John O'Bryan
MSA SC 3520-18225
Biography:
Prior to the Revolutionary War, John O'Bryan lived "near the Talbot [County] Court-house" in Easton, on Maryland's Eastern Shore. He had already married a woman by the time he enlisted as a private in the Fourth Independent Company on January 23, 1776. [1]
Commanded by Captain James Hindman, the Fourth Independent Company played an important 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. [2]
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.” [3]
The Fourth Independent Company later fought at the Battle of White Plains in October 1776. O'Bryan 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. O'Bryan's enlistment ended in the winter of 1776-1777. [4]
John O'Bryan enlisted in the Second Maryland Regiment in a company commanded by Captain Archibald Anderson on March 4, 1777. Not long after he enlisted, O'Bryan "deserted at the Head of Elk," returning to his home in Talbot County. Captain William Frazier enlisted O'Bryan into his company in the Fifth Maryland Regiment on May 10, 1777. Anderson and Frazier had both served in the Fourth Independent Company with O'Bryan, and both wanted him in their companies. When Edward Edgerly, the Second Regiment's Adjutant, arrived in Talbot County to locate recently deserted soldiers, Frazier told O'Bryan to "keep out of [Edgerly's] way" and instead meet with the rest of Frazier's company at a small village called the Hole in the Wall. Frazier later detained O'Bryan as a deserter at Edgerly's request, and Anderson sent his second lieutenant, James Ewing, "to get O'Bryan." [5]
O'Bryan eventually returned to the Second Regiment and continued to serve as a private. O'Bryan's company remained in the northern theater between 1777 and 1780, and participated in combat at locations including Staten Island, Brandywine, and Germantown. Although he fell ill in September of 1778, O'Bryan quickly recovered and returned to duty the following month, avoiding the deadly fate that awaited many of his colleagues. [6]
O'Bryan served in the light infantry in 1779. Light infantry forces carried little baggage, allowing them to travel and strike quickly. O'Bryan likely participated in the night raid on Stony Point. Despite dangerous odds, O'Bryan survived the battle. O'Bryan returned home once more in March of 1780, this time on furlough. He also enlisted for the remainder of the war at this point. [7]
After returning to the Second Regiment, O'Bryan participated in the Battle of Camden in August of 1780, where the Maryland Line lost around one-third of its troops. O'Bryan became separated from the rest of his regiment in the battle's chaotic aftermath, but eventually managed to regroup with the rest of the battle's survivors. [8]
As part of the reorganized First Maryland Regiment, O'Bryan continued to participate in the Southern Campaign. On the morning of April 25, 1781, British soldiers surprised American forces at Hobkirk's Hill. Caught in the confusion, John O'Bryan died during the battle. Two hundred to 250 American soldiers died, suffered wounds, or had been captured by the British during the battle. [9]
Unfortunately, despite being "well known in [Talbot] County" according to Anderson, nothing else is known of O'Bryan's civilian life. [10]
-James Schmitt, Maryland Society Sons of the American Revolution Research Fellow, 2019
Notes:
[1] “Forty Dollars Reward,” Pennsylvania Gazette (Philadelphia), 18 June 1777; Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 24. The name of John O'Bryan's wife is unfortunately unknown.
[2] 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.
[3] 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.
[4] Tacyn, pp. 120-126; David Hackett Fischer, Washington’s Crossing (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 111.
[5] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 148; Compiled Service Record of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, National Archives, NARA M881, from Fold3.com; Pennsylvania Gazette; "List of Bounty, Subsistances, and Pay due..," 10 May 1777, Maryland State Papers, Red Books, vol. 16, no. 99, MdHR 4580 [MSA S989-24, 1/6/4/11]; Deposition of Edward Edgerly, 17 June 1777, Maryland State Papers, Series A, MdHR 6636-7-171 [MSA S1004-7-1704, 1/7/3/28]; Archibald Anderson to Thomas Johnson, 20 July 1777, Maryland State Papers, Red Books, vol. 12, no. 54, MdHR 4573 [MSA S989-17, 1/6/4/12]. "The Head of Elk" later became known as Elkton, located in Cecil County, Maryland.
[6] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 148; Compiled Service Records, NARA M881, from Fold3.com.
[7] Compiled Service Records, NARA M881, from Fold3.com; Patrick O'Donnell, Washington's Immortals: The Untold Story of an Elite Regiment Who Changed the Course of the Revolution (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2016), pp. 192-193; Samuel W. Pennypacker, “The Capture of Stony Point.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 26, no. 3 (1902), pp. 361-362.
[8] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 148; Tacyn, pp. 220-225.
[9] Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, pp. 390, 550.
[10] Pennsylvania Gazette.
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