Mountjoy Bayly in the Revolutionary War
Frederick County, Maryland
By William W. Price & John D. Sinks
Fairfax Resolves Chapter, Virginia Society & District of Columbia Society,
Sons of the American Revolution
July 4, 2012
Today we recognize Mountjoy Bayly (1755-1836) for his contributions to the cause of American
Independence during the Revolutionary War. Mountjoy was born about 1755 in Fairfax County,
Virginia to William and Mary Hampton Bayly.1 As a young man, he appears to have preferred
the spelling “Bailey,” but “Bayly” in his later years. He first appears in the Shelburne Parish,
Loudoun County, Virginia Tithable records in 1774 as the overseer for his older brother, Samuel
Bayly of Colchester.2
When Maryland took its census in 1776, Mountjoy Bayly, age 21, was listed in the Lower
Potomac Hundred of Frederick County with no other members of his household.3 His older
brother Edward, age 23, was listed on the same page. Frederick County at the time included
what is now Montgomery County and all Maryland counties to the west. Today we would
recognize the Lower Potomac Hundred as the Bethesda-Chevy Chase area. It was here in the
year 1776 that Mountjoy Bayly began his Revolutionary service.
About April of 1776 Col. John Murdock appointed Mountjoy Bayly as Adjutant of the 29th
Battalion, Frederick County Militia.4 By June Bayly’s service in the 29th was nearing an end
without the unit having been engaged in a campaign. George Washington had devised the idea
of recruiting militia from the middle states to provide a mobile force to threaten the British. The
Maryland Convention resolved on June 25th to provide a 3,405 of its militia to act with the
militia of Pennsylvania and Delaware according the request of the Continental Congress,
received on June 3rd. The Maryland Flying Camp was to be organized in four Battalions. The
western-most battalion was the 1st, from Frederick County and commanded by Col. Charles
Greenbury Griffith. Montjoy Bailey was commissioned adjutant of the 1st Battalion on
September 7, 1776, the same date as other staff officers of the 1st.5 By September 16th Griffith’s
battalion was with the Main Army at Harlem Heights and some were engaged in the battle that
day. The Maryland delegation in Philadelphia reported that Griffith’s men “behaved well.”6
One company of the 1st, Capt. Henry Hardman’s,was captured at Ft. Washington on November
16th when the patriots failed to abandon the fort in time.7 The battalion was also in the Battle of
White Plains.8 With enlistments expiring at the end of the month, the battalion was marched to
Philadelphia in December and discharged. One soldier testified that he promptly returned home,
arriving a few days before Christmas.9
1
Papenfuse, pp. 119.
Loudoun Tithables, p. 731.
3
1776 Census, p. 63.
4
Arch. Md., Vol. 11, pp. 522-523; Arch. Md., Vol. 12, pp. 112-113.
5
Arch. Md., Vol. 12, pp. 179-180.
6
Fetzer, p. 28.
7
Arch. Md., Vol. 12, p. 473.
8
Heeter.
9
Heeter.
2
2
By December of 1776 additional Maryland regiments of the Continental Line were being
established. The first commissions for the 7th Maryland Regiment were issued on December 10,
1776 and Mountjoy Bailey was among 9 officers commissioned that day.10 Not until March 27,
1777 was the regiment organized to consist of eight companies, and on May 22nd it was assigned
to the 1st Maryland Brigade,11 Brigadier General Thomas Smallwood commanding.
The new responsibilities of Mountjoy Bayly did not wait until the regiment was organized and
did not involve immediate combat service. They involved the imprisonment of captured
Tories.12 In a letter from Major General Israel Putnam dated December 15, 1776, Captain Bayly
is instructed to transport 16 Loyalist prisoners held in Frederick County to the public jail in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Putnam’s use of the rank “captain” is indicates that he was not
addressing the order to an adjutant, Bayly’s rank in the Flying Camp.
The first major engagement for the 7th Maryland and Captain Mountjoy Bayly was on September
11, 1777 at the Battle of Brandywine. An interesting account of the maneuvers leading up to the
battle survives in a letter by Dr. William Darlington dated November 29, 1845. The letter relates
a narrative from an 1822 dinner with Mountjoy Bayly:
Captain Bayly said his company was detached as a scouting party on the day of the battle,
to obtain information and watch the movements of the enemy. In traversing the hills on
the west side of the forks of the Brandywine he came to a comfortable farmhouse…, the
proprietor of which he soon learned was a namesake of his own and a zealous loyalist.
The hospitable old farmer mistook the Maryland Company for British, and greeted them
with a hearty welcome. He caused a generous lunch to be produced for them, of which
they freely partook, and Mountjoy kept his aged host in pleasant conversation, without in
any way correcting his misapprehension. Having got through with the entertainment, the
advance of the British column was seen approaching, when Captain Bayly concluded it
was about time for his Marylanders to be moving. He so stated to the hospitable old
farmer, who thereupon urged him to remain, assuring him that the approaching troops
were certainly good friends. Captain Bayly, however, excused himself by alleging that
the duty of his company was to keep some distance ahead of the column, and so he
speedily made his escape from a rather critical position.13
Mountjoy Bayly and the 7th Maryland arrived with the rest of the Continental Army at Valley
Forge on December 19, 1777. The conditions were stark: the 400 or so soldiers of the 7th
Maryland received 346 pairs of shoes, 308 stockings, 200 trousers, 183 jackets, and 172 shirts
when clothing was finally issued on January 27, 1778. Yet Valley Forge also marked the arrival
of von Steuben and the re-forging of the Continental Army into a victorious fighting force.
Mountjoy Bayly and the 7th Maryland marched away from Valley Forge on June 19, 1778.
10
7th Md. Regt. Rolls, image 71.
Wright, p. 280.
12
Papers Cont. Congress, pp. 111, 115, 117.
13
Hist. Chester Co., p. 80.
11
3
Captain Bayly was injured during the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778. In his application
for a Revolutionary War pension14 he describes his injuries as “ruptured a blood vessel so as
leaving me unfit for duty.” He was sent to the Continental Hospital at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
We do not know how long Bayly was in the hospital, possibly until 14 September 1778 when he
resigned his commission. When applying for a pension and bounty land, he claimed that his
regiment marched south before he had recovered. However, the 7th was not assigned to the
Southern Department until April 7, 1780, about a year and a half after his resignation.15 Bayly
wanted back in service and there was soon an opportunity for Continental commissions in
Maryland. The General Assembly passed a law to procure Recruits to complete the Battalions of
this State in service of the United States and to raise an Additional Regt if necessary. The
Council of the State of Maryland appointed officers who would recruit men and if an additional
regiment was authorized, lead it. Mountjoy Bailey was appointed captain of the first company.
With regiments throughout the Continental Army under strength in this time period, the recruits
were welcomed but a new regiment was not needed.16 Bailey’s recruiting duties continued in
1781. In March he was appointed recruiting officer for Frederick County, with rank of captain,
and authorized Washington County was ordered to send their recruits to him.17
After the victory at Yorktown, Bailey again found himself dealing with prisoners. The Council
of Maryland expected at least 2,000 prisoners and ordered the Select Militia of Montgomery,
Frederick, and Washington Counties out to guard them.18 Col. Philip Thomas, County
Lieutenant of Frederick County, was ordered to appoint Capt. Mountjoy Bailey as commanding
officer of the guard under him. Bailey soon resumed a continental position. Col. James Wood
had responsibility for prisoners of war as early as 1778, when he was in command at
Charlottesville where prisoners captured at Saratoga were then held. He later became
commissary for the prisoners, and in December of 1781 was appointed Superintendant of
Prisoners of War in Virginia. At some point Wood was authorized to call an officer into service
with a rank between captain and colonel inclusive to assist him with the prisoners. Bayly filled
this position and served at Frederick, Maryland, not Virginia.19 Pvt. Johann Conrad Döhla, a
Hessian diarist who was captured at Yorktown and imprisoned at Frederick, Maryland, referred
to Bayly as the “local city major and commandant of prisoners.”20 Döhla and another Hessian,
Lt. Johann Ernst Prechtel, recorded between them that Bayle mustered the prisoners eleven times
somewhat over a year at Frederick.21 Most of the time it would appear that the prisoners had few
limitations on their movements, however, prisoners could be arrested and confined. Disrepect of
guards was one offense. On June 18, 1783 a Hessian lieutenant got into a dispute during a card
game and challenged a Continental officer to a duel. Bailey himself ordered the lieutenant
arrested.22 The Hessian officers could also arrest prisoners. Colonel Seybothem ordered the
arrest of two prisoners for marrying American women without permission. Desertion was a
problem of concern to both sides. Pvt. Döhla wrote on August 12, 1782, “As of the first of
14
Bailey.
Wright, p. 280.
16
Arch. Md., Vol. 43, pp. 233-234, 254.
17
Arch. Md., Vol. 45, pp. 356, 358, 367, 369.
18
Arch. Md., Vol. 45, pp. 658-660.
19
Bailey.
20
Döhla, p. 200.
21
Döhla. pp. 200, 205, 206; Prechtel, pp. 235, 236, 239-241, 244, 245, 247, 249, 250.
22
Hessian Barracks.
15
4
August, all prisoners of war put in the jail by Major Baily, as well as Major von Beust, receive
daily only two-thirds rations, so as to deter the many desertions into the country.”23 Bayly
advanced money from his own pocket to support the prisoners. On December 27, 1781, he was
reimbursed by the colony of Maryland £76.5 for prisoner expenses he paid from his own pocket.
It was not unusual for officers to pay expenses out of their own pocket and seek reimbursement
later, and they were not always successful in securing reimbursement.
Mountjoy Bayly’s service was not limited to that of a soldier. There are three records of
Mountjoy Bailey providing supplies to the Commissary of Purchases: provisions on 21 May
1781, hay and corn on May 29, 1781, and also on May 29th beef and flour.24
Shortly before Evacuation Day officers of the Continental Army formed the Society of
Cincinnati. Mountjoy Bailey joined the Maryland Society as an original member. After the
Revolution he served as a member of the General Assembly representing Frederick County,
Brigadier-General of the Maryland Militia, and the Sergeant-at-Arms for the United States
Senate.25 He died on March 23, 1836.
This final resting place of Mountjoy Bayly, Citizen, Soldier, and Patriot, is proudly recognized
today, on the two hundredth and thirty sixth anniversary of the Independence of the United
States, by The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.
23
Döhla, p. 209.
Md. State Papers.
25
Papenfuse, p. 119.
24
5
Selected Bibliography
Archives of Maryland, Volume 11, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, 1892.
Archives of Maryland, Volume 12, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, 1893.
Archives of Maryland, Volume 42, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, 1924.
Carothers, Bettie Stirling (comp.): 1776 Census of Maryland, Lutherville, by the author.
Döhla, Johann Conrad (Bruce E. Burgoyne, translator and editor), A Hessian Diary of the
American Revolution, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1990.
The Hessian Barracks, Frederick,
http://www.facebook.com/HessianBarracks1777
Fetzer, Marie Rasnick, “The Hessian Barracks of the Revolutionary War at Winchester, Virginia
& Frederick, Maryland, from the German (Yorktown) Prisoner’s of War Perspective,”
http://www.rasnickfamily.org/thehessianbarracks.pdf
Futhey, J. Smith and Gilbert Cope, History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, Vol. 1, Louis
Everts & Co., Philadelphia, 1881.
Hiatt, Mary & Craig Roberts Scott: Loudoun County Virginia Tithables, 1768-1786, Vol. 2, pp.
733.
Maryland State Papers (Series A) 1780-1781 (MSA SSI 1004-31, #10393, 10482, & 10483),
Maryland State Archives.
Papenfuse, Edward C., Aland F. Day, & David W. Jordan: A Biographical Dictionary of the
Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789, Vol. 1, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 1979.
Papers of the Continental Congress, Maryland and Delaware State Papers, M-247, Item 70,
National Archives.
Pension File of Mountjoy Bayly (S-12094, BLWt 685-300), National Archives, Washington,
DC.
Pension File of George Heeter (S-16410), National Archives, Washington, DC.
Prechtel, Johann Ernst (Bruce E. Burgoyne, translator and editor), A Hessian Officer’s Diary of
the Amerian Revolution, Heritage Books, Inc., Westminster, Md, 1994.
Revolutionary War Rolls, 7th Maryland Regiment, 1777-1778, M-246, Roll 34, Folder 25.
6
Steuart, Rieman: A History of the Maryland Line in the Revolutionary War, 1775-1778,
Society of Cincinnati of Maryland, 1969.
Wright, Robert K., Jr.: The Continental Army, Center for Military History, United States Army,
Washington, DC, 1983.