This June and July, towns and counties close to Lovettsville and Loudoun County are commemorating the 250th anniversary of the frontier Rifle Companies which were authorized by the Continental Congress in June of1775.
You may have noticed that there was a lot of attention this past month on the 250th birthday of the United States Army. But how many people know what actually happened on June 14, 1775, and why this is considered the Army’s birth date?
June 14 was the date on which the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, authorized the establishment of ten companies of “expert riflemen,” who were to join the provincial troops around Boston who had been fighting the British since the April 19 battle at Lexington & Concord. On the same date, the Continental Congress secretly “adopted” the New England Army (the “Army of Observation.”) These events created the Continental Army. The next day, June 15, was when George Washington was appointed as the Commander of this new “American Continental Army,” as it was called.
Six of the rifle companies were to come from Pennsylvania, and two each from Maryland and Virginia. Those colonies recruited their rifle companies in frontier areas settled by Germans and Swiss who had brought their rifle technology with them from Europe. The Virginia companies were formed in Frederick County (Winchester), which at that time included our neighbor Clark County, and in Berkeley County (which at the time included our neighbor Jefferson County – now West Virginia).
Morgan’s Grove, just outside the present-day town of Shepherdstown, was officially designated as “the birthplace of the United States Army,” by the Secretary of the Army in 1989.
The two Maryland companies were assigned to Frederick County (just to our north), which at the time also included our neighbors Washington and Montgomery Counties.
With the rifle companies being recruited in the areas toour immediate north and west, it is not surprising that some historians report that a number of men from Loudoun County enlisted in either the Virginia and Maryland Rifle Companies.
June 14: Shepherdstown
Shepherdstown, formerly known as Mecklenburg, has always been extraordinarily proud of its Rifle Company and the “Bee Line March” to Cambridge and Boston. Throughout June and July, Shepherdstown is holding various events in honor of the Berkeley County Rifle Company and its Bee Line March.
Saturday, June 14, featured a day-long series of events, starting with a march from Morgan’s Grove to the relocated “Spirit of 1775” monument in Ellwood Cemetery, led by the West Virginia Mountaineers Fifes & Drums. At the cemetery, wreaths were presented by about 20 organizations in an impressive ceremony sponsored by the Pack Horse Ford DAR Chapter, and supported by the Gen. Adam Stephen Chapter, SAR, and many other organizations. (Incidentally, the monument dedication ceremony was chaired by the Regent of the local DAR Chapter, Cindy Nicewarner. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Cindy’s husband comes from the Lovettsville Nicewarners.)
The monument dedication and wreath-laying at the cemetery, were followed by a ceremony at Morgan’s Grove, the site from which Capt. Hugh Stephenson’s Company of Riflemen departed on July 17, 1775, on their 24-day march to Cambridge, where they arrived on August 11, 1775. The history of the Bee Line March was presented by Jefferson County Historian Doug Perks. A remarkable feature of the Shepherdstown events was that more than 50 direct descendants of officers and soldiers of Capt. Stephenson’s Company have been located, and were in attendance and honored in the June 14 ceremonies.
June 21: Frederick
The two Maryland Rifle Companies were honored on Saturday, June 21, on the exact same date and place where they were established 250 years ago, pursuant to the June 14 directive from the Continental Congress. This event was organized by the Sgt. Lawrence Everhart Chapter, of the Maryland SAR, in partnership with the Frederick and Carrollton Manor DAR Chapters, and the Frederick County U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission.
The commemoration took place in City Hall Park, on the site where the old Frederick County Courthouse once stood, and where the Rifle Companies mustered and drilled. On June 21, 1775, the Frederick County Committee of Observation created the two Maryland companies and appointed their officers. At Saturday’s event, Peter Hanson Michael presented the minutes of the meeting over which his ancestor John Hanson (Continental Congress delegate and Frederick County patriot leader), had presided.
Frederick Mayor Michael O’Connor presented a proclamation from the City of Frederick declaring June 21 “Maryland Rifle Company Day” in the city, and Ysela Bravo, representing County Executive Jessica Fitzwater and the Semiquincentennial Commission, presented a similar proclamation for Frederick County.
The story of the riflemen, and how they helped to save George Washington’s army around Boston in the 1775, was presented by Champ Zumbrun, author of the book Cresap’s Rifles. He described the Rifle Companies as the Continental Army’s “shock troops,” akin to today’s Special Forces. They were expert sharpshooters with incredibly accurate rifled weapons. They had learned their tactics from Native Americans, such as firing from behind cover, and hit-and-run maneuvers – unlike the British regulars, who were accustomed to lining up in an open field and shooting at each other. “These backwoodsmen saved Washington’s Army,” Zumbrun declared, “when unfavorable conditions threatened failure for the colonial troops, who were at their weakest militarily during the summer of 1775.”
After Everhart Chapter Historian Edward Spannaus described how closely linked were the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Companies, representatives of Daniel Morgan’s Winchester Company, marching to a drummer’s cadence, entered the event site, portrayed by members of the Col. James Wood II Chapter of the Virginia SAR. They were followed by representatives of Hugh Stephenson’s Company from Shepherdstown, portrayed by members of the Gen. Adam Stephen Chapter of the West Virginia SAR.
“Morgan” told how he and Hugh Stephenson had agreed to rendezvous in Frederick, Maryland, and march together to Boston, but when Stephenson arrived in Frederick, “he found that I wanted to arrive at Boston first, and had stolen a day’s march.” Morgan’s company arrived in Cambridge on August 6, having marched some 600 miles in 21 days.
After “Morgan’s Riflemen” had departed, Captain Stephenson’s Shepherdstown Company marched in, with Michael Benson telling their story. Benson said that when the Continental Congress issued its call for the Rifle Companies, nowhere in Virginia was there a more prompt and determined response than by the citizens of Shepherdstown. They formed a 98-man Rifle Company, which made, in one soldier’s words, “a beeline to Boston,” in a 24-day march, passing through Frederick on the way, cheered on by the local citizens.
Chapter Historian Spannaus concluded this portion of the program by declaring:
“More than a year before the Declaration of Independence, the Rifle Companies from the Middle Colonies were the first units from outside of New England, to join with the troops arrayed around Boston, to constitute the Continental Army. For this, these brave frontiersmen deserve a special place in our Nation’s memory.”
July 26: Winchester
The fourth of the Maryland-Virginia Rifle Companies, the one led by the famed Daniel Morgan, will be honored in Winchester on Saturday, July 26. This 250th Anniversary commemoration will begin at the Stone Church at 302 E. Piccadilly Street – the site of the Daniel Morgan statue and historic marker. This will be followed by a short march to the Daniel Morgan’s gravesite in Mount Hebron Cemetery, 305 E. Boscawen Street. It is being sponsored by the Col. James Wood II Chapter of the Virginia SAR.