A Brief Military History of the Colony of Maryland 1634-1707
Introduction
Maryland required a military organization from its inception in order to
meet potential threats both external from Native Americans, France, Spain
and fellow colonists from Virginia and internal threats to public order.
The militia served as part time army as well as a police force. The
militia was comprised of male “free men” between the ages of 16 and 60.
Expeditions, or relatively small scale, short duration, offensive
operations were drawn from militia, with the manpower requirements and, in
some cases, the armaments, being met either voluntarily or involuntarily
(“pressed”). Some of these expeditions drew from the militia of several
counties and in the following list of units, I have indicated that when
the available records have indicated that had occurred. Ranger
organizations, of anywhere from three to as many as thirty men, were
raised and funded on an annual basis, depending on the perceived threat.
They were a mounted reconnaissance asset for the colony, garrisoning forts
and or patrolling the western borders of the colony to provide early
warning of Native American attack. The assumption seems to have been that
sufficient early warning would be provided by the rangers to allow the
militia to muster and respond to the threat. Maryland unlike Virginia and
New York, never had “regular” units present in the colony. The definition
of Regular Regiments and the Regular Independent Companies of the time was
to have been authorized by the Crown, funded by Parliament and on the
Official Army List. There is one unique company raised by CPT Gabriel
Towson in Maryland and sent to Albany, NY to reinforce the city in King
William’s War from 1690 to 1697. This unit perhaps comes the closest to
meeting the definition of what would later in the 18th century be called a
“provincial” unit, but still does not meet the definition of a “regular”
unit.
The following chronology is an effort to gather in one place all
that remains of a fragmentary record of military actions in Maryland from
the establishment of the colony to the Union of the Crowns.
Chronology
The Charter for the Colony of Maryland was granted in 1631 to Sir George
Calvert, Lord Baltimore of Longford County, in the Irish Peerage. He died
in 1632 and his son Cecil, rose to the Title and sent his two younger
brothers, Leonard and George, along with 200 gentlemen adventurers and
their families to settle a colony envisioned to be a place of refuge for
Catholics. The colony was established on 3 March 1634. The colony was
established as a “palatine,” giving the Proprietor a considerable amount
of control over the colony and those in it including, an oath of loyalty,
dispensing justice and land. Prior to the arrival of the Calverts and
their colonists, Virginians under William Claiborne had established a
trading post on Kent Island in 1631, not far from where Calvert had
established his settlement. Claiborne was actively involved in the fur
trade with the Susquehannock tribe and refused to recognize Calvert’s
claim to the land where he had established his settlement. Claiborne had
received permission to trade with the Dutch to the north as well as native
Americans from the Governor of Virginia but not to establish any
settlements and in 1633 Claiborne’s settlement was judged to be in the
jurisdiction of Calvert’s colony by the King’s Star Chamber, the highest
court of the time in England. The colony of Virginia objected and
Claiborne was assured of his right to remain at Kent Island by the Crown.
The colony of Maryland was established on 3 March 1634 on land
previously occupied by the Piscataway tribe, who did not have friendly
relations with the Susquehannocks. Initially relations with local tribes
had been friendly but by July the demeanor of the Native Americans had
changed and this was attributed to Claiborne’s influence. The settlers at
St Mary’s built a fort in preparation for an attack that never
materialized. By September Lord Baltimore directed his brother to arrest
Claiborne and occupy his property on Kent Island. Calvert’s men seized one
of Claiborne’s vessels and two armed ships were sent to Kent Island to
attack Claiborne’s settlement. Claiborne attacked the two vessels on 23
April 1635, the first known sea battle on the Chesapeake. With Claiborne
absent and their ships destroyed in the sea action, the settlement on Kent
Island surrendered to Calvert’s authority and Claiborne began his long
legal battle to regain his land and control of the settlement on Kent
Island.
Lord Baltimore’s plan for land distribution in the colony was that
manors would be established with tenants farming the land. The amount of
land granted for manors was based on the number of tenants brought to
Maryland. This was an essentially a medieval English land distribution
plan and failed to consider new ideas about land ownership evolving in
Britain. The settlement of St Mary’s became a county by 1637. That same
year, Lord Baltimore reorganized the colony’s government, with Governor
Calvert supported by three councilors and a single legislative body. Kent
Island was ‘commanded” by Captain Robert Evelyn beginning in December 1637
and, by 1638, was called “Kent Hundred” in the County of St Mary’s.
On 25 January 1638, the first colonial assembly met at St Mary’s
City comprised of “freemen” or those males between the ages of 16 and 60
who were not indentured servants. The first assembly was small enough to
be conducted as a plebiscite but all others would be representative
assemblies. The assembly agreed to the construction of Fort Inigoe across
the river from St Mary’s City. Apparently unrest on Kent Island, allegedly
involving the freeing of detained prisoners and conspiring with
Susquehannocks, required a resolution at this first assembly that called
for the imposition of martial law and sending an armed expedition under
the command of Governor Calvert and Captain Cornwallis to subdue the
island. There is no record of the outcome of this expedition. William
Brainthwayte replaced Evelyn in late 1638 as Captain and commander of Kent
Island only to be replaced by Giles Brent in February of 1639.
In May of 1639 Giles Brent was appointed “Captain of the Military
Band” of the colony and was instructed to train all the colonists able to
bear arms, council excluded, in “the art and discipline of war on holy
days and any other time there should be need.” He or one of his
subordinates was also required to insure each home had the required arms
and ammunition, one serviceable gun, a shot bag, one pound of powder, four
pounds of shot, a sword and a belt per man, with a fine of 30 pounds of
tobacco to be exacted as punishment for noncompliance. The militia would
consist of the free men of the colony and were organized into military
units based on the “hundred”, a subset of a county, in which the men
resided. Sergeants were compensated for instructing the men in military
drill. In the same month of May an expedition of 30 men with “necessary
officers” and supplies were to be pressed (or forced into military
service) and sent to Kent Island to conduct operations against the
Susquehannocks. There is no record of actions by this expedition. William
Brianthwayte replaced Giles Brent as Captain and commander of Kent Island
in August of 1639.
In July of 1641 the Governor instructed the residents of Kent Island
to shoot on sight any Native Americans. It was believed that the natives
threatening Kent Island were a group located vicinity Chestertown and had
upwards of sixty fighting men armed with muskets while Kent Island could
muster no more than perhaps twenty five men. In March of 1642 Governor
Calvert summoned an assembly to discuss the hostility of Native Americans
and how to respond. Of the 78 free men of the colony 30 were represented
by six proxy holders. All the inhabitants of Kent Island were represented
by two men who held all their proxies. In June of 1642, the Governor
ordered that Native Americans could not be sold guns or ammunition, and
that arms be provided for all “able to bear arms.” All available men were
directed to be armed when away from home and that firing a weapon was to
be an alarm. In the same month, orders were sent to Captain Robert Evelyn
to levy, train and muster the settlers near Piscataway. A fort near the
Patuxent was put under the command of Henry Bishop in August and orders
were given that the alarm signal was to be three sequential discharges
from a firearm that when heard was to be followed by the evacuation of
women and children to local forts and strong houses. Once the evacuation
had occurred, the militia were to “keep guard.” The forts were St Inigoes
Fort, Thomas Sterman’s House in St Michael’s Hundred, Thomas Weston’s
House in St George’s Hundred and Patuxent Fort.
In September the Susquehannock, Wicomico and Nanticoke tribes were
declared “enemies to the province.” The colonial assembly raised an
expedition to attack the Susquehannock by enlisting every third man out of
each hundred armed, provisioned for two months and transported by their
hundred with the cost divided between the residents of the hundred. Each
member of the expedition was to be provided by the county, if he did not
already have it, “one fixed gunne, 2 pounds of powder, 8 pounds pistol or
bullet shot, 1 sword and 2 months provisions,” Uniquely, compensation for
disability of those sent on the expedition was called for by the assembly.
Captain Brainthwaite, the commander of the expedition, took sixteen men to
Kent Island where Captain Brent refused to force men to serve on the
expedition, thereby preventing the expedition to continue due to lack of
manpower. On 16 December 1642 Giles Brent was commissioned by Governor
Calvert to be “Commander of our Isle and County of Kent,” including three
commissioners allowing for a separate county court. In January of 1643 a
peace treaty was negotiated with the Nanticokes but a state of war
continued to exist between Maryland and the Susquehannock and Wicomico.
Governor Calvert left the colony in April of 1643 leaving Giles Brent as
governor in his absence. Brent and Calvert both attempted to put together
expeditions against their Native American enemies but were unable to
convince the colony’s council or assembly to raise the necessary men and
supplies. Virginia was unwilling to join with Maryland in joint
expeditions as well. The best that could be achieved was a ten man
expedition to garrison Palmers Island at the mouth of the Susquehanna
River to observe the enemy. In the summer of 1643, Captain Cornwallis led
an expedition up the Susquehanna River to a Susquehannock village but was
driven off, failing to end the continual raids against the settlements of
the colony.
The Great Civil War that was already two years old in the British
Isles reached Maryland in January of 1644. Captain Richard Ingle was no
stranger to Maryland as he had been involved for several years in the
annual tobacco fleet which brought good from England to Maryland and
Virginia and took back the annual tobacco crop to England. His
Parliamentarian sympathies were known as well. His remarks about King
Charles resulted in his imprisonment and the seizure of his ship, the
Reformation. Both were temporary and it seemed that economic necessity
both the ship captains and the colonies overrode political loyalties, for
the moment.
Leonard Calvert returned to Maryland in September of 1644 and by the
end of the month went to Virginia leaving William Brianthwaite to serve as
deputy governor of the colony. By October William Ingle was on his way
back to Maryland with a letter of marque allowing him to seize ‘enemy’
ships from Parliament in hand. In December of 1644, William Claiborne made
a failed attempt to raise the people of Kent Island. In January of 1645
Ingle sailed into St Mary’s and found a Dutch vessel, The Looking Glass,
conducting a brisk trade with the Marylanders. Ingle departed for Virginia
to find additional men to attack Maryland. Returning in February, Ingle
attacked the Looking Glass, causing her to lower her colors and surrender.
Ingle then proceeded to hunt down the Catholic colonial leaders and to
loot the homes of the wealthy. Protestant settlers either supported Ingle
or remained neutral and the outnumbered Catholics supported Calvert and
his government. Calvert and his men built and garrisoned St Thomas Fort
and Ingles men built a fort around Calvert’s abandoned house. By April
Ingle had departed St. Mary’s for England with The Looking Glass as his
prize only to be disappointed by the refusal of the Parliamentarian
Admiralty Courts to recognize the legitimacy of his actions in taking her.
Those who stayed back in Maryland asserted their control of the colony,
taking St Thomas Fort by late in the summer of 1645. Leonard Calvert was
not taken but fled to Virginia. With no legal basis for its existence, the
government Ingle left behind was unable to perform only the most
rudimentary functions of government. Captain Edward Hill went to St Mary’s
City in July of 1646 to retrieve men who had fled from Virginia and found
himself governor of the colony until December of that year.
Hill was operating under Leonard Calvert’s orders and found himself
only able to control events in St Mary’s County, with Kent County refusing
to recognize Hill’s or Calvert’s authority. By late December Calvert
returned to Maryland with a company of men raised in Virginia comprised of
Virginians, Maryland refugees and assumed control with little or no
resistance.
William Claiborne returned to Kent Island in December of 1646 and
attempted unsuccessfully to convince the local populace to march on St.
Mary’s City. Calvert and his men regained control of Kent County in April
of 1647. Calvert died in June and was replaced by Thomas Greene in June of
1647. In July of 1647 COL John Price was ordered to assemble a company of
thirty to forty men and attack the Nanticoke and Wicomick villages. There
is no record of the results of this expedition. Cecil Calvert, Lord
Baltimore and Leonard’s brother replaced Thomas Green with William Stone,
a Virginian and the first Protestant Governor of the colony in August
1648. Recent events had shrunk the population of Maryland and Stone
brought with him five hundred puritan settlers who had been made unwelcome
in Virginia who established the settlement of Providence, in current Ann
Arundel County.
The first colonial assembly under Governor Stone was presented with
an Act Concerning Religion which they modified and adopted as the law in
Maryland. The Act called for religious toleration and forbade insulting
language about religion, a first in British Law. The Act only applied to
Christians. Thomas Greene was appointed Deputy Governor under Governor
Stone.
On 30 January 1649 Charles I was executed and in November of that
year Greene declared, on behalf of the Colony of Maryland, Charles II as
the rightful King, much to the dismay of the new Puritan immigrants and
many of the other Protestant settlers. Governor Stone retracted the
proclamation but Parliament in the face of opposition in Virginia as well
as Maryland, sent two commissioners, Richard Bennett and William Claiborne
from England to “reduce all the plantations within the Chesapeake Bay to
their due obedience to the parliament of the commonwealth of England.” The
Commissioners went to Virginia first to establish Parliamentary control
first, and arrived in Maryland in March 1652. Governor Stone was initially
displaced but by June was returned to the position of Governor with a
council appointed by the Commissioners. In July the first Peace Treaty
with the Susquehannocks was signed in November 1652. With the
Susquehannocks pacified, CPT William Fuller’s was ordered to conduct an
expedition against the Nanticokes and Wicomicoes of the Eastern Shore but
the expedition was abandoned eastern shore in part due to both the
lateness of the season and the unwillingness of the settlers at Providence
to contribute men to the expedition.
The Parliamentarian Commissioners, appointed by a Parliament
dismissed by Cromwell in December 1653, were in Virginia when Governor
Stone, in May, proclaimed Cromwell Lord Protector of England and the
colony of Maryland. They returned to Maryland and replaced Governor Stone
with a council to rule Maryland in July. In January 1655 after Lord
Baltimore attacked him for surrendering to the Commissioners, Governor
Stone began to organize an armed force in St Mary’s County of
approximately 130 men. Operating under orders from Governor Stone, CPT
Josias Fendall leading a force of 20 men was involved in a raid to secure
arms, ammunition and the colony records in Patuxent.
Governor Stone set out to reduce Providence in the 20 March 1655.
Part of his force marched up the bay and part went by sea to the Severn
River and arrived at the outer harbor of Providence by 24 March. Governor
Stone landed his force, under fire from the ship Golden Lyon, and formed
up his forces under the black and yellow colors of the Baltimore coat of
arms. CPT Fuller with a force of approximately 170 men attempted to meet
Stone’s force on the rear or flank. Hoping to resolve the situation with a
parley, CPT Fuller ordered his men to not fire. Fuller raised the
Commonwealth Colors and Stone’s men opened fire, killing one man. One
volley and a follow on charge routed Stone’s army. The Proprietary force
suffered seventeen men killed and thirty two wounded and CPT Fuller lost
had three men killed and several wounded. This was the only battle of the
Great Civil War fought in North America. Following the battle, ten of the
leaders of the Proprietary army were condemned to death, with four
executed and the rest released as a result of the request from the
inhabitants of Providence. The property of those who had opposed CPT
Fuller were plundered and all were subject to fines. The Puritans were in
control of the colony until 10 July 1656 when Josias Fendall was made
governor of Maryland by Lord Baltimore, who’s claim to the colony was in
dispute in England. CPT Fuller and others arrested Fendall until he swore
“not to disturb the present government,” until a final decision came from
England. By September 1656, the English Protectorate Board of Trade
decided entirely on Lord Baltimore’s behalf and Fendall was confirmed as
Governor. On 7 November Lord Baltimore’s brother, Cecil was confirmed as
secretary of the colony. In 1657 Josias Fendall left the colony for
England leaving Luke Barber, the former physician of Cromwell as the
acting governor in his absence. The colony remained divided with separate
governments in Providence and St Mary’s until April 1658, when Lord
Baltimore assumed control of the entire colony. In March 1660 Fendall led
an abortive attempt to take control of the Colony which failed with the
Restoration of Charles II on 29 May 1660. Lord Baltimore made Phillip
Calvert the Governor of Maryland in June 1660. In 1661 a militia act was
passed by the assembly that called for enlistment in the militia on an as
needed basis only with those enlisted required to provide their own
weapons and fines or imprisonment for failure to do so. In this same year
Maryland assisted the Susquehannocks in their war with the Seneca by
providing a company of 50 men to help defend their fort. In May 1661, CPT
John Odber was instructed by the assembly to “choose some fit place either
within or without the forte which you are to fortify for your own
security,” as well as to “cause some spurs or flankers to be laid out for
defense of the Indian fort, whom you are upon all occasions to assist
against the assaults of their enemies.” Additionally, CPT Odber’s Company
was to pay particular attention to Susquehannock interaction with the
Dutch. His Company was raised by men levied or pressed with St Mary’s
County providing 11, Calvert providing 15, Charles providing 7, Anne
Arundel providing 11 and Kent providing 3. By November it became apparent
that the Susquehannocks were unwilling to provide the agreed assistance to
CPT Odber’s Company, that being provisions and assistance in constructing
fortifications. The Company departed that same month. In 1662 Charles
Calvert assumed the Governorship of Maryland
By 1664 the assembly voted to tax inhabitants of the colony to allow
for purchase of arms and ammunition for defense of the colony with those
arms to be stored at county magazines. Charles Calvert the governor
provided 250 muskets as well as swords and belts for the county arsenals
that same year. Weapons could be pressed, or confiscated from owners, into
county or colony service if required in an emergency. The system of the
colony providing arms and ammunition to the colonial militia remained in
place well into the 18th century. The Susquehannock war with the Seneca
spilled over into Maryland with several colonists killed and war declared
on the Seneca in June 1664. By 1674 Maryland’s position with respect to
the Susquehannocks had changed and peace was made with the Seneca,
recognizing their victory over the Susquehannock, causing a break down in
relations with the Susquehannocks. In 1675 an expedition consisting of a
regiment of horse, with five troops of fifty men each was raised to attack
the Susquehannock Fort. The expedition was commanded by MAJ Thomas Truman.
The expedition was conducted in coordination with a force from Virginia
commanded by COL John Washington. Once at the fort on 26 Sep 1675, five
Susquehannock leaders left the fort to meet with the Marylanders and
Virginians. When a detachment of rangers under CPT John Allen arrived at
the fort with the bodies of dead settlers, the Susquehannock leaders were
executed. The Maryland and Virginia forces then besieged the fort of six
weeks until the Susquehannock completely evacuated of the fort at night
killing several sentries as they left. MAJ Truman was brought up on
charges of murder but the lower house of the colonial assembly refused to
permit his execution and after a brief time in jail he was released.
Thomas Notley was made Governor in 1676.
In Sept 1676 a rebellion occurred in Calvert County, with sixty men
refusing orders to disarm and disband until confronted by MAJ Henry Jowles
and a company of militia. The reason for the rebellion is unknown but can
be suggested by ongoing complaints against the proprietary government
about excessive taxation, advancement of Catholicism, Catholic favoritism,
and a groundless accusation that Lord Baltimore was conspiring with French
and Indians to kill Protestants. That same year, an expedition was raised
to attack the Nanticokes in to be commanded by COL William Coleborne, but
there is no record of the outcome of this expedition. Charles Calvert
became governor in 1679.
In 1681, the same concerns and groundless rumors that caused a
revolt in 1676 with the added twist of an Irish army being invited to
Maryland to wipe out the Protestants led to the arrest of two prominent
member of the colony spreading the rumors, former Governor Josias Fendall
and CPT John Coode. Their arrest did nothing to stop the rumors and CPT
George Godfrey organized a militia company in Charles County to march to
St Mary’s to free them. Gofrey’s attempt failed and he was charged with
banishment. Fendall was banished as well and Coode was freed with a
warning. In 1684 a council of deputy governors ruled Maryland on behalf of
the minor child Benedict Calvert until 1689.
In November of 1688 William of Orange landed in England beginning a
period of revolution, instability, uncertainty and war in Britain and the
colonies. The colonies were waiting for a decree from the new monarchs,
William and Mary in the spring of 1689 and this decree was lost on its way
to Maryland. By April 1689 an “Association in arms for the defense of the
Protestant Religion and for asserting the rights of King William and Queen
Mary to the province of Maryland “ was formed. In July a seven hundred man
army under Captain John Coode, Colonel Henry Jowles and Major John
Campbell claiming it was necessary to overthrow the proprietary government
because “the Papists had invited the Northern Indians to come down and cut
off the Protestants” in August, a complete fabrication. Colonel William
Digges attempted to defend the State House at St Mary’s City with one
hundred men and surrendered after a short fire fight. Colonel Henry Darnel
and Major Nicholas Sewall tried to put together a relief force but were
only able to assemble a force of about one hundred and fifty men and were
unable to challenge Coode’s force. Darnell and Sewell withdrew to
Mattapnay Sewall and surrendered on 1 August 1689. Coode and the
“Associators” ruled Maryland until 1692.
In 1690 a company under CPT Gabriel Towson led a company raised to
strengthen Albany, NY during King William’s War from 1690 to 1697. In 1692
Sir Lionel Copely arrived as the first Royal Governor of Maryland. His
first assembly established the Church of England as the church of the
colony. Copley died in 1692 and Sir Thomas Lawrence and Sir Edmund Andros
briefly followed as Governors.
In 1693 three forts were constructed to defend the western frontier
of the colony from Native Americans, one in Charles County, one in Anne
Arundel County and another near the falls of the Patapsco River. CPT John
Addison and COL Nicholas Greenberry constructed the forts with pressed
labor and each of the forts were garrisoned by nine militiamen and four
Native Americans.
In July 1694 Francis Nicholson became Governor of Maryland and moved
the capital from St Mary’s City to Ann-Arundel Town, now Annapolis in
1695. He was succeeded by Nathaniel Blackiston until 1704. John Seymour
became Governor in 1704 until 1709. In 1705 Richard Clarke was accused of
leading an attempted uprising of indentured servants, Indians and slaves
which was put down with the ringleaders disappearing after seizing a ship.
Identified Military Units and Commanders
St. Mary’s County (established 1634) ▾
Kent County (established 1642) ▾
Anne Arundel County (established 1650) ▾
Patuxent, later Calvert County (established 1654) ▾
Charles County (established 1658) ▾
Baltimore County (established 1659) ▾
Talbot County (established 1661) ▾
Somerset County (established 1666) ▾
Dorchester County (established 1668) ▾
Cecil County (established 1672) ▾
Prince George’s County (established 1694) ▾
Sources:
- Bozman, John “The History of Maryland,” Vol. II, Lucas & Deaver, Baltimore, 1837
- Carr, Lois Green and Jordan, David William, “Maryland's Revolution of Government, 1689-1692.” Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press, 1974
- Carr, Lois Green, “Margaret Brent, A Brief History,”
- Eshleman, Frank, “Lancaster County Indians,” Lancaster, PA , 1908
- Graham, Michael, “Popish Plots: Protestant Fears in Early Colonial Maryland, 1676-1689,” The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 79, No. 2, April 1993, pp. 197-216
- Mereness, Newton, “Maryland As A Proprietary Province,” MacMillan Company, London, 1901
- Pede, Henry, “Colonial Maryland Soldiers and Sailors, 1634-1734,” Heritage Books, Westminster, MD, 2008
- Pincus, Steve, ”1688, The First Modern Revolution,” Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2009
- Riordan, Timothy, “The Plundering Time, Maryland and the English Civil War,” Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, 2004
- Schaun, George and Virginia, “Everyday Life in Colonial Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania & Virginia” 1996