Levin Wilcoxon, MSA SC 3520-17130

Biography: Born October 20, 1749. Son of Thomas Wilcoxon Sr. (d. 1777) and mother Ruth. Brother of Mary, Thomas (d. ~1776), Josias, Elener, John, Volinder, William, Jesse, Ann, Benjamin, Ruth, and Lewis. Married Mary Brashears on February 11, 1780.

Wilcoxon was born in Prince George’s County on October 20, 1749, to Thomas and Ruth Wilcoxon.[1] He was close to his brothers Jessie and John, both of whom sold him land in Prince George’s County prior to the start of the Revolution.[2]

Prior to enlisting in the army Wilcoxon briefly served as a first lieutenant in the Prince George’s County militia.[3] On January 30, 1776 Wilcoxon left the militia and enlisted in the First Maryland Regiment as a sergeant in the Third Company.[4] John Hughes, a private in the Third Company, wrote in his pension that Wilcoxon served as the company’s fourth sergeant.[5] It is likely that Wilcoxon was with the regiment when it left Maryland to reinforce the Continental Army at New York in July 1776.

Fought on August 27, 1776, the Battle of Brooklyn was the first combat experience for the men of the First Maryland Regiment. Unfortunately, the battle resulted in a major tactical and strategic defeat for the Continental Army. The British Army under the command of General William Howe successfully outflanked the Americans and forced them to retreat to their defensive fortifications at Brooklyn Heights.[6]

The soldiers of the First Maryland Regiment fought very well during the battle despite their inexperience. Towards the end of the engagement and without an avenue of retreat, the Marylanders charged the numerically superior British force. The British inflicted high casualties upon the regiment, but the charge slowed the British advance, and enabled the rest of the army to retreat to Brooklyn Heights and later withdraw to Manhattan. The First Maryland Regiment’s sacrifice allowed the Continental Army to escape capture, and earned the regiment the name “Maryland 400.” To read more about the First Maryland Regiment, visit the Maryland State Archives research project website, Finding the Maryland 400.

The Third Company sustained heavy losses during the battle; out of a force of seventy four men, only twenty nine appear on a list of troop strength on September 27, 1776.[7] Only one officer from the company made it back to the safety of the defensive fortifications at Brooklyn Heights (Captain Lucas was sick and missed the battle and near destruction of his company, a fact that haunted him. Read more about Captain Lucas’s story here.).

Wilcoxon’s actions during the battle and after the battle are unknown, but he did survive the engagement. Wilcoxon did not remain in the army long after the battle; in April 1777 the Council of Safety granted his petition for his release from the service.[8] While the petition no longer exists, it possible that it was regarding the death of his father Thomas, who died in late 1776 or early 1777.[9] In the summer of 1778 Wilcoxon also provided a replacement to serve in his place in the Prince George’s County militia, but Colonel Joshua Beall deemed the replacement an “ineffective man.”[10]

After his military service Wilcoxon returned to Prince George’s County and married Mary Brashears on February 11, 1779.[11] Within a couple of years Levin moved to nearby Montgomery County where he worked as a planter.[12] In October 1781 Wilcoxon sold his remaining lands in Prince George’s County to his nephew Thomas.[13]

Shortly after selling his lands in Prince George’s County, Wilcoxon and his family left Maryland and became some of the earliest settlers in what is now Washington County, Pennsylvania. Wilcoxon was one of the signers of a petition asking the Continental Congress to approve the creation of a new state in the lands that they had settled in near the disputed borders of Virginia and Pennsylvania.[14] The petitioners cited the hardships inflicted upon them by the states and alluded to instances that “produced fatal consequences to both sides.”

[1] St. John’s Church Collection, 1689-1801, Piscataway Parish Register, 1689-1801, 278 [SC 2227-1-1].

[2] Prince George’s County, Court, Land Records, 1769-1772, Liber AA 2, 43 [MSA C 1237-25]; Prince George’s County, Court, Land Records, 1772-1774, Liber BB 3, 96 [MSA C1237-26].

[3] Joseph Sim to Council of Safety, Maryland State Papers, Red Books, vol. 13, no. 167 [MSA S 989-79, 01/06/04/07].

[4] Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 9.

[5] John Hughes Pension Application, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, NARA M804, S. 5,594, 17, from Fold3.com.

[6] Henry P. Johnston, The Campaign of 1776 Around New York and Brooklyn (Brooklyn: 1878, reprint, New York: Da Capo Press, 1971), 191.

[7] Revolutionary War Rolls. NARA M246, p. 92, from Fold3.com.

[8] Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety, January 1-March 20, 1777, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 16, p. 209.

[9] Prerogative Court, Testamentary Proceedings, 1757-1777, 160 [MSA S529-65].

[10] Thomas Hardy letter to Gov. Johnson, 24 September 1778, Maryland State Papers, Red Books, vol. 9, no. 293 [MSA S 989-14-1363, 01/06/04/02].

[11] Prince George’s County, Court, Marriage Licenses, 1777-1797, 12 [MSA C1260-1].

[12] Prince George’s County, Court, Land Records, 1780-1784, Liber FF 1, 168 [MSA C 1237-28].

[13] Prince George’s County, Court, Land Records, 1780-1784, Liber FF 1, 168 [MSA C 1237-28].

[14] Petition to Continental Congress, Paper of the Continental Congress, NARA M247, Roll 62, Item 48, p. 21, from Fold3.com.