Watch the "Hold The Line" Video
The "Maryland Line" was a formation within the Continental Army, formed and authorized by the Second Continental Congress, meeting in the "Old Pennsylvania State House" (later known as "Independence Hall") in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in June 1775.
Col. George Washington, delegate and formerly of the Virginia Regiment of the colonial militia, served as commander-in-chief of the colonial forces and he assumed command at Cambridge, Massachusetts outside of Boston, of the various units from several of the American colonies which surrounded Boston, laying siege to the British Army in June 1775. Washington's previous military experience had been during the late French and Indian War (1754–1763), (known in Europe as the Seven Years' War).
Not all Continental infantry regiments raised in a state were part of a state quota. On December 27, 1776, the Second Continental Congress gave commanding General George Washington temporary control over certain military decisions that the Congress ordinarily regarded as its own prerogative. These "dictatorial powers" included the authority to recruit and raise sixteen additional Continental infantry regiments at large.
Forman's, Gist's, Grayson's, and Hartley's Regiments were partially drawn from Maryland. Other Continental infantry regiments and smaller units, also unrelated to a state quota, were raised as needed for special or temporary service.
Under the assumption that paid soldiers furnished with rations and suits of clothes would be better soldiers, on 18 January 1776, the Maryland Provincial Convention established the Maryland Line as a regiment of uniformed regulars. According to Maryland State Archivist Ryan Polk, what distinguished the Maryland troops from other colonial levies was the time they spent drilling before joining the ranks of the Continental Army. This resulted in a disciplined, cohesive unit.[2]
The term "Maryland Line" referred to the quota of numbered infantry regiments assigned to Maryland at various times by the Continental Congress. These, together with similar contingents from the other twelve colonies, formed the "Continental Line". The concept was particularly important in relation to the promotion of commissioned officers. Officers of the Continental Army below the rank of brigadier general were ordinarily ineligible for promotion except in the line of their own state.
The "Maryland Line" was assigned a quota of eight regiments in 1777, which was reduced to five in 1781. The regiments of the line were:
1st Maryland Regiment, disbanded in 1783
The 1st Maryland Regiment (Smallwood's Regiment) originated with the authorization of a Maryland Battalion of the Maryland State Troops on 14 January 1776. It was organized in the spring at Baltimore, Maryland (three companies) and Annapolis, Maryland (six companies) under the command of Colonel William Smallwood consisting of eight companies and one light infantry company from the northern and western counties of the colony of Maryland.
2nd Maryland Regiment, disbanded in 1783
The 2nd Maryland Regiment origins were authorized on 14 January 1776 in the Maryland State Troops as seven independent companies. From 7 to 14 March 1776 the companies were organized from various counties from the eastern region of the colony of Maryland. From 6 July to 15 August 1776 the companies were assigned to the main Continental Army and officially adopted on 17 August 1776. In January 1777 the seven companies were organized as the 2nd Maryland Regiment with one additional company added. On 22 May 1777 the regiment was assigned to the 2nd Maryland Brigade in the main Continental Army. On 12 May 1779 the regiment was re-organized to nine companies. The 2nd Maryland Brigade was reassigned to the Southern Department on 5 April 1780. On 1 January 1781 the regiment was reassigned to the Maryland Brigade of the Southern Department. The regiment would see action during the New York Campaign, Battle of Trenton, Battle of Princeton, Battle of Brandywine, Battle of Germantown, Battle of Monmouth, Battle of Camden and the Battle of Guilford Court House. the regiment was furloughed 1 January 1783 at Charleston, South Carolina and disbanded on 15 November 1783.
3rd Maryland Regiment, disbanded in 1783
The 3rd Maryland Regiment was an infantry regiment of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. It served from 1776 to 1783, mostly in the Middle Atlantic Region of the conflict. The 3rd Maryland Regiment was organized on 27 March 1776 of eight companies from Anne Arundel, Prince George's, Talbot, Harford and Somerset counties of the colony of Maryland. The regiment was authorized on 16 September 1776 for service with the Continental Army and was assigned on 27 December 1776 to the main element.
4th Maryland Regiment, disbanded in 1783
The 4th Maryland Regiment was organized on March 27, 1777 as a part of eight companies from Baltimore, Anne Arundel and Somerset Counties. It was assigned to the 2nd Maryland Brigade -- a part of the Main Army -- on May 22, 1777. Assigned 27 December 1776 to the Main Army. Authorized 16 September 1776 in the Continental Army as the 4th Maryland Regiment. Reorganized 12 May 1779 to consist of nine companies. (2d Maryland Brigade relieved 5 April 1780 from the Main Army and assigned to the Southern Department.) Relieved 1 January 1781 from the Maryland Brigade. Assigned 24 September 1781 to Gist's Brigade of the Main Army. (Gist's Brigade relieved 27 October 1781 from the Main Army and assigned to the Southern Department.) Relieved 4 January 1782 from Gist's Brigade and assigned to the Maryland Brigade, an element of the Southern Department. Disbanded 1 January 1783 at Charleston, South Carolina.
5th Maryland Regiment, disbanded in 1783
The 5th Maryland Regiment is a designation which has been held by several units over the years, not all of which necessarily share the same lineage and honors. Although the first unit to carry the "5th Maryland" designation was organized in 1776 from volunteers in rural Maryland, the designation has been most often associated with militia units in Baltimore. The "5th Maryland" designation is the officially recognized traditional designation of the 175th Infantry Regiment, Maryland Army National Guard. This entry refers to the rural 5th Maryland, whose lineage is separate and distinct from the Baltimore 5th Maryland perpetuated by the 175th Infantry Regiment.
6th Maryland Regiment, disbanded in 1781
The 6th Maryland Regiment, active from 27 March 1776—January 1, 1783, is most notable for its involvement during the American Revolutionary war of the same years. An infantry type regiment consisting of 728 soldiers, the 6th Maryland was composed of eight companies of volunteers from Prince Georges, Queen Anne's, Fredric, Cecil, Harford, and Ann Arundel counties in the colony of Maryland
On 22 May 1777, the regiment was assigned to the 2nd Maryland Brigade. It was re-organized to nine companies on 12 May 1779 and reassigned to the Southern Department on 5 April 1780.
7th Maryland Regiment, disbanded in 1781
The 7th Maryland Regiment was authorized on 16 September 1776, for service with the Continental Army and was assigned on 27 December 1776. The regiment was composed of eight companies of volunteers organized from Frederick and Baltimore counties of the colony of Maryland.
On 22 May 1777, it was assigned to the 1st Maryland Brigade. Re-organized on 12 May 1779 to nine companies. The 1st Maryland Brigade was re-assigned to the Southern Department on 5 April 1780. The regiment participated in the Philadelphia Campaign which occurred during 1777-1778 and the Southern Theater which occurred during 1775-1782. The 7th Maryland Regiment was involved in the major battles including: Battle of Brandywine, Battle of Germantown, Battle of Monmouth, Battle of Camden and the Battle of Guilford Court House. The regiment was disbanded on 1 January 1783, at Annapolis, Maryland.
German Battalion (counted as half a regiment against the quota), disbanded in 1781
The German Battalion or German Regiment or 8th Maryland was an American infantry unit that served for about four-and-a-half years in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Authorized in May 1776 as an Extra Continental regiment, the unit recruited ethnic Germans from Maryland and Pennsylvania
The Continental Congress appointed Nicholas Haussegger to command the battalion, which initially organized in the strength of eight companies. While the unit assembled at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a ninth company was added.
The battalion fought at Trenton in December 1776, where its soldiers called out in German for the Hessians to lay down their arms.
A week later, the German Battalion was in action at Assunpink Creek where a number of its troops were captured, including Haussegger. The next day, the unit fought at Princeton. After Haussegger defected to the British, George Washington appointed the Prussian volunteer Henry Leonard d'Arendt to command the battalion. The battalion served with the 1st Virginia Brigade at Brandywine and Germantown in September and October 1777. The following June the German Battalion fought at Monmouth. Late in 1778, the unit was assigned to Edward Hand's brigade and served in the Sullivan Expedition in the summer of 1779. The battalion transferred to the New Jersey Brigade before being dissolved in January 1781.
Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment (counted as half a regiment against the quota), disbanded in 1781
The Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment, most commonly known as Rawlings' Regiment in period documents, was organized in June 1776 as a specialized light infantry unit of riflemen in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. The American rifle units complemented the predominant, musket-equipped, line infantry forces of the war with their long-range marksmanship capability and were typically deployed with the line infantry as forward skirmishers and flanking elements. Scouting, escort, and outpost duties were also routine. The rifle units' battle formation was not nearly as structured as that of the line infantry units, which employed short-range massed firing in ordered linear formations. The riflemen could therefore respond with more adaptability to changing battle conditions.
The Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment consisted of nine companies—four from Maryland and five from Virginia. The two-state composition of the new unit precluded it from being managed through a single state government, and it was therefore directly responsible to national authority as an Extra Continental regiment.
Because most of the newly formed regiment surrendered to British and German forces at the Battle of Fort Washington on November 16, 1776, the service history of the unit's surviving element is complex. Although modern and contemporaneous accounts of the battle convey the impression that it marked the end of the regiment as a combat entity, a significant portion of the unit continued to serve actively in the Continental Army throughout most of the remainder of the war. Elements of the regiment served with George Washington's Main Army and participated in the army's major engagements of late 1776 through 1778. Select members of the regiment were also attached to Col. Daniel Morgan's elite Provisional Rifle Corps at its inception in mid-1777. The Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment was reorganized in January 1779 and was stationed at Fort Pitt, headquarters of the Continental Army's Western Department, in present-day western Pennsylvania primarily to help in the defense of frontier settlements from raids by British-allied Indian tribes. The unit was disbanded with all other Additional and Extra Continental regiments during the reorganization of the Continental Army in January 1781. It was the longest serving Continental Army rifle unit of the war.
2nd Independent Maryland Company – Somerset County absorbed into the 2nd Maryland Regiment in 1781
On January 1, 1776, the Maryland Convention, meeting in Frederick Town order the creation of seven "independent" companies of infantry, one of these was Second Independent Maryland. On the following day, the convention elected the officer corps of the company with John Gunby as captain, Uriah Forrest as 1st lieutenant, William Bowie as second lieutenant and Benjamin Brooks as third lieutenant. The troops of the company were made up men from Somerset County, Maryland and numbered a hundred and three men, including officers.
In the early part of the war, the Second Independent Maryland Company spent much of their time patrolling southern Maryland and breaking up Tory camps which were to be found on the lower part of the peninsula as Somerset County was a leading Tory stronghold.
On August 16, the Maryland Council of Safety dispatched the Second Independent Maryland Company to reinforce Washington's forces deployed around New York.
Although they did not arrive in time for the Battle of Long Island, the Second Independent Maryland Company participated in the Battle of White Plains, the Battle of Trenton, the Second Battle of Trenton, Battle of Brandywine and the Battle of Monmouth as part of the Maryland Line, before being absorbed into the 2nd Maryland Regiment in 1781.
According to popular tradition, Washington expressed his high esteem for the Maryland Line after their heroic stand at the Battle of Long Island. Because of the long service of the high quality regiments, General Washington referred to the Maryland units as his "Old Line", giving the State of Maryland one of its nicknames as "The Old Line State".
The Maryland Line protected the evacuation of Washington's troops across the East River to Manhattan at the Battle of Long Island. On August 27, 1776 members of the 1st Maryland Regiment under the command of Major Mordecai Gist, repeatedly charged a numerically superior British force, allowing General Washington to successfully evacuate the bulk of his troops to Manhattan. Of the approximately 270 men of the so-called Maryland 400, fewer than a dozen made it back to the American lines.
Two months later at the Battle of White Plains, William Smallwood's 1st Maryland Regiment, along with regiments from New York and Delaware, reinforced Chatterton's Hill, covering the retreat of other troops across the Bronx River.
In the Battle of Camden, (South Carolina), August 16, 1780, Major General Horatio Gates, a former British officer, placed Mordecai Gist's 2nd Maryland on right flank, in traditional British deployment, the place of honor. The 1st Maryland Regiment under William Smallwood was held in reserve.
One hundred eighty Marylanders saw action at the January 17, 1781 Battle of Cowpens
=====
There are those who mistake kindness for weakness. But, let there be no doubt. We will not allow a fringe element to take over our country because we are recognized as a compassionate and generous people. We will not let forces apply community organization tactics to destroy the country we love.
Those who love their country, the United States of America warts and all, are now faced with groups that hide and subvert their true motives. These groups endeavor to insert themselves into the political arena, never fully disclosing who they are or what they want for this country. However, America's patriots will step up to protect her, the greatest country in the world, an unashamed world power, the nation everyone else in the world flees to for refuge.
We will say "what else has worked as well?” "What other country can the hungry and the afflicted come for succor?” "What desperate people choose to immigrate to Cuba or North Korea or China?" We know hatred when we see it, but we will choose not to hate. We love this country. And do not doubt, we will never allow America to be taken down by powers far inferior.
For better and for worse we are in for the long haul.
We will pay our mortgages and our taxes. We will not abandon our properties or our country. We will simply work harder.
We will clean up after ourselves and obey the letter of the law. We will painstakingly exercise the kindness that this good country has allowed us to assume.
We will use our intelligence and our strength and effect change through the power of the ballot box.
We will remember from whence we and our country have come. Therefore we will be safe from unlawful entrance to our homes, we will be able to bear arms to protect ourselves and our country, we will freely practice whatever religion we choose and gladly welcome all religions to the melting pot called America -- as long as immigration laws are observed.
And we will gladly, not stupidly, allow you who wish America ill, to exercise freedom of assembly and speech as long as we are allowed to exercise these freedoms as well without being called racists, bigots or narrow-minded. We know history. We remember what it was like before, before we were a nation and we will strive to protect the best solution to government, economics and life ever seen in the world.
And we will do all this for all to see, not in secrecy, not by subterfuge, not by guile. Our country does not work that way.
Try to take us over. Just try.
Hold the line, America.
By: Linda Case Gibbons