Stephen Bryan
MSA SC 3520-18212
Biography:
Stephen Bryan of Queen Anne’s County enlisted in the Fourth Independent Company of Maryland Troops in early 1776.[1] Just a few months later, the Fourth Independent Company became one of many Maryland companies sent to New York to reinforce the Continental Army against an imminent British attack. Bryan and his fellow soldiers arrived in New York at the end of July.[2] Just weeks later, on August 27, 1776, the Americans and British clashed in the first major engagement of the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Brooklyn.
The battle was a disaster for the Continental Army. It was quickly outflanked and soldiers were forced to retreat by swimming through Gowanus Creek under heavy enemy fire. The entire Continental Army and George Washington himself faced elimination as a result. They were saved, however, by the courage of a group of soldiers who came to be known as the Maryland 400. In the midst of the frenzied retreat, the Maryland 400 launched a daring counterattack and held off the British long enough for Washington and his army to escape. Two hundred and fifty-six Maryland soldiers were either killed or captured as a result of their bravery.
Bryan survived the rout at Brooklyn and faced the British again at the battles of White Plains, Trenton, and Princeton in the winter of 1776-1777. At the beginning of 1777, the issue of expiring enlistments came to call. After witnessing four major battles and suffering the privations of an ill-supplied army, Bryan decided he had seen enough of war. He did not reenlist in the Continental Army.[3]
Bryan returned home to Queen Anne’s County, Maryland following his service. He lived there until his death on August 8, 1809. Bryan had no children at the time of his death and most likely never married. He bequeathed his estate to his mother, Mary, his brother, Richard, and his two sisters, Ann and Mary.[4]
Jillian Curran, Explore America Research Intern, 2019
Notes:
[1] Will of Stephen Bryan, 1809, Queen Anne’s County Register of Wills, Wills, Liber WHN 4, p. 392 [C1495-8, OR/27/5/54/S00]; 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), 44.
[3] Bryan is recorded as having enlisted in the Fifth Maryland Regiment on December 10, 1776 and being transferred on April 22, 1777. This is most likely a false enlistment, which was common in the Fifth Regiment. Bryan never served in the Fifth Regiment and cannot be found in the records of any other regiment.
[4] Bryan Will.
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