William Smallwood William Smallwood ( 1732February 14 , 1792 ) was an American planter , soldier and politician from Charles County , Maryland . He served in the American Revolutionary War , rising to the rank of major general . He was serving as the fourth Governor of Maryland when the state adopted the United States Constitution . Early life . William was born in 1732 to planter Bayne Smallwood and Priscilla Heaberd Smallwood . He had a sister Eleanor and a brother Hebard , who served with him later in the Revolutionary War . His parents sent the boys to England , for their education at Eton . His grandfather was James Smallwood , who immigrated in 1681 and became a member of the Maryland Assembly in 1696 . James ' son Bayne followed him later in the Assembly . Bayne and his sister Hester were the great - grandchildren of Maryland Governor William Stone ; Hester { Smallwood } Smith ' s daughter - in - law Sarah { Butler } Stone was the grandmother of James Butler Bonham and Milledge Luke Bonham . A first cousin of James and Milledge Bonham was Senator Matthew Butler Smallwood served as an officer during the French and Indian War ( also known as the Seven Years War ) . He was elected to the Maryland provincial assembly . American Revolution . When the American Revolutionary War began , he was appointed a colonel of the 1st Maryland Regiment in 1776 . He led the regiment in the New York and New Jersey campaign , where the regiment served with distinction . On December 21 , 1777 , he commanded 1 , 500 Delaware and Maryland troops at the Continental Army Encampment Site to prevent occupation of Wilmington by the British and to protect the flour mills on the Brandywine . For his role at the Battle of White Plains , in which he was twice wounded , Smallwood was promoted to brigadier general . He continued to serve under George Washington in the Philadelphia campaign , where his regiment again distinguished itself at Germantown . Thereafter , he quartered at the Foulke house , also occupied by the family of Sally Wister . In 1780 he was a part of General Horatio Gates ' army that was routed at Camden , South Carolina ; his brigade was among the formations that held their ground , garnering Smallwood a promotion to major general . Smallwood ' s accounts of the battle and criticisms of Gates ' behavior before and during the battle may have contributed to the Congressional inquiries into the debacle . Opposed to the hiring and promotion of foreigners , Smallwood objected to working under Baron von Steuben . He spent the remainder of the war in Maryland . He served as the first President - General of the Maryland Society of the Cincinnati in 1783 . Governor . Smallwood was elected to Congress in 1785 . He was elected Governor of Maryland before he could take up the Congressional seat and chose the governorship . In 1787 he convened the state ' s convention that in 1788 adopted the United States Constitution . Late years . Smallwood never married . The 1790 census shows that he held 56 slaves and a yearly tobacco crop of 3000 pounds . When he died in 1792 his estate , known as Mattawoman , including his home the Retreat , passed to his sister Eleanor . By one account she had married into the Stoddard family , which was related to the Smallwoods . ( e . g . Smallwood ' s nephew William Trueman Stoddard was orphaned at age 9 and raised by his maternal grandfather , Bayne Smallwood ) . In another account , Eleanor married Col . William Grayson of Virginia , and in 1827 the Mattawoman estate passed to Grayson ' s son William . Legacy . Local historical signs in Calvert , Maryland , note that General Smallwood occupied the " East Nottingham Friends House " at the intersections of Calvert Road and Brick Meetinghouse Road ( near the intersection of 272 and 273 ) about 6 miles east of Rising Sun , Maryland . During his occupation of the building in 1778 , Gen . Smallwood used the building as a hospital . Some of the soldiers who died in the building were buried in the graveyard directly outside . General Smallwood frequented the " Cross Keys Inn " ( built in 1774 ) , at the time a several - room inn and bar . This building stands as a private residence at the intersection of Calvert Road and Cross Keys Road directly down the hill . His restored plantation home , Smallwood ' s Retreat , is located at Smallwood State Park . Smallwood Church Road leads from the State Park toward Old Durham Church , where he was a vestry man . Several paintings still exist of Smallwood . One hangs in the Old Senate Chamber in the Maryland State House in Annapolis , Maryland . The portrait of George Washington resigning within the Maryland State House , which hangs in the US Capitol Rotanda , features Smallwood . Featured in the Maryland Historical Society is The William Smallwood Collection , 1776 – 1791 , MS . 1875 . Smallwood ' s name was honored in places and organizations .