John Rowles
MSA SC 3520-17442
Biography:
John Rowles was just nineteen years old when he enlisted as a private in Captain Edward Veazey's Seventh Independent Company in 1776. He was one of the youngest men in the company, about five years younger than average. He was probably a native of Kent or Queen Anne's counties, on Maryland's Eastern Shore. [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 Rowles, were sent to Chestertown, in Kent County. 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, the Seventh Independent 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]
The Seventh Independent 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. Rowles survived the Battle of Brooklyn, and continued to serve with the Marylanders through the rest of the difficult fall and winter of 1776. While the Maryland troops demonstrated their skill and bravery, the Americans were nevertheless pushed out of New York, and put on the run through New Jersey. Not until late that winter did they secure revitalizing victories at Trenton and Princeton. At some point he left the army without authorization, however, and he was reported as a deserter in a newspaper advertisement in the summer of 1777. After he deserted, Rowles returned to civilian life in Maryland. [4]
Where Rowles settled immediately after leaving the army is not known definitively, but by 1783 he was living on his own in Kent County. At that time he owned two slaves, but had no other signs of wealth. Sometime in the 1780s, however, Rowles married Anna Maria Frisby, the daughter of James and Rebecca Frisby, part of a wealthy Kent County family. In 1790, John and Anna Maria bought an estate in Kent County, probably with money from Anna Maria's family, and moved there with their daughter Caroline Susannah. The house, now known as "Airy Hill," still stands, and has been designated a historical landmark. [5]
Over the next decade, the Rowleses took their place among the wealthiest families of the county. They owned more than a dozen slaves, and were in the county's richest ten percent. In addition to the 167 acre tract where they lived, Anna Maria also came to own another 400 acres and a lot in Chestertown. Around 1802, however, John died, about forty-five years old. [6]
After her husband's death, Anna Maria sold their home plantation and moved to Baltimore City with her daughter. She lived there until her death, in 1812. [7]
Owen Lourie, 2017
Notes:
[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; "One Hundred and Eighty Dollars Reward," Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser (Philadelphia), 2 July 1777.
[5] General Assembly, House of Delegates, Assessment Record, 1783, Kent County, First District, p. 12 [MSA S1161-7-1, 1/4/5/50]; Deed, Joseph Garnett to John Rowles, 1790, Kent County Court, Land Records, Liber BC 3, p. 28 [MSA CE118-29]; John Rowles to Thomas Anderson, 1790, Liber BC 3, p. 138; "Airy Hill," Maryland Inventory of Historic Places, K-94.
[6] "Airy Hill." Wealth information is drawn from Kent County Commissioners of the Tax, Assessment List, 1804-1814, First District [MSA C1025] and Owen E. Lourie, "A Revolution Without Change: The Limited Effects of Suffrage Reform in Maryland, 1803-1813" (M.A. thesis, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 2012), 42. U.S. Federal Census, 1790, Kent County, Maryland; U.S. Federal Census, 1800, Kent County, Maryland. Information about Anna Maria's land holdings comes from advertisements of their sales. It is not clear when or how she came to own these properties, but there are indications that John never owned them. See "Woodland for Sale," Baltimore American and Commercial Daily Advertiser, 29 May 1813 and "Sale of Lands in Kent County," Baltimore Gazette and Daily Advertiser, 19 August 1828. See also Deed, Anna Maria Rowles to Thomas Whittington, 1808, Liber BC 5, p. 368 [MSA CE118-34]. Kent County Register of Wills, Estate Papers, John Rowles, 1802 [MSA T4834-52, BC/35/43/43].
[7] Deed, Anna Maria Rowles, et al. to Samuel Ringgold, 1804, Liber TW 3, p. 194 [MSA CE118-33]; Will of Anna Maria Rowles, 1812, Baltimore County Register of Wills, Wills, Liber 9, p. 278 [MSA C435-10, 2/28/12/9]; Chancery Court, Chancery Papers, Madeira, et al. v. Dashiell, et al., 1825, MdHR 17898-9643 [MSA S512-9552, 1/38/5/21].
Return to John Rowles's Introductory Page
|
Tell Us What You Think About the Maryland State Archives Website!
|
![Descriptions of men in Capt. Edward Veazey’s Independent Company, 1776, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, MdHR 19970-15-36/01 [MSA S997-15-36, 1/7/3/13]](https://msamaryland400.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/7th-independent-company-descriptive-roster.jpg){kind=link}