Stephen Byram
MSA SC 3520-18205
Biography:
On February 6, 1776, Stephen Byram enlisted as a private in the Fourth Independent Company of Maryland troops.[1] Byram had some prior military experience, having served as a private in the Kent County Militia in 1775.[2] For the first few months of his service, Byram was stationed at Oxford in Talbot county.[3] In July of 1776, however, the Fourth Independent was one of many companies sent to join the Continental Army in New York in preparation for a major British attack. On August 27, 1776, this attack, later known as the Battle of Brooklyn, arrived.
The battle was a disaster for the Continental Army. It was quickly outflanked in the course of the battle and soldiers were forced to retreat by swimming through Gowanus Creek under relentless enemy fire. The entire Continental Army and George Washington himself faced imminent destruction as a result. They were spared, however, by the bravery of a group of soldiers who came to be known as the Maryland 400. In the midst of the frantic retreat, the Maryland 400 launched a daring counterattack and held off the British long enough for Washington and his army to escape annihilation. Two hundred and fifty-six Maryland soldiers were either killed or captured in the process.
Byram survived the rout at Brooklyn and risked his life for his country again at the battles of White Plains, Trenton, and Princeton. Despite witnessing four gruesome battles and experiencing the hardships of an ill-supplied army, Byram decided to reenlist in the Second Maryland Regiment in early 1777.
Byram most likely fought at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown with his new regiment. Shortly after, on November 27, 1777, Byram died in a small skirmish.[4] Nothing else is known about his life.
Jillian Curran, Explore America Research Intern, 2019
Notes:
[2] S. Eugene Clements and F. Edward Wright, The Maryland Militia in the Revolutionary War, (Maryland, Family Line Publications, 1987), 182.
[3] Mark Andrew Tacyn, “‘To the End:’ The First Maryland Regiment and the American Revolution” (PhD diss., University of Maryland College Park, 1999), 34.
[4] Muster Rolls of Stephen Byram, National Archives, Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, NARA M881, p. 1-2, from Fold3.com
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