Jonathan Robinson
MSA SC 3520-17463
Biography:
Jonathan Robinson originally enlisted into the First Maryland Regiment on January 28, 1776. At the time of the Battle of Brooklyn (otherwise known as the Battle of Long Island), Robinson was a private in Captain Patrick Sim’s second company. Although the battle was a defeat for the Americans, the valiant defense by Robinson and the other soldiers of the “Maryland 400” held off the British long enough to allow much of the trapped American army to escape. Robinson was one of the lucky soldiers who survived that day, his company losing fewer than ten men. [1]
Robinson reenlisted into the First Maryland Regiment on December 10, 1776 like many of his fellow soldiers. 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, Germantown, and Monmouth. In these battles, the new recruits to Maryland’s forces were provided with a hardened core of experienced soldiers like Robinson 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. After reenlisting in 1779, he continued serving in the First Maryland Regiment until August 16, 1780, when he was captured during the Battle of Camden. The battle was chaotic; after the militia units, Virginians, and North Carolinians gave way to the British, the remaining groups from Maryland and Delaware attempted to advance but were thwarted. No Continental company was able to keep its identity during the mayhem that ensued. During this battle, 250 Americans were killed, 800 were wounded, and an undetermined number were captured. [2]
Prior to the Battle of Camden, British control over the soldiers they held at Charleston, South Carolina was weak, allowing hundreds to escape capture. The British imprisoned the remaining prisoners, as well as those captured at the Battle of Camden, aboard sixteen prison ships in the harbor. The soldiers upon these ships faced disease, starvation, violence and neglect which led to many of them dying while being held. Robinson was possibly held in Charleston, like many prisoners from the Battle of Camden, upon one of these ships. [3]
Robinson returned to Prince George’s County, Maryland after the war and married a woman named Keziah. They had at least one son, James. Robinson was very close with his mother, who lived with the family on their 464 acre farm. The family also owned eight slaves, five of whom were of working age. He continued to live on this plot until he died in 1806, leaving the act of distributing his wealth to his son as well as his good friend Hezekiah Young. The only stipulation he left was that his mother was allowed to continue living in his home, or she was to be given fifteen pounds a year "to sustain the life she had been accustomed to." [4]
-Taylor Blades, 2017
Notes:
[2] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 155; John Dwight Kilbourn, A Short History of the Maryland Line in the Continental Army (Baltimore, MD: The Society of the Cincinnati of Maryland 1992) 35-38.
[3] Carl Borick, "A peek at 'Relieve Us of This Burthen: American Prisoners of War in the Revolutionary South, 1780-1782,'” The Charleston Museum.
[4] Will of John Robinson, 1806, Prince George's County Register of Wills, Wills, Liber T 1, p. 625 [MSA C1326-4, 1/25/7/5]; 1798 Federal Direct Tax, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 729, p. 2085.
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