The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
The attached Find-a-Grave record does not provide an image of a grave or marker stone, nor does it identify a burial location - September 2021
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Author: James Harrison Frey
Elisha Riggs (4 Oct 1742 – 7 Jun 1777) served as First Lieutenant and later as Captain in Major Edward Gaither’s Company, Elk Ridge Battalion of Maryland. His appointment as Captain is recorded in correspondence in the Maryland Archives. Colonel Edward Gaither wrote to the Council of Safety on 21 January 1776:
“Whereas the Hon. the Convention has thought proper to appoint me a field officer of the Elk Ridge Battalion, I apprehend therefore the nomination of the Captain is with Hon. the Council of Safety. I am requested by my company to beg leave to recommend Mr. Elisha Riggs their captain if it should be thought necessary to appoint one; he is the First Lieutenant of the Company. I can assure you Gentlemen that he is the properest person in my opinion and from the beginning of our unhappy disputes has discovered a disposition that does honor to him as an American.”
Elisha Riggs was born 4 October 1742 at Riggs Hills and Rich Neck plantation in All Hallows Parish, Huntingdon Hundred, Anne Arundel County, Maryland. He was a son of John Riggs (13 Dec 1687 – 17 Aug 1762) and Mary Davis (9 Jan 1702 – 13 Dec 1768). In 1761 he was living on Bordley’s Choice, his father’s plantation in the lower district of Frederick County, and that year he signed a petition with his brothers Thomas and John to Gov. Horatio Sharpe for a new Chapel of Ease on Hawlings River, Prince George’s Parish. Upon his father’s death in 1762 he inherited 200 acres of Bordley’s Choice. In 1771-72 he married Carolina Welsh (abt 1775 – Feb 1788), a daughter of Richard Welsh (1734 – abt 1755) and Hamutel Hammond (abt 1735 – Jul 1815). Elisha and Carolina’s children included daughters Ann (1772 - ?), Mary Hammond (1776 - ?) and Sarah (1777 – 1795), and sons John Hammond and (1773 – 1849) and James (1775 – 1861).
Other records from the Maryland Archives mention Captain Riggs: On July 14, 1776 Col. Thomas Dorsey of the Elk Ridge Battalion wrote to the Council of Safety: “Gentlemen: Capt. Riggs waits on you with a company of militia out of my Battalion. The extreme busy time has prevented my being able to send them sooner. I hope they will be relieved by the Flying Camp in a few days. If they are not, I propose to relieve them by another company out of the Battalion. I am, Gentlemen, your most humble servant, Thomas Dorsey”
Also an order from the Archives: “Ordered July 15, 1776 That Commissary of Stores deliver to Capt. Elisha Riggs, for the use of his Company, 6 muskets, 30 gun flints, 72 cartouche boxes and a quantity of ammunition sufficient for his Company.”
Captain Riggs’ untimely death at age 35 years cut short his life and his service as a valued officer.
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