Jacob Holland (1754-1839)
MSA SC 3520-17424
Biography:
Jacob Holland was born in March 1754 to Mary (Wilson) and Capell Holland, Jr. They lived in the town of Unity in Montgomery County, Maryland. [1]
Holland enlisted as a private on February 29, 1776 into Captain Patrick Sim’s company of the First Maryland Regiment and was 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 valiant defense by Holland and the other soldiers of the “Maryland 400” held off the British long enough to allow much of the trapped American army to escape. Holland survived that day, his company losing fewer than ten men. While he was present at the Battles of Brooklyn and Harlem Heights, Holland did not take part of the Battle of Trenton as he had left the army on furlough during the march there. After being a private in the infantry for ten months, Holland described himself as "anxious to join the cavalry" after seeing the American army "nearly cut to pieces." [2]
Holland left the First Maryland Regiment in May 1777 and enlisted as a corporal into the Fourth Regiment of Continental Dragoons, led by Colonel Stephen Moylan. With the Fourth Regiment of Continental Dragoons, Holland fought at the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown along with various skirmishes throughout New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. In mid-1779, Holland and his company were detailed to guard the coast. Holland was discharged in June of 1780. About a decade after being discharged, Holland had still never received his last year’s pay and had to send his discharge to Philadelphia in hopes of acquiring it. [3]
After his service, Holland moved back home to Montgomery County, Maryland. He married Mary Smith in 1786, and together they had eight children: Philip, Allen (b. 1787), Elizabeth (b. 1789), Daniel (b. 1794), William (b. 1797), Richard (b. 1799), Solomon (b. 1803), and Isaac. The family moved frequently. They stayed in Montgomery County until 1790, when they moved west to Washington County, Maryland. In 1796, they moved to Berkeley County, Virginia (now West Virginia). They moved for the last time in 1801, settling in Monongalia County, Virginia (also now West Virginia). [4]
Holland was approved for a Federal veteran's pension in 1832, received $120 a year, half the pay of a corporal of dragoons, a much better rate than an infantry veteran would have received. [5]
Holland died September 17, 1839 while visiting one of his sons in Harrison County, Virginia. His wife Mary was denied a widow’s pension following his death, but died soon after on April 12, 1840 in Monongalia County, Virginia. [6]
-Taylor Blades, 2017
Notes:
[1] Pension of Jacob Holland. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, NARA M804, R. 5141, from Fold3.com; Henry C. Peden. Revolutionary Patriots of Montgomery County, Maryland,1776-1783 (Westminster: Family Line Publications, 1996), 164.
[2] Holland pension; Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 8.
[3] Holland pension; Reiman Steuart, The Maryland Line (The Society of the Cincinnati, 1971), 44; Jacob Holland will, 1839, Monongalia County, WV, Wills, Vol 1, 1819-1903, p. 110, from Ancestry.com.
[4] Holland pension.
[5] U.S. Federal Veteran's Pension Roll of 1835; Session Laws of 1818, Resolution 81, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 637, p. 150.
[6] Holland pension; Peden, 164.
Return to Jacob Holland's Introductory Page
|
Tell Us What You Think About the Maryland State Archives Website!
|