Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Caspar Clutter
MSA SC 3520-17822

Biography:

During the American Revolution, Caspar Clutter was a private in the Eighth Company of the First Maryland regiment, part of the group later known as the Maryland 400. This legendary group played a major role in the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776. Clutter also participated in the Battles of White Plains and Trenton, and later served with of a volunteer group of Pennsylvania militiamen under the command of Captain John Van Etten. This group from Northampton County, Pennsylvania was involved in an event known as the Sugarloaf Massacre, where they were attacked by Native Americans and Loyalists. Caspar Clutter gave over two years serving the cause of the Revolution.  

Caspar Clutter was born in New Jersey in 1745.  He moved to Taneytown, Maryland, before traveling to Baltimore, where he enlisted in the Eighth Company of the First Maryland Regiment in January 1776.  At the time of his enlistment, Clutter was thirty-one years old, about six years older than the average Maryland soldier. The Eighth Company was recruited primarily from Baltimore, where it trained with two other Maryland companies that spring and summer. In July, the First Maryland Regiment was ordered to travel to New York in anticipation of a British attack.  During the march, four men deserted from the Eighth Company, the first of many who would desert that summer. [1]

The Marylanders met the British at the Battle of Brooklyn (sometimes called the Battle of Long Island) on August 27, 1776, where the Continental Army, led by General George Washington, fought to defend New York. The  American troops were severely outnumbered and surrounded when they were ordered to retreat. Half the regiment, including most of the Eighth Company, was able to escape the battle, however the other half was trapped by the swampy Gowanus Creek.  They turned back to face the British, holding their position long enough for the rest of the Marylanders to return to safety. This daring stand earned them the honorable name of the “Maryland 400.” Casualties were extreme, but so was the heroism that earned them the honorable name of the “Maryland 400.”  Fortunately, the Eighth Company escaped, losing approximately six out of 70 or so men. Maryland losses totalled 256 men killed or captured, but without the Maryland 400, even more would have been lost.  Despite their courageous actions, the battle was a defeat for the Americans.

Clutter survived and continued his military service.  He likely fought in the Battle of Trenton, which resulted in the capture of over 800 Hessian soldiers and the renewed confidence of the American people. These Hessian prisoners of war were sent to Pennsylvania under the direction of George Washington, with the goal to break the Hessian soldiers’ allegiance to Britain.  Washington wrote to the Pennsylvania Council of Safety informing them of the prisoners’ arrival, and let them decide where the Hessians were to be quartered. Many Hessians ended up working on farms in the area and trying to “assimilate” into American society. The majority of these prisoners were sent to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, home to numerous German-American families.  The Continental Army hoped that the Hessians would be able to relate to these communities and would interact with the German-speaking Americans. [2]

Clutter was discharged in the winter of 1776-1777 due to being “crippled” and was probably unable to fight. However, Clutter’s military expeditions were not over yet.  He likely returned home to Maryland for several years before enlisting again, this time in a Pennsylvania-German county militia, on June 15, 1780. [3]

Since the early days of the Revolution, there was a constant dispute and hatred between American patriots and Loyalists. These British sympathizers had a goal of undermining the American cause, many times turning against their own neighbors and even their family. The Loyalists found allies in the majority of Native American tribes, who supported the British because of their restrictions on westward expansion.  Additionally, since the beginning of their settlement, Americans had wanted to seize the land of the indigenous people, which added to the tensions and violence between the groups. The Loyalist-Indian alliances were most prevalent in western Pennsylvania and New York, which was home to the large Iroquois nation.

The Loyalists and Native Americans, who often orchestrated small attacks on American troops, were a problem for the Americans throughout much of the war.  In 1779, an American expedition was launched against Iroquois tribes in western New York and Pennsylvania, to prevent them from allying with the British. The campaign, led by American general John Sullivan, was marked by brutality and destruction, with many Indian villages burned and civilians killed.

The Luzerne County, Pennsylvania region near the Little Nescopeck Creek was home to a large number of Loyalists. There was also a severe threat of Loyalist and Indian spies throughout the region of Pennsylvania. In Northumberland County in 1780, Colonel Samuel Hunter of Fort Augusta ordered aggressive attacks against their British-Indian enemies. A detachment of Captain Van Etten’s company joined the cause, and since Clutter was enlisted in that company, it is possible that he was one of the men involved. [4]   

During the journey to Fort Augusta in September 1780, a group of some 250 to 300 Loyalists and Indians tried to attack Fort Rice, also located in Northumberland County. The leader of the fort, Captain Rice, and his troops defended the garrison from the enemies. When reinforcements arrived, the enemy forces broke into smaller contingencies and scattered in different directions, leaving destruction behind them. One of these enemy groups numbering about 40 received information of Captain Klader’s group of men marching to Fort Augusta. The enemy marched into the Sugar Loaf Valley in southwestern Luzerne County and hid, waiting in ambush for the arrival of Klader’s men. [5]

Meanwhile, Klader’s force had been traveling for days through wilderness, having to cross through thickets and over logs when they found themselves in a clear, green field. While the militiamen were resting and eating, they were ambushed viciously by the hidden Loyalists and Indians. The militiamen scattered, with some jumping in Little Nescopeck Creek, trying to escape. Ten men were killed, including Captain Daniel Klader, and a few more were taken prisoner. The bodies of the dead soldiers were properly buried a few days later. [6]

Because of the shock and severity of the attack, the Continental authorities decided to drive out the Loyalist settlements nearby. Although very difficult, they forced the Loyalists to feel guilty and had them come before Hunter to discuss negotiations. They were told to leave their settlement until the end of the war,  and did so peacefully. [7]

It is likely that Clutter returned home in the beginning of 1781.  He then served in the militia in spring of 1782. Shortly after the war, Clutter moved to Ohio and settled in Knox County. Many Revolutionary soldiers moved to Knox County after the war. Because farming was a popular livelihood, many soldiers saw the opportunity to start their own farms with new land in Ohio.  It was from Knox County that Clutter applied for a pension, which was issued until his death in 1836. Unfortunately, nothing is known of his family. [8]

Annie Javitt, Washington College, 2018

[1] Susan Guynn, "Taneytown  History Museum," The Frederick News-Post, March 11, 2016; Pension of Caspar Clutter, National Archives and Records Administration, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, NARA M804, S. 5010, from Fold3.com; Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Archives of Maryland Online, vol 18, p. 18.

[2] George Washington to the Pennsylvania Council of Safety, 29 December 1776, Founders Online, National Archives; Ken Miller, Dangerous Guests: Enemy Captives and Revolutionary Communities During the War for  Independence (Cornell  University Press,  2014).

[3] Pension of Caspar Clutter.

[4] Henry Melchior Muhlenberg Richards, The Pennsylvania-German in the Revolutionary War, 1775-1783 (Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania-German Society, 1908).

[5] Muhlenberg Richards.

[6] Muhlenberg Richards.

[7] Muhlenberg Richards.

[8] Pennsylvania Archives, Fifth Series, V. 08, Muster Rolls Relating to the Associators and Militia of the County of Northampton, ed. Thomas Lynch Montgomery (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Harrisburg Publishing Company, 1906), 393.

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