Anthony Davis
MSA SC 3520-17821
Biography:
Anthony Davis enlisted as a private in John Allen Thomas' Fifth Independent Company in the spring of 1776, when he was about twenty-one years old. The company was one of seven that the Maryland Council of Safety raised in early 1776, initially intended to guard the Chesapeake Bay coast from a feared British invasion. By the summer, however, the independent companies were dispatched to New York, to help reinforce the Continental Army as it prepared to defend the city from the British. In total, twelve companies of Maryland troops traveled to New York that July and August: nine companies that comprised the First Maryland Regiment, commanded by Colonel William Smallwood, and the Fourth, Fifth, and Seventh Independent companies, the only three that were ready to travel. [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. During the retreat, the Maryland troops fought their way towards the American fortifications, but were blocked by the swampy Gowanus Creek. While half the regiment was able to cross the creek, the rest were unable to do so before they were attacked by the British. Facing down a much larger, better-trained force, the Marylanders mounted a series of daring charges. These men, now known as the "Maryland 400," held the British at bay long enough for the rest of the Continental Army to escape, at the cost of many lives. In all 256 Marylanders were killed or captured by the British; some companies lost 80 percent of their men. Davis and his company likely saw little combat. Instead, the Fifth Independent Company did not cross the East River from Manhattan to Brooklyn until after fighting had begun, and did not venture into the field of battle. They did, however, perform valuable service assisting the Americans retreating through the Gowanus Marsh. [2]
During the fall of 1776, Davis and the rest of the Marylanders fought a series of battles in New York: Harlem Heights (September), White Plains (October), and Fort Washington (November). While the Americans had some tactical successes at these engagements, by the winter they had been pushed out of New York entirely, though they secured revitalizing victories at Trenton and Princeton late that winter. The independent companies were disbanded and reformed as part of the regular Maryland troops at the end of 1776.
Davis' enlistment expired in December 1776, and he returned to Maryland. A few months later, however, in May 1777 he volunteered to serve in an artillery company commanded by Captain William Campbell. While information about the company's service is incomplete, at least five other veterans of the Fifth Independent joined along with Davis. He remained in the company until the summer of 1778, when he left the army. [3]
Davis lived in St. Mary's County, Maryland for the next few decades. He was a well-off planter, eventually acquiring nearly 600 acres of land, 19 ounces of silver plate (a status symbol), and seven slaves. Despite his wealth, he was awarded a veteran's pension by the Federal government in 1819, through a pension program intended to support only impoverished Revolutionary War soldiers. Davis received eight dollars per month, but only until 1820, when he was dropped from the pension list. Undeterred, Davis petitioned the Maryland General Assembly for a pension from the state. He requested support from the legislature in 1818, 1819, 1820, 1821, and 1822, but his requests were never granted. There are two possible reasons why he was unsuccessful with both the state and Federal governments: either his wealth disqualified him, or the spotty records about the Fifth Independent Company's service left him unable to prove his status as a veteran. [4]
What became of Davis after the mid-1820s is not certain, but it is possible that he left the state. In 1822 and 1825, he sold most, if not all, of his property, and subsequently disappears from the historical record in Maryland. [5]
Owen Lourie, 2018
Sources:
[1] Pension of Anthony Davis, National Archives and Records Administration, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, NARA M804, S 34729, from Fold3.com.
[2] Return of the Maryland troops, 13 September 1776, Revolutionary War Rolls, NARA M246, folder 35, p. 85, from Fold3.com; Mark Andrew Tacyn, “’To the End:’ The First Maryland Regiment and the American Revolution” (PhD diss., University of Maryland College Park, 1999), 48-73; Reiman Steuart, The Maryland Line (The Society of the Cincinnati, 1971), 154-155. 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] Davis pension; Enrollment in artillery company, February-May 1777, Maryland State Papers, Series A, box 2, no. 141, MdHR 6636-2-141 [MSA S1004-2-1313, 1/7/3/25]; Pension of Jesse Thompson, National Archives and Records Administration, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, NARA M804, S 35097, from Fold3.com.
[4] U.S. Federal Census, 1790, St. Mary's County, Maryland; U.S. Federal Census, 1800, St. Mary's County, Maryland; U.S. Federal Census, 1810, St. Mary's County, Maryland; U.S. Federal Census, 1820, District 4, St. Mary's County, Maryland; Federal Direct Tax, 1798, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 729, St. Mary's County, General List of Houses, p. 2871; General List of Land, p. 2814; General List of Slaves, p. 2844; Charles E. Fenwick, St. Mary's County Tax Assessment Records, 1793-1849 (St. Mary's County Historical Society, 2004), 109-110; Votes and Proceedings of the Senate of Maryland, 1818 [hereafter Senate Journal], 28, 57; House Journal, 1819, 115; Senate Journal, 1819, 65; House Journal, 1820, 56; House Journal, 1821, 137; Senate Journal, 1821, 76; House Journal 1822, 63, 145.
[5] Deed, Anthony Davis to John and Stansislaus Davis, 1822; Deed, Anthony Davis to John B. Davis, 1825, in Charles E. Fenwick, Alienations and Transfers, St. Mary's County, 1786-1829 (St. Mary's County Historical Society, 2003), 50. Many St. Mary's County land records were destroyed in a fire, and this book serves as a substitute.
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