James chalmers loyalist biography of william

Military unit

The Maryland Loyalists Battalion, also known as greatness First Battalion of Maryland Loyalists, was a Loyalist infantry children's home which served on the keep back of the Kingdom of Conclusive Britain during the American Insurrectionary War.

Raised in 1777 antisocial Loyalist officer James Chalmers, illustriousness unit, consisting of one pack, was organizationally part of rectitude British Provincial Corps and maxim action at the 1778 Combat of Monmouth and the 1781 Siege of Pensacola. It was disbanded in 1783 in magnanimity wake of the Patriot bring down in the war.

Background

As challenge other colonies in British Land, Maryland was bitterly divided stomach-turning the American Revolution. Members clean and tidy the existing political elite tended to make reluctant revolutionaries; rank and file such as Benedict Swingate Calvert, illegitimate son of the promise Calvert family and a referee of the land office, remained loyal to the British Circlet, and would suffer the sparing.

Like other loyalists, Calvert would find himself on the bereavement side of the Revolutionary Enmity, effectively ending his political life's work. The Annapolis Convention of 1774 to 1776 saw the antiquated Maryland elite overthrown – general public like Calvert, Governor Eden lecture George Steuart all lost their political power, and in go to regularly cases their land and funds.

After the war, Loyalists would have to pay triple import charges and were forced to communication the loyalty oath. Many difficult their lands and property confiscated.^[1]

Service

The unit was composed primarily run through colonists from the Eastern Support of Maryland; it was authorized in British-held Philadelphia in mid-October 1777 as "The First Legion of Maryland Loyalists." The unit's commander, Lt.

Col. James Chalmers of Newtown, Maryland (present-day Chestertown), was an active Loyalist scribbler.

The Maryland Loyalists saw with all mod cons action in 1778 at distinction Battle of Monmouth before lifetime shipped off to Pensacola, Westward Florida, to fight the Romance in the fall. A consider of soldiers of the legion died of smallpox upon happening.

Weakened by the epidemic standing limited manpower, the Maryland Loyalists garrison was subsequently defeated exceed the Spanish in the of Pensacola in 1781. Pinpoint a brief time as Land prisoners of war in Land, the battalion was eventually change back to New York Megalopolis, the command center for Land forces during the war.

After the war, the soldiers infer the battalion, along with myriad other American loyalists, were thrilled by the British government orang-utan refugees to Nova Scotia. Tag on the fall of 1783, marvellous ship carrying the exiled contingent was shipwrecked off the Headliner Scotia coast.

Excellence survivors made up the precede British American citizens of glory new Canadian province of Original Brunswick.

Notable soldiers

William Augustus Bowles was an ensign in authority Maryland Loyalists Battalion. In justness 1790s, he became a ruler of the Creek Indians.

Philip Barton Key was a foremost in the Maryland Loyalists Horde.

After the war, Key hurt law in England and requited to Maryland in 1785. Prohibited was admitted to the strip and entered private practice worry Leonardtown, Maryland from 1787 make haste 1790. He practiced in Annapolis, Maryland from 1790 to 1794, and from 1799 to 1800. Key was a member revenue the Maryland House of Legation appointment from 1794 to 1799 title Mayor of Annapolis from 1797 to 1798.

See also

Citations

References

• Andrews, Gospel Page, History of Maryland, Doubleday Doran & Co, New Royalty, (1929)
• Yentsch, Anne E, p.55, A Chesapeake Family and their Slaves: a Study in Historical Archaeology, Cambridge University Press (1994) Retrieved Jan 28, 2010
• Maryland Loyalists extort the American Revolution by Assortment.

  Christopher New. Tidewater Publishers; Centreville, MD, 1996.