Henry Spalding (1757-1829)
MSA SC 3520-16835
Biography:
Henry Spalding, son of Peter Spalding, was born in 1757 and enlisted in the beginning of 1776 at the age of 19 as a private in the Fifth Independent Company under Capt. John Allen Thomas, a part of Col. William Smallwood's Maryland Battalion.
The company was one of seven independent companies initially formed to guard the Chesapeake Bay coast from potential excursions from the Royal Navy, but Spalding and the other independent companies soon found themselves on the march with the rest of the Maryland Battalion to New York to aid General George Washington and the Continental Army in defending the city from the British.
On August 27, 1776, the first full-scale engagement between American and British forces began at the Battle of Brooklyn (sometimes referred to as the Battle of Long Island). The battle showcased both the experience of the British soldiers and the inexperience of the American soldiers, as the British were able to outflank the American line and force a general rout. At the request of Colonel Smallwood, George Washington sent the as-yet untested Fifth Independent Company to cover the retreat, where they aided the rest of the American forces swim or wade across Gowanus Creek, as the bridge had been destroyed the day before. [1]
Spalding continued his service with the Continental Army through the rest of 1776, including the battles of Harlem Heights; White Plains; Fort Washington; Trenton; and Princeton. On January 10, 1777 he reenlisted for a three year period, moving to Captain John Davidson’s company in the Second Maryland Regiment. Davidson had been one of the lieutenents in the Fifth Independent Company in 1776. Spalding fought alongside the rest of the Maryland Line through the Philadelphia campaign, the Battles of Saratoga, Staten Island, Monmouth and defending the supply depot at Fishkill, New York. [2]
Spalding was discharged at Baltimore on January 10, 1780 and settled in St. Mary's County, Maryland after the war. While living in St. Mary's he worked as a farmer and owned a horse, three cows, twelve sheep, and nine hogs. He owned several slaves throughout his time as a farmer, but traded them regularly to pay off debts. Spalding lived with his niece Jane Heard and her daughter, also named Jane. He also had a nephew named Francis, and was possibly related to another Revolutionary War veteran from St. Mary's County, Aaron Spalding, who also served in the Fifth Independent Company.
Henry applied for and received a Federal veterans pension in 1818. His pension was suspended in 1820 and later restored in March of 1828. Henry Spalding died on November 1, 1829, at the age of 72. In his will, written the day he died, Spalding bequeathed "unto my niece Jane Heard the use of all my estate during her natural life and after her death I will and bequeath my said estate let it consist of what it may to Jane Margaret Heard daughter of the said Jane Heard and her heirs." [3]
Nicholas Couto, 2016
Notes:
[1] 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; Reiman Steuart, The Maryland Line (The Society of the Cincinnati, 1971), 154-155. 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.
[2] Compiled Service Records of Henry Spalding, 1-8, from Fold3.com.
[3] Pension of Henry Spalding. The National Archives. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land-Warrant Application Files, M804 S 35082. 1-54, from Fold3.com; Will of Henry Spalding, 1829, St. Mary’s County Register of Wills, Wills, Liber EIM 1, p. 135-136 MdHR 40165 [MSA C1720-8 1/60/10/39]; U.S War Department, The Pension Roll of 1835, vol. III: The Southern States (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co, 1992), 514.
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