Edward Edelen
MSA SC 3520-17922
Biography:
Edward Edelen 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 Edelen 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]
Edelen was the son of Edward and Susannah (Wathen) Edelen, who had twelve other children: Richard, John, Oswald, Francis, Philip, Joseph, Leonard, Clara, Sarah, Minta, Anne, and Elizabeth. The family lived in Newport Hundred, in the southeastern part of Charles County. They were quite well-off; Edward Sr. inherited over 700 acres of land after the death of his father Richard. [2]
In July, Edelen and the rest of the 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 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]
Edelen 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, Edelen's enlistment came to an end, and he signed on again, for a three-year term. During his second tour of duty, Edelen and the Marylanders saw a great deal of combat. They 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 Maryland troops also fought at the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778. The next year, 1779, saw little combat as the war slowed to a stalemate. On December 27, 1779, Edelen's enlistment ended, and he received his discharge. [4]
Edelen returned to Maryland, probably arriving there around the time his father died in early 1780. In his will, his father Edward Sr. left him only a small amount of household furniture. However, when his grandfather Richard Edelen had died in 1760, he had left Edward Jr. 364 acres of land, including his plantation house "Assington." That legacy allowed Edelen to establish himself among the planter gentry of Charles County. He steadily increased his land holdings--by 1798, he owned over 500 acres, as well as ten slaves. [5]
In February 1782, Edelen married Eleanor Boarman, and together they had four children: Benedict (d. 1832), Rosalie, Sarah, and George. Edward Edelen died in 1834, leaving his property to his wife, his daughter Sarah, and the children of Rosalie. His estate was valued at over $3,600 dollars--a large amount--and included sixteen slaves. [6]
Owen Lourie, 2018
Notes:
[2] Henry Wright Newman, Charles County Gentry (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1971), 139-141.
[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. 106; 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.
[5] Will of Edward Edelen, 1780, Charles County Register of Wills, Wills, Liber AF 7, p. 457 [MSA C681-8, 1/8/10/8]; Will of Richard Edelen, 1760, Prerogative Court, Wills, Liber 31, p. 279 [MSA S538-46, 1/11/1/40]; Newman, 135; General Assembly House of Delegates, Assessment Record, 1783, Charles County, District 2, p. 4 [MSA S1161-4-9, 1/4/5/47]; Federal Direct Tax, 1798, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 729, Charles County, General List of Land, p. 1382; General List of Slaves, p. 1437.
[6] Newman, 149-152, 165; Will of Edward Edelen, 1834, Charles County Register of Wills, Wills, Liber DJ 16, p. 24 [MSA CM412-17, WK 246-247]; Inventory of Edward Edelen, 1835, Charles County Register of Wills, Inventories, 1833-1837, p. 166 [MSA CM386-22, WK 253-254]
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