The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1895-04-05
THE FLYING CAMP.


the county to serve until 1st December follow
ing,in battalion, to be called the Flying Camp.
Under this order, Bennett Bussey and Aquila
Paca each raised Il company, of which the
names of the privateS are not gwen. The Of
tcers of Bussey's company were AS follows:
Bennett Bussey, captain commissioned Doth
July; Joshua Miles, first lieutenant, commits
stoned Doth July; AZael Hitchcock, second
lieutenant, commissioned 24tn July; Aquila
Amos, ensign, commissioned 10Th July.
1t is probable that many Of the rank and file
ofBussey's company had been in his late Minute
Company.
The officers of the other company were:
Aquila Paca, captain, commissioned 24th July;
John Beadic Hall, first lieutenant, commission
ed 9TH August: Michael Gilbert, second lieu
tenant commissioned 18th August John Pat
terson, ensign, commissioned 9th August.
These two companies, with four from Balti-
more county and two from Cecil, constituting
the Second Battalion OF the Flying Camp, were
placed under command of Col Josias Carvill
Hall, of this county, who up to that time had
been first Major of the Lower Battalion of
Militia. In July the second battalion of the
Flying Camp was ordered to Annapolis to take
the place of the regulars who had march
ed thence to New York-both cities being
threatened by the enemy. On the 10th August
the entire battalion was ordered to New York,
at which time as Schart tells us, it consisted of
nine com panies, of ninety men each which is
one company more than is called for by the or
der of the convention. The two Hartford COM
panies, as part of the brigade of the Flying
Camp, were present October Is at the battle
of White Plains, some twenty miles north of
New York city, and covered the retreat of the
Americans, who were defeated after Il gallant
fight
On the 10th September the convention order
ed additional companies to be raised-two of
them in this county-for the Flying Camp. A
letter from Col. Benjamin Rumsey, dated Sep
TENDER 18TH at Joppa, to the Council of Safe
ty, shows how the companies were raised
In obedience to the commands of the con-
vention called my battalion together on the
10th, and on reading the resolves. three cap
tainS in the Battalion, with their commissioned
officers, to wit: Captain james McComas,
Captain Cowen and Captain Harris the first
with thrty-one, the others with thirty of their
priVates leach, offered to serve their country
agreeable to the resolves of the convention;
and to-day the field officers have met in order
to decide who shall go ; and believe the lott
will fall upon Captain Harris, as he is single
man of spirit, very DESTROYS of going, and the
furthest from the water and internal enemies,
in case of all attack" Exactly what is meant
by the latter clause of this sentence is not very
clear. He adds, Il will go to attend SIX COM
panies tomorrow at Deer Creek, TO assist our
captain that is, the captain who shall be chosen
ut the meeting to-day |, in completing his com
pany, and to inspire as many as can with
love of their country and desire to serve her.
The soldiers that go will be chiefly
farmers and their sons"
Doubtless, on the same day and by the same
method, the other company for the Flying
Camp was chosen from the other battalion,
though we have no account of il except the
little that may he inferred from the discredi-
table charges made by Capt. Calwell against
his own company OF militia, us already given.
The officers of the company raised from this
latter battalion were commissioned, the cap
tain 4th October, rs the others on 18th.
They were as follows: Francis Holland, cap
tain John Garlic. first lieutenant; William
Young. second lieutenant: Robert Morgan, en-
sign. The non-commissoned officers and pri-
Yates We're Thomas Hall, William Hall of
Aquila, William Fell, Daniel Richardson, vii
liam Golfer, William Ross, John Bull. John
Barnes, James Paca, Edmund Callahan. Benja-
min Culver, Jarvis Gilbert, Samuel Elliott,
Archibald Ingram, Robert Conn., John MITCHELL
Michael Schrife, Samuel Gilbert, Andrew Ram
say, Daniel Nutterwell. John Cooley, Thomas
Sutton, Francis Pitt, David Thompson, Benia-
min Barnes, William Silver, Frisby Dorsey
Hugh Mcintosh, William Loney, Obadiah
Pritchard, Nathan Bailess, Jonas Bailess, Bene-
dict Edward Hall. Roger Matthew, Richard
Dailam, Richard Wilmott, Elijah Davis, Davis
Smith, Robert Renshaw Daniel Baiess, Nathan
Swain, Benjamin Osborn, John Whitaker,
er, Samuel Cover, Thomas Wheeler. John
Hanson, James Matthews, Joseph Wheeler,
Morgan Conney, drummer, Thomas Duke,
Thomas Giles, Thomas Webster, William Hall,
Sr., George Young, John Copeland, James Hall,
Robert Stokes, Ralph Smith, Negro Nora, cap
tain's servant.
This company was known as the Hartford
Greens" though why so called does not appear
Probably the color Of their uniform or of some
part thereof suggested the name. On the
23d October, equipped with good guns. blan-
kets, &C.. they set ont on their march to Phila-
deiphia where they had the promise from Con-
gress of barracks on the approach of winter.
AS predicted by Col. Rumsey Capt. Harris
was selected to lead the com pany which volun-
teered from his battalion; and on the 10th De-
tOber the following were commissioned as Its
officers Robert Harris, captain; Villa M
Coale, first lieutenant; Benjamin Scott, second
James Steele, ensign.
They set out for the front few days after
the Greens" well supplied with blankets and
with linen, for tents. AS to the guns the cap
tain wrote from Philadelphia, November 8, to
the Council of Safety, that he arrived there on
The I'd instant with Seyenty-SiX privateS that
he reported the state of his guns to the Board
of War and begged that they be repaired, but
his request was not granted. He adds, "ro
have marched to camp with guns in such ord II
would have been folly. ] then applied to Col
Rumsey in igressl for money, who proc red
me goo. | have been obliged to advance
He encloses his account, also u list
of men, as follows:
James Cooper, Matthew McElhamy, JOSH a
james, John Chance, James Treno. Levi Low,
William Feely, Alexander Stevenson, Robert
Hanna, Gregory White, Robert Gordon,
James Bull james Harris, William Hall,
kIchard Hopkins, William Chambers, Pat
rick Nowlan, William Crooks, James Wat
son, robert Armstrong. Michael Dougherty |
James Donnely, Matthew CreswelI, Edward |
Horatio Coop, Richard Jordan, James Blaney |
Christopher Fort, William baltimore Francis |
Gibson, John Davidson, David Armstrong |
Barnet Raine, Thomas Rhoads John Cook,
son. Hugh Huston, William Gordon, William |
james Munday, Joseph Saunders, |
J Ohm Armstrong, Jonathan Ady, John Baker, |
John Lattimore, Aguila Durham, Edward Nor
gan, David Wavy, John Haig, Gykes Hodges |
james Rigdon, James Wilgus, Benjam |
Valley, Thomas Capen. David MCCULLOUGH
Abel Green, Matthew Skell, Charles Anderson |
David Campbell Thomas Steuart William
Joseph steele, John Orr. John |
Patrick, John Paine, John Taylor, Joseph |
Dueberry, James Miller, Jesse Lagan, Robert |
spencer, Griffith Evans
The captain says there We're seyeuty-siX |
men, whereas there are only seventy-tive in |
mis- list. Some one has Numbered. Dn eth |
November Congress resolved that 1866 be |
a ivanc'd to Capt Holland, and Sl33 to Capt. |
a.Nf
Mes"
1t does not appear from the histories that |
either Hollands or Harris's company took |
part in any battle during their brief period of |
service. it is not probable that they reached |
the army until it was on its retreat southwark, |
after the fall of Fort Washington, which ended |
the mpaign in New York On the very day |
our retiring forces IL ached the Raritau, i'll cen
.ritl New Jersey, lst December, the short term
Jf enlistment of the entire Flying Camp eXpir- |
ID, and although very lew OF them re-enllsted |
On the spoL, after their return to Maryldud |
many volunteered i'll the regular service for
he war.
THE HARTFORD RIFLES OF '76.
On the 9th July, 70, the convention ordered |
hat six companies of ritlemen be raised, one |
Of them in Hartford county and, to expedite
matters, the county committees were instruct
I'd To recommend officers for commlssionS with
1ut delay. Alexander Lawson Smith offered,
1t once, to raise such a compan III this county,
md on the 18th July the Committee chose the
officers by ballot. On the 18th they were COM
by the Council OF Safety, as follows
Alexander Lawson Smith, captain; James
White Hall, first lieutenant; William Bradford,
IT., second lieutenant Josias Hail, third lieu
enant. On the 2Sth October only fifty men
lad been enrolled, but the company must have
rapidly after that date, for on the
9th November they participated us part of
Rawlings regiment, in the defence of Fort
Washington, on the Hudson, where they
ought with great bravery, keeping the enemy
It bay until their rifles, from incessant firing, |
,ecame so foul as to be almost useless, whentbey
we're compelled to fall back to the Fort, where
my nf "A W y
If the garrison. The loss of the enemy in kill
d and wounded was nearly nine hundred,
more than half of which was inflicted by Raw
ings' rifiemen