Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Jacob Flora
MSA SC 3520-17746

Biography:

Jacob Flora enlisted as a private in the Eighth Company of the First Maryland Regiment on January 24, 1776. The regiment, commanded by Colonel William Smallwood, was Maryland's first contingent of full-time, professional soldiers raised to be part of the Continental Army. The Eighth Company, led by Captain Samuel Smith, formed in Baltimore in early 1776, and it trained there that spring and summer. Two other companies from the regiment were located in Baltimore as well, while the rest were stationed in Annapolis. In July, the regiment was ordered to march north to New York, to protect the city from invasion by the British. The Eighth Company lost four men who deserted along the march, a problem which plagued the regiment that summer. [1]

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, including the Eighth, was able to cross the creek and escape the battle. However, the rest 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, losing 256 men killed or captured. Because the Eighth was able to escape the battle early, it lost only about six men. [2]

Flora survived the battle, and fought on with the Marylanders through the rest 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. [3]

At the end of the year, Flora's enlistment expired. Like many of his comrades, he opted to stay in the army, signing on for a three-year term in the First Maryland Regiment. During those years, 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), both significant defeats. The Marylanders also fought at the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778. The next year, 1779, saw little major combat as the war slowed to a stalemate, but that February Flora reenlisted, agreeing to serve for the rest of the war. It was not uncommon for soldiers to perform a wide range of duties in camp, and in addition to his role on the battlefield, Flora was a butcher for the Marylanders for a time. [4]

Hoping to change the course of the war, the British launched a new campaign in the Carolinas, and in the spring of 1780, the Maryland Line was part of the American army that marched to counter the new threat. Over the next two years, the Marylanders fought in the Revolutionary War's fiercest battles, including the devastating defeat at Camden in August 1780, where the Marylanders lost some 600 men--about one-third of their troops, and the decisive victory at Cowpens (December 1780), along with the battles of Guilford Courthouse (March 1781), Hobkirk's Hill (April 1781), the siege of Ninety-Six (May 1781), and Eutaw Springs (September 1781). The First Maryland Regiment spent 1782 back in South Carolina, where British forces lingered for most of the year, even after the British surrender at Yorktown in October 1781. [5]

Finally, after eight years of service, Flora received his discharge on November 15, 1783. Unfortunately, no information is known about him after he returned to civilian life. [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. 641; Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, NARA M881, from Fold3.com; "Eight Pounds Reward." Philadelphia Evening Post, 10 August 1776; William Sands to John and Ann Sands, 14 August 1776, Maryland State Archives, Special Collections, Dowsett Collection of Sands Family Papers [MSA SC 2095-1-18, 00/20/05/28].

[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; Return of the Maryland troops, 13 September 1776, Revolutionary War Rolls, NARA M246, folder 35, p. 85, from Fold3.com. 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.

[3] Account of money paid sundry soldiers by Gen. Smallwood, paid to Jacob Floree, late 1776/early 1777, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, box 6, no. 7-4, MdHR 19970-6-7/4 [MSA S997-6-26, 1/7/3/11].

[4] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 108; Compiled Service Record. In 1779, Flora was dispatched to buy William Smallwood, by then a general, tea and sugar. See Auditor General, Journal, 1779-1781, 3 July 1779, p. 13a [MSA S150-3, 1/1/4/11].

[5] Tacyn, 216-225; Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, pps. 358, 432, 497; Muster Roll, First Company, Maryland Battalion [formerly First Maryland Regiment], 1 November 1780, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, box 15, no. 31, MdHR 19970-15-31 [MSA S997-15-38, 1/7/3/13].

[6] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 534.

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