L

EXINGTON and Bunker

Hill will always be brilliantly illuminted pages in the history of America, and the Minute Men who had the temerity to contest the advance of Major Pitcairn and his regulars, and the farmer boys beHill who twice drove back the

hind the fence on Breed's crack Welsh Fusileers, will always be entitled to their due meed of praise. They were the advance guard in the struggle with the mother country, and were steadfast in the hour of need, and are justly honored for the part they played. But after they had begun the contest and others were needed to reinforce them and continue the work, it was the sturdy Germans from the south: from Pennsylvania and Maryland, who hurried to their aid. The first troops from the other provinces to reach Cambridge after the battle of Bunker Hill were the two com

panies from Frederick county, Maryland, made up largely of Germans. This was but the beginning, and although many of these Germans were opposed to war and had come to this country to escape from the burdens imposed upon them by it, they left their homes and their untilled fields and joined the bands of patriots, prepared to back their desire for the freedom they had been promised with the rifle and bayonet. It is impossible to estimate the full value of their services, but considering the numbers of them who served in the patriot army throughout the war, it can be stated as an incontrovertible fact that without the aid of the Germans from Pennsylvania and Maryland the issue of the Revolutionary War would have been more than doubtful.

The news of the fight at Lexington reached Annapolis on the morning of April 26th, and couriers rapidly carried it to all parts of the colony. The excitement produced by the information that the war had been begun had scarcely begun to subside when news was received of the battle of Bunker Hill, which was fought on June 17, 1775. Three days before the Continental Congress had adopted a resolution providing for a battalion of riflemen, two companies of which were to be raised in Maryland, two in Virginia, and six in Pennsylvania. The two Maryland companies were assigned to Frederick county, and it was ordered that as soon as they were enlisted they were to be marched to Boston. A meeting of the Committee of Observation for Frederick county was held in the court-house at Frederick on June 21, and at this meeting John Hanson, chairman of the Maryland delegation to the Continental Congress, read the resolution adopted by that body just a week before. The committee at once adopted a resolution directing that the two companies of expert riflemen be forth

with raised and named the following officers for the companies:

First Company.-Michael Cresap, captain; Thomas Warren, Joseph Cresap, Jr., and Richard Davis, Jr., lieutenants.

Second Company.-Thomas Price, captain; Otho Holland Williams and John Ross Key, lieutenants.

These companies were promptly recruited from among the expert riflemen of Frederick county, a large proportion of whom were Germans. Unfortunately the muster rolls of these companies have not been preserved, or at least cannot be found, so that the names of these patriots cannot be given. So prompt was the organization of these companies that by the middle of July they were ready to start on their march to Boston. The appearance of these riflemen and their skill as marksmen attracted attention everywhere. Writing to a friend in Philadelphia, under date of August 1, 1775, a gentleman in Frederick says:130

Notwithstanding the urgency of my business, I have been detained three days in this place by an occurrence truly agreeable. I have had the happiness of seeing Captain Michael Cresap marching at the head of a formidable company of upwards of one hundred and thirty men, from the mountains and backwoods, painted like Indians, armed with tomahawks and rifles, dressed in huntingshirts and moccasins, and though some of them had travelled near eight hundred miles from the banks of the Ohio, they seemed to walk light and easy, and not with less spirit than at the first hour of their march. Health and vigour, after what they had undergone, declared them to be intimate with hardship and familiar with danger. Joy and satisfaction were visible in the crowd that met them. Had Lord North been present, and been assured that the brave leader could raise thousands of such like to defend his Coun130 Force's "American Archives," Fourth Series, Vol. III., p. 2.

try, what think you, would not the hatchet and block have intruded upon his mind? I had an opportunity of attending the Captain during his stay in Town, and watched the behaviour of his men, and the manner in which he treated them; for it seems that all who go out to war under him do not only pay the most willing obedience to him as their commander, but in every instance of distress look up to him as their friend or father. A great part of his time was spent in listening to and relieving their wants, without any apparent sense of fatigue and trouble. When complaints were before him he determined with kindness and spirit, and on every occasion condescended to please without losing his dignity.

Yesterday the company were supplied with a small quantity of powder from the magazine, which wanted airing, and was not in good order for rifles; in the evening, however, they were drawn out to show the gentlemen of the Town their dexterity at shooting. A clapboard, with a mark the size of a dollar, was put up; they began to fire offhand, and the bystanders were surprised, few shots being made that were not close to or in the paper. When they had shot for a time in this way, some lay on their backs, some on their breasts or side, others ran twenty or thirty steps, firing, appeared to equally certain of the mark. With this performance the company were more than satisfied, when a young man took up the board in his hand, not by the end, but by the side, and holding it up, his brother walked to the distance, and very coolly shot into the white; laying down his rifle, he took the board, and holding it as it was held before, the second brother shot as the former had done. By this exercise I was more astonished than pleased. But will you believe me, when I tell you, that one of the men took the board, and placing it between his legs, stood with his back to the tree while another drove the centre. What would a regular army of considerable strength in the forests of America do with one thousand of these men, who want nothing to preserve their health and courage but water from the spring, with a little parched corn, with what they can easily procure in hunting: and who wrapped in their blankets, in the damp of night, would choose the shade of a tree for their covering, and the earth for their bed.

These two companies of riflemen marched from Frederick on July 18, 1775, and although their journey of 550 miles was over rough and difficult roads, they reached Boston on August 9, without the loss of one man. These troops were the first from the south to reach Cambridge, and they naturally attracted considerable attention. Thatcher says:131 "Several companies of riflemen, amounting, it is said, to more than fourteen hundred men, have arrived here from Pennsylvania and Maryland; a distance of from five hundred to seven hundred miles. They are remarkably stout and hardy men; many of them exceeding six feet in height. They are dressed in white frocks, or rifle shirts, and round hats. These men are remarkable for the accuracy of their aim; striking a mark with great certainty at two hundred yards' distance. At a review, a company of them, while on a quick advance, fired their balls into objects of seven inches diameter at a distance of two hundred and fifty yards. They are now stationed on our lines, and their shot have frequently proved fatal to British officers and soldiers, who expose themselves to view, even at more than double the distance of common musketshot."

The next year these companies were incorporated in a regiment of riflemen commanded by Colonel Stephenson, of Virginia. Upon his death Moses Rawlings became colonel of the regiment, and Otho Holland Williams, major. Both of these officers were from that part of Frederick county which is now Washington county, Maryland.

Although, as has been said, a large number of the citizens of Maryland were not in favor of a separation from Great Britain, events were moving so rapidly as to compel them to abandon this position. On July 26, 1775, the

131 "A Military Journal during the American Revolutionary War,” p. 37.