William Rogers
MSA SC 3520-17222
Biography:
William Rogers, sometimes spelled Rodgers, likely enlisted in Captain Nathaniel Ramsey's Fifth Company, part of the First Maryland Regiment, in 1776. He was present among the Maryland 400 at the Battle of Brooklyn. 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. [1] 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.
He may have served with his company served at the Battle of Brooklyn in late August 1776. If he did serve with them then he would have fought with his company at the front of the lines where "hardly a man [in the company] fell," even though they took the first line of fire from the British. [2] 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. [3] 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." [4]
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.
In December 1776, Rogers re-enlisted in the First Maryland Regiment, joining the Fifth Company once again. [5] As Maryland reorganized its soldiers, Rogers re-enlisted as a private for three more years. During that term of service, Rogers took part in the defense of Philadelphia, as the Americans sought to protect their capital from the British forces, likely fighting at the battles of Brandywide and Germantown in 1777. He probably also saw combat at the Battle of Monmouth (1778), and untold smaller skirmishes and engagements. The Americans also had severe supply problems during this period, and the soldiers of the Continental Army suffered greatly from starvation and illness.
He served as a private until Battle of Camden in the late summer of 1780. [6] On August 16, the Americans faced the British at the Battle of Camden, South Carolina. The battle was disaster for the Americans, who were completely overrun. The Maryland troops once again bore the brunt of the attack, losing some 600 men--about one-third of their troops. [7] After the battle, which was followed by a hectic retreat, Rogers survived with wounds and was later captured by British forces. [8]
Over a year after the battle, in winter 1781, he returned home. [9] However, he continued to serve from 1782 to November 15, 1783, when he was discharged by Colonel William Smallwood and later received a $100 bounty for his service. [10] He was one of a handful of Maryland soldiers who served the entire war. Later in his life, Rogers received a state disability pension from the Orphan's Court in Anne Arundel County and was listed as an invalid pensioner. [11] He lived with his wounds for the rest of his life, receiving $2.10 a month, which was eight times less than what an average farmer earned every day in 1800. [12]
- Burkely Hermann, Maryland Society of the Sons of American Revolution Research Fellow, 2016
Notes
[1] Arthur Alexander, "How Maryland Tried to Raise Her Continential Quotas." Maryland Historical Magazine 42, no. 3 (1947), 187-188, 196.
[3] Mark Andrew Tacyn, "'To The End:' The First Maryland Regiment and the American Revolution" (PhD Diss., University of Maryland College Park, 1999), 4.
[4] Enoch Anderson, Personal Recollections of Captain Enoch Anderson: Eyewitness Accounts of the American Revolution (New York: New York Times & Arno Press, 1971), 21-22.
[5] Discharge of William Rogers, 1784, Military Discharges, Anne Arundel County Register of Wills, MdHR 9514-34 [MSA C44-1, 1/4/8/28].
[6] Maryland 1st Regiment 1778-80. Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783. National Archives. NARA M246. Record Group 93. Roll 0033. Folder 4. Courtesy of Fold3.com; Discharge of William Rogers.
[7] Tacyn, 216-225.
[8] Tacyn, 305; Discharge of William Rogers.
[9] Discharge of William Rogers.
[10] William Rogers Service Card. Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War. National Archives. NARA M881. Record Group 93. Roll 0398. Courtesy of Fold3.com; Discharge of William Rogers.
[11] Tacyn, 316; Pay receipt for William Rogers, 1784, Orders assigned to James Tootell, Invalids Pay Receipts, Anne Arundel County Register of Wills, MdHR 4767-160-2-11 and 4767-160-2-26 [MSA C87-1, 1/4/8/30].
[12] Orders assigned to James Tootell; Orphans Court Proceedings, 1784, Anne Arundel County Register of Wills, MdHR 9524, p. 22, 26 [MSA C125-1, 1/3/11/27]; Orphans Court Proceedings, 1784, Anne Arundel County Register of Wills, MdHR 4843-1-1, p. 21, 23 [MSA C125-2, 1/3/11/29]; Stanley Lebergott, Wage Trends, 1800-1900. Trends in the American Economy in the Nineteenth Century (ed. The Conference on Research in Income and Wealth, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1960), 462. See table 2 "Daily Wage Trends, United States, Selected Years, 1800—1899."
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