Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Thomas Windham
MSA SC 3520-17918

Biography:

Thomas Windham enlisted as a private in the Third Company of the First Maryland Regiment, led by Captain Barton Lucas, on February 16, 1776. [1]

The Third Company was recruited primarily from Prince George’s County, Maryland, although Windham was from Anne Arundel. The company was stationed in Annapolis in the spring of 1776 to train for several months. That July, the company received orders to march north, making it to Philadelphia by mid-July and to New York a month later.  It was positioned with the rest of the First Maryland Regiment about one mile outside of New York, with orders to prepare for battle.

The Marylanders met the British at the Battle of Brooklyn (sometimes called the Battle of Long Island) on August 27, 1776, where the Continental Army, led by General George Washington, fought to defend New York. The  American troops were severely outnumbered and surrounded when they were ordered to retreat. Half the regiment was able to escape the battle, however the other half, including most of the Third Company, was trapped by the swampy Gowanus Creek.  They turned back to face the British, holding their position long enough for the rest of the Marylanders to return to safety. This daring stand earned them the honorable name of the “Maryland 400.” [2]

Despite the heroic actions of the Maryland 400, the battle was a defeat for the Americans, and the First Maryland Regiment suffered greatly. By the end of the battle, Maryland losses totalled 256 men killed or captured.  As for the Third Company, only 27 men, just 35 percent of the company, escaped death or captivity. Of the remaining men, an astonishing 21 men, or 29 percent, were taken prisoner. Sadly, the rest of the company remains unaccounted for.  On the day of the battle, Captain Lucas was sick and unable to lead his men. He "became deranged as a consequence of losing his company," and left the army not long after. [3]

Unlike many of his companions, Windham survived the battle and was not captured, and continued to fight.  The Maryland Regiment helped secure America’s first victory at the Battle of Harlem Heights in September 1776 where they were praised for their “gallant behavior” and “splendid spirit and animation.”  They fought again at the Battle of White Plains in October where, despite the Maryland troops’ immense improvement, there was no clear victory. Unfortunately, the First Maryland Regiment suffered greatly. [4]

Thomas Windham survived these battles and reenlisted as a corporal in the First Maryland Regiment on December 10, 1776 when the Maryland Line was reorganized. 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. He likely participated in the revitalizing victories at Trenton  and Princeton in the winter of 1776-1777.  However, their luck soon ran out when they fought at the Battle of Staten Island, and the bloody battles of Brandywine and Germantown, part of the campaign to defend Philadelphia from British capture. All were British victories, although John Adams considered the Battle of Germantown to be the “most decisive proof that America would finally succeed.” [5]

Windham’s enlistment ended in December 1779, but a month later, he enlisted yet again, this time as a sergeant. In the spring of 1780, the Marylanders were part of the American Army that was ordered to march south to defend the colonies after the southern army had been almost entirely captured by the British. After reaching the south, they fought in the Battle of Camden, where the Maryland Line again found themselves alone on the battlefield after the rest of the army fled.  The battle was yet another British victory with extreme casualties on the American side. [6]

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. Most of the First Maryland Regiment spent 1782 back in South Carolina, where British forces lingered for most of the year. Windham reenlisted one more time, on January 1783, although the war was effectively over.

Thomas Windham returned home to Anne Arundel County.  On June 21, 1785, he married Sarah Lamb at St. Anne’s Parish in Annapolis, although their ceremony was not so conventional for the time. According to Andrew, Sarah’s son from her first marriage, “Thomas Windham and Sarah Lamb, in order that [their ceremony] should not be noticed took a walk in the evening with one or two friends, and called at the parsonage and were married there.” Andrew, “altho an inmate of the family, was not aprised of the marriage until the next morning.” [7]

Sarah was thirty-six years old, had been married twice before, and was in fact a widow of another Maryland 400 member Joshua Lamb.  She also had one son from each previous marriage: Andrew Slicer (b. 1773) and John Lamb (b. 1780). The two boys “grew up together in [their] mother’s...family.”  She and Thomas had three more children as well: George Washington, Charles (b. 1790), and Eleanor (b. 1794). [8]

At some point after the Revolutionary War, Windham “volunteered in a tour against the Indians, and was stationed for some time at Fort Pitt,” likely the site of modern-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He also served as constable of Annapolis, where his primary responsibility was to enforce the judgments of the local justice of the peace.  [9]

Thomas Windham died in 1795, just one year after the birth of his daughter. Sarah, having been widowed three times, never married again, and was left to raise her five children. [10]

Sarah applied to receive Federal veterans pensions as a widow of both Lamb and Windham.  Applicants needed to provide records of marriage, which was unfortunately not possible for Sarah’s marriage to Lamb. Sarah was well respected by all who knew her, but by the time she applied for the pension she was “over eighty years of age and [was] very infirm,” so her grandson Henry Slicer wrote the pension appeal for her.  Her son with Lamb had already passed away by this time. Slicer petitioned the “representatives of those states whose liberties were won by the valor of her husband and his companions in arms - believing that justice will be done [for Sarah].” [11]

On August 25, 1838, ninety-year-old Sarah received the pension due her in accordance to the service of Thomas Windham.  On March 3, 1839, she received Lamb’s pension through a special act of Congress. On behalf of both Windham and Lamb, she received $120 annually, or half the pay of a sergeant. [12]

When she was about ninety-two, Sarah lived with her daughter Eleanor. She passed away on August 5, 1841 after a long life full of love and loss. [13]

-Natalie Miller, Maryland Society Sons of the American Revolution Research Fellow, 2018

Notes:

[1] Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Archives of Maryland Online, vol 18, 10.

[2] Mark Andrew Tacyn, "To the End: The First Maryland Regiment and the American Revolution," (PhD diss., University of Maryland College Park, 1999), 48-73; "Extract of a letter from New-York," 1 September 1776, American Archives, 5th series, vol. 2, 107.

[3] Return of the Maryland troops, 27 September 1776, from Fold3.com; Pension of John Hughes. National Archives, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land-Warrant Application Files, S 5954, from Fold3.com.

[4] Henry P. Johnston, The Campaign of 1776 Around New York and Brooklyn (1878; Reprint, New York: Da Capo Press, 1971), 256.

[5] Archives of Maryland Online, vol 18, 173.

[6] Archives of Maryland Online, vol 18, 173.

[7] Marriage of Thomas Windham to Sarah Lamb, Anne Arundel County Court, Marriage Licenses, 1785 [MSA C113-1, 01/01/11/027]; Pension of Thomas Windham, National Archives and Records Administration, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, NARA M804, W 9020, from Fold3.com.

[8] Pension of Joshua Lamb, National Archives and Records Administration, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, NARA M804, W 9168, from Fold3.com; Pension of Thomas Windham.

[9] Pension of Thomas Windham; Maryland Gazette (Annapolis), 21 September 1786, 4.

[10] Pension of Thomas Windham.

[11] Pension of Joshua Lamb.

[12] Pension of Joshua Lamb.

[13] Pension of Joshua Lamb.

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