Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Nicholas Nailor
MSA SC 3520-17706

Biography:

Nicholas Nailor enlisted as a private in the Ninth Company of the First Maryland Regiment on January 22, 1776, one of the state's earliest volunteers to fight in the Revolutionary War. He was the son of Mary and Samuel Nailor (d. 1792), and had six brothers: Benjamin Turner; James; Isaac Jones; George; Joshua; and Alexander. Nicholas served in the Ninth Company with Alexander, who enlisted the day before and was made one of the company's sergeants. The regiment was Maryland'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, although Nailor was from Prince George's County, in the southern part of the sate. The Ninth 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. [1]

Nailor 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. [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. Nailor was among the men lucky enough to survive, although his brother Alexander was captured and held prisoner for the rest of the year. Nicholas fought with the surviving Marylanders during 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]

At the end of 1776, Nailor's enlistment expired, and like many of the men who survived the 1776 campaign, he reenlisted for a three-year term. He was promoted to corporal, one of the experienced soldiers in the Maryland Line chosen to provide veteran leadership to the newly recruited men. In 1777, the Marylanders fought in the disastrous raid on Staten Island (August 1777), and the major battles of the Philadelphia Campaign, Brandywine (September 1777) and Germantown (October 1777). That November, as active campaigning tailed off for the winter, Nailor was promoted to quartermaster sergeant for the First Maryland Brigade. Quartermasters were responsible for securing food and supplies for the army, as well as other logistical matters. How long Nailor held that rank is not certain; he served at least until August 1778, but his enlistment probably continued until December 1779. [5]

Nailor returned to Maryland when his service ended. In February 1783, he married Mary Selby of Prince George's County. They lived in Maryland for only a few more years, leaving the state for Fayette County, Kentucky by 1789. In the 1790s, Nailor was a quartermaster sergeant for a Kentucky militia regiment, drawing on his Revolutionary War experiences. The Nailors lived in Kentucky until the 1810s, moving first to Green County, then to Barren County. By 1820, they had resettled in Pike County, in southwestern Indiana. [6]

In his lifetime, Nailor was relatively well-off. He owned at least two slaves while he lived in Kentucky. In addition to whatever land he owned in Kentucky and Indiana, he also owned 400 acres in Yohogania County, Virginia (later part of Pennsylvania), in the Ohio River Valley. No information is known about Nicholas or Mary Nailor after 1820. It is not known if they had any children. [7]

Owen Lourie, 2018. Special thanks to Joseph Doyle for generously sharing his research.

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] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 146; Return of the Quartermaster Corps, 1 February 1778, Papers of the Continental Congress, Quartermaster's Department Letters, p. 383, from Fold3.com; Return of Horses Belonging to Waggon Department, 29 August 1778, Papers of the Continental Congress, Nathaniel Green Correspondence, vol. 1, p. 125, from Fold3.com.

[6] Prince George's County Court, Marriage Licenses, 1777-1797, p. 25 [MSA CM783-1, CR 50230]; Henry C. Peden, Marylanders to Kentucky, 1775-1825 (Westminster, MD: Family Line Publications, 1991), 108; Murtie June Clark, American Militia in the Frontier Wars, 1790-1796 (Baltimore: Clearfield, 1990), 25; Green County, Kentucky, Tax List, 1800, in G. Glenn Clift, Second Census of Kentucky, 1800 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2005), 214; U.S. Federal Census, 1810, Barren County, Kentucky; U.S. Federal Census, 1820, Pike County, Indiana.

[7] 1800 Census; Virginia Land Patents, 1785, p. 276-278.

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