William Smallwood
American politician (1732–1792)
title: "William Smallwood" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1732-births", "1792-deaths", "continental-army-generals", "owners-of-plantations-in-maryland", "continental-army-officers-from-maryland", "governors-of-maryland", "people-from-charles-county,-maryland", "people-of-maryland-in-the-french-and-indian-war", "presidents-of-the-maryland-senate", "18th-century-maryland-politicians", "state-governors-of-the-united-states-who-owned-slaves"] description: "American politician (1732–1792)" topic_path: "people/1730s" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Smallwood" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American politician (1732–1792) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | William Smallwood |
| image | File:General William Smallwood SC-000580.jpg |
| caption | A portrait of Smallwood, , by Robert Edge Pine |
| order1 | 4th |
| office1 | Governor of Maryland |
| term_start1 | November 26, 1785 |
| term_end1 | November 24, 1788 |
| predecessor1 | William Paca |
| successor1 | John E. Howard |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Charles County, Province of Maryland, British America |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Marbury, Maryland, U.S. |
| resting_place | Smallwood State Park |
| religion | |
| allegiance | Kingdom of Great Britain |
| USA United States | |
| branch | UK Provincial Troops |
| Betsy Ross flag.svg Continental Army | |
| North Carolina Militia | |
| serviceyears | 1754-1763 (Britain) |
| 1776–1783 (US) | |
| rank | Lieutenant |
| Major general (US) | |
| commands | 1st Maryland Regiment |
| North Carolina Militia (1780) | |
| battles | French and Indian War |
| American Revolutionary War | |
| mawards | |
| :: |
| name = William Smallwood | image = File:General William Smallwood SC-000580.jpg | caption = A portrait of Smallwood, , by Robert Edge Pine | order1 = 4th | office1 = Governor of Maryland | term_start1 = November 26, 1785 | term_end1 = November 24, 1788 | predecessor1 = William Paca | successor1 = John E. Howard | birth_date = | birth_place = Charles County, Province of Maryland, British America | death_date = | death_place = Marbury, Maryland, U.S. | resting_place = Smallwood State Park | party = | spouse = | alma_mater = | profession = | religion = | nickname = | allegiance = Kingdom of Great Britain USA United States | branch = UK Provincial Troops Betsy Ross flag.svg Continental Army North Carolina Militia | serviceyears = 1754-1763 (Britain) 1776–1783 (US) | rank = Lieutenant Major general (US) | unit = | commands = 1st Maryland Regiment North Carolina Militia (1780) | battles = French and Indian War American Revolutionary War | mawards = | military_blank1 = | military_data1 = | military_blank2 = | military_data2 = | military_blank3 = | military_data3 = | military_blank4 = | military_data4 = | military_blank5 = | military_data5 = William Smallwood (1732February 14, 1792) was an American planter, soldier and politician from Charles County, Maryland.{{cite web |url=http://www.sos.state.md.us/MMMC/Inventory.htm |title=Inventory of Maryland Monuments by County}} He served in the American Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of major general. He was serving as the fourth Governor of Maryland when the state adopted the United States Constitution.
Early life and education
Smallwood was born in 1732 to planter Bayne Smallwood (1711–1768) and Priscilla Heaberd or Heabeard (c.1715–1784). He had six siblings: Lucy Heaberd Smallwood (c. 1734-1768, married John Truman Stoddert), Elizabeth Smallwood (born c. 1736, married James Leiper), Margaret Smallwood (born c. 1738, married Walter Truman Stoddert), Heaberd Smallwood (c. 1740–1780), Eleanor Smallwood (born c. 1743 married William Grayson) and Priscilla Heaberd Smallwood (c. 1750–1815, married John Courts in 1794). His sister Eleanor and brother Heaberd served with him later in the American Revolutionary War.
His parents sent the boys to England, for their education at Eton. His great-grandfather was James Smallwood, who immigrated in 1664 and became a member of the Maryland Assembly in 1692. James' son Bayne (1685–1709) followed him later in the Assembly. Bayne (1711–1775) and his sister Hester were the great-great-grandchildren of Maryland Governor William Stone; Hester (Smallwood) Smith's daughter-in-law Sarah (Butler) Stone was the grandmother of James Butler Bonham and Milledge Luke Bonham. A first cousin of James and Milledge Bonham was Senator Matthew Butler.
Smallwood served as an officer during the French and Indian War, the North American theater of the Seven Years' War, and was elected to the pre-Revolution colonial-era provincial assembly for the Province of Maryland.
Career
American Revolution
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Letter_from_George_Washington_to_General_Smallwood,_page_1.jpg" caption="A July 1782 letter from [[George Washington]] to Smallwood asking for an update on [[Continental Army]] troop recruitment"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/General_George_Washington_Resigning_his_Commission.jpg" caption="publisher=[[Architect of the Capitol]]}}"] ::
When the American Revolutionary War began, Smallwood was appointed a colonel of the 1st Maryland Regiment in 1776. He led the regiment in the New York and New Jersey campaign.
For their role in the Battle of Brooklyn on August 27, 1776, when the Maryland Regiment heroically covered the hasty retreat of the routed Continental Army, General George Washington promoted Smallwood to brigadier general. Washington bestowed on the regiment a future state nickname, "Old Line State", in reference to the extreme sacrifice of the Maryland 400 to hold the line at the Old Stone House against a vastly superior force of British and Hessian troops while suffering massive casualties, roughly 70 percent of whom were killed in action. Shortly thereafter, Smallwood led what remained of his regiment to fight "alongside soldiers from Connecticut, Delaware, and New York" in the Battle of White Plains, when he was twice wounded but "prevented the destruction of the entire Continental Army".
On December 21, 1777, Smallwood commanded 1,500 Delaware and Maryland troops at the Continental Army Encampment Site on the east side of Brandywine Creek, to prevent occupation of Wilmington by the British and to protect the flour mills on the Brandywine. He continued to serve under George Washington in the Philadelphia campaign, where his regiment again distinguished itself at Germantown. He was then quartered at Foulke House, which was occupied by the family of Sally Wister.
In 1780, he was a part of General Horatio Gates' army that was routed at Camden, South Carolina; his brigade was among the formations that held their ground, garnering Smallwood a promotion to major general. Smallwood's accounts of the battle and criticisms of Gates' behavior before and during the battle may have contributed to the Congressional inquiries into the debacle. Opposed to the hiring and promotion of foreigners, Smallwood objected to working under Baron von Steuben. Smallwood briefly commanded the militia forces of North Carolina in late 1780 and early 1781 before returning to Maryland, staying there for the remainder of the war. He resigned from the Continental Army in 1783 and later that year was elected to serve as the first president of the newly established Society of the Cincinnati of Maryland.
Maryland governor
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Gravestone_of_Gen_William_Smallwood.jpg" caption="Smallwood's Retreat]] near [[Marbury, Maryland"] ::
Smallwood was elected to Congress in 1784, but before he could take his seat, the Legislature chose him to succeed William Paca as Governor of Maryland. He qualified on November 26, 1785, and served the customary three terms, retiring from his gubernatorial office on November 24, 1788. Smallwood had the misfortune of serving as governor during one of the most difficult periods in the history of the nation. Not only were the Articles of Confederation proving inoperable, but the country also found itself in the midst of an economic depression. In spite of the country's unsettled affairs, Smallwood was responsible for several major accomplishments, including convening the state's convention that ratified the United States Constitution, despite strong opposition to the proposed document in the State.
Later years
Smallwood never married. The 1790 United States census reveals that he held 56 slaves and a yearly tobacco crop of 3000 pounds.
When he died in 1792, his estate, known as Mattawoman, including his home the Retreat, passed to his sister Eleanor who married Colonel William Grayson of Virginia. William Truman Stoddert, Smallwood's nephew, was orphaned at age nine and raised by his maternal grandfather, Bayne Smallwood. Stoddert also served in the Maryland Line and was admitted as an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati in Maryland.
Legacy
Local historical signs in Calvert, Maryland, note that General Smallwood occupied the "East Nottingham Friends House" at the intersections of Calvert Road and Brick Meetinghouse Road (near the intersection of 272 and 273) about 6 miles east of Rising Sun, Maryland.{{cite web |url=http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/md/montgomery/military/rev/beckwith-w.txt |title=Revolutionary War Pension Application of William Beckwith}} During his occupation of the building in 1778, Gen. Smallwood used the building as a hospital. Some of the soldiers who died in the building were buried in the graveyard directly outside. Smallwood frequented the "Cross Keys Inn" (built in 1774), at the time a several-room inn and bar. This building stands as a private residence at the intersection of Calvert Road and Cross Keys Road directly down the hill. His restored plantation home, Smallwood's Retreat, and burial site is located in Smallwood State Park in Marbury, Maryland. Smallwood Church Road leads from the State Park toward Old Durham Church, where he was a vestryman.
Several paintings exist of Smallwood. One hangs in the Old Senate Chamber in the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland. The portrait of George Washington resigning his commission inside the Maryland State House in 1783, which hangs in the US Capitol Rotunda, features Smallwood.
The William Smallwood Collection is housed at the Maryland Center for History and Culture.
Honors
- The Baltimore chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), established in 1907, is called the General William Smallwood Chapter in honor of Smallwood.
- General Smallwood Middle School in Indian Head, Maryland is named for him.
- In Anne Arundel County, Maryland, a coastal fortification developed in the late 1890s was named Fort Smallwood in his honor and the location is now known as Fort Smallwood Park. The road running from Fort Smallwood Park through Pasadena, Maryland and into Baltimore is named Fort Smallwood Road.
References
References
- (1980). "Maryland Genealogies: A Consolidation of Articles from the Maryland Historical Magazine, Vol II". Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc..
- Historical Society of Charles County Genealogical Files, Southern Maryland Studies Center, College of Southern Maryland, La Plata, MD
- Warfield, J.D., ''The Founders of Anne Arundel and Howard County Maryland'', Kohn And Pollock, p. 237 ff. (1905).
- Wister, Sarah, ''The journal and occasional writings of Sarah Wister'', Derounian-Stodola, K.Z., ed., Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press (1987)
- Maryland Genealogies, pp. 325 and 326
- Maryland Genealogies, p 332
- Wilstach, Paul, ''Potomac Landings'', Doubleday, Garden City, NJ, p.106 (1920).
- "General George Washington Resigning His Commission". [[Architect of the Capitol]].
- Polk, Ryan. (2005). "Holding the Line: The Origin of the 'the Old Line State'". Maryland State Archives.
- . (December 20, 2002). ["William Smallwood (1732-1792)"](https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/001100/001134/html/1134bio.html). *Maryland State Archives*.
- Joan M. Norton. (January 1972). ["National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Continental Army Encampment Site"]({{NRHP url).
- Sally Wister, ‘‘Sally Wister's Journal: A True Narrative: Being a Quaker Maiden's Account of Her Experiences with Officers of the Continental Army, 1777–1779’’. Applewood Books, Bedford, Massachusetts, 1994. Entry for October 19, 1777.
- [https://www.societyofthecincinnati.org/about/organization/constituent_societies_maryland The Society of the Cincinnati webpage] {{Webarchive. link. (January 27, 2021 , accessed January 27, 2021)
- Metcalf, Bryce (1938). ''Original Members and Other Officers Eligible to the [[Society of the Cincinnati]], 1783-1938: With the Institution, Rules of Admission, and Lists of the Officers of the General and State Societies'' Strasburg, VA: Shenandoah Publishing House, Inc.
- [https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/001100/001134/html/1134bio2.html Archives of Maryland], accessed January 29, 2021
- Klapthor, M., and P. Brown, ''The history of Charles County, Maryland: written in its tercentenary year of 1958'' LaPlata, MD, Charles County Tercentenary, Inc., p. 89 (1958).
- Morgan, George, ''The Life of James Monroe'', Small, Maynard and Company, Boston, p. 13 (1921).
- Metcalf, p. 299.
- ["National Register of Historic Places: East Nottingham Meetinghouse"]({{MHT url). Maryland Historical Trust.
- "William Smallwood Portrait". Maryland State Archives Online.
- "William Smallwood Collection". Maryland Center for History and Culture.
- "Fort Smallwood Park". Anne Arundel County.
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