Many Marylanders overlook the role their state played in the war for independence, even as they scarf hotdogs and enjoy fireworks in celebration, historians say.
Maryland troops ? known in the Revolutionary War as “The Maryland Line” ? achieved fame all over the colonies. They famously held back General Howe?s British troops, buying George Washington precious time in the Battle of Long Island.
Though The Line is remembered for keeping most major battles outside of Maryland territory, the state itself served as a major supplier, shipping goods out of Baltimore and Annapolis, said Vincent Vaise, chief ranger at Fort McHenry.
Fells Point served as the center of privateering ships preying on merchant ships supplying the British.
“We?re talking about legalized piracy recognized by all European countries,” said Wayne Schaumburg, a Baltimore historian and teacher at the Upton School. “Over 200 privateers came out of Fells Point.”
Aside from supplying the war effort, Maryland became a meeting place for political activity. Schaumburg said Baltimore became the Nation?s capital for two months in December of 1776 when the British occupied the original seat of Congress: Philadelphia. “In the true spirit of politicians, these guys knew how to get out of town,” Schaumburg said, meeting in a tavern where the Arena now stands.
Backwater Baltimore paled in comparison to Philadelphia at the time, and Congress was not impressed. Annapolis made a better impression when it served as the capital at the end of the war. In fact, the Treaty of Paris to end the war was ratified in Annapolis.
“That treaty is what made the Declaration of Independence a reality,” Vaise said, “If we hadn?t won the war, the Declaration would have been worthless.”
Marylanders Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone and Charles Carroll ? whose house is now a museum in Baltimore ? made their mark on The Declaration. A local Baltimore newspaper, the Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser, was the first to print a complete copy of the Declaration of Independence in 1777, and the original now sits in the State House in Annapolis.
Maryland?s involvement in the war is worth remembering today, according to Vaise, “A lot of people see the fourth as a time for sales or fireworks, but it?s a time for celebrating what independence was about, to reflect on the meaning of independence.”
Baltimore Revolutionary War Monuments
» Maryland Line Monument, Mount Royal Avenue at Cathedral Street: Honors Americans who fought in the Revolutionary War
» Lafayette Monument, Mount Vernon Square: Honors Gen. Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
» Pulaski Monument, Patterson Park: Honors Gen. Casimir Pulaski
» John Eager Howard Monument, Mount Vernon Place: Honors Gen. Howard who owned most of land north of Baltimore and fought
