William Noyes
MSA SC 3520-17447
Biography:
William Noyes enlisted as a corporal in the Seventh Company of the First Maryland Regiment, led by Captain John Day Scott, on February 22, 1776. [1]
The Seventh Company began their military career by training in Annapolis for six months. They then moved north, making it to Philadelphia by mid-July 1776 and to New York by August 14. They positioned themselves about one mile outside of New York with orders to prepare for battle. According to William Sands, a sergeant in the Seventh Company, they “had lost a great many...troops [who] deserted from...Philadelphia and Elizabethtown, and a great many [were] sick in the hospital,” so the regiment was weakened before entering combat. [2]
The Seventh Company first met the British at the Battle of Brooklyn (Battle of Long Island) on August 27, 1776, where the Continental Army, led by General George Washington, fought to defend New York. American troops were severely outnumbered and surrounded when they were ordered to retreat. While the Seventh Company was withdrawing, they were again ambushed by British troops. About half of the First Maryland Regiment stayed behind to fight off the British long enough for the rest of the Americans to safely escape. Casualties were extreme, but so was the heroism that earned them the honorable name of the “Maryland 400.” Fortunately, the Seventh Company escaped without immense casualties, losing fewer than ten out of approximately 75 troops. Maryland losses totaled 256 men killed or captured, but without the Maryland 400, even more would have been lost. Despite their courageous actions, the battle was a defeat for the Americans. [3]
The Maryland Regiment helped secure America’s first victory at the Battle of Harlem Heights in September 1776 where they were praised for their “gallant behavior” and “splendid spirit and animation.” They fought again at the Battle of White Plains in October where, despite the Maryland troops’ immense improvement, there was no clear victory. Unfortunately, the First Maryland Regiment suffered greatly, including the loss of John Day Scott, the captain of the Seventh Company, and Second Lieutenant Thomas Goldsmith who was fatally shot while attempting to save a soldier's life.
Noyes survived these battles and reenlisted on December 10, 1776 when the First Maryland Regiment was reorganized. However, on January 23, 1777, William Noyes and fellow Seventh Company sergeant Thomas Gordon petitioned the Maryland Council of Safety that “as their worthy Capt. [Scott] had the misfortune to be kill’d, and as they are willing and desirous of entering into the service again, they hope [their] Honours [would] permit them to enter in any company they shall best approve, and not confine to the same they at present belong to.” The outcome of this petition is unclear, as are the reasons behind it. It is possible that Noyes and Gordon preferred not to serve under the old officers or the new officers of the Seventh Company, and unfortunately we do not know who was in charge of their company at this time. [4]Around the time of making this request, Noyes was promoted to the rank of sergeant major, which placed him at the top of the hierarchy of non-commissioned officers. It also made him assistant to the adjutant, the unit's chief administrator, who was to be "the most intelligent and best acquainted with the service" in order to keep accurate and detailed records of the duty of the officers, the roster and orders, as well as organizing the set-up of camp retrieval of necessities such as wood and water. It was William Noyes's job to “pay the greatest attention to [the non-commissioned officers’] conduct and behavior…[from] whom he must exact the most implicit obedience.” He also needed to know specific information on how to manage and discipline the regiment, keep rosters, and form details. [5]
In 1777, the Marylanders fought at the Battle of Staten Island, and the bloody battles of Brandywine and Germantown, part of the Philadelphia campaign, an unsuccessful attempt to defend the American capital at Philadelphia. All were British victories, however the Battle of Germantown was considered by John Adams the “most decisive proof that America would finally succeed.” They then fought in the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778.
In December 1779, Noyes and the 68 other Marylanders who had enlisted in the First Maryland Regiment on December 10, 1776 were discharged. Out of the original 170 enlistees, only 40 percent of the men reached the end of their three-year enlistment. The discharge of these men was a momentous event for the Maryland Line, with the original war veterans handing their company over to the newer recruits, entrusting them with the success of the remainder of the war. [6]
However, Noyes’s military service was not over. Shortly after his discharge, the Council of Safety recommended the Board of War to commission Noyes as an officer. William Smallwood, by then a general, wrote that Noyes's "Services and Merit entitle [him] to such Reward." The Board agreed, and William Noyes became an ensign in the First Maryland Brigade. Unfortunately, there is no record of William Noyes after March 1780. [7]
-Natalie Miller, Maryland Society Sons of the American Revolution Research Fellow, 2017
Notes:
[2] William Sands to John and Ann Sands, 14 August 1776, Maryland State Archives, Special Collections, Dowsett Collection of Sands Family Papers [MSA SC 2095-1-18, 00/20/05/28].[3] Mark Andrew Tacyn, "To the End: The First Maryland Regiment and the American Revolution," (PhD diss., University of Maryland College Park, 1999), 48-73; "Extract of a letter from New-York: Account of the battle on Long-Island," 1 September 1776, American Archives, series 5, vol. 2, p. 107.
[4] Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 16, p. 71; Tacyn, 301. It is likely that the two men had not actually reenlisted by January 1777; December 10, 1776 was used as a placeholder for administrative purposes.[5] Joseph R. Riling, Baron von Steuben and his Regulations (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Ray Riling Arms Books Co., 1966), 134-135, 144.
[6] Tacyn, 210, 302; Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 146.Return to William Noyes' Introductory Page
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