John Snyder
MSA SC 3520-18100
Biography:
John Snyder enlisted as a fifer in the Eighth Company of the First Maryland Regiment on January 23, 1776, in the early days of the American Revolution. The regiment, commanded by Colonel William Smallwood, was Maryland's first contingent of full-time, professional soldiers raised to be part of the Continental Army. The Eighth Company, led by Captain Samuel Smith, formed in Baltimore in early 1776, and it trained there that spring and summer. Two other companies from the regiment were located in Baltimore as well, while the rest were stationed in Annapolis. In July, the regiment was ordered to march north to New York, to protect the city from invasion by the British. The Eighth Company lost four men who deserted along the march, a problem which plagued the regiment that summer. [1]
As a fifer, Snyder was one of his company's two musicians, along with drummer William Arnold. They had important roles in their company, playing music in camp and on long marches to help pass the time and raise morale. In battle, music--primarily drumming--was used to communicate orders, rising above the roar of gunfire. Commanders also viewed musicians as vital for recruiting. They were skilled positions, and musicians were paid the same wages as corporals. At some point during the summer, Snyder was appointed the fife major of the regiment, giving him a role in the oversight and training of the other musicians. [2]
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. As the Maryland troops fought their way towards the American fortifications, they were forced to stop at the swampy Gowanus Creek. Half the regiment, including the Eighth, 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. They held the British at bay for some time before being overrun, at the cost of many lives, losing 256 men killed or captured. [3]
Because the Eighth Company was able to escape the battle early, it lost only about six men. Still, as its captain Samuel Smith later described, the retreat was not easy. While withdrawing, "the Regiment mounted a hill, [and] a British officer appeared…and waved his hat, and it was supposed that he meant to surrender. He clapped his hands three times, on which signal his company rose and gave a heavy [fire]. I took my company through a marsh, until we were stopped by the dam of a…mill…that was too deep for the men to ford. I and a Sergeant swam over and got two slabs [of wood] into the water, on…which we ferried over all who could not swim." [4]
Snyder survived that battle, and fought with the Marylanders for the rest of the 1776 campaign. In late October, he was with the Marylanders at the Battle of White Plains, where they again took the brunt of the fighting. Although the battle was a partial American victory, the British soon pushed the Continental Army out of New York and put on the run through New Jersey. Not until late that winter did they secure revitalizing victories at Trenton and Princeton.
In December, the Marylanders' enlistments came to an end, and while many men reenlisted, Snyder did not, and instead returned home. Not long after he arrived in Maryland, Snyder signed on as a sailor aboard a privateer. What ships he sailed on is not known, nor is is clear how long Snyder served, although he was reportedly in several battles, and was wounded. [5]
After the war ended, Snyder lived in Baltimore, probably working as a craftsman. Later in his life, he was a blacksmith, and it is likely that he was involved in that trade in the 1780s. [6]
Snyder married Elizabeth Foster on August 27, 1793, the seventeenth anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn. Elizabeth came from a well-off family in Talbot County, where the marriage occurred. Born around 1770, she was the daughter of William and Mary Foster, and had an elder brother named Joseph (d. 1794). Mary Foster died while Elizabeth was young, and William died in 1781, when Elizabeth was about eleven years old. She inherited the bulk of her father's estate--excluding the land, which likely went to her brother--receiving nearly £400. Elizabeth also inherited a slave named Sam, who she manumitted in 1791, likely soon after she reached twenty-one years old and became an adult; as a minor, Elizabeth would not have been allowed to execute a legal document, such as a manumission. [7]
After her parents' death, Elizabeth was raised by Margaret and William Manadier, and lived among the county's gentry. Her wedding to Snyder shows a glimpse of her life. The marriage took place at the house of James Goldsborough, a member of a prominent and influential family. One of Elizabeth's bridesmaids was Henrietta Stevens, who attended the ceremony along with her brother Samuel; Samuel Stevens was governor of Maryland 1822-1826. John and Elizabeth lived in Talbot for a short time after they were married, then settled in Baltimore. [8]
Over the years, Snyder prospered as a member of Baltimore's artisan community, and he and his family lived in comfort. John and Elizabeth had seven children, beginning with William (b. 1794), followed by Mary Ann (b. 1796), John (b. 1797), Charles Foster (b. 1799), Edward Rutter (b. 1801), Joseph Rutter (b. 1804), and Sophia (b. 1806). Snyder was a blacksmith and a whitesmith, working with both iron and tin, and established his own shop at Charles and Baltimore streets, in the heart of Baltimore. The family lived a short distance away, on Peace Alley, near Conway Street. [9]
There were several other John Snyders in Baltimore at the time, including one who was a prominent ship-builder and member of the city council. Consequently, it can be difficult to accurately determine all of Snyder's social activities and property holdings. However, John and Elizabeth did own several pieces of land near Baltimore City, which they sold in 1811 and 1820, in addition to the house they lived in. In addition, John served in the state militia, acting as the paymaster of the Sixth Regiment 1812-1818. He may also have raised a volunteer infantry company in 1807, although it is not certain if that was the same John Snyder. The family was Lutheran, and they were members of Zion Lutheran Church. [10]
John Snyder died on February 23, 1823. His estate was valued at about $850, about half of which was the value of the family's house. Much of the property was sold at auction later that spring. Elizabeth continued to live in Baltimore, and in 1839, when she was sixty-nine years old, she was awarded a pension by the federal government as the widow of a Revolutionary War veteran. She received $52 per year until her death, sometime after 1842. [11]
Owen Lourie, 2019; Additional material by Patrick Jackson, Washington College
Notes:
1. Pension of John Snyder, National Archives and Records Administration, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, NARA M804, W 9307, from Fold3.com; Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 640; Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, NARA M881, from Fold3.com; "Eight Pounds Reward." Philadelphia Evening Post, 10 August 1776; William Sands to John and Ann Sands, 14 August 1776, Maryland State Archives, Special Collections, Dowsett Collection of Sands Family Papers [MSA SC 2095-1-18, 00/20/05/28].
2. Raoul F. Camus, Military Music of the American Revolution (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1976), 3-4, 15-18; Harold Peterson, The Book of the Continental Soldier (Victoria, BC: Promontory Press, 1975), 191; Pay Abstract, First Maryland Regiment, September 1776, Maryland State Papers, Revolutionary Papers, box 6, no. 5, MdHR 19970-6-5 [MSA S997-6-6, 1/7/3/11]. On the value of musicians in recruiting, see for example William Smallwood to John Sterrett, 14 March 1777, Maryland State Archives, Special Collections, Maryland Society of the Sons of the American Revolution Smallwood Collection [MSA SC 6205-1-1].
3. 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. Return of the Maryland troops, 13 September 1776, Revolutionary War Rolls, NARA M246, folder 35, p. 85, from Fold3.com; “The Papers of General Samuel Smith. The General’s Autobiography. From the Original Manuscripts.” The Historical Magazine, 2nd ser., vol. 8, no. 2 (1870): 82-92. Smith wrote his autobiography in the third person; it has been converted to first person here for purposes of clarity.
5. Snyder pension.
6. Edward Matchett, The Baltimore Directory and Register, for the Year 1816 (Baltimore, 1816), 149; C. Kennan, The Baltimore Directory for 1822 and '23 (Baltimore, 1822), 258; Snyder pension.
7. Snyder pension; Inventory of William Foster, 1781, Talbot County Register of Wills, Inventories, vol. JB A, p. 110 [MSA C1872-8, 1/43/4/40]; Administration Account of William Foster, 1783, Talbot County Register of Wills, Administration Accounts, vol. JB A, p. 235 [MSA C1820-3, 1/43/4/40]; Will of William Foster, 1781, Talbot County Register of Wills, Wills, vol. HB 2, p. 52 [MSA C1925-2, 1/43/4/21]; Will of Joseph Foster, 1794, Talbot County Register of Wills, Wills, vol. JB 4, p. 305 [MSA C1925-4, 1/43/4/23]; Manumission, Elizabeth Foster to Negro Sam, 1791, Talbot County Court, Land Records, liber 24, p. 384 [MSA CE90-26].
8. William Foster will; Snyder pension.
9. Snyder pension; Baltimore American and Commercial Daily Advertiser, 18 April 1823; Kennan,258.
10. Deed, Thomas Rutter to John Snyder, 1803, Baltimore County Court, Land Records, liber WG 77, p. 276 [MSA CE66-127]; Deed, John Snyder to Leonard Powder, 1811, Baltimore County Court, Land Records, liber WG 113,p. 180 [MSA CE66-163]; Deed, Susanna Kerns, et al. to John Snyder, 1817, Baltimore County Court, Land Records, liber WG 142, p. 340 [MSA CE66-192]; Deed, John Snyder to Elliot O'Donnell, 1820, Baltimore County Court, Land Records, liber WG 155, p. 245 [MSA CE66-205]; Adjutant General, Militia Appointments, 1794-1825, vol. 3, p. 63 [MSA 348-3, 2/6/5/11]; Adjutant General, Military Papers, Baltimore, box 8, folder 42 [MSA S926-5, 2/5/2/12]; Snyder pension. Snyder's tenure as paymaster is confirmed by the presence of a uniform in his probate inventory.
11. Snyder pension; Baltimore American and Commercial Daily Advertiser, 18 April 1823; Inventory of John Snyder, 1823, Baltimore County Register of Wills, Inventories, vol. 34, p. 108 [MSA C340-35, 2/29/9/35]; Estate sale of John Snyder, 1823, Baltimore City Register of Wills, Accounts of Sale, vol. 9, p. 99 [MSA T609-6, 2/33/8/33]; Deed, Isaac Brooks, administrator to Anthony Bonn, 1824, Baltimore County Court, Land Records, liber WG 172, p. 368 [MSA CE66-222]. In her pension application, Elizabeth Snyder stated that John died in 1827. There are no records which can support this claim. However, a John Snyder, with a wife named Elizabeth, did die in the early part of 1823.
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