Samuel Wheatly
MSA SC 3520-18088
Biography:
Samuel Wheatly enlisted as a private in the First Company of the First Maryland Regiment on January 24, 1776 under Captain John Hoskins Stone. [1]
Colonel William Smallwood's Maryland battalion of nine companies were stationed in Baltimore and Annapolis while the independent companies were divided between the Eastern and Western shores. In July 1776, while at Annapolis for training, the Charles County-based company received orders to march to New York to reinforce the Continental Army for a British invasion. [2]
On August 27, American forces faced British troops at the Battle of Brooklyn (also known as the Battle of Long Island), the first full-scale engagement of the war. Led by major Mordecai Gist, the Maryland troops were positioned on the far right of the battlefield. Under heavy fire, the American troops attempted to retreat through Gowanus Creek, suffering severe losses in the process. To hold the British at bay, the remaining Marylanders who had not crossed the creek yet mounted a series of charges. The Maryland troops delayed the British long enough for the rest of the Continental Army to escape. Despite the loss of 256 men who were killed or captured, the bravery and sacrifice of the Marylanders earned them the title of the "Maryland 400." [3]
The First Company was spared the worse of the fighting, only losing a few men. Like most of his comrades, Wheatly survived the battle and fought with the Marylanders at the Battle of White Plains, a continuation of the retreat from New York, and Fort Washington, both American losses.
At the beginning of 1777, the issue of expiring enlistments came to call. Despite suffering the privations of an ill-supplied army, Wheatly reenlisted in the First Maryland Regiment and was promoted to corporal. [4] As corporal, Wheatly was a disciplinarian within the regiment and forwarded the commands of the line officers. [5]
In late August of 1777, the American troops launched a raid on Staten Island. Hoping to disrupt British raiding along the Atlantic coast, the Americans planned the attack under the assumption that the British forces were on the island were primarily American Loyalist militia, who were presumed to be no match for the experienced American soldiers. Approximately 1,000 Americans crossed to the island, including numerous Marylanders. The mission began well, but the Americans encountered British regulars, and the tide of the battle turned. The Marylanders took the brunt of the American losses, and lost around 200 men who were killed or captured. [6]
Wheatly was among those taken prisoner during the battle. His fate after his capture is unknown. If Wheatly was released, it would not have been until the end of the war when the British released their prisoners. [7]
Cassy Sottile, 2019
Notes:
[2] Mark Andrew Tacyn, "To the End: The First Maryland Regiment and the American Revolution" (PhD diss., University of Maryland College Park, 1999), 34-45.
[3] Return of the Maryland troops, 13 September 1776, Revolutionary War Rolls, NARA M246, folder 35, p. 85, from Fold3.com; Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 173.
[4] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 173.
[5] Tacyn, 152.
[6] Patrick O’Donnell, Washington’s Immortals: The Untold Story of an Elite Regiment Who Changed the Course of the Revolution (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2016), 137-140; Reiman Steuart, The Maryland Line (The Society of the Cincinnati, 1971), 157.
For more information on the Battle of Staten Island, see “He Had Never Gave Them An Inch Before He Found That He Had Nothing Left to Keep Them off With” on the Finding the Maryland 400 research blog.
[7] American prisoners held by the British in New York often died due to poor sanitary conditions, minimal food, and lack of medical attention. They were held in prison ships anchored offshore or in warehouses in the city. While most Marylanders captured at the Battle of Brooklyn were returned in prisoner exchanges by early 1777, men taken later in the war were held for much longer. Negotiations for mass prisoner exchanges did not begin until 1778, but many American prisoners of war would not be released until the end of the warEdwin C. Burrows, Forgotten Patriot: The Untold Story of American Prisoners During the Revolutionary War (New York: Perseus Books, 2008), 21-22.
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