David Congleton
MSA SC 3520-16934
Biography:
As a soldier in the First Maryland Regiment in 1776, David
Congleton saw action at the Battle of Brooklyn, earning him recognition as a
member of the famed
By May of 1776, 28 year old David Congleton enlisted as a
private in the Fifth Company. The First Maryland Regiment began the nearly 200
mile march from
In the early morning hours of August 26, the British Army
launched a frontal attack on the American troops, distracting them from the
approaching British flanking maneuver. Circling the American left, the British
successfully routed the Continental Army. The stoic resolve of the First
Maryland Regiment was the only thing that saved the American Army from total
destruction at the hands of the British.
The First Maryland Regiment held the American line and
enabled the body of the Continental Army to escape. During their withdraw, the
First Regiment, led by the Fifth Company, drove back a British ambush and made
its way to the Gowanus Creek. There the regiment split, half the companies
including the Fifth Company, retreated through the creek, while the remaining
companies skirted the edge of the creek and were forced to take a last stand at
the Old Stone House.[2]
Following the Battle of Broolyn, Congleton, in quick
succession, saw action at the Battle of Harlem Heights on September 16, and the
Battle of White Plains on October 28, 1776, as part of the American campaign to
retake
During his service in the First Company, Congleton participated
in the unsuccessful defense of the American Capital at
Congleton’s military service after 1779 is contested. A
regimental muster roll denoted Cogleton as having deserted on January 13, 1780.
Congleton, however, applied in 1818 for a federal veterans pension, claiming that he served for the entire war. The fact that Congleton was
listed as a deserter in one muster roll was not definitive in-and-of itself. William
McMillan, for example, was listed as a deserter in
From 1779 forward, there are no service records and he did
not appear on any muster rolls. Furthermore, in his pension Congleton described
his military service during the first half of the war in great detail and
listed dates, commanding officers, and battles at which he fought. This detailed
description abruptly changed as he describes his later military service. In his
pension application, Congleton jumped straight from the Battle of Germantown to
the Battle of Yorktown, skipping over the entire Southern Campaign, in which
American troops successfully halted the British advance from the south, and led
to the end of the war.[7]
Congleton’s lack of service records, in conjunction with the holes in his pension application therefore indicate that he did in fact desert and falsified his service record in attempts to receive a pension. Without the complete pension application, it is unclear whether or not Congleton was awarded a pension. All that is known of his later life is that he lived in New Jersey into his 70s.
-Taira Sullivan, 2014
[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 blog.
[3] Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, NARA M881, 0397, from Fold3.com (hereafter cited as Service Records); David Congleton, Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783, NARA M246, 0033, fold3; David Congleton, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, NARA M804, S.34243, from Fold3.com (hereafter cited as Pension Application).
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