Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

John Williams
MSA SC 3520-17875

Biography:

John Williams enlisted as a private in the Fifth Independent Company, led by Captain John Allen Thomas, in early 1776. He was about twenty-one when he joined, a little younger than average. The company was raised in St. Mary's County, and was one of seven independent companies that the Maryland Council of Safety formed across the state in early 1776, initially intended to guard the Chesapeake Bay's coastline from a feared British invasion. By that 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 then. [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 as much as 80 percent of their men. Williams 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, Williams 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 November they had been pushed out of New York entirely, though they secured key revitalizing victories at Trenton and Princeton late that winter. At the end of the year, when the enlistments of the soldiers expired, the independent companies were disbanded. However, Williams and many of the other men in the independents reenlisted in the newly-formed Second Maryland Regiment. He was promoted to corporal when he rejoined, a reflection of his status as an experienced soldier. [3]

In August 1777, Williams and the Marylanders were part of the American force that landed on Staten Island. The goal was to defeat a small Loyalist militia, but the Americans instead found themselves facing a sizable contingent of British army regulars. In the ensuing American retreat, the Maryland Line was ordered to cover the rear, and took heavy casualties, just as they had at Brooklyn a year earlier. The Marylanders lost by some estimates about 200 men, including Williams, who was taken prisoner. The American prisoners were held on British prison ships in New York harbor, where countless men died in horrific conditions. Williams was fortunate, however, and was released in a prisoner exchange around the end of the year. He did not return to his unit until late July 1778, possibly because he needed to recuperate from his captivity. Williams stayed in the army until the end of his three-year term, and was discharged in January 1780. [4]

It appears that Williams returned to his native St. Mary's County, where he was a tobacco farmer. He probably did not own any land, and rented it instead; he did own two slaves, however. He met with some financial difficulties over his life, and in 1815, the Maryland General Assembly granted him a pension of forty-four dollars per year because of his "indigent situation [as he is] now advanced in life, and as a further remuneration for those services by which his country has been so essentially benefited." A few years later, in 1818, he applied for a pension from the Federal government, a program that Congress established that year to help support Revolutionary War veterans. Williams was granted payments of eight dollars per month. While he may have been married earlier in his life, by then he had no family living with him. [5]

Williams received his pensions at least into the mid-1820s. It is possible that he died in early 1825, but that is not quite certain. No other details about his life can be determined because he had such a common name. [6]

Owen Lourie, 2018

Sources:

[1] Pension of John Williams, National Archives and Records Administration, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, NARA M804, S 35120, 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), 33-45.

[2] Return of the Maryland troops, 13 September 1776, Revolutionary War Rolls, NARA M246, folder 35, p. 85, from Fold3.com; Tacyn, 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] Williams pension; Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 175; Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, NARA M881, from Fold3.com.

[4] Williams pension; Compiled Service Record; Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 175.

[5] Williams pension; 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, Fourth District, St. Mary's County, Maryland; Maryland General Assembly, Session Laws of 1815, Resolution 18, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 634, p. 219.

[6] Williams pension; Treasurer of the Western Shore, Pension Roll, Military, 1811-1843, pps. 24, 42, MdHR 4534-4 [MSA S613-1, 2/63/10/33].

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