Edward Sinclair, MSA SC 3520-16928

Edward Sinclair entered the military as a sergeant in the Fifth Company of the First Maryland Regiment by May of 1776, months before the Battle of Brooklyn.[1]

The Battle of Brooklyn, fought on August 27, 1776, was the first major engagement of the Revolutionary War. At this battle, the American Army sought unsuccessfully to defend New York from the British. A frontal attack by Hessian mercenaries created a diversion, which distracted the Continental Army and allowed British General Howe to rout the American troops without detection. American General Lord Stirling was taken by surprise when the main body of the British Army, led by General Howe, launched an aggressive flank attack. The left line of the American forces collapsed almost instantly, forcing Stirling to order an emergency retreat. Amidst the panic of the retreat, the First Maryland Regiment and the Delaware Continentals stood resolute, providing cover for the retreating American forces.[2]

Once the body of the Continental Army was in a safe location, the First Maryland withdrew. An advanced group of British troops, who pretended to surrender, ambushed the Fifth Company as they retreated. The First Maryland succeeded in temporarily pushing back the British at the Gowanus Creek, allowing the First, Second, Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Companies to escape through the swamp.[3] The remaining Third, Fourth, Sixth, Ninth, and Seventh Independent Companies skirted the edge of the swamp and took heavy casualties after making a last stand at the Old Stone House. [4]

Following the Battle of Brooklyn little is known about the life or service of Edward Sinclair, except that which is available in his last will and testament. During the fall of 1776, the American campaign was going very poorly. It was only due to the heroism of the Maryland 400 that the entire American Army was not demolished at the Battle of Brooklyn. After the Battle of Brooklyn, General George Washington made the decision, on August 29, to remove the entirety of the American Army and abandon Brooklyn.[5] Luckily for Washington, a nor’easter and its resulting fog, created the cover by which the American troops were secretly ferried out of Brooklyn.[6] Without this cover of fog, escape would have been impossible.

Encountering such a massive defeat in their first major engagement with the British had extremely detrimental effects on the general morale of the soldiers. At the Battle of Harlem Heights on September 16, 1776, the Continental Army had moderate success, which boosted morale, but their celebrations were tempered by the ever looming presence of the British Army.

While still under the command of Nathaniel Ramsey in October of 1776, Sinclair wrote out his will because he was “mindful of the uncertainty of human life.”[7] Sinclair had survived not only the Battle of Brooklyn, but the Battle of Harlem Heights, when he executed his will, and these experiences appear to have left Sinclair contemplating his own mortality. Sinclair went on to survive the rest of 1776, however, and his morose outlook did not prevent him from reenlisting in late 1776 or early 1777.

Sinclair bestowed a fifth of all his “real and personal estate,” to both his captain, Nathaniel Ramsey, and to his friend, John Hamilton, whom he also made the executor of his will. Sinclair willed the entirety of his remaining estate to his “beloved brother Frederick Sinclair,” who resided in County Tyrone in Ireland. David McMechen and William Hammond signed as witnesses.[8]

It is very likely that Sinclair died in early 1779, while at the Continental Army’s winter encampment at Middlebrook in New Jersey. This is supported by John Hamilton’s renunciation of his appointment as executor of Sinclair’s will on January 20, 1779. On March 6, 1779, the witnesses to the will, McMechen and Hammond, delivered it to the Baltimore County Register of Wills.[9]

Notes:

[1] Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p.639.

[2] To read more about the experience of the Fifth Company at the Battle of Brooklyn see “The Fate of the Fifth Company,” on the Finding the Maryland 400 research blog.

[3] Extract of a letter from New-York: Account of the battle on Long-Island, September 1, 1776, American Archives Online, series 5, vol. 2, p. 107.

[4] "Fate of the Fifth Company."

[5] David Hackett Fischer, Washington’s Crossing (New York : Oxford University Press, 2004), 100.

[6] Fischer, 101.

[7] Will of Edward Sinclair, Baltimore County Register of Wills, Wills, Original, 1779 [MSA C437-19, 2/33/08/015]. Although there is no documentation of his reenlistment, Sinclair did reenlist.

[8] Sinclair Will.

[9] Sinclair Will. In April 1779, one month after delivering Sinclair’s will to Baltimore, Hammond was reported as a deserter, and died shortly thereafter in May, see Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 216, 308.

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