clear space clear space clear space white space
A
 r c h i v e s   o f   M a r y l a n d   O n l i n e

PLEASE NOTE: The searchable text below was computer generated and may contain typographical errors. Numerical typos are particularly troubling. Click “View pdf” to see the original document.

  Maryland State Archives | Index | Help | Search
search for:
clear space
white space
Journal and Correspondence of the Council of Maryland, 1781-1784
Volume 48, Preface 8   View pdf image (33K)
 Jump to  
  << PREVIOUS  NEXT >>
clear space clear space clear space white space
viii Letter of Transmittal. and coroners. Reference can be made here to only a few of the more important matters with which we find the Council dealing. There were constant appeals to Robert Morris, the superintendent of finance, and to Congress, to furnish promised supplies of clothing, food, and equipment to the Maryland troops in the Continental Army, most of which seem to have gone unheeded. The care of the British and German prisoners, confined for the most part at Frederick, although it was the business of the Continental authorities, seems to have devolved largely upon the local militia, as the plan to entrust this guard duty to partly invalided Continental troops would appear not to have been effectively carried out. There were numerous escapes of prisoners and it is even intimated that some of the British officers were not unwelcome guests at the houses of certain prominent Marylanders. That the needs of the Frederick prisoners were not met to their satisfaction by their captors, is indicated by the arrival at Baltimore in April, 1782, of two British sloops from New York under a flag of truce with supplies for them. The hardships endured by these British prisoners at Frederick, who seem to have had greater liberty of movement than met the approval of the Council, must have been mild in comparison with the sufferings of the unfortunate American soldiers confined in the unspeakably overcrowded and unhygienic British prison ships at New York, where neglect and disease claimed an enor mous portion of victims. We find duly recorded the repeated efforts of the Council to ship, under flags of truce to New York, tobacco, and later corn and flour, there to be sold by the British commanders, Sir Guy Carleton and Ad miral Robert Digby, and the proceeds used for the payment of debts of the Maryland officers in confinement there, and the relief of the pressing needs of the other Maryland prisoners. The surrender of Cornwallis and the control of the bay by de Grasse did not end the depredations of small enemy ships in the Chesapeake. The planta tions of the lower counties, especially on the Eastern Shore, were constantly and ruthlessly plundered and burned by the crews of the enemy's barges which had their headquarters in the islands of Tangier Sound. Somerset County was a centre of Toryism and it would appear that Tories and refugees rather than British sailors, were largely responsible for these attacks upon inoffensive non combatants. In at least one instance a large British privateer penetrated the bay as far up as Annapolis before it was chased off by a French brig of sixteen guns. These small enemy vessels, or barges, as they were called, harassed not only the bay-side plantations of the lower Eastern and Western shores, but on oc casion sailed far up the Patuxent and other tidal rivers, and even ascended the bay as far as the Patapsco. The Council made constant but ineffective efforts to equip and man sufficient vessels to put an end to the depredations of these “pirates “, which continued through the year 1782, and into the following year until the peace. On November 3oth Captain Zedekiah Walley, in command of the small State fleet, in an engagement with several enemy barges near Tangier Island known as the Battle of the Barges had his vessel blown up and was killed together with a large number of his crew. Although the French naval vessels

 
clear space
clear space
white space

Please view image to verify text. To report an error, please contact us.
Journal and Correspondence of the Council of Maryland, 1781-1784
Volume 48, Preface 8   View pdf image (33K)
 Jump to  
  << PREVIOUS  NEXT >>


This web site is presented for reference purposes under the doctrine of fair use. When this material is used, in whole or in part, proper citation and credit must be attributed to the Maryland State Archives. PLEASE NOTE: The site may contain material from other sources which may be under copyright. Rights assessment, and full originating source citation, is the responsibility of the user.


Tell Us What You Think About the Maryland State Archives Website!



An Archives of Maryland electronic publication.
For information contact mdlegal@mdarchives.state.md.us.

©Copyright  October 06, 2023
Maryland State Archives