Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Nathan Duling
MSA SC 3520-18176

Biography:

Nathan Duling enlisted as a private on January 25, 1776 in the Fourth Independent Company under Captain James Hindman.[1]

Hindman’s company originally played a role in the Maryland Council of Safety’s plan to protect the Chesapeake Bay from potential British invasions. 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. While centered at Oxford in Talbot County in the summer of 1776, Hindman’s company received orders to march to New York to reinforce the Continental Army for a British invasion. The independent companies, including the Fourth Independent, arrived by mid-August 1776. [2]

On August 27, 1776, 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. 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 hadn’t 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 Maryland troops earned them the title of the "Maryland 400." [3]

Duling and the Fourth Independent were spared the worst of the fighting, taking only minimal losses. Hindman defended his company against allegations of non-participation, and blamed their orders for preventing them from taking a more active role: “I have had the vanity to think the company I have had the honor to command have behaved themselves as well as in the service, notwithstanding the dark insinuations that have been thrown out to their prejudice.” [4]

Following the battle of Brooklyn, the Fourth Independent fought at the Battle of White Plains, a continuation of the retreat from New York and an American loss. Duling also witnessed victories at the battles of Trenton and Princeton in the winter of 1776-1777. 

At the beginning of 1777, the issue of expiring enlistments came to call. Despite seeing combat in four battles and suffering the privations of an ill-supplied army, Duling re-enlisted for a three year service term in the Second Maryland Regiment. [5] He placed in the company of John Eccleston. [6]

Congress had required Maryland to raise eight new regiments as part of the force of 88 regiments of the Continental establishment. To fill this, soldiers were recruited from the nine companies of Smallwood’s battalion and the independent companies. The Fourth Independent combined with the other independent companies to form the Second Maryland Regiment commanded by Colonel Thomas Price. [7]

During 1777-1778, the British and American troops vied for control over the American capital at Philadelphia. As part of the American campaign, Duling fought with the Second Regiment at the battles of Brandywine (September 1777) and Germantown (October 1777), both American losses. [8]

In December 1777, Duling was accused of deserting. He returned to the Second Regiment on March 20, 1778. [9]

In June 1778, Duling fought at the Battle of Monmouth, a limited American victory. In 1779, Duling saw little action, as the American and British forces were locked in a stalemate. Before he next saw combat with his regiment, Duling was discharged in January 1780. [10]

Duling’s fate after his discharge is a bit murky. He may have owned land in Talbot County after the war, but there is no way of knowing if it is the same Nathan Duling.

Cassy Sottile, Explore America Research Intern, 2019

Notes:

1. Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 24.

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.

4. Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety, July 7: December 31, 1776, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 12, p. 346.

5. Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 293.

6.Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, NARA M881, from Fold3.com.

7. Tacyn, 104.

8. John Dwight Kilbourne, A Short History of the Maryland Line in the Continental Army (Baltimore, The Society of the Cincinnati of Maryland, 1992), 17-26.

9. Compiled Service Records, NARA M881. From Fold3.com.

10. Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 172.

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