Thomas Fisher
MSA SC 3520-17651
Biography:
Thomas Fisher enlisted as a private in the Sixth Company of the First Maryland Regiment, led by Captain Peter Adams, on January 30, 1776. [1]
The Sixth Company was recruited primarily from the Eastern Shore, but traveled to Annapolis in the spring of 1776 to complete six months of training. The company then moved north, making it to Philadelphia by mid-July 1776 and to New York by August 14. It was positioned with the rest of the First Maryland Regiment about one mile outside of New York, with orders to prepare for battle.
The Marylanders met the British at the Battle of Brooklyn (sometimes called the Battle of Long Island) on August 27, 1776, where the Continental Army, led by General George Washington, fought to defend New York. The American troops were severely outnumbered and surrounded when they were ordered to retreat. Half the regiment was able to escape the battle, however the other half, including most of the Sixth Company, was trapped by the swampy Gowanus Creek. They turned back to face the British, holding their position long enough for the rest of the Marylanders to return to safety. This heroic stand earned them the honorable name of the “Maryland 400.” [2]
Thomas Fisher was taken prisoner, along with at least ten other men from the Sixth Company; only sixteen men and officers from the company were not killed or taken prisoner. Although Fisher did not leave an account of his time as a prisoner, one man from the Sixth Company did. Thomas McKeel, a sergeant, reported that he "remained a prisoner on board of a Prison Ship until the British troops got possession of New York" in November 1776, and "he was then taken ashore and imprisoned in New York with the Maryland officers and prisoners, until he was parolled." Most of the Marylanders, likely including Fisher, were returned to Maryland by February 1777. [3]
It does not appear that Fisher rejoined the Maryland Line after he was released from captivity, and unfortunately no further definitive information is known about his life.
-Natalie Miller, Maryland Society Sons of the American Revolution Research Fellow, 2018
Notes:
[2] 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 Online, series 5, vol. 2, p. 107.
[3] Return of the Maryland troops, 27 September 1776, from Fold3.com; Pay Roll of Prisoners Taken on Long Island, 14 February 1777, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, box 19, no. 2, MdHR 19970-19-2 [MSA S997-19-2, 01/07/03/015]; Pension of Thomas McKeel. National Archives, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land-Warrant Application Files, S34977, from Fold3.com.
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