Benjamin Vermillion
MSA SC 3520-17477
Biography:
Benjamin Vermillion enlisted as a private in the First Maryland Regiment's Second Company, commanded by Captain Patrick Sim, in February 1776. After enlisting, Vermillion and his company traveled to Annapolis, joining five other companies of the regiment that were stationed there; three additional companies were in Baltimore. Commanded by Colonel William Smallwood, the regiment was the first unit of full-time, professional soldiers raised in Maryland for service in the Continental Army. [1]
In July, the regiment received orders to march to New York, in order to defend the city from an impending British attack. The Marylanders arrived in New York in early August, where they joined with the rest of the Continental Army, commanded by General George Washington. On August 27, 1776, the Americans faced the British Army at the Battle of Brooklyn (sometimes called the Battle of Long Island), the first full-scale engagement of the war. 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, including the Second Company, was able to cross the creek and escape the battle. However, the rest were unable to do so before they were attacked by the British. Facing down a much larger, better-trained force, this group of soldiers, today called 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. They took enormous casualties, with some companies losing nearly 80 percent of their men, but their actions delayed the British long enough for the rest of the Continental Army to escape. In all, the First Maryland lost 256 men, killed or taken prisoner. [2]
Vermillion survived the battle, 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, although whether Vermillion fought at that those battles is not clear. His enlistment expired at the end of 1776 and he did not reenlist, but when he left the army is not known specifically. [3]
Over the next few years, Vermillion lived in Maryland, spending time in both Prince George's and Charles counties. In early January 1787, he married Priscilla Farr at St. John's Broad Creek Episcopal Church in the Piscataway area of Prince George's County. The two likely lived in Piscataway for the next few decades. After the early 1800s, however, there is some uncertainty about their lives. [4]
Benjamin is listed in the county assessments from 1806 until 1812. He owned no land, and only £34 worth of personal property, placing him near the bottom of the county economically. He does not appear in any census records in Maryland, although there were a few others living elsewhere in the United States. However, Priscilla appears in the Piscataway district of Prince George's County in the 1810 and 1820 censuses as the head-of-household, meaning that her husband did not live there. After 1820, she too disappears from the historical record. It is not known when either Benjamin or Priscilla died, nor whether they had any children. [5]
Owen Lourie, 2017
Notes:
[2] Return of the Maryland troops, 27 September 1776, from Fold3.com; Mark Andrew Tacyn "'To the End:' The First Maryland Regiment and the American Revolution" (PhD diss., University of Maryland College Park, 1999), 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.
[3] Account of money paid sundry soldiers by Gen. Smallwood, paid to Benjamin Vermillion, late 1776/early 1777, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, box 6, no. 7-2, MdHR 19970-6-7/2 [MSA S997-6, 1/7/3/11].
[4] Benjamin Vermillion, record of estray, 3 March 1777, Prince George's County Court, Land Records, Liber CC 2, p. 321 [MSA CE65-23]; Oaths of Allegiance, Charles County, 1778, Maryland State Papers, Blue Books 5:30, 10, MdHR 4644-30 [MSA S990-6, 1/6/4/44]; Prince George's County Court, Marriage Licenses, 8 January 1787, 44 [MSA CM783-1, CR 50,230-1]; St. John's Church, King George Parish, Broad Creek, Parish Register 1689-1801, 263 [MSA SC2227-1-2, SCM 229].
[5] U.S. Federal Census, 1810, Prince George's County, Maryland, Piscataway and Hynson Hundreds; U.S. Federal Census, 1820, Prince George's County, Maryland, District 6. In 1820, there was a Benjamin Vermillion in Fairfax County, Virginia, and another in Jefferson County, Illinois. Assessment data drawn from Prince George's County Commissioners of the Tax, Assessment Records, personal property, Piscataway Hundred, 1806-1812 [MSA C1162].
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