Joshua Chippey
MSA SC 3520-18211
Biography:
Joshua Chippey enlisted as a private in Maryland's Fourth Independent Company on January 28, 1776 under Captain James Hindman. Hindman’s company originally played a role in the Maryland Council of Safety's plan to protect the Chesapeake Bay from potential British invasions. At first stationed at Oxford in Talbot County, Hindman's company travelled to New York to reinforce the Continental Army in preparation for a British invasion. The Fourth Independent Company arrived in New York by mid-August 1776. [1]
On the morning of August 27, 1776, American forces faced British troops at the Battle of Brooklyn (otherwise known as the Battle of Long Island). While several companies engaged the British Army on the Gowanus Road and the nearby Gowanus Creek, taking severe losses in the process, the Fourth Independent Company suffered only three casualties. Hindman defended his actions during the battle to the Council of Safety, arguing that rumors referring to the Fourth Independent Company’s “very ill” behavior were unfounded. Hindman instead declared that “the company [he] had the honor to command...behaved themselves as well as in the service, notwithstanding the dark insinuations...thrown out to their prejudice.” [2]
The Fourth Independent Company later fought at the Battle of White Plains in October 1776. Chippey survived the Battle of White Plains, despite heavy American losses. One Hessian volley alone wounded and killed ninety-two soldiers during the battle, and forty soldiers of the Maryland Line were killed, captured, or wounded in total. Despite a string of defeats in 1776, American victories at Trenton and Princeton revitalized the morale of the Continental Army and the Marylanders who served in the Fourth Independent Company. Chippey's enlistment ended in the winter of 1776-1777. [3]
Although Captain Archibald Anderson accused Joshua Chippey of deserting, no evidence suggests that Chippey enlisted again following his time spent in the Fourth Independent Company. Anderson had been Chippey's former first lieutenant in the Fourth Independent Company and may have incorrectly accused other former soldiers of deserting as well. Chippey probably returned to his home in Caroline County, where he only owned a single horse and three cattle. He lived in Caroline County until at least 1820. Further information on his life cannot be found. [4]
-James Schmitt, Maryland Society Sons of the American Revolution Research Fellow, 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; Mark Andrew Tacyn, “‘To the End:’ The First Maryland Regiment and the American Revolution” (PhD diss., University of Maryland College Park, 1999), pp. 33-34, 44-45.
[2] Tacyn, pp. 52-67; Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety July 7, 1776 to December 31, 1776, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 12, pp. 345-346.
[3] Tacyn, pp. 120-126; David Hackett Fischer, Washington’s Crossing (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 111.
[4] “Forty Dollars Reward,” Pennsylvania Gazette (Philadelphia), 18 June 1777; Caroline County Court, Land Record A, 1778 Census, Tuckahoe Hundred, p. 267 [MSA C523-1, 1/2/1/1]; General Assembly, House of Delegates, Assessment Record, 1783, Caroline County, River District Hundred, p. 24[MSA S1161-3-5, 1/4/5/46]; U.S. Federal Census, 1810, Caroline County, Maryland; U.S. Federal Census, 1820, Caroline County, Maryland.
Return to Joshua Chippey's Introductory Page
|
Tell Us What You Think About the Maryland State Archives Website!
|