Jonathan Chunn
(1754-1777)
MSA SC 3520-17800
Biography:
Jonathan Chunn enlisted in the First Maryland Regiment’s First Company. He entered the ranks as a private underneath the leadership of Captain John Hoskins Stone on January 24, 1776. Born to Lancelot Chunn and Judith Cartwright on November 7, 1754, he was twenty-one years old on the day of his enlistment. [1]
The First Company was primarily recruited from Charles County, Maryland, where Jonathan was born. Although the company originated in Charles County, they relocated to Annapolis until the summer of 1776 to train their troops. That July, Maryland’s First Regiment marched north to rendezvous with General George Washington outside of New York. There, the Maryland Line experienced the bitter taste of war for the first time. [2]
The Battle of Brooklyn (or the Battle of Long Island) erupted on August 27, 1776, and was the first major battle that followed the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The British troops, totaling nearly 15,000 men, and the British Royal Navy arrived with the intention of ending the war with this single battle. Meanwhile, General Washington was determined to defend New York. Ultimately, between General Washington’s smaller army and the poor intelligence he referenced when preparing for the British invasion, the Battle of Brooklyn ended in a Continental retreat and a crippling loss. [3]
The Maryland 400 earned their heroic title during the peak of the conflict at Brooklyn. The First Maryland Regiment split into two separate wings, stretching in a continuous line from the Gowanus Road to the Continental artillery stationed upon a ridge. Under the command of Major Mordecai Gist, the Marylanders fought off the first wave of advancing British troops. The British eventually retreated a few hundred feet, giving the impression that the Continental Army had successfully stopped the British invasion. Shortly after the first wave of British troops receded, the Marylanders were shocked as another larger group of British soldiers snuck up on their rear and threatened to surround them. Quickly, the Continental Army’s confidence culminated into fear, their line broke, and the companies retreated. [4]
During the retreat, the Marylanders found themselves unfortunately positioned between enemy fire and the Gowanus Creek. About half of the Marylanders, including the First Company, attempted to cross the creek and reach their allies. The other half of the Maryland regiment had no other option but to turn back and face the enemy, allowing their fellow countrymen to reach safety. That day, 256 of the First Marylanders that stood on Gowanus Road were killed or made prisoners. Fortunately, the majority of the men in Captain Stone’s company made it to the Gowanus Creek and successfully swam across. After the retreat, 77 percent of the First Company was accounted for, including Jonathan Chunn. [5]
Chunn served until the end of his first enlistment, during which time he fired his musket in the battles of White Plains and Fort Washington in the fall of 1776, and the Continental retreat from New York. On December 10, 1776, he re-enlisted in the First Regiment and fought at the Continental victories at Trenton and Princeton later that winter. On March 6, 1777, Chunn died while still serving in the Maryland Line. A few years later, in March 1781, his father Lancelot applied for and received Jonathan’s back pay for his service with the Maryland Line. [6]
-Elizabeth Cassibry, Washington College Explore America Research Intern, 2018
Notes:
[1] "Maryland Births and Christenings, 1650-1995," FamilySearch, 07 Nov 1754, Trinity Parish, Charles County, Maryland. From FamilySearch.org; Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 6.
[2] Mark Andrew Tacyn, “‘To the End:’ The First Maryland Regiment and the American Revolution” (PhD diss., University of Maryland College Park, 1999), 21.
[3] Tacyn, 23-30.
[4] Tacyn, 30-60.
[5] Return of the Maryland troops, 27 September 1776, from Fold3.com.
[6] John Dwight Kilbourne, “A Short History of the Maryland Line in the Continental Army,” (Baltimore: The Sons of the American Revolution, 1992), 11-25; Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 81; Journal and Correspondence of the Council of Maryland, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 48, p. 105.
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