Jacob Brice
MSA SC 3520-16723
Biography:
On May 11, 1775, Jacob Brice of Anne Arundel County married Christian “Kitty” Lewin, the daughter of Lewis and Elizabeth Lewin, at St. James' Parish in Anne Arundel, Maryland. Lewis and Elizabeth Lewin had seven additional children named Mary, Richard, Ann, Elizabeth, Sarah, Henrietta, and Margaret. Lewis Lewin was a prominent figure in his community. He was a vestryman at St. James' Parish, a tobacco inspector, and the owner of valuable tracts of land in Anne Arundel County.[1]
Just a year after Jacob Brice and Kitty Lewin's marriage, Brice heard the irresistible call of liberty. In early 1776, he petitioned the Convention of Maryland for a militia command, stressing his prior experience and skill in the militia.[2] Although he was not given any such command, he was given the opportunity to join the regimental staff of Colonel William Smallwood’s battalion of Maryland troops as adjutant in March 1776.[3]
Brice, as adjutant, had a variety of duties to perform. He was the liaison between the colonel and the men of the regiment, managing and recording the duties and shifts of all officers and noncommissioned officers. He also recorded the daily general orders and related them to the colonel, who would make any necessary additions. Brice would then relay these orders to the first sergeants of each company. The adjutant was also expected to inspect and direct soldiers on the parade ground in duty and exercise. During a march, the adjutant rode along the flanks of the regiment and supervised its movement. The adjutant continued to play a vital role once the march was over and the construction of the camp began: he was in charge of dividing men into squads to establish communication routes, gather wood, and locate water.[4] Brice and his successful execution of these duties were absolutely vital to the function of the regiment.
Successfully performing his duties as adjutant, however, forced Brice to forsake his duties as a provider at home, like many other soldiers. In 1776, he attempted to lend a hand from afar. He wrote to the Maryland Council of Safety asking them to provide his family with a bushel of salt, “having it not in [his] Power to procure Salt being in the service at the time, it was to be disposed of in the province also being still engaged it will not be in [his] power to get any.” He added that his “family will be very much distressed for the want of it.”[5] Whether or not the Brice family was ever given any salt is unknown.
The First Maryland Regiment was training in Annapolis when orders came to march to the aid of the Continental Army in New York in the summer of 1776. The Marylanders arrived near the end of July. Shortly after arriving, on August 24, Brice was court-martialed for “disobedience of orders and disrespectful behaviour to his commanding officer.”[6] It seems that Brice was acquitted, however, for when the Battle of Brooklyn took place just three days later, Brice was present.
The battle was a disaster for the Continental Army. It was quickly outflanked and soldiers were forced to retreat by swimming through Gowanus Creek under heavy fire. The Continental Army and George Washington himself faced annihilation as a result. They were saved, however, by the courage of a group of soldiers who came to be known as the Maryland 400. In the midst of the frenzied retreat, the Maryland 400 launched a daring counterattack and held off the British long enough for Washington and his army to escape. Two hundred and fifty-six Maryland soldiers were either killed or captured as a result of their bravery.
Brice almost became one of the many men lost as a result of the rout. He was "taken prisoner by two officers of Light-Horse, and was delivered to a private, who told him he was his prisoner, which Brice denied, and immediately shot him and got clear."[7] He then returned to his regiment and remained with it as the Marylanders continued to cover the Continental Army’s retreat at the Battle of White Plains. In the winter of 1776-1777, Brice was granted a commission as a captain in the newly formed Third Maryland Regiment, thus graduating from an administrative position to one which involved live combat.[8] Americans finally tasted victory soon after at the battles of Trenton and Princeton. The following summer, Brice and his company fought in the devastating American losses at Brandywine and Germantown in the fateful Philadelphia Campaign.
On May 1, 1778, Brice was appointed brigade inspector.[9] This title required Brice to inspect the troops of companies before they were mustered into service. Brice remained with the Third Regiment for the Battle of Monmouth in the summer of 1778 and through the inactivity that characterized much of 1779.
In January 1780, George Washington appointed Brice brigade major of the First Maryland Brigade.[10] A few months afterwards, the Battle of Camden took place. During this American defeat, Brice was wounded and, once again, captured.[11] This time, however, he did not have any luck escaping. He was held at Haddrell’s Point in South Carolina until at least the winter of 1782.[12] Haddrell’s Point was a former barracks and hospital of the Continental Army that the British captured in April 1780.[13]
While still a prisoner of war, Brice was transferred from the Third Regiment to the Fourth Regiment in the reorganization of the army in January 1781.[14] Both the means and date of Brice’s exchange or escape from Haddrell’s Point are unknown. By January 1, 1783, however, Brice rejoined the Fourth Regiment and transferred to the First Regiment as a captain shortly thereafter.[15]
The Revolutionary War officially ended in September 1783. Two months later, on November 15, Brice retired from the First Regiment.[16] It was not long, however, before Brice reunited with his former brothers in arms. The first meeting of Maryland’s Society of the Cincinnati took place in Annapolis on November 22, 1783. Brice was one of many Maryland officers present at this historic meeting.[17]
The details of Brice’s life following his military service are mostly unknown. He and his wife had several children, including a daughter named Mary. By 1788, Brice and his family had settled in Savannah, Georgia. In June of that year, Brice wrote a beautifully eloquent letter written to the Council of Maryland expressing his willingness to be recalled into the military. He described his relationship with the United States and its army as “a tie so sacred that must ever bind me to her service as a soldier and citizen.,” and expressed his desire to
“act under the new Constitution, or to render such service as may be required in case of a rupture; the seeds of which may be now germinating and in a short space require the swords of her old soldiers to reap the harvest of new blown laurels.” [18]
Although no record of Brice’s return to the military can be found, the sincerity and grace of his words reveal him to have been a true patriot dedicated to the preservation and protection of his country. He died in Savannah on December 25, 1788. [19]
Jillian Curran, Explore America Research Intern, 2019
Notes:
[1] Edith Stansbury Dallam, St. James’ Parish, Old Herring Creeke Parish: A History, 1663-1799 (Port City Press, Inc., 1978), 255, 390, 489-490, 507; General Court of the Western Shore, Land Records, Deed, Jacob Brice and wife to John Kilty, 1779, Liber DD no. 6, p. 358 [S501-1, 1/16/2/29].
[2] "Jacob Brice to Convention," 1776, Maryland State Papers, Red Books, vol. 19, no. 13, MdHR 4584-13 [MSA S989-29, 1/6/4/16].
[4] Frederick Steuben, Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States : part I (Philadelphia, Eleazer Oswald, 1786), 125.
[6] “General Orders, 20 August 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019.
[7]“Extract of a Letter from New York, Dated August 31, 1776,” American Archives, Series 5, vol.1, p. 1250.
[8] Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, NARA M881, p. 1-25, from Fold3.com.
[10] "General Orders."
[11] Maryland State Papers, Red Books, Thomas Jefferson to Gov., 1781, vol. 5, no. 55, MdHR 4563-55 [MSA S 989-7-59].
[12] “Major Jacob Brice (Charlestown) to Maurice Simons,” June 27 1781, Maryland State Papers, Series A, MdHR 6636-47-49/5 [MSA S1004-66-10723, 1/7/3/56]; Jefferson to Gov..
[14] Rieman Steuart, A History of The Maryland Line in the Revolutionary War 1775-1783 (Society of the Cincinnati of Maryland, 1969), 15.
[15] Steuart, 32.
[16] Steuart, 35.
[18] “Jacob Brice (Savannah) to Council,” June 12 1788, Maryland State Papers, Series A, MdHR 6636-66-347 [MSA S 1004-91-21326, 1/7/3/67].
[19] Georgia Gazette (Savannah), 1 January 1789; Maryland Journal (Baltimore), 17 February 1789; Anne Arundel County, Register of Wills, Orphan's Court Proceedings, 1834-1838, p. 58-59 [MSA C125-22, 1/3/11/40].
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