Washington Blues

Last updated
Washington Blues
Lithograph of painting byThomas Ruckle.jpg
The Battle of North Point , painted by Thomas Ruckle, a corporal and amateur artist who served in George H. Steuart's company, the Washington Blues, Maryland Militia [1]
Active1814
CountryFlag of the United States (1795-1818).svg  United States
AllegianceStar-Spangled Banner flag.svg  Maryland
BranchFlag of Maryland.svg  Maryland Militia
Type volunteers
Sizecompany
Part of Maryland Line
Engagements War of 1812
Commanders
Current
commander
Captain George H. Steuart
Notable
commanders
Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Sterett Captain George H. Steuart

The Washington Blues were a company of Maryland Volunteers which saw action during the Battle of Bladensburg and the Battle of North Point, during the War of 1812.

Contents

History

When war broke out between the United States and Great Britain, George H. Steuart (then Captain Steuart) raised a company of Maryland volunteers, known as the Washington Blues, [2] part of the 5th Maryland Regiment [3] commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Sterett. [4] They saw action at the Battle of Bladensberg (August 24, 1814), [5] where the Americans, including the 5th Regiment, were routed by the British. Although the 5th had "evinced a disposition to make a gallant resistance", it was flanked by the redcoats and forced to retreat in some disorder. [6] After the battle, British forces entered Washington, D.C. and burned several government buildings.

Steuart's company fought better at the Battle of North Point (September 12, 1814), [7] where the militia were able to hold the line for several hours before making a fighting retreat, and where Steuart was wounded. [8] Some of the militia regiments, such as the 51st, and some members of 39th, broke and ran under fire, but the 5th and 27th held their ground and were able to retreat in reasonably good order having inflicted significant casualties on the advancing enemy. [9] Corporal John McHenry of the 5th Regiment wrote an account of the battle:

Our Regiment, the 5th, carried off the praise from the other regiments engaged, so did the company to which I have the honor to belong cover itself with glory. When compared to the [other] Regiments we were the last that left the ground...had our Regiment not retreated at the time it did we should have been cut off in two minutes. [9]

Notable members

On April 19, 1861, during the start of the American Civil War, Baltimore was disrupted by riots, during which Southern sympathizers attacked Union troops passing through the city by rail. Steuart himself was strongly sympathetic to the Confederacy and, perhaps knowing this, Governor Hicks did not call out the militia to suppress the riots. [14] On May 13, 1861 Union troops occupied the state, restoring order and preventing a vote in favor of Southern secession. Steuart moved south for the duration of the Civil War, and much of the general's property was confiscated by the Federal Government as a consequence. [15] However, many members of the newly formed Maryland Line in the Confederate army would be drawn from Steuart's militia. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Baltimore</span> 1814 battle during the War of 1812

The Battle of Baltimore took place between British and American forces in the War of 1812. American forces repulsed sea and land invasions off the busy port city of Baltimore, Maryland, and killed the commander of the invading British forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Bladensburg</span> Battle of the War of 1812

The Battle of Bladensburg, also known as the Bladensburg Races, took place during the Chesapeake Campaign, part of the War of 1812, on 24 August 1814, at Bladensburg, Maryland, 8.6 miles (13.8 km) northeast of Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of North Point</span> Battle of the War of 1812

The Battle of North Point was fought on September 12, 1814, between General John Stricker's Maryland Militia and a British force led by Major General Robert Ross. Although the Americans retreated, they were able to do so in good order having inflicted significant casualties on the British, killing one of the commanders of the invading force, significantly demoralizing the troops under his command and leaving some of his units lost among woods and swampy creeks, with others in confusion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Reed (politician)</span> American politician

Philip Reed was a United States Senator representing Maryland from 1806 to 1813.

Defenders Day is a longtime legal holiday on September 12, in the U.S. state of Maryland, in the City of Baltimore and surrounding Baltimore County. It commemorates the successful defense of the city of Baltimore on September 12-13-14, 1814 from an invading British force during the War of 1812, an event which led to the writing of the words of a poem, which when set to music a few days later, became known as "The Star-Spangled Banner", which in 1931 was designated as the national anthem of the United States.

The 5th Maryland Regiment is a designation which has been held by several units over the years, not all of which necessarily share the same lineage and honors. The term "5th Maryland" has most frequently been connected to militia units in Baltimore, even though the first unit to bear the designation was formed in 1776 from volunteers in rural Maryland. The "5th Maryland" designation is the officially recognized traditional designation of the 175th Infantry Regiment, Maryland Army National Guard. This entry refers to the rural 5th Maryland, whose lineage is separate and distinct from the Baltimore 5th Maryland perpetuated by the 175th Infantry Regiment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George H. Steuart (brigadier general)</span> Confederate Army general

George Hume Steuart was a planter in Maryland and an American military officer; he served thirteen years in the United States Army before resigning his commission at the start of the American Civil War. He joined the Confederacy and rose to the rank of brigadier general in the Army of Northern Virginia. Nicknamed "Maryland" to avoid verbal confusion with Virginia cavalryman J.E.B. Stuart, Steuart unsuccessfully promoted the secession of Maryland before and during the conflict. He began the war as a captain of the 1st Maryland Infantry, CSA, and was promoted to colonel after the First Battle of Manassas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryland Army National Guard</span> American military unit, founded 1634

The Maryland Army National Guard is the United States Army component of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is headquartered at the old Fifth Regiment Armory at the intersection of North Howard Street, 29th Division Street, near Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in Baltimore and has additional units assigned and quartered at several regional armories, bases/camps and other facilities across the state.

George Hume Steuart, (1700–1784) was a Scottish physician, tobacco planter, and Loyalist politician in colonial Maryland. Born in Perthshire, Steuart emigrated to Maryland in around 1721, where he benefited from proprietarial patronage and was appointed to a number of colonial offices, eventually becoming a wealthy landowner with estates in both Maryland and Scotland, and serving two terms as mayor of Annapolis. However, he was forced by the outbreak of the American Revolution to decide whether to remain loyal to the Crown or to throw in his lot with the American rebels. In 1775 Steuart sailed to Scotland, deciding at age 75 that "he could not turn rebel in his old age". He remained there until his death in 1784.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Sprigg Steuart</span>

Richard Sprigg Steuart (1797–1876) was a Maryland physician and an early pioneer of the treatment of mental illness. In 1838 he inherited four contiguous farms, totalling approximately 1900 acres as well as 150 slaves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George H. Steuart (militia general)</span>

George Hume Steuart (1790–1867) was a United States general who fought during the War of 1812, and later joined the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. His military career began in 1814 when, as a captain, he raised a company of Maryland volunteers, leading them at both the Battle of Bladensberg and the Battle of North Point, where he was wounded. After the war he rose to become major general and commander-in-chief of the First Light Division, Maryland Militia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Ruckle</span> American painter

Thomas Ruckle (1776–1853) was a house painter and sign painter in early nineteenth-century Baltimore, Maryland, and an amateur painter. He is best known for his paintings The Battle of North Point, and The Defense of Baltimore. Ruckle was a veteran of the War of 1812, in which he had served as a corporal in the 5th Maryland Regiment of the Maryland Militia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryland Square</span> Mansion in Maryland, United States

"Maryland Square", later known as "Steuart Hall", was a mansion owned by the Steuart family from 1795 to 1861, located on the western outskirts of Baltimore, Maryland, at the present-day junction of West Baltimore and Monroe streets. In the first year of the American Civil War, the property was confiscated by the United States Federal Government as its owner, George H. Steuart, a former United States Army officer, had resigned his commission to fight in the Confederate Army, in the Army of Northern Virginia as a brigadier general.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryland Line (CSA)</span>

The Maryland Line in the Army of the Confederate States of America was made up of volunteers from Maryland who, despite their home state remaining in the Union, fought for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Of approximately 25,000 Marylanders who volunteered, most fought in the Army of Northern Virginia, and it was not until late in 1863 that a Maryland Line in the CSA was formally created. However, by this late stage in the war, few men wished to leave the units they had fought alongside for more than two years, and the exiles' dream of an independent Maryland Line in the Confederate army would never be fully realized.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steuart family</span>

The Steuart family of Maryland was a prominent political family in the early history of Maryland. The Steuarts, of Scottish descent, have their origins in Perthshire, Scotland. The family grew wealthy in the early 18th century under the patronage of the Calvert family, proprietors of the colony of Maryland, but their wealth and status was much reduced during the American Revolution, and the American Civil War.

Like other border states, Maryland found herself in a difficult position at the start of the American Civil War, with loyalties divided between North and South. Although Maryland herself remained in the Union, Maryland militia units fought on both sides of the Civil War. Many militia members travelled south at the start of the war, crossing the Potomac River to join the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Steuart (Mayor of Baltimore)</span> American mayor (1780–1839)

William Steuart was a stone mason in colonial Maryland, and Mayor of Baltimore from 1831 to 1832. He was a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army during the War of 1812, and saw service during the Battle of Baltimore, where he commanded the 38th United States Infantry foot regiment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Light Division, Maryland Volunteers</span> Military unit

The First Light Division of Maryland Volunteers was a militia unit based in Baltimore and formed in around 1841. Its commander was the militia general George H. Steuart. Elements of the division participated in the suppression of John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry in 1859, but its members found themselves in a difficult position at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861. Many of the citizen volunteers, especially the senior command, wished to secede from the Union and join the Confederate States of America. However, Maryland remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War and as a consequence of this the division was disbanded. Many of its members left Maryland and went south to fight for the Confederacy.

Twenty-four current units of the Army National Guard perpetuate the lineages of militia units mustered into federal service during the War of 1812. Militia units from nine states that were part of the Union by the end of the War of 1812, plus the District of Columbia, are the predecessors of eighteen units that currently exist in the Army National Guard. Two of the four units derived from Virginia militias are in the West Virginia National Guard; at the time of the War of 1812, West Virginia was still part of Virginia. Only two current units, the 155th Infantry, a component of the Mississippi National Guard derived from militia units organized in the Mississippi Territory and the 130th Infantry, a component of the Illinois National Guard derived from militia units formed in the Illinois Territory, are from states or territories west of the Appalachians. Unfortunately, no militia units from the states of Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio or Tennessee, or from the Indiana, Michigan, Missouri or Louisiana Territories, where militia units played a major role in the fighting, have survived as units in the modern Army National Guard.

Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Sterett (1773-1821), also known as Joseph Sterrett, was a Maryland militia officer who served during the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812. At the Battle of Bladensberg and the Battle of North Point he commanded the 5th Maryland Regiment, composed largely of volunteers from Baltimore.

References

Notes

  1. Laura Rich. Maryland History In Prints 1743–1900. p. 44.
  2. Register of the Military Order of Foreign Wars of the United States, National Commandery (1900) Retrieved Jan 14 2010
  3. Register of the Military Order of Foreign Wars of the United States, p.101, National Commandery (1900) Retrieved Jan 14 2010
  4. Hickman, Nathaniel, p.100, The citizen soldiers at North Point and Fort McHenry, September 12 & 13 1814, published by James Young,(1889) Retrieved Jan 14 2010
  5. The British Invasion of Maryland, 1812-1815 by William Matthew Marine Retrieved Jan 14 2010
  6. History of the Late War between the United States and Great Britain By Henry Marie Brackenridge, p.249, Philadelphia (1836). Retrieved Jan 15 2010
  7. The Huntington Library Quarterly, Volume 12 (1949). Retrieved Jan 13 2010
  8. American Quarterly Review, Issues 35-36, by Robert Walsh, p.495 (1835) Retrieved Jan 15 2010
  9. 1 2 George, p.143
  10. Short page on Ruckle at rootsweb.ancestry.com Retrieved October 2010
  11. Register of the Military Order of Foreign Wars of the United States, National Commandery (1900) Retrieved Jan 14 2010
  12. page on Thomas Ruckle at marylandartsource.org Retrieved October 2010
  13. Sullivan David M., The United States Marine Corps in the Civil War: The First Year, p.286, White Mane Publishing (1997). Retrieved Jan 13 2010
  14. Maryland, A Middle Temperament: 1634-1980 by Robert J. Brugger, Johns Hopkins University Press (1996) Retrieved Jan 15 2010
  15. Nelker, p.120
  16. Goldsborough, p.9