Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Samuel Hamilton
MSA SC 3520-17851

Biography:

Samuel Hamilton enlisted as a private on January 24, 1776 in the First Maryland Regiment’s First Company, which was led by Captain John Hoskins Stone. [1]

The First Company primarily recruited its soldiers from Charles County, Maryland. After raising all of its troops, the company traveled to Annapolis to train until the summer of 1776. That July the 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 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 battle. Meanwhile, General Washington was determined to defend New York. Ultimately, between General Washington’s smaller army and the poor intelligence he referenced when preparing for the British invasion, 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 in 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 men 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 British invasion. Shortly after the first wave of British troops receded, the Marylanders were shocked 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 in between enemy fire and the Gowanus Creek. About half of the Marylanders, including Hamilton's company was able to cross the creek and reach the safety of the American camp. The other half of Maryland’s First 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 Marylanders that stood on Gowanus Road were killed or made prisoners. The First Company, however, lost very few men, and 77 percent of the First Company was accounted for after the battle. [5]

While it is likely that Hamilton survived the battle, it is difficult to determine any other information about his life, as there were many other men with the same name in Maryland during that period. In fact, there was another Samuel Hamilton in the First Maryland Regiment, a corporal in the Third Company who was taken prisoner at the battle. One of those two men reenlisted in the First Maryland Regiment as a sergeant at the end of 1776, serving until December 1779, including time spent in the army's Commissary Department. However, it is not possible to tell which Samuel Hamilton that was. [6]

-Elizabeth Cassibry, Washington College Explore America Research Intern, 2018

Notes:

[1] Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 6.

[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] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, pps. 9, 117; Men of Capt. Lucas' Company taken prisoner who received breeches, c. 1777, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, box 11, no. 19/2, MdHR 19970-11-19/2 [MSA S997-11-21, 1/7/3/13].

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