Elisha Everit
MSA SC 3520-17422
Biography:
Elisha Everit enlisted as a private in Captain Patrick Sim’s Second Company of the First Maryland Regiment on March 11, 1776. The regiment was Maryland's first contingent of full-time, professional soldiers raised to be part of the Continental Army. [1]
Everit and his fellow Marylanders fought at the Battle of Brooklyn (otherwise known as the Battle of Long Island) on August 27, 1776. Although the battle was a defeat for the Americans, the defense provided by Everit and the other soldiers of the “Maryland 400” held off the British long enough to allow much of the trapped American army to escape. Everit was one of the lucky soldiers who survived that day, and his company lost fewer than ten men. [2]
On December 10, 1776, when most of his fellow soldiers from the original First Maryland Regiment reenlisted, Everit was in a hospital in Philadelphia, unfit for service, the first of many hospital visits. After being discharged in late 1776, Everit did not reenlist and instead went back to Maryland, where he lived as a civilian for the next two years. [3]
In late February or early March 1778, Everit was arrested for horse theft in Montgomery County, Maryland, and held in the county jail. Instead of being prosecuted, he was offered a deal: if he was to join the Continental Army once again, all charges would be dismissed by the state. Everit agreed, and reenlisted on May 12, 1778. [4]
Despite agreeing to serve once again, Everit did not fight in any battles which occurred in the next two years. Although he traveled alongside his company, at least sometimes, he was often sick and in hospitals from August 1778 to February 1779. It is unknown what he was sick with, as the hospital records list Everit as "convalescent," or recovering. [5]
Everit deserted sometime in the summer or fall of 1778. Charles Greenbury Griffith, a Montgomery County militia officer charged with locating deserters, found Everit in late September, but was reluctant to send him back to the army. Regarding Everit, Griffith wrote, "I am at a loss what to do with [him]. He is a worthless fellow and I am fearfull will never render the publick much service. He is begging and praying to get released from the service and has offered a man in his stead that I think will make a better soldier than himself." Eventually, Everit was sent back to the army, but on April 18, 1779, he was finally given permission to furnish a substitute, a man named Jefferson. [6]
Everit stayed in Maryland after the war, as he was paid £10 by the Western Shore Treasurer in June of 1782. There is no further record of Everit in Maryland after that date. [7]
-Taylor Blades, 2017
Notes:
[2] Return of the Maryland troops, 13 September 1776, Revolutionary War Rolls, NARA M246, folder 35, p. 85, from Fold3.com.
[3] "List of Sick Soldiers in Philadelphia, December 1776," Pennsylvania Archives, second series, vol. 1, 532.
[4] Journal and Correspondence of the Council of the State of Maryland, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 16, p. 529; Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, NARA M881, from Fold3.com.
[5] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 106; Compiled Service Record. Vol. 18 incorrectly lists Everit's enlistment date as March 12, while all other records lists May.
[6] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 126; Charles Greenbury Griffith to Gov. Thomas Johnson, 23 September 1778, Maryland State Papers, Series A, box 12, no. 30, MdHR 6636-12-30 [MSA S1004-14-3170, 1/7/3/31]. Everit's substitute was probably Edward Jefferson.
Return to Elisha Everit's Introductory Page
|
Tell Us What You Think About the Maryland State Archives Website!
|