William Terrence
MSA SC 3520-17686
Biography:
William Terrence (or Torrence) enlisted as a private in the Ninth Company of the First Maryland Regiment on January 22, 1776. He was the son of Albert and Elizabeth Terrence, who immigrated from Ireland to Pennsylvania in the 1740s or 1750s, around the time that William was born. It is not clear where the family lived at the time that Terrence enlisted. [1]
The First Maryland Regiment was the state's first contingent of full-time, professional soldiers raised to be part of the Continental Army. Many of the men in the company came from Western Maryland, and it was designated as 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. [2]
Terrence 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. [3]
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. Terrence survived the battle, and went on to fight with the Marylanders 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. [5]
At the end of 1776, Terrence's one-year enlistment expired, and he returned home. He did not again serve in the army during the Revolutionary War. In fact, in July 1777, he was judged "unable for further duty [and] hereby discharged" from militia duty. Not long after returning to Maryland, Terrence married Martha Stull, the daughter of Sarah and John Stull (1733-1791). John was a prominent figure in Frederick, and Washington counties, holding many public offices, including the Maryland General Assembly 1775-1776 and 1779-1789, and judge of the Washington County Court 1779-1791. [6]
William and Martha settled in southern Pennsylvania, moving to Cumberland County in 1778, and Washington County, Pennsylvania by 1786. Within five years, however, they had relocated to Hamilton County, Ohio. The Terrences had ten children together: John Stull; Sarah; Susannah; Jane; Letitia; Albert Gallatin; William B.; Samuel H.; Sophia; and daughter whose name is unknown. The family was successful enough to own land, about one or two hundred acres, which likely afforded them financial stability. [7]
William Terrence died in Hamilton County on November 10, 1828, about eighty years old. Martha died less than a year later, on October 18, 1829. [8]
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; Chris H. Bailey, The Stulls of "Millsborough," vol. 1 (2000), 49-51.
[3] 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.
[4] 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.
[5] Return of the Maryland troops, 27 September 1776, from Fold3.com.
[6] Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council, 1777-1778, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 16, p. 312; Commissioner of Army Accounts, Receipt Book, p. 50, MdHR 1380 [MSA S145-1, 1/1/4/12]; Bailey, 49-51; Edward C. Papenfuse, et al, eds, A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789, vol I (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press) 1985, 792-793.
[7] Bailey, 49-51; U.S. Federal Census, 1820, Whitewater Township, Hamilton County, Ohio.
[8] Bailey, 49-51; FindAGrave for William Torrence.
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