Ignatius Douglass
MSA SC 3520-17813
Biography:
Ignatius Douglass 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]
Douglass was from Charles County, Maryland, where the First Company primarily recruited their soldiers. 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 the Continental Army 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 Ignatius Douglass. [5]
Douglass remained with the Maryland Line until the end of his enlistment. He bared arms against the British at the losing battles of White Plains and Fort Washington in the fall of 1776, which resulted in the Continental retreat from New York to New Jersey. Although Douglass’s service was up, he reenlisted again as a sergeant in the First Maryland Regiment’s First Company on February 20, 1777. With the Marylanders, he fought at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown in 1777, both resulted in British victories. Between 1778 and 1779, he fought at the Battle of Monmouth, an engagement with no conclusive victory, and at the Continental triumph at Stony Point. [6]
On December 25, 1779, Ignatius Douglass was discharged from service after forty-four months with the First Company of the First Maryland Regiment. After his service, he presumably returned home to Charles County. It is currently unknown what Ignatius Douglas did with his life after the Revolutionary War. What is clear is that he lived and died in Charles County after solidifying his legacy as one of the Maryland 400. [7]
-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] Tacyn, 30-60; Return of the Maryland troops, 27 September 1776, from Fold3.com.
[6] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 100; John Dwight Kilbourne, “A Short History of the Maryland Line in the Continental Army,” (Baltimore: The Sons of the American Revolution, 1992), 10-30.
[7] CH ROW, Administration Accounts, Ignatius Douglass, 1814, 1812-1815, p. 225, MdHR 7306-1 [MSA C665-15, 01/08/10/026].
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