Evening star., 1902-08-14

This stone. which commentaries the final
resting place of one Of the bravest set of
men In our history, bears nothing mora
The absence of any inscription by the erec-
tors, however. is significant and NAV be
traced back to 1896.
In 1895 the Maryland Society of this city
held a great celebration on August 27.
which was called Maryland day Citizens In
all parts Of the city subscribed for the af-
fair The festivities were largely historic
and left the committee of arrangements
with quite little surplus on it's hands. It
was the idea of William Berri, who was a
prominent member of the committee that
some fitting memorial to the Maryland
troops in the battle Of Long Island be erect
ed with the remaining money The idea
found great favor with the committee and
in it's efforts to find some worthy incident
to commemorate it finally decided to take
the heroic stand that the MARYLAND troops
made about the old Cortelyou house
Maryland to the Front.
It will be remembered that when New
York was threatened By the British Mary
land was one of the first states to com. to
its defense. In very short time it equipped
over 4,00O men and sent them to Washing
ton as one of the few uniformed bodies of
troops at his disposal. What MARYLAND
thought Of New York Is well Illustrated hv
Yorks delegates during the session Of Con-
gress that year.
I'VE shall in a few days" he said. in
speaking, ''have with you 1000 men, which
Is all that we can arm and equip and the
people of New York, for whom we have
great affection. can have no more than our
ALL"
The flower of these troops was Small
woods battalion of about ESQ men. They
were composed of young men from all Of
the best MARYLAND families
Smallwood's Men.
These brave soldiers were later reduced
by camp diseases to about 45O men, So, be-
fore the battle of Long Island, they were
united with 40 men Of the Delaware bat
TALON, under the command of a Colonel
Haslet This was their, organization Just
before the battle. They had the actual
misfortune. in the fight later, to be without
their senior officers, Isho1&ere away at the
time attending a court-martal. Taking
this fact into Consideration, with the cir
cumstance that they had Never before been
under fire, 1t places their deeds on the bat
teheld without parallel in the world $
history. ,"TTsV
When the British had won the day and
the salt marshes in the neighborhood of
GoWanus creek were filed with fleeing
Continentals, Stirling saw there must be
some diversion made forAhe' enemy's bene-
mt or the entire array would be taken pris-
oner as well as defeated The: only troops
at his disposal that had 2retained their or
ganization in the confusion of the retreat
were Snallwoods Battalion. and these he
resolved to- use for vhis bold project He
halted the troops and told them briefly that
he desired some volunteers to withstand
the advance Of the Whole British army so
that the retreat of his panic stricken troops
might be protected. To a man the Mary
land troops sgnified their willingness to 60
to almost certain death. The lines were
formed and the advance was begun.
Die for the Flag. t-
The grenadiers of England and the Ger
man Yagers were in a strong semi-circular
position, with the Cortelyou House as their
center. Two English batteries supported
completely by surprise at first at the very
audacity of the Americans, and started to
Waver, but then recovering they opened a
muEderops fire upon the small band of he
roes. Without any protection other than
the stone walls of a field. they stood this
nre for three hours while men fell thick
and fast. Two hundred and fifty-six had
had been taken prisoner before they gave
up the unequal struggle. A few days later
they returned to recover their dead but the
English had impressed the farmers of the
region already, and they found the task
completed
Some day their resting place will have
such monument as it deserves. Can
there be greater heroes than the men who
maze possible the preservation of the little
army which was later to free this land?
Their glory must for time serve them, but
it Is to hoped the time Is not long distant
When 1mperlShabe stone will adequately
express the debt of gratitude which the ma
ton owes to men.