MDSTMARY-L Archives

Archiver > MDSTMARY > 2007-07 > 1184069237


From: "Linda Reno" <>
Subject: Re: [MDSTMARY] John Aaron Spalding, MD Line
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 08:07:17 -0400
References: <00ad01c7bfd6$42c594e0$0300000a@PatDell>


Aaron Spalding is one of the few men who has been identified as part of the
5th Independent Company of St. Mary's County under the command of Capt. John
Allen Thomas. The muster rolls were lost, probably before 1800.

At the Battle of Long Island (also called the Battle of Brooklyn), the first
major battle of the Revolutionary War which occurred August 27, 1776, the
British (who vastly outnumbered the Americans) surrounded the American army
and was in the position to stop the revolution that day. Five Maryland
companies (about 400 men), then under the command of Mordecai Gist, were
called upon to essentially sacrifice themselves by holding off the British
while the rest of the army escaped. These men, known today as the Maryland
400, accomplished their mission and lore says that about 256 of them are
buried in a mass grave under the concrete in Brooklyn.

General William Smallwood, who would have normally been in command of the
Marylanders, was ordered by Washington to remain in the city of New York to
conduct a court martial. When Smallwood heard the battle was underway, he
made his way to where Washington and other senior officers were observing
the battle. Seeing his men being cut to pieces, he implored Washington to
allow him to send in troops to assist them, but Washington refused. At last
Washington relented and guess who went in? It was, of course, the men of
the 5th Independent Company of St. Mary's. Had it not been for these men,
all of the 400 would have been lost. The men of St. Mary's have never been
given the credit they so richly deserve.

I am currently writing a book about the Maryland 400 that will be published
by McFarland Publishing Company, but I don't know when yet. My deadline is
September 1 for submission of the manuscript. You may rest assured that the
men from St. Mary's will be acknowledged.

Linda Reno

----- Original Message -----
From: "Pat Doster" <>
To: <>
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2007 10:02 AM
Subject: [MDSTMARY] John Aaron Spalding, MD Line


> Hi Pat, From your web site I'm able to extend my family tree back some
> distance before John Aaron Spalding.
> John Aaron Spalding and Richard Pierceall must have been friends. Both
> joined the revolution under Capt. John Allen Thomas in St. Mary's County.
> John Aaron went to New York with George Washington and Richard stayed in
> Maryland with the state militia. I have copies of both petitions for a
> veterans pension. Richard moved to Kentucky in 1795. His oldest two sons
> Clements and Joseph moved on to Missouri several years later. That is my
> family line. Since many families went to church together, moved together,
> and even married each other the same last names keep showing up. My
> grandmother was a Spalding - my grandfather was a Pierceall.
> Clements and Joseph settled at Indian Creek, Mo. Clement's headstone is
> still there. My grandmother is buried at Hunnewell, Mo. Just a few miles
> from Indian Creek. Hunnewell is where my Dad was raised. There is even a
> town named Spalding in northeast Mo.
> If I'm lucky enough to find out anything more about John Aaron's war
> experience I will let you know.
> Jim Pierceall
>
>
>
> From: "Mike Spalding" <>
> Subject: John Aaron Spalding-Bernard Michael Spalding
> Pat, I do have a copy of JAS pension papers from the National Archives. I
> have visited the area in Ky. where he and his family settled. The county
> seat is Lebannon Ky. They have a nice geneology room in the local libary
> there. All the cemeterys in this area are filled with Spaldings. The very
> old cemeterys and the new ones. There is a atreet by the local Catholic
> Church, its name is Spalding Ave. He and all of the Spaldings settled in
> Washington County Kentucky, today it is Marion County Ky. They setteled
> and formed a small town of New Market Ky. Not much there today have to
> look hard to see it when you pass it. They helped form the Catholic
> Church at Calvary Ky. Holy Name of Mary Church. The
> old grave yard there is where most of our ancestors are buried.
> Unfortunatly time has taken its toll there.
>
> -end-
>
> -------------------------------
> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to
> with the word 'unsubscribe' without the
> quotes in the subject and the body of the message

This thread: