John Carr
MSA SC 3520-16816
Biography:
John Carr began his military career as a young private in 1776, at the very beginning of the Revolutionary War. He rose to be a lieutenant by the war's end, surviving some of the war's fiercest combat.
Carr enlisted in the First Maryland Regiment's Seventh Company, commanded by Captain John Day Scott, in March 1776. The Seventh Company was raised in Annapolis, and was stationed there during the first part of 1776, along with five of the regiment's other companies; 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. [1]
In July, the regiment received orders to march to New York to defend the city from an impending British attack. The Marylanders arrived in New York a month later and joined the rest of the Continental Army, commanded by General George Washington. One of the company’s sergeants, William Sands, described the scene in mid-August: “Our Maryland Battalion is encamped on a hill about one mile out of New York, where we lay in a very secure place…We are ordered to hold ourselves in readiness. We expect an attack hourly.” [2]
That attack finally came two weeks later, on August 27, 1776, 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. As the Maryland troops fought their way towards the American fortifications, they were forced to stop at the swampy Gowanus Creek. Half the regiment, including the Seventh Company, was able to cross the creek and escape the battle. However, the rest 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. They held the British at bay for some time before being overrun, at the cost of many lives. The Marylanders took enormous casualties, with some companies 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]
Carr survived the battle, as did most of the men in his company, although William Sands was among those killed. In October, the Marylanders fought at the Battle of White Plains, where they again took the brunt of the fighting. They were ordered to leave their defensive position on the top of a hill and charge at the British. “Smallwood’s [regiment] suffered most, on this occasion, sustaining, with great patience and coolness, a long and heavy fire–and finally retreated with great sullenness, being obliged to give way to a superior force,” wrote one observer. The Seventh Company lost its captain and one of its lieutenants, Thomas Goldsmith, both killed. By November, the Americans had been pushed out of New York, and put on the run through New Jersey. Not until late that winter did they secure revitalizing victories at Trenton and Princeton. [4]
Carr served through the end of 1776, and rejoined the army when his enlistment ended in December, along with many of his comrades. However, Carr was able to dramatically improve his status, securing himself a promotion to ensign, the lowest-ranked commissioned officer. When Maryland reorganized and expanded its troops in the winter of 1776-1777, there were a number of new positions for officers, many of which were filled by the veterans of the 1776 campaign. Generally, however, they were filled by sergeants and corporals, not privates like Carr had been. He was clearly well-connected, and was recommended for the role by Stephen Steward, a prominent ship-builder in Maryland, and the father of John Steward, a major in the Second Maryland Regiment. Steward wrote that Carr was "Sober, Spirited, [a] good soldier, and comes well recommended from his officers. I should be much obliged to you if its convenient to you to [promote him to] anything above a Common Soldier." [5]
Over the next few years, Carr and the Marylanders fought in the disastrous raid on Staten Island (August 1777), and the major battles of the Philadelphia Campaign, Brandywine (September 1777) and Germantown (October 1777). The Marylanders also fought at the Battle of Monmouth (June 1778). At some point, probably in 1778, Carr was promoted to lieutenant. In 1779, while the war slowed to a stalemate, conditions for the Maryland soldiers deteriorated. Officers and men alike were badly supplied and unpaid. Carr was among a large group of Maryland officers who petitioned the state for relief, although the army's situation remained bleak. [6]
While 1779 was a relatively uneventful year for the Maryland Line, in the spring of 1780, they marched south to help counter new British threats in the Carolinas. That August, the Marylanders took catastrophic casualties at the Battle of Camden, losing some 600 men--about one-third of their troops. The next year, however, the Americans rebuilt, and earned a series of victories, gaining a reputation as brave and dependable, and were a cornerstone of the army. Carr survived Camden, which he remembered years later as being "when Gates was defeated," referring to Horatio Gates, the general who commanded the Americans at the battle, widely blamed for the loss. Within a few months, however, Carr fell ill and returned to Maryland on furlough. He stayed in the army, but never returned to combat duty. Instead, he did administrative work for his regiment in Annapolis until resigning his commission in 1781. [7]
Returning to civilian life, Carr was a wealthy planter. He lived in Washington County at an estate called "Ringgold's Manor," and was active in the county's politics. In 1794, he was named the major of the Eighth Regiment of the state militia, and was elevated to lieutenant colonel in 1800, a post he held for eight years. Militia appointments were largely political, and Carr received a recommendation from a prominent figure in the county, who called him "a man of firmness." Carr was also a leader of a the county's Republican Party for many years. [8]
Carr and his wife Elizabeth had nine children: Nicholas; John; Sophia; Nancy; Margaret; Maria; Eliza; Amelia; and Elenor. Elizabeth died on April 7, 1807, "after a short but painful illness." John lived for another twelve years, dying on March 6, 1819, at about sixty-three years old. At the time of his death, he owned over 1,100 acres of land in Washington County, as well as 10 slaves. His total estate was valued at over $6,400. Carr was remembered as "an old soldier and respectable citizen of this county...a tender and affectionate parent, and...a sincere and valuable friend." [9]
Owen Lourie, 2017
Notes:
[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] Pension of John Carr. National Archives, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land-Warrant Application Files, S 35204, from Fold3.com; "Extract of a letter from White-Plains," American Archives Online, October 28, 1776, series 5, vol. 2, p. 1271.
[5] Carr pension; Account of money paid sundry soldiers by Gen. Smallwood, paid to John Carr, late 1776/early 1777, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, box 6, no. 7-6, MdHR 19970-6-7/6 [MSA S997-6-28, 1/7/3/11]; Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 95; Reiman Steuart, The Maryland Line (The Society of the Cincinnati, 1971), 65; Compiled Service Record of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, National Archives, NARA M881, from Fold3.com; Stephen Steward to Governor, 17 April 1777, Maryland State Papers, Red Books 19:4, MdHR 4504-4 [MSA S989-28, 1/6/4/16].
[6] Carr pension; Receipt to John Carr for cash paid in lieu of clothing, 1779, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, box 3, no. 7-20, MdHR 19970-3-7/20 [MSA S997-3-93, 1/7/3/9]; Muster Roll, Third Maryland Regiment, 1777, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, box 6, no. 15, MdHR 19970-6-15 [MSA S997-6-39, 1/7/3/11]; Petition of the Maryland officers, June 1779, Maryland State Papers, Red Books 22:48, MdHR 4589-48 [MSA S989-33, 1/6/4/21]; Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 363. There is some uncertainty about when Carr was promoted to lieutenant. Some sources place it in 1778, but others suggest that he had been one since 1777, serving in the role of an ensign.
[7] Tacyn, 216-225; Carr pension; Compiled Service Record; Roster of First Maryland Battalion, 26 October 1780, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, box 7, no. 16, MdHR 19970-7-16 [MSA S997-7-16, 1/7/3/11]; Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, pps. 363, 379, 518; Order to pay Lt. John Carr, 20 November 1780, Maryland State Papers, Series A, box 22, no. 27-30, MdHR 6636-22-27/30 [MSA S1004-29-3041, 1/7/3/38]; Order to pay Lt. John Carr, 22 September 1781, Maryland State Papers, Series A, box 33, no. 68-5, MdHR 6636-33-68/5 [MSA S1004-43-2686, 1/7/3/46].
[8] Adjutant General, Militia Appointments, 1794-1816, vol. 2, p. 92 [MSA S538-2, 2/6/5/10]; Thomas Sprigg to Governor, 22 September 1794, Adjutant General, Military Papers, box 57, folder 11 [MSA S926-36, 2/5/2/43]; Maryland Herald, and Hager's-Town Weekly Advertiser, 19 September 1810.
[9] Will of John Carr, 1819, Washington County Register of Wills, Wills, Liber C, p. 71 [MSA C1981-4, 1/63/2/16]; Inventory of John Carr, 1819, Washington County Register of Wills, Inventories, Liber G, p. 574 [MSA C1955-8, 1/63/3/36]; Washington County Commissioners of the Tax, Tax Book, 1818, District 2 [MSA C1979-4, 1/63/1/37]; Maryland Herald, and Hager's-Town Weekly Advertiser, 10 April 1807; Maryland Herald, and Hager's-Town Weekly Advertiser, 10 March 1819.
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