Edward Green
MSA SC 3520-17846
Biography:
Edward Green was the son of Edward Green, Sr, and lived alongside two sisters, Elizabeth and Sarah, and four brothers, Lewis, Wilfred, Matthias, Joseph. Together, they grew up on 214 acres of land, named Green’s Inheritance, located outside of Port Tobacco, a bustling port town in Charles County, Maryland. While not rich, the Greens were modestly well-off, “middling” farmers. The Green family grew tobacco and owned approximately eleven enslaved people. [1]
In January 24, 1776, Edward Green, Jr, left his comfortable life and enlisted in the Maryland First Regiment’s First Company. He served underneath the leadership of Captain John Hoskins Stone as a private. Soon after he enlisted, Green left behind his family to train in Annapolis. [2]
The First Company primarily recruited their soldiers from Charles County, Maryland. Although the company originated in Charles County, they relocated to Annapolis until the summer of 1776. 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. [3]
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. [4]
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 attack. 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 turned into fear, their line broke, and the companies retreated. [5]
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 Edward Green. [6]
Green and the Marylanders retreat from Brooklyn to Manhattan, where they regrouped and prepared for more combat. On October 28, 1776, the British and Continentals faced one another at the Battle of White Plains. Although this battle ended in a Continental loss, it instilled confidence in Washington’s forces and showed the British that the American would stand their ground. [7]
Unfortunately for the Marylanders, this boost of confidence came at a great price, and they accumulated a lot of casualties, including Edward Green. He was wounded, and left the regiment to return home. What sort of wounds Green sustained is not known, but they were significant enough that two years later, in October 1778, he was excused from militia service. [8]
Early in 1789, Green's father died and named Green the executor of his estate. In his will, Edward Sr. left his son Edward two enslaved workers. After that time, however, nothing is known about the life of Edward Green, Jr. [9]
Elizabeth Cassibry, Washington College Explore America Research Intern, 2018
Notes:
[1] Will of Edward Green, Sr., 1789, Charles County Register of Wills, Wills, Liber AI 10, p. 39, MdHR 7281 [MSA C681-11, 01/08/10/011]; Deed, Giles Green to Edward Green, Sr., 1765, Charles County Court, Land Records, Liber L 3, p. 623 [MSA CE82-33].
[3] Mark Andrew Tacyn, “‘To the End:’ The First Maryland Regiment and the American Revolution” (PhD diss., University of Maryland College Park, 1999), 21.
[4] Tacyn, 23-30.
[5] Tacyn, 30-60.
[6] Tacyn, 30-60; Return of the Maryland troops, 27 September 1776, from Fold3.com.
[7] John Dwight Kilbourne, A Short History of the Maryland Line in the Continental Army (Baltimore: The Sons of the American Revolution, 1992), 11-25.
[8] Testimony of Francis Ware, 13 October 1778, Charles County Register of Wills, Orphans Court Proceedings, Liber AF 7, p. 229, MdHR 7288-1 [MSA C675-1, 01/08/10/008]. Ware was the county lieutenant, the official charged with enforcing militia service laws. He had been the lieutenant colonel of the First Maryland Regiment in 1776, while Green was serving.
[9] Edward Green, Sr., will.
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