Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Frederick Miles
MSA SC 3520-17660

Biography:

Frederick Miles enlisted as a private in the Ninth Company of the First Maryland Regiment on January 22, 1776. The regiment was Maryland's first contingent of full-time, professional soldiers raised to be part of the Continental Army. Miles was from Prince George's County, Maryland, although most of the men in the company came from Western Maryland instead. The Ninth was designated the light infantry company for the regiment. Instead of fighting in a line with the other companies, the light infantry was often deployed in small groups ahead of the main body of troops as scouts or skirmishers. They carried rifles, rather than muskets, and were intended to be a more mobile group. [1]

Miles and the rest of the company were ordered to travel from Frederick to Annapolis in March 1776, to join with the rest of the regiment. As they departed, however, they were instructed to head for Baltimore instead to provide reinforcements in case of an anticipated British attack launched from the HMS Otter, a warship reportedly heading for the city. No attack ever materialized, and the company proceeded to Annapolis. They trained there until July, when the First Maryland Regiment was ordered to march north to New York, to protect the city from invasion by the British. [2]

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. As the Maryland troops fought their way towards the American fortifications, they were forced to stop at the swampy Gowanus Creek. Half the regiment was able to cross the creek and escape the battle. However, the rest, including the Ninth Company, 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. They held the British at bay for some time before being overrun, at the cost of many lives. [3]

The Ninth Company fared poorly at the battle, probably because the light infantry's role placed them closest to the enemy lines during combat. Fewer than half the men from the Ninth Company escaped death or captivity at the battle, and at least thirteen soldiers were taken prisoner. Miles survived the battle, and likely avoided capture as well. The Marylanders fought on through the rest of the difficult fall and winter of 1776. While the Maryland troops demonstrated their skill and bravery at Harlem Heights in September and White Plains in October, 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. [4]

Miles left the army at the end of 1776 when his enlistment expired, and returned home. In April 1778, however, he decided to return to the army, enlisting as a private in the Second Maryland Regiment, and rising to corporal in January 1780. During the three years he was in the army, Miles probably saw combat at the Battle of Monmouth (June 1778), and was part of the Southern Campaign, where the Maryland Line was involved in ferocious and bloody combat in the Carolinas. Miles likely fought at the battles of Camden (August 1780), Cowpens (January 1781), Guilford Courthouse (March 1781), and Hobkirk's Hill (April 1781). Hobkirk's Hill was fought on the day Miles's enlistment was to end, and he was not discharged until May 1 as a result. [5]

After leaving the army, Miles returned to civilian life in Maryland. On December 31, 1781, Miles married Elizabeth White, who died within a few years. He then married Ruth Brashears on February 11, 1784. He and his family lived in Prince George's County until the 1790s, and owned eight slaves. The family seems to have left the county by 1800, but nothing definite can be determined. [6]

Owen Lourie, 2018

Notes:

[1] Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 19; George Stricker to Council, 21 January 1776, Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety, August 29, 1775 to July 6, 1776, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 11, p. 102.

[2] Order to Capt. Stricker, Council of Safety Proceedings, 6 March 1776, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 11, p. 202; Order to Capt. Stricker, 9 March 1776, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 11, p. 224-225.

[3] 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

[4] Return of the Maryland troops, 27 September 1776, from Fold3.com.

[5] Governor and Council, Oaths of Fidelity, 1778, Prince George's County, box 4, folder 25 [S963-70, 1/1/4/29]; Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, pps. 140, 545; Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, NARA M881, from Fold3.com; Receipt for clothing received, May-June 1780, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, box 3, no. 12-13, MdHR 19970-3-12/13 [MSA S997-3-193, 1/7/3/9]; Discharge and pay certificate, Frederick Miles, 1 May 1781, Maryland State Papers, Series A, box 30, no. 100, MdHR 6636-30-100 [MSA S1004-39-5389, 1/7/3/44].

[6] Prince George's County Court, Marriage Licenses, 1777-1797, pps. 21, 28 [MSA CM783-1, CR 50230]; U.S. Federal Census, 1790, Prince George's County, Maryland.

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