Edmund Cox
MSA SC 3520-17810
Biography:
Edmund Cox enlisted as a private in the First Maryland Regiment’s First Company on January 24, 1776, underneath the leadership of Captain John Hoskins Stone. [1]
The First Company was primarily recruited from Charles County, Maryland. 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 George Washington was determined to defend New York. Ultimately, between Washington’s inferior army and the poor intelligence he referenced, 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 invasion. After the first wave of British troops receded, the Marylanders were in a state of disarray 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, counting 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 who stood on the Gowanus Road were killed or made prisoners. Fortunately, the majority of the men in 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 Edmund Cox. [5]
Cox continued his service with the First Regiment and most likely fought at the battles of White Plains and Fort Washington in the fall of 1776. Both losses resulted in the Continental forces retreating further into New Jersey. Regardless of the Continental Army’s recent failures, on December 10, 1776, Cox reenlisted in Maryland’s First Regiment as a sergeant. Later that winter, he and other Marylanders triumphed over the enemy at the Battle of Trenton and the Battle of Princeton. [6]
On July 19, 1777, Cox became the Quartermaster sergeant and was the “assistant to the quartermaster of his regiment.” Cox had to accept the duties of Quartermaster if he was absent. Other duties of his included transferring and supplying goods for the troops. After assuming his new role, he likely participated in the losses at Brandywine and Germantown in the fall of 1777, as well as the Battle of Monmouth, which resulted in no conclusive victory. By October 3, 1778, Edmund Cox was “dismissed” from service. [7]
However, he resumed his service in the Continental Army as a sergeant in the Second Maryland Regiment on March 15, 1779. While with the Second Regiment, he was demoted to private on January 1, 1780, then promoted back to sergeant on April 1, 1780, only to be demoted to private again on September 1, 1780. By November 1, 1780, Cox was permanently discharged from the Army. During his second term of service, he moved south with the rest of the Marylanders and fought in the Battle of Camden. The British victory at Camden resulted in the near destruction of the Continental line. Cox was lucky to come out of the battle alive. [8]
After he was discharged again, Edmund Cox presumably returned home and assimilated back into civilian life. After his military service, there is no record of the Edmund Cox who stood on the Gowanus Road in 1776 and forged his legacy as a man of the Maryland 400. [9]
-Elizabeth Cassibry, Washington College Explore America Research Intern, 2018
Notes:
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), 1-10; Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 91.
7. Frederick Steuben, Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States, Part I. (Philadelphia: Styner and Cist, 1792), 144-145; “Quartermaster Corps,” Global Security, accessed June 21, 2018; Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 91; “A Short History of the Maryland Line in the Continental Army,” 25-30; Cox was “dismissed,” which is an unusual wording and we are unsure of what it exactly meant.
8. Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 94.
9. Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 94.
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