Samuel Dwigens
MSA SC 3520-16792
Biography:
Samuel Dwigens's military career was only one year long, and consisted of just one battle, but he was nevertheless part of the illustrious "Maryland 400."
While there is some uncertainty about his family background, Dwigens (his name is spelled with many variations) was probably the son of Joseph and Elizabeth Dwigens. He had probably one brother, Daniel, and possibly another named James. Joseph Dwigens, who died in 1775, was a modestly successful wheelwright in Caroline County, Maryland. Other members of the Dwigens family lived in Caroline and neighboring Queen Anne's County. [1]
Samuel and Daniel Dwigens both enlisted in the First Maryland Regiment in January 1776, signing on as corporals in Captain Peter Adams's Sixth Company. The company was drawn from across the Eastern Shore, an area which was largely not supportive of the Revolution. That spring, the company traveled across the Chesapeake Bay to Annapolis, joining the five other companies 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. As a non-commissioned officer, Dwigens 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. [2]
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 Dwigens, 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. [3]
Samuel and Daniel were both among the men taken prisoner, as were at least eight other men from their company; only sixteen men from the Sixth Company escaped death or captivity at the battle. While neither of the Dwigenses left any account of their time in captivity, one of the men from their company did. Thomas McKeel, a sergeant, 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." McKeel and the Dwigenses were all returned to Maryland by February 1777. [4]
Afterwards, Samuel Dwigens did not return to military service. He married a woman named Ann Johnson on September 21, 1785, but no further information is known about them. [5]
Owen Lourie, 2016
Notes:
[1] Inventory of Joseph Digins [Dwigens], 1775, Prerogative Court, Inventories, Liber 120, p. 301 [MSA S534-121, 01/12/02/019]; A note on the inventory calls Daniel and Samuel Dwigens the "nearest akin to Joseph"; Will of James Dwigens, 1797, Caroline County Register of Wills, Wills, Liber JB No. B, p. 385 [MSA C577-3, 01/03/01/008]; Lois Green Carr and Lorena S. Walsh, "Inventories and the Analysis of Wealth and Consumption Patterns in St. Mary's County, Maryland, 1658-1777," Historical Methods 13, no. 2 (Spring 1980), 91.
[2] Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution. Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 14; Pension of John McFaddon. National Archives, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land-Warrant Application Files, S5755, from fold3.com; Frederick Steuben, Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States, Part I. (Philadelphia: Styner and Cist, 1792), 137-140.
[3] 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.
[4] Pay Roll of Prisoners Taken on Long Island, 14 February 1777, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, box 19, no. 2, MdHR 19970-19-2 [MSA S997-19-2, 01/07/03/015]; Return of the Maryland Troops; Pension of Thomas McKeel. National Archives, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land-Warrant Application Files, S34977, from fold3.com.
[5] Caroline County Circuit, Marriage Licenses, Index, 1774-1865, p. 115 [MSA CM 1213-1].
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