Robert Sapp
MSA SC 3520-17430
Biography:
Robert Sapp enlisted into the Continental Army’s First Maryland Regiment on May 12, 1776. At was the time of the Battle of Brooklyn (otherwise known as the Battle of Long Island) on August 27, 1776, Sapp was a private within Captain Patrick Sim’s Second Company. Although the battle was a defeat for the Americans, the valiant defense by Sapp and the other soldiers of the “Maryland 400” held off the British long enough to allow much of the trapped American army to escape. Sapp was one of the lucky soldiers who survived that day, his company losing fewer than ten men. [1]
Unlike many other soldiers, Sapp did not reenlist on December 1776 when his enlistment expired. Instead, he returned home but rejoined not long after on April 16, 1777. After the reestablishment of a restructured First Maryland Regiment, these Marylanders went on to participate in every main battle fought by the Continental Army until 1780, including the battles of Staten Island, Brandywine, and Germantown. In these battles, the new recruits to Maryland’s forces were provided with a hardened core of experienced soldiers like Sapp who were able to provide them with stability, strength, and the experience of prior confrontations. This helped with the campaign of 1777, where the First Maryland Regiment acted as a crucial aspect of Washington’s offensive force. [2]
As Thomas Paine feared, not all soldiers were heroic; there were soldiers who were cowardly and shrank from duty. Sapp was one of these soldiers, and deserted sometime after reenlisting. He was arrested in May of 1778 in Frederick County for desertion and spent time in the county jail. [3]
After the war ended, Sapp moved to North Carolina and married a woman named Sarah who he had five children with named Samuel, James, Robert, Benjamin, and Dorothy. In September 1800, Sapp was issued 27 acres on the waters of South Buffalo Creek. The Sapp family lived on a plantation in Guilford, North Carolina until he died around 1810. [4]
No further information is known about his life.
-Taylor Blades, 2017Notes:
[2] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 159.
[3] James C. Neagles, Summer Soldiers: A Survey and Index of Revolutionary War Courts-Martial (Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry Incorporated, 1986), 1; Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 327.
[4] 1790 United States Federal Census. NARA M637; 1820 United States Federal Census. NARA M33; Land Warrants, Plats of Survey, and Related Records of Guilford County. No. 2067, Robert Sapp, Assignee. [MARS 12.14.68.2059, 1349-1352]; Will and Estate Papers (Guilford County), 1663-1978. North Carolina Division of Archives and History.
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