maryland Regiment at the Battle of Brooklyn, where the Continental Army, led by General George Washington, fought to defend New York. Although the battle was a crippling defeat for America, Maryland soldiers, now called the “Maryland 400,” fought off the British long enough for many of their fellow soldiers to safely retreat. However, if Finn left the Third Company for the Flying Camp, he would not have been part of this group.
Soon after, 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. About half of the Flying Camp arrived in New York in time to fight at Harlem Heights, and the rest joined soon after, so regardless of which of the two companies he was with, Finn likely still fought in these battles. [3]
-Natalie Miller, Maryland Society Sons of the American Revolution Research Fellow, 2018
Notes:
[2] Archives of Maryland Online, vol 18, 60.
[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, 107.
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