Daniel Boyles
MSA SC 3520-17304
Biography:
Daniel Boyles was a twenty-two year old Irishman when he enlisted as a private in Captain Edward Veazey's Seventh Independent Company in 1776, volunteering in the early days of the American Revolution to defend Maryland from a feared British invasion. [1]
Maryland's independent companies were formed in early 1776, and differed from the nine companies that made up Colonel William Smallwood’s First Maryland Regiment. While the Council of Safety, Maryland's Revolutionary executive body, used the nine companies of regular troops to fulfill the state's quota for the Continental Army, it dispatched seven independent companies throughout Southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore to guard the vast shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay. Half of the Seventh Independent Company was stationed on Kent Island, while the rest, including Boyles, were sent to Chestertown. In these first months, the company had great difficulty obtaining supplies, including uniforms and weapons. In the summer of 1776, Congress requested additional troops from Maryland to help reinforce the Continental Army, and the state agreed to shift the independent companies to that duty. When the First Maryland Regiment marched for New York in early July, it was accompanied by the Fourth, Fifth and Seventh independent companies; the rest followed later that fall. [2]
The Marylanders arrived in New York in early August, and prepared to protect the city from attack by the British. On August 27, the Americans clashed with the British at the Battle of Brooklyn (also called the Battle of Long Island), the first full-scale encounter of the American Revolution. The battle was a rout: the British were able to sneak around the American lines, and the outflanked Americans fled in disarray. During the retreat, the Maryland troops fought their way towards the American fortifications, but were blocked by the swampy Gowanus Creek. Half the regiment was able to cross the creek to safety. The rest, Boyles's company among them, were unable to do so before they were attacked by the British. Facing down a much larger, better-trained force, these men, now known as the "Maryland 400," mounted a series of daring charges, which held the British at bay for some time, at the cost of many lives, before being overrun. [3]
Boyles's company suffered greatly during the battle. Its commander Captain Veazey was killed early in the fighting and two of the company's lieutenants were captured. First Lieutenant William Harrison was the sole officer in the company to escape, and only 36 men avoided death or captivity, just a third of the company. Boyles was likely among the lucky ones, although his exact fate at the battle is uncertain, so it is not clear if he fought with the Marylanders during the difficult fall of 1776, a series of defeats that saw the Americans pushed out of New York, followed by revitalizing victories at Trenton and Princeton late that winter. When his term of service expired at the end of 1776, he reenlisted for three years in the newly-formed Second Maryland Regiment, largely composed of the disbanded independent companies. At some point after reenlisting, he left the army without authorization, however, and he was reported as a deserter in a newspaper advertisement in the summer of 1777, but he evidently was not gone for very long. Relatively short-term absences were not terribly unusual among deserters, as men often returned home for a time, even if they did not receive permission. [4]
In the years to come, Boyles and the Marylanders took part in a number of major operations, including the disastrous Battle of Staten Island (August 1777), and the battles of Brandywine (September 1777) and Germantown (October 1777), part of an effort to prevent the capture of Philadelphia. On June 28, 1778, Boyles and the rest of the Maryland troops fought the British at the Battle of Monmouth, a battle which resulted in little advantage to either army. However, Boyles was wounded, and suffered "the loss of an Arm in the Action." [5]
After time recuperating in the hospital and at home, Boyles was transferred to the Invalid Corps of the Continental Army in March 1779. The Invalid Corps was composed of wounded soldiers "who shall be found capable of doing guard or garrison duty." Boyles stayed with the Invalid Corps until the end of his enlistment, likely helping to guard the American fort at West Point, New York. He was discharged in May 1780. [6]
Boyles was granted a disability pension of £20 Maryland currency by the state shortly after his discharge. However, collecting it proved difficult, and Boyles worked for many years to secure his full compensation. One enduring problem was that his pension was paid in "Paper [money] greatly depreciated" by wartime inflation. [7]
During this period, Boyles lived in Cecil County, Maryland, where had lived when he had enlisted, and remained there until at least 1790. Although there is no record of his marriage, census records show him in 1790 living with a woman and a male child, possibly his wife and son. After 1790, however, there is no information about him or his fate. [8]
Owen Lourie, 2016
Notes:
[1] Descriptions of men in Capt. Edward Veazey’s Independent Comp, 1776, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, MdHR 19970-15-36/01 [MSA S997-15-36, 1/7/3/13]. Records give a variety of spellings for Boyles's name, including Boyle and O'Boyle, and Biles. However, Boyles was used most consistently.
[2] Mark Andrew Tacyn “’To the End:’ The First Maryland Regiment and the American Revolution” (PhD diss., University of Maryland College Park, 1999), 33-34, 43; Journal of the Maryland Convention and Council of Safety 1775-1776, Archives of Maryland Online vol. 11, pps. 318, 468; Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety, July-December, 1776, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 12, p. 4.
[3] Tacyn, 48-73. For more on the experience of the Marylanders at the Battle of Brooklyn, see "In Their Own Words," on the Maryland State Archives research blog, Finding the Maryland 400.
[4] Extract of a letter from an officer in the Maryland Battalion, 28 August 1776, American Archives series 5, vol. 1, p. 1195; Return of the Maryland troops, 27 September 1776, from Fold3.com; Boyles is not included on any known list of prisoners, but may still have been a captive. Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 83; Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, NARA M881, from Fold3.com; "One Hundred and Eighty Dollars Reward," Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser (Philadelphia), 2 July 1777..
[5] Account of disability payments made to Daniel Boyles, 31 March 1784, Maryland State Papers, Red Books 23:151, MdHR 4591-53 [MSA S989-35, 1/6/4/23].
[6] Archives of Maryland, vol. 18, p. 83; Compiled Service Records of Soldiers; Roll of Men Transferred to the Invalid Corps, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, box 14, no. 36, p. 1, MdHR 19970-14-36/1 [MSA S997-14, 1/7/3/13]; Robert K. Wright, The Continental Army (Washington, DC: U.S. Army Center for Military History, 1983), 136.
[7] Journal and Correspondence of the State Council 1779-1780, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 43, p. 186; Application for Disability Compensation, 1 June 1780, Maryland State Papers, Series A, box 18, no. 120, MdHR 6636-18-120 [MSA S1004-23-1480, 1/7/3/35]; Order to pay Daniel Boyle, 1 June 1780, Maryland State Papers, Series A, box 22, no. 11/1, MdHR 6636-22-11/1 [MSA S1004-28-1339, 1/7/3/37]; Account of disability payments made to Daniel Boyles; Journal and Correspondence of the State Council 1789-1793, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 72, p. 215.
[8] "One Hundred and Eighty Dollars Reward"; U.S. Federal Census, 1790, Bohemia Manor, Cecil County, Maryland.
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