Comparing regiments and brigades is usually apples and oranges, although the Maryland line of 1776 is somewhat of an exception. In September 1776 Smallwood's regiment was about 840, including officers and 259 captured (at Long Island), and in September 1778 his brigade was about 1,724 strong. An equivalent percentage of blacks, if Smallwood's regiment did contain any in 1776, would have been about 40 men, certainly not an inconceivable number. Wright in _The Continental Army_ traces the lineage of the Maryland line and gives a nice list of sources on pp. 280-82, including the Muster Rolls published by the Md. Hist. Soc. in 1900, which lists all the troops by name as of 19 August 1776 (pp. 1-28). The men's race, unfortunately, is not designated, but if Scammell's list contains any names you can look for them in the 1776 rolls. A great source for most of the prisoners captured at Long Island is Mather's Refugees of 1776 from _Long Island to Connecticut_ (1913), and other than this, Peter Force's _American Archives_ would be the first place that I would look, for he used all sorts of rolls that are scattered in many obscure places.... Also, I'm not so sure how heroic the action was, see Eric Manders' _The Battle of Long Island_ (1980).... You may also want to look at Sidney Kaplan and Emma Nogrady Kaplan, _The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution_ (Amherst: U of Mass Press, 1989), which is cited in Gail Buckley's _American Patriots_ as the source for 4 names of black participants of the Battle of Long Island: London Citizen, Julius Cezar, Timothy Prince, and Sameul Sutphin. >From what I can see from the meager sources that we have, black participation in the war didn't really pick up until 1777 and especially 1778 when draft laws were changed and quotas were changed; before that most probably were substitutes for their masters. Hope this helps, and can't wait for your book! On Wed, 7 Aug 2002 13:23:32 -0400 Donna Lucey / Henry Wiencek <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > For a book on George Washington and his slaves, I > am at work on a chapter about the > African-American role in the Revolutionary War. > I'm wondering if someone can help with a Maryland > question, or could direct me to a source there. > A "Return of Negroes in the Army" prepared > by Alexander Scammell in August 1778 lists 84 > blacks in Smallwood's Brigade and the 2nd > Maryland Brigade. My question is this: would a > similar number of blacks have been enlisted in > William Smallwood's Maryland Battalion two years > earlier, when that battalion carried out the > heroic rear-guard defense of Washington's army in > Brooklyn, August 27, 1776? Any help would be > greatly appreciated. > -- Frank E. Grizzard, Jr. Associate Editor Papers of George Washington University of Virginia [log in to unmask] http://www.virginia.edu/gwpapers HEY, MY BOOK IS OUT! _George Washington: A Biographical Companion_ published by ABC-CLIO in May 2002. See my website: http://www.people.virginia.edu/~feg3e/GWBio/ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html