Thomas Hunter
MSA SC 3520-17211
Biography:
Thomas Hunter enlisted in Captain Nathaniel Ramsey's Fifth Company, part of the First Maryland Regiment, in May 1776. [1] The First Maryland Regiment were the first troops Maryland raised at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Maryland was more than willing to do its part to recruit the men needed to fill the Continental Army's depleted ranks. [2] A few days after independence was declared, the First Maryland Regiment was ordered to New York so it could join the forces of General George Washington. The regiment arrived there in early August, with the Battle of Brooklyn set between the Continental Army and the British Army, joined by their Hessian allies.
Hunter served with his company at the Battle of Brooklyn in late August 1776. Ramsey's company was placed at the front of the lines, but "hardly a man [in the company] fell," even though they took the first line of fire from the British. [3] This confirmed the assessment of the British Parliament's Annual Register which described, how "almost a whole regiment from Maryland…of young men from the best families in the country was cut to pieces" but it brought men of the Maryland 400 together. [4] Years later, Captain Enoch Anderson of the Delaware Regiment wrote about the Battle of Brooklyn, saying the following:
"A little before day, we marched towards the enemy, two miles from our camp we saw them. A little after daylight our Regiment and Colonel Smallwood's Regiment from Maryland, in front of the enemy took possession of a high commanding ground,--our right to the harbour. Cannonading now began in both armies...Colonel Smallwood's Regiment took another course,--they were surrounded but they fought hard. They lost about two hundred men, the rest got in. A hard day this, for us poor Yankees! Superior discipline and numbers had overcome us. A gloomy time it was, but we solaced ourselves that at some other time we should do better." [5]
The Battle of Brooklyn, the first large-scale battle, fits into the larger context of the Revolutionary War. If the Maryland Line had not stood and fought the British, enabling the rest of the Continental Army to escape, then the Continental Army would been decimated, resulting in the end of the Revolutionary War. This heroic stand gave the regiment the nickname of the Old Line and those who made the stand in the battle are remembered as the Maryland 400.
His service in the military after the Battle of Brooklyn is unclear. In September 1778 his name appears on the muster roll of the First Maryland Regiment, with record of his service lasting until March 1779, and a term of three years. [6] It is not known if he served between 1776 and 1778, rejoined the Continental Army in September 1778, or was discharged in September 1780. [7]
- Burkely Hermann, Maryland Society of the Sons of American Revolution Research Fellow, 2016.
Notes
[1] Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution. Archives of Maryland Online vol. 18, 640.
[2] Arthur Alexander, "How Maryland Tried to Raise Her Continential Quotas." Maryland Historical Magazine 42, no. 3 (1947), 187-188, 196.
[4] Mark Andrew Tacyn, "'To The End:' The First Maryland Regiment and the American Revolution" (PhD Diss., University of Maryland College Park, 1999), 4.
[5] Enoch Anderson, Personal Recollections of Captain Enoch Anderson: Eyewitness Accounts of the American Revolution (New York: New York Times & Arno Press, 1971), 21-22.
[6] Muster Roll of First Maryland Regiment, September 1778. Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783. National Archives. NARA M246. Record Group 93. Roll 0033. Courtesy of Fold3.com; Service record of Thomas Hunter. Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War. National Archives. NARA M881. Record Group 93. Roll 0397. Courtesy of Fold3.com.
[7] Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution. Archives of Maryland Online vol. 18, 118.
Return to Thomas Hunter's Introductory Page
|
Tell Us What You Think About the Maryland State Archives Website!
|