Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

John Lynch
MSA SC 3520-17657

Biography:

John Lynch enlisted as a private in the Sixth Company of the First Maryland Regiment, led by Captain Peter Adams, on February 24, 1776. [1]

The Sixth Company was recruited primarily from the Eastern Shore, including Lynch who was from Kent county, but traveled to Annapolis  in the spring of 1776 to complete six months of training.  They then moved north, making it to Philadelphia by mid-July 1776 and to New York by August 14.  They positioned themselves, along 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]

The First Maryland Regiment suffered major losses. The Sixth Company alone lost 58 men, or 80 percent. By the end of the battle, Maryland losses totalled 256 men killed or captured.  Despite the heroic actions of the Maryland 400, the battle was a defeat for the Americans. Unlike many of his companions, Lynch appears to have survived the battle and was not captured. He was one of just sixteen officers and men from the Sixth Company to come out of the battle unscathed. [3]

John Lynch re-enlisted, this time as a corporal, on December 10, 1776, when the Maryland Line was reorganized. He likely fought in the revitalizing victories at Trenton  and Princeton in the winter of 1776-1777. However, the Continental Army’s luck soon ran out when they fought at Battle of Staten Island, and the bloody battles of Brandywine and Germantown, part of the campaign to defend Philadelphia from British capture. All were British victories, although John Adams considered the Battle of Germantown to be the “most decisive proof that America would finally succeed.” [4]

Lynch left the army when his enlistment expired in December 1779, and returned home to Kent County.  He was injured during his service, although it is unclear when or what the injury was. Beginning in 1786, Lynch received a state pension to compensate for his disability. It is likely that this pension expired a few years later, and in 1791 he received another disability pension.  However, by 1807, he was unable to support “himself and [his] children, who [were] dependent on him for their subsistence.” He petitioned the House of Delegates who found “from ample testimony that [Lynch]...was wounded when fighting the battles of his country, which secured liberty and independence to America.” They declared that it was “the duty of this state to provide for the unfortunate and meritorious soldier, who...spent the prime of his life, and nobly shed his blood, in her cause.”  He was therefore awarded half the pay of a corporal. Unfortunately, there is information on his life after this time. [5]

-Natalie Miller, Maryland Society Sons of the American Revolution Research Fellow, 2018

Notes:

[1] Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 14.

[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.

[4] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 132.

[5] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 632; List of Invalid Pensioners, Governor and Council Proceedings, 1791, p. 328, MdHR 3859 [MSA S1071-27, 02/26/01/023]; Journal of the House of Delegates, 1807, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 555, p. 46.

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