An old stone house sits in Brooklyn, draped with a Maryland flag.
Honoring the sons of the Free State, lost on the shores of a nearby creek, the flag has served as a reminder for the passing generations. It tells a timeless tale of honor, duty, and sacrifice.
It reminds us of the day that the sons of Maryland saved America.
On August 27, 1776, a mere 6 weeks after signing the Declaration of Independence, George Washington and the Continental Army were engaged in the Battle of Brooklyn. The Americans were greatly outnumbered 13,000 troops to 34,000 troops as King George and General Howe wanted a swift and embarrassing end to the Colonist’s rebellion. Britain had sent one of the largest armadas in history, more than 450 ships with an additional 10,000 men, to New York Harbor with the aim of destroying Washington and his rebel army.
During the battle, the Continental Army was surrounded in Brooklyn Heights, backed up against the East River. Knowing the entire revolution was at risk, Washington made the command decision to evacuate the army across the river to the safety of lower Manhattan.
But they needed time. They needed someone to cover their retreat.
General William Alexander, known as Lord Stirling, delivered the plan of retreat to commanding officer Major Mordecai Gist, in what was surely a suicide mission.
Covering the retreat would be infantry lines from Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Positioned near the Vechte-Cortelyou House – an old Dutch farmhouse held by the British – estimates had these men outnumbered 5:1 with inferior artillery. They were to hold off the British as long as they could and allow Washington to move the rest of the Continental Army across the river into Manhattan.
These men accepted their fate, and Lord Stirling remained with them to fight.
As the fighting advanced, the Pennsylvania and Delaware lines collapsed, leaving Maryland to take the final stand. The Maryland 400 – as they came to be known – actually numbered around 270 and faced nearly 2,000 British soldiers. Stirling and Gist regrouped the men and commanded they fight through the chaos.
Outnumbered nearly 10-1, the Maryland regiment advanced six times against the British that day, marking one of the bloodiest battles of the American Revolution.
Stirling and Gist fought beside their men until they were finally overrun. Stirling was captured by Hessians while Gist was able to escape with roughly a dozen others back behind Continental lines.
256 Maryland patriots were lost in the stand, but they held the line long enough for Washington to successfully retreat to Manhattan. It is said that Washington could see the battle from a spyglass and remarked “Good God! What brave fellows I must lose this day!”
The sacrifice of the Maryland 400 is how our state became known as the “Old Line State” in memory of those who felt that the idea of a free America was worthy of death.
This sacrifice is one of the most significant moments during the fight for our nation. Without holding the line, the Continental Army would have been destroyed and the Revolution lost. Historian Thomas Field referred to Maryland’s holding the line as “an hour more precious to American liberty than any other.”
It is often said that our flag does not fly because the wind blows it – it flies with the last breath of every soldier who died defending it...
In Brooklyn sits an old stone house on a creek, with a flag flying to honor the 256 who died for our Nation when she was no more than a dream.
The Maryland 400 were asked to sacrifice everything on a land not their own for the mere dream of a new country. A country unshackled from tyrannical rule. A country where the government exists to protect the liberty and freedom of the individual. We have an obligation as the heirs of liberty to make our own stand, preserving the freedom the citizens of the Revolution fought for.
The mission of COS Action Maryland is to empower Maryland citizens with the ability to enact change on a national level using the powers granted in Article V of the US Constitution.
Maryland citizens, we are once again called to act to preserve freedom, promoting change on a national level. The Maryland 400 willingly sacrificed their lives for a dream that had yet to come to fruition. These men never lived the fullness of Liberty that they gifted to those that came after them.
Surely we are willing to petition to protect the life their sacrifice has allowed us.
