Larkin Dorsey (1760-1794)
MSA SC 3520-18101
Biography:
A young man from a prominent family which actively supported the American Revolution, Larkin Dorsey was about sixteen years old when he secured a position as a cadet in the First Maryland Regiment in 1776. The regiment was Maryland's first contingent of full-time, professional troops, raised to fulfill the state's quota of soldiers for the Continental Army. Cadets were officers-in-waiting, typically sons of aristocratic families. As there were more interested young men of the gentry than available officers' posts, some became cadets instead, in the hope that they would eventually receive an officer's commission. Dorsey was well-suited to such a role, as his family was one of the wealthiest in Maryland. [1]
Born in 1760, Dorsey was the second son of Mary (1738-1783) and Colonel John Dorsey (1736-1810). They had eight other children: Robert (b. 1758), Alexander (1762-1813); William Hammond (1764-1819); Elizabeth (b. 1766); Sarah M. (1768-1846); Walter (b. 1771); John E. (b. 1773); Clement (b. 1778). John Dorsey was a merchant and the operator of an iron furnace in the Elk Ridge area of Anne Arundel County. He was also the commander of the Elk Ridge Battalion of militia. Because Larkin Dorsey was so young--one of the youngest men in the regiment--his father wanted to make sure he would be in good hands. He asked Francis Ware, the second in command of the regiment, to watch over Larkin and "to have an eye To his morals and in Case of Necessity to Lecture him as an own Child." Ware readily complied, assuming the paternal role which was fitting of a senior officer and fellow member of the gentry. [2]
Dorsey served as a cadet in the Ninth Company of the Maryland regiment. The company was raised in Western Maryland, and it was designated as the light infantry company for the regiment. Instead of fighting in a line with the other companies, the light infantry was often deployed in small groups ahead of the main body of troops as scouts or skirmishers. They carried rifles, rather than muskets, and were intended to be a more mobile group. The company spent the first part of 1776 stationed in Annapolis training and performing guard duty. In July, the First Maryland Regiment was ordered to march north to New York, to protect the city from invasion by the British. [3]
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 was able to cross the creek and escape the battle. However, the rest, including the Ninth Company, 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. [4]
The Ninth Company fared poorly at the battle, probably because the light infantry's role placed them closest to the enemy lines during combat. Fewer than half the men from the Ninth Company was able to avoid death or captivity at the battle, and at least thirteen soldiers were taken prisoner. Dorsey was able to escape safely, and impressed Francis Ware, who assured John Dorsey that Larkin had shown "Prudence...such as Would do Credit to one of much Riper years....In the action Which happened on Long Island...he gave Singular proof of Bravery." [5]
Over the next few months, the Marylanders continued to demonstrated their skill and bravery at battles like Harlem Heights in September and White Plains in October, but the Americans were nevertheless pushed out of New York, and by November were put on the run through New Jersey. Not until late that winter did the Continental Army secure revitalizing victories at Trenton and Princeton. Dorsey was likely present with the army during this period, although at some point that winter he eventually returned to Maryland. Just as he had hoped, he received a commission as an officer. He was briefly named as a lieutenant in a Maryland artillery company, before securing a place as a cornet (the lowest commissioned officer's rank) in the Fourth Continental Dragoons, a prestigious posting. [6]
Dorsey and his cavalry regiment saw action during the battles to defend Philadelphia from the British, fighting at Brandywine (September 1777) and Germantown (October 1777), both American losses. At Germantown, Dorsey was on the field at the same time as his father, whose militia regiment was also part of the American army. Dorsey also participated in several smaller skirmishes, and served until September 1778, when he resigned his commission and returned to civilian life in Maryland. [7]
Dorsey's activities after he left the army are not known. It is possible that he helped his father run the family business. His mother Mary died in June 1783. There is no indication that Dorsey ever married or had children, and he probably did not ever establish his own household. He died in Kingston, Jamaica in July 1794. Whether he was there for business, to improve his health, or for another reason, is not known, nor is the cause of his death. [8]
Owen Lourie, 2019; Additional material by Mari Mullane, Washington College
Notes:
1. Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 18; John A. Ruddiman, Becoming Men of Some Consequence: Youth and Military Service in the Revolutionary War (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2014), 31-35. On the place of cadets with the First Maryland Regiment in 1776, see "'Anxious of Showing my Zeal for the Love of My County, I entered Myself as a Cadet,'" on the Maryland State Archives research blog, Finding the Maryland 400. For more about Ware's letter see "Family in Uniform."
2. Henry Wright Newman, Anne Arundel County Gentry, vol. 2 (1971), 130; S. Eugene Clements and F. Edward Wright, The Maryland Militia in the Revolutionary War (Silver Spring, MD: Family Line Publications, 1987), 71; Francis Ware to John Dorsey, 31 August 1776, Maryland State Papers, Series A, box 1, no. 100, MdHR 6636-1-100 [MSA S1004-1-835, 1/7/3/25].
4. 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.
5. Return of the Maryland troops, 13 September 1776, Revolutionary War Rolls, NARA M246, folder 35, p. 85, from Fold3.com; Ware to Dorsey, 31 August 1776.
6. Reiman Steuart, The Maryland Line (The Society of the Cincinnati, 1971), 44, 47; Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, NARA M881, from Fold3.com.
7. Daniel Morgan to George Washington, 2 July 1778, Founders Online, National Archives; Larkin Dorsey to Alexander Hamilton, 4 September 1778, Founders Online, National Archives. John Dorsey's militia unit, the Elk Ridge Battalion, did not distinguish itself; see Smallwood to Governor Thomas Johnson, 14 October 1777, Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council, 1777-1778, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 16, p. 398.
8. Maryland Journal (Baltimore), 24 June 1783; Newman, 130; "Died," Royal Gazette (Kingston, Jamaica), 26 July 1794, from Jamaican Family Search Genealogy Research Library.
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