Francis Ware Luckett
MSA SC 3520-17910
Biography:
Francis Ware Luckett enlisted as a private in the First Company of the First Maryland Regiment in January 1776. The company was raised in Charles County, Maryland, 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]
In July, Luckett's regiment received orders to march to New York 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. [2]
Luckett 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, Luckett's enlistment came to an end, and he signed on again, this time as a corporal. 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 second term in the army, Luckett 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. [3]
During the winter of 1777-1778, the Americans endured poor food, disease, and frigid weather. While the Marylanders were not at Valley Forge, conditions at their winter camp at Wilmington, Delaware were no better. In April 1778, just as the winter came to an end, Luckett died, one of at least twenty men to perish in the First Maryland Brigade, which included Luckett's unit. Luckett's death was likely related to illness or injury, rather than combat. In total, more than sixty men in the brigade died between February and April 1778. [4]
Francis's brother Samuel began taking steps to settle Francis's estate in 1785, and in 1792, Samuel was able to collect Francis's back pay from the army. [5]
Owen Lourie, 2018
Notes:
[2] 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.
[3] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 132.
[4] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 132; Charles H. Lesser, ed., The Sinews of Independence: Monthly Strength Reports of the Continental Army (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1976), 58-65.
[5] Administration bond of Samuel Luckett, 27 September 1785, Charles County Register of Wills, Orphans Court Proceedings, Liber AH 9, p. 116, MdHR 7290-4 [MSA C675-3, 1/8/10/10]; Journal and Correspondence of the State Council, 1789-1793, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 72, p. 281. Francis and Samuel may have been the sons of William and Susannah Luckett, but that cannot be determined conclusively. Harry Wright Newman, The Lucketts of Portobacco (1938), 55-56, 66.
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