William McPherson
MSA SC 3520-17696
Biography:
William McPherson had just turned twenty-four years old when he enlisted as a corporal in the Ninth Company of the First Maryland Regiment on February 4, 1776. The regiment was Maryland's first contingent of full-time, professional soldiers raised to be part of the Continental Army, 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. As a corporal, McPherson was responsible for keeping the soldiers of the company properly aligned during marches and in battle, and ensuring order among the men in camp, as well as other administrative duties. [1]
McPherson was born on December 22, 1751, and was the son of Elinor (Wilkinson) and William McPherson (d. 1788), the sixth of eleven children. His siblings were Kerenhappuch (b. 1739); John (b. 1742); Alexander Wilkinson (b. 1743); Elizabeth (b. 1747); Elinor (b. 1750); Mary (b. 1756); Ann (b. 1757); Helen (b. 1760); Theophilus (b. 1762); Charles (b. 1765); and Anna. The McPhersons were a family of prosperous planters. [2]
Many of the men in the company came from Western Maryland, but McPherson was a native of Charles County, in the southern part of the state. It may be that McPherson joined the Ninth Company, rather than the First, which was in Charles, because he was seeking a higher rank than was available there. Several prominent Charles County residents wrote Maryland's Council of Safety in the spring of 1776 to recommend that McPherson receive a promotion, which suggests that he was eager for an officer's commission. [3]
McPherson and the rest of the Ninth 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. [4]
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. [5]
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. McPherson was able to survive the battle, and stayed with the Marylanders until his enlistment expired in December, and he returned home. [6]
McPherson lived as a planter in Charles County, where he owned 116 acres that he purchased in late 1775, and no doubt benefited a great deal from his family's social position. While McPherson was still active in the county in the mid-1780s, nothing is known about him after that time. It is not known if he ever married or had children. [7]
Owen Lourie, 2018
Notes:
[1] Register, Trinity Parish, Charles County, 1729-1797, p. 114 [MSA SC2605-1-4, SCM 258]; Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 18; 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; Frederick Steuben, Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States, Part I. (Philadelphia: Styner and Cist, 1792), 148-151. There were several William McPhersons living in Charles County in the 1750s-1770s. However, only this one, sometimes called William McPherson, Jr., was the right age to be the soldier in the First Maryland Regiment in 1776.
[2] Trinity Parish register, pps. 114, 118; The births of all William and Elinor's children are recorded in the parish register, except Anna, who is mentioned in her father's will. Will of William McPherson, Sr., 1788, Charles County Register of Wills, Wills, Liber AI 10, p. 12 [MSA C681-11, 1/8/10/11].
[3] J. Larkins, John W. Hanson, and Robert Hooe to Council of Safety, Recommendation of William McPherson, Hatch Dent, and John Mitchell for promotion, Spring 1776, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, box 9, no. 37, MdHR 19970-9-37 [MSA S997-9-47, 1/7/3/12].
[4] Order to Capt. Stricker, Council of Safety Proceedings, 6 March 1776, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 11, p. 102; Order to Capt. Stricker, 9 March 1776, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 11, p. 224-225.
[5] 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.
[6] Return of the Maryland troops, 27 September 1776, from Fold3.com.
[7] Charles County Court, Census of 1778, Port Tobacco West Hundred, Liber X 3, p. 632, MdHR 8167-2 [MSA C654-1, 1/7/7/27]; Deed, Daniel Jenifer to William McPherson, Jr., 1775, Charles County Court, Land Records, Liber V 3, p. 62 [MSA CE82-36]; General Assembly, House of Delegates, Assessment Record, 1783, Charles County, District 5, Land, p. 2 [MSA S1161-5-2, 1/4/5/48].
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