William Smoot
MSA SC 3520-17897
Biography:
William Smoot enlisted as a private in the First Company of the First Maryland Regiment in January 1776. The company was raised in Charles County, Maryland, where Smoot lived, and was led by Captain John Hoskins Stone. It was part of Maryland's first contingent of full-time, professional troops. Its men distinguished themselves that summer, gaining fame as the "Maryland 400." [1]
Smoot was born on September 11, 1748, and was the youngest child of Isaac and Elizabeth Smoot. His siblings were Barton (b. 1740), Sarah (or Ann) (b. 1744), and Isaac (b. 1745). The family farmed tobacco, and was modestly well-off, though far from being wealthy. However, in the middle of 1751, Isaac Sr. died. William was just three years old. [2]
Little is known about Smoot's life in the years after his father's death. He was twenty-seven years old when he enlisted in the First Company, about four years older than the average soldier. In July, the regiment received orders to march to New York, in order to defend the city from an impending British attack. The Marylanders arrived in New York in early August, where they joined with the rest of the Continental Army, commanded by General George Washington. 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. Half the regiment, including the First Company, was able to cross the creek, and escape the battle. However, the rest were unable to do so before they were attacked by the British. Facing down a much larger, better-trained force, this group of soldiers, today called the "Maryland 400," mounted a series of daring charges, which held the British at bay for some time, at the cost of many lives, before being overrun. They took enormous causalities, with some companies losing losing nearly 80 percent of their men, but their actions delayed the British long enough for the rest of the Continental Army to escape. In all, the First Maryland lost 256 men, killed or taken prisoner. [3]
Smoot survived the battle, as did most of the men in his company. During the fall of 1776, 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.
In December 1776, Smoot's enlistment came to an end, and he signed on again, this time as a sergeant. A number of the soldiers who had fought in the 1776 campaign received similar promotions, a reflection of the veteran leadership that they could contribute to the army. During his three-year term, Smoot saw a great deal of combat. The Marylanders fought in the disastrous raid on Staten Island in August 1777, and the major battles of the campaign to protect Philadelphia from the British, Brandywine (September 1777) and Germantown (October 1777), both significant defeats. The Marylanders also fought at the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778. The next year, 1779, saw little major combat as the war slowed to a stalemate. As a result, Smoot spent part of the year back in Maryland, recruiting new troops and securing supplies. [4]
Smoot's enlistment expired in December 1779, and he was discharged. However, in January 1780, he was among a handful of non-commissioned officers who were recognized for their exemplary leadership and experience, and were promoted to ensign, making them commissioned officers. As General William Smallwood, by now Maryland's highest-ranking officer, wrote, "I believe their Services and Merit entitle them to such Reward." Smoot's ascent from private to ensign was remarkable, though not without precedent. The gap between sergeant and ensign was a wide one, as officers were typically drawn from the gentry. Furthermore, commanders were sometimes reluctant to promote non-commissioned officers like sergeants, because experienced sergeants were so valuable. [5]
In the spring of 1780, a few months after receiving his commission, Smoot and the Marylanders joined the American army sent to the Carolinas to counter the new front that the British had opened in the south. Over the next two years, the Maryland troops fought in the Revolutionary War's fiercest battles. That August, the Marylanders took catastrophic casualties at the Battle of Camden, losing some 600 men--about one-third of their troops. In the wake of the loss, the Maryland Line was reorganized, and Smoot was promoted to lieutenant. The next year, however, the Americans rebuilt, and earned a series of victories at Cowpens (January 1781), Guilford Court House (March 1781), Ninety-Six (May-June 1781), and Eutaw Springs (September 1781), pushing the British north out of the Carolinas towards Yorktown, where they surrendered in October. In the course of these battles, the Maryland soldiers gained a reputation as brave and dependable, and were a cornerstone of the army. Smoot and the First Maryland Regiment spent 1782 back in South Carolina, where British forces lingered for most of the year. [6]
On January 1, 1783, Smoot was discharged. He had served in the army for seven full years, taking part in both famous victories and terrible defeats. As a dependable, experienced soldier, he had risen from lowly private to lieutenant. [7]
Although it is likely that Smoot returned home to his native Charles County, nothing definite is known about him after he left the army. He died by 1827, the year in which his nieces and nephews, the children of his siblings Barton and Sarah, applied for the bounty land that Smoot had earned as a Revolutionary War soldier. They were awarded 200 acres of land, although the plot's location is not known. [8]
Owen Lourie, 2018
Notes:
[2] Inventory of Isaac Smoot, 1751, Prerogative Court, Inventories, Liber 48, p. 210 [MSA S534-48, 1/11/5/37]; Account of Isaac Smoot, 1752, Prerogative Court, Accounts, Liber 33, p. 294 [MSA S531-33, 1/11/3/38].
[3] 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. 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.
[4] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 159; List of receipts of soldiers who were paid upon discharge, 27 December 1779, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, box 3, no. 7-21, p. 1, MdHR 19970-3-7/21 [MSA S997-3-94, 1/7/3/9]; Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, NARA M881, from Fold3.com; Receipt, Sgt. William Smoot, 19 June 1779, Maryland State Papers, Series A, box 16, no. 127-1, MdHR 6636-16-127/1 [MSA S1004-19-1428, 1/7/3/33]; Sgt. William Smoot, to collect clothes, 5 June 1779, Maryland State Papers, Red Books, vol. 25, no. 62 MdHR 4593-62 [MSA S98937, 1/6/4/25].
[5] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 363; Journal and Correspondence of the State Council, 1779-1790. Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 43, p. 71; Reiman Steuart, The Maryland Line (The Society of the Cincinnati, 1971), 134.
[6] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, pps. 363, 379, 443; Steuart, 134.
[7] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 479; Steuart, 134.
[8] Pension of William Smoot. National Archives, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land-Warrant Application Files, B.L.Wt. 1234, from Fold3.com. The fact that the claim was made by Smoot's nieces and nephews suggests that he had no children, or they would presumably have made the claim themselves.
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