Samuel Denny
MSA SC 3520-16784
Biography:
On January 26, 1776 Samuel Denny enlisted in the Ninth Company of the First Maryland Regiment, volunteering to serve in the American Revolution. 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. His company was designated the regiment's light infantry company, which meant that it had special duties. Instead of fighting in a line with the other companies, the light infantry was often deployed in small groups ahead of the main body of troops as scouts or skirmishers. They carried rifles, rather than muskets, and were intended to be a more mobile group. [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 was able to cross the creek, and escape the battle. However, the rest, including Denny, 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 causalities, with some companies losing 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]
Denny was among the men taken prisoner, as were at least 12 other men from their company; fewer than half the men from the Ninth Company escaped death or captivity at the battle. While Denny left no account of his time in captivity, Thomas McKeel, a sergeant in the Sixth Company, reported that he "remained a prisoner on board of a Prison Ship until the British troops got possession of New York" in November 1776, and "he was then taken ashore and imprisoned in New York with the Maryland officers and prisoners, until he was parolled." Denny was likely also released around the end of 1776. [3]
About a year later, Denny appears to have reenlisted, signing on with the Seventh Maryland Regiment as a private for a three year term in March 1778. He was with the army during the campaigns around Philadelphia and New York, likely fighting at the Battle of Monmouth (June 1778), although he may not have seen much other action. An officer in Denny's regiment mostly recorded marches across the New York and New Jersey countryside during 1778 and 1779, as the war moved into stalemate. In early 1780, Denny's unit was ordered to travel south, counter the British threats in the Carolinas. Just before beginning the journey, Denny was promoted first to corporal, then sergeant, about the time the army headed south. As a sergeant, he would have had some responsibility for keeping the soldiers of the company properly aligned during marches and in battle, and ensuring order among the men in camp. [4]
On August 16, 1780, the Americans faced the British at the Battle of Camden, South Carolina. The battle was disaster for the Americans, who were completely overrun. Just as they had at the Battle of Brooklyn, the Maryland troops once bore the brunt of the attack, losing some 600 men--about one-third of their troops. The Americans were able to rebuild their army, however, and in January 1781 beat the British at the Battle of Cowpens. The Marylanders, likely including Denny, were a key part of the decisive moments of the battle. Over the rest of 1781, the Americans secured a number of victories, pushing the British north though the Carolinas into Virginia, where they ultimately surrendered at Yorktown in October. Samuel Denny, however, was discharged on March 2, 1781, at the end of his three year enlistment, and presumably returned home. [5]
Little is known about Samuel Denny beyond his military service. The company in which he enlisted in 1776 was drawn largely from Western Maryland, so it is likely that he lived there before the start of the war, although there were a number of Dennys (and similar names) living on the Eastern Shore, and it is unknown whether Samuel was connected to them at all.
Owen Lourie, 2016
Notes:
[1] Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 19; George Stricker to Council, 21 January 1776, Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety, August 29, 1775 to July 6, 1776, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 11, p. 102.
[2] Pay Role of Prisoners taken on Long Island from 27th August to the 10th Dec. 1776, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, MdHR 19970-19-01 [MSA S997-19-1 01/07/03/15]; 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] Pension of Thomas McKeel, National Archives, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land-Warrant Application Files, S34977, from Fold3.com.
[4] Archives of Maryland, vol. 18, pps. 202, 388; "Journal of Capt. William Beatty, 1776-1781," Maryland Historical Magazine 3, no. 2 (June 1908), 112-118; Frederick Steuben, Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States, Part I. (Philadelphia: Styner and Cist, 1792), 137-140.
[5] Tacyn, 216-225; 229-230; Archives of Maryland, vol. 18, p. 202.
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