William Courts (c. 1753-1792)
MSA SC 3520-282
Biography:
It is impossible to know how William Courts felt about his life at the time of his death, in the fall of 1792, before he had turned forty. From the vantage point of today, however, it is seems to have been a story of tragedy. Fatherless by age five, he desperately sought a place in the army during the Revolutionary War. While he successfully lobbied for an officer's commission, in his brief career he was made a prisoner of war the first time he took the field. He appeared in combat twice after his release from captivity, only to be court-martialed for cowardice. Nevertheless, after his death, he was remembered for "the goodness of his heart, his integrity, [and] his many virtues." [1]
Courts was the son of William and Elizabeth Courts, who had two other sons, John and Richard Hendly. It is likely that William was the middle son, after John and before Robert. William Sr. was a wealthy planter, with 1,100 acres of land in Charles County and nearly thirty slaves. The Courts family had lived in the Maryland since 1639, and William Jr.'s uncle and grandfather both served terms in the Lower House of the General Assembly. [2]
Courts came of age amid rising tensions between Britian and its American colonies. When the Revolutionary War broke out, and Maryland began to raise troops to fight against the British, Courts was eager to join the fight. The army offered great promise for young men of the gentry like Courts, who was in his early twenties. "Anxious of showing my zeal for the love of my Country," Courts appealed to Maryland's military authorities for a commission as an officer. It was a common tactic among the upper-class, who sought to leverage their personal connections and the presumption that their wealth and social position were prerequisites for leading troops. In December 1775, Courts's guardian Samuel Love wrote to William Smallwood, commander of the First Maryland Regiment, which was being raised at the time, and a leading figure in Charles County. Love asked Smallwood
to use your interest in getting a commission for Billey Courts in the Service if any Troops should be Raised here...His property you know is very Considerable which should be one inducement...to prefer him, and [I] am persuaded his Conduct will be Such as will be of Service to the Cause and a Credit to his particular friends. [3]
When the regiment's officers were selected, Courts was not among them, and Love made a new appeal. Writing to Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, president of the Council of Safety, and another Charles County man, Love lamented that Courts's "particular friends were not of the convention at the time of appointing the officers." Love hoped that he could use "my own Friendship" with Jenifer to help Courts get "a Commission in the Army." If Love's appeal for a gentlemanly favor was not sufficient on its own, he gave his assurance that Courts was "a young man of sober and humane disposition with a frame of mind capable of great improvement." [4]
Failing once again, Courts got a place for himself as a cadet in the First Maryland Regiment's First Company, raised in Charles County and led by John Hoskins Stone. Cadets were essentially officers-in-waiting, upper-class young men who hoped to receive commissions. Eventually, in July, Courts got the opportunity he had been waiting for. That summer, Maryland raised a number of new army units, which created many more positions for officers. As men changed regiments seeking promotions, a spot opened up for Courts in the First Maryland Regiment, where he had wanted to be all along. On July, he was made an ensign, the lowest commissioned rank, in the Fourth Company, commanded by Captain Daniel Bowie. It was the day before the regiment began its march north to New York to defend the city from an anticipated British attack. [5]
The Marylanders arrived in the city in early August. 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. While half the regiment crossed the creek, the rest--including the Fourth Company--were unable to do so before they were attacked by the British. Facing down a much larger, better-trained force, the Marylanders mounted a series of daring charges. These men, now known as the "Maryland 400," held the British at bay long enough for the rest of the Continental Army to escape, at the cost of many lives. In all, 256 Marylanders were killed or captured by the British; some companies lost as much as 80 percent of their men. [6]
The Fourth Company was one of the hardest hit in the fighting. As William McMillan, one of the company's sergeants, described:
My captain was killed, first lieutenant was killed, second lieutenant shot through the hand, two sergeants was killed; one in front of me…my bayonet was shot off my gun...My brother [Sergeant Samuel McMillan] and I and 50 or 60 of us was taken…The Hessians broke the butts of our guns over their cannon and robbed us of everything we had, lit their pipes with our money…gave us nothing to eat for five days, and then [only] moldy biscuits…blue, moldy, full of bugs and rotten. [7]
Only the company's drummer, a dozen privates, and a sergeant made it back to the American lines. Courts was not among them. He was taken prisoner, as were all of the company's officers; two of them, Captain Daniel Bowie and First Lieutenant Joseph Butler, later died in captivity of wounds received in the battle. All told, the company lost 80 percent of its men, killed or captured. [8]
Although captured officers were generally held in better conditions than enlisted men, all of the imprisoned Americans suffered greatly while in British custody. Fortunately for Courts, he was released in a prisoner exchange in late March 1777, well before many of the regiment's other captive officers. Courts was promoted to second lieutenant in the First Maryland Regiment on December 10, 1776 while still a prisoner. A few weeks after his release, he was promoted again to first lieutenant and transferred to the newly-created Second Maryland Regiment, on April 17, 1777. [9]
Courts was with the Second Maryland when it took part in the Continental Army's raid on Staten Island in August 1777, which was a disastrous defeat for the Americans. They expected to find an easily-defeated Loyalist militia on the island, but instead encountered a large number of British troops. As the Americans retreated, the Marylanders were once again assigned to cover the retreat, just as at Brooklyn, and the Second Maryland took particularly heavy casualties. Fortunately, Courts was able to escape this time. Soon after the battle, the Marylanders were sent to Philadelphia, to prevent the city from being captured by the British. [10]
At the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777 the Americans were once again driven from the battlefield, and the British captured Philadelphia soon after. The Americans performed poorly, and the Marylanders were no exception. In the wake of the battle, a number of officers were court-martialed for their conduct at the battle, as the army attempted to pin the blame on someone. The Marylanders' commander General John Sullivan was accused of “evil conduct” and being “void of judgment and foresight,” though he was acquitted at trial. William Courts also faced a court martial, one of many American junior officers to be tried in the wake of the battle. Courts was accused of cowardice, and also "with giving Major [Peter] Adams of the 7th Maryland regiment impertinent, and abusive language when he applied to him, to know the reason of his conduct on that day." [11]
Courts was acquitted, but left the army on leave soon after. He remained on furlough at least through March 1778, and likely resigned from the army around that time, his dreams of a glorious military career ended. [12]
Back home in Charles County, Courts took up the life of a wealthy planter. In addition to the 200 acres he inherited from his father, he also acquired another 1,000 acres in Charles County. He and his wife Elizabeth (Thomas) had two children, a son named William, and a daughter whose name is not known. Courts was elected to the House of Delegates in the fall of 1782, and served for one term, until June 1783. Much of that session was devoted to raising revenue for the state's troops, and with trying to fund the state government. [13]
On September 28, 1792, William Courts died, "aged about 39, after a very short illness." He left behind a widow and young children. His estate was valued at £2,300 and included thirty five slaves, a large number. [14] The Maryland Gazette remembered him as
a gentleman whose heart was enriched with all the amiable qualities of a christian character. He was a man of good natural abilities, and sound judgment...He was modest, candid, unassuming, and agreeable in his company and conversation. In his friendship, sincere, steady and zealous; and his benevolence and piety exceeded by few; with the hand of charity ever ready to do good, and to distribute to the poor and needy. A loving and an affectionate husband ---fond parent, and kind master...the goodness of his heart, his integrity, with his many virtues, will render his loss most truly and extensively lamented." [15]
Owen Lourie, 2019
Notes:
1. "Annapolis, October 25." Maryland Gazette (Annapolis), 25 October 1792.
2. Edward C. Papenfuse, et al. eds., A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789. Vol. 1 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979), 237-238; Land Office, Debt Books, vol. 14, Charles County, 1758, p. 28 [MSA S12-75, 1/24/2/14]; Will of William Courts, Sr., 1758, Charles County Register of Wills, Wills, liber AD 5, p. 111 [MSA C681-5, 1/8/10/5].
3. William Courts to Convention of Maryland, 20 June 1776, Maryland State Papers, Red Books, 19:10 [MSA S989-28, 1/6/4/16]; Samuel Love to William Smallwood, 26 December 1775, Maryland State Papers, Red Books, vol. 12:120 [MSA S989-17, 1/6/4/5].
5. William Courts to Convention of Maryland, 20 June 1776; John A. Ruddiman, Becoming Men of Some Consequence: Youth and Military Service in the Revolutionary War (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2014), 31-35; Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 5; Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety, July 7, 1776 to December 31, 1776, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 12, p. 16.
6. Return of the Maryland troops, 13 September 1776, Revolutionary War Rolls, NARA M246, folder 35, p. 85, 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;
8. Return of the Maryland troops, 13 September 1776,
9. Journal and Correspondence of the Council of Safety and Council of Maryland, 1777-1778, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 16, pps. 91, 93, 228; Archives of Maryland Online, vol 18, p. 616; Reiman Steuart, The Maryland Line (The Society of the Cincinnati, 1971), 69.
10. Tacyn, 137; Steuart; 157.
11. Tacyn, 141; “General Orders, 19 October 1777,” Founders Online, National Archives.
12. Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War. NARA M881, from Fold3.com.
13. Papenfuse, 282. Courts's obituary said he had three children. "Annapolis, October 25." Maryland Gazette (Annapolis), 25 October 1792
14. Papenfuse, 282.
15. "Annapolis, October 25." Maryland Gazette (Annapolis), 25 October 1792. Presumably Courts's slaves did not agree with this assessment of his kindness.
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