William Skipper
MSA SC 3520-17466
Biography:
William Skipper enlisted into the First Maryland Regiment on March 5, 1776. At was the time of the Battle of Brooklyn (otherwise known as the Battle of Long Island) on August 27, 1776, Skipper was a private within Captain Patrick Sim’s Second Company. Although the battle was a defeat for the Americans, the valiant defense by Skipper and the other soldiers of the “Maryland 400” held off the British long enough to allow much of the trapped American army to escape. Skipper was one of the lucky soldiers who survived that day, his company losing fewer than ten men. [1]
After the Battle of White Plains, the Battle of Trenton, and the Battle of Princeton, Skipper chose not to reenlist into the First Maryland Regiment once his enlistment was up on December 10, 1776. He most likely returned home for a few months before reenlisting on February 22, 1777. Sometime after his enlistment he deserted. [2]
As there were multiple people with the same name living in the United States at the time, there is no further definitive information about Skipper’s life.
-Taylor Blades, 2017
Notes:
[2] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 160.
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