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.
Birth: 23 Jan 1756 / Harford / MD Death: 23 Apr 1818 Madison / / GA
Qualifying Service Description:
Private, First Company, First Maryland Regiment, 1776
Additional References:
Maryland State Archives MSA SC 3520-18083
Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution. Archives of Maryland Online, Vol 18
Return of the Maryland troops, 13 September 1776, Rev War Rolls, NARA M246, folder 35, pg 85
Spouse: Sarah Ann Billingsly Children: Emily Frances; John Bradford;
Members Who Share This Ancestor
None*
*This means that the NSSAR has no applications for this Patriot on file.
Instead the information provided is best effort, and from volunteers who have either researched grave sites, service records, or something similar. There is no documentation available at NSSAR HQ to order.
Thomas Norris enlisted as a private in the First Company of the First Maryland Regiment on January 24, 1776.under Captain John Hoskins Stone. [1]
Colonel William Smallwood's Maryland battalion of nine companies were stationed in Baltimore and Annapolis while the independent companies were divided between the Eastern and Western shores. While at Annapolis for training, the Charles County-based company received orders to march to New York to reinforce the Continental Army for a British invasion. [2]
On August 27, American forces faced British troops at the Battle of Brooklyn (also known as the Battle of Long Island), the first full-scale engagement of the war. Led by major Mordecai Gist, the Maryland troops were positioned on the far right of the battlefield. Under heavy fire, the American troops attempted to retreat through Gowanus Creek, suffering severe losses in the process. To hold the British at bay, the remaining Marylanders who had not crossed the creek yet mounted a series of charges. The Maryland troops delayed the British long enough for the rest of the Continental Army to escape. Despite the loss of 256 men who were killed or captured, the bravery and sacrifice of the Marylanders earned them the title of the "Maryland 400." [3]
While the First Company was able to escape the battle early in the fighting, and only lost a few men, Norris's fate after the battle is unknown. He most likely was present with his company in the fall of 1776 at the Battles of White Plains and Fort Washington, both American losses. [4]
At the beginning of 1777, the issue of expiring enlistments came to call. After suffering the privations of an ill-supplied army, Norris did not reenlist and nothing else is known about his life. There were many men named Thomas Norris in Maryland in the Revolutionary War period, but not enough is known to differentiate them.
-Cassy Sottile, 2019
Notes:
[1] Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution, Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18, p. 5.
[2] Mark Andrew Tacyn, "To the End: The First Maryland Regiment and the American Revolution" (PhD diss., University of Maryland College Park, 1999), 34-45.
[3] Return of the Maryland troops, 13 September 1776, Revolutionary War Rolls, NARA M246, folder 35, p. 85. From Fold3.com.
[4] John Dwight Kilbourne, A Short History of the Maryland Line in the Continental Army, (Baltimore, The Society of the Cincinnati of Maryland, 1992), 11-25.
Archival Sources:
Return of the Maryland troops, 13 September 1776, Revolutionary War Rolls, NARA M246, folder 35, p. 85, from Fold3.com.
Published Sources:
Kilbourne, John Dwight. A Short History of the Maryland Line in the Continental Army. Baltimore: The Society of the Cincinnati of Maryland, 1992.
Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution. Archives of Maryland Online, vol. 18.
Tacyn, Mark Andrew. "To the End: The First Maryland Regiment and the American Revolution." PhD diss., University of Maryland College Park, 1999.
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