Maryland 400 Revolutionary militia to be remembered

On Saturday, Aug. 24, the Old Stone House in Washington Park, on one of the sites of the American Revolution’s Battle of Brooklyn (a/k/a Battle of Long Island), will in joint partnership with the Society of Cincinnati of Maryland and the Michael A. Rawley American Legion Post #1636, hold a commemorative ceremony in memory of the Maryland 400. The courageous soldiers from Maryland’s 1st Regiment fought and died while trying to defend the Old Stone House and create  a diversion so Gen. George Washington could evacuate his troops across the river to Manhattan.

 The ceremonies hosted by Kim Maier, executive director of the OSH, will start at 12:30 p.m. and will feature an array of uniformed  reenactors depicting the Colonial era, plus the reading of the roster of the Maryland 400 militiamen.

Among the participants and attendees will be members of the Brooklyn Sons of the Revolution, the Daughters of the American Revolution, Society of Old Brooklynites, Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Martin Maher and local elected officials. In addition to musket and cannon fire, the American Legionnaires from the McFadden Brothers Post #1380 will fire a rifle salute and several wreaths will be placed at the OSH flagpole.

After those proceedings, the bus of present-day Marylanders will travel to Prospect Park to visit the monument to the Maryland 400 that was originally funded by the State of Maryland.

The Old Stone House was reconstructed in 1935 and a dedication ceremony was held on May 19 of that year. Below is a segment of a Brooklyn Daily Eagle story that ran the following day under the headline, “1,500 Attend Colorful Ceremony Sponsored by the Society Old Brooklynites, which perpetuates Heroic Battle of Revolution at 3rd St. and 4th Ave.”

“On the spot where ‘the Declaration of Independence was sealed in blood on the fields of South Brooklyn,’ the reconstructed Old Stone House at Gowanus on the Battlefield of Long Island [Brooklyn] was dedicated yesterday under the sponsorship of the Society of Old Brooklynites and the Department of Parks. The house and the model playground which surrounds it are at 3rd St. between 4th and 5th Aves.

“Representatives of civic, historical and veterans’ groups heard speakers describe the gallant defense of less than 500 American troops who threw back 20,000 British Red Coats, preventing the utter defeat of the colonies at the outset of the war.

“Borough Building Commissioner Edwin H. Thatcher accepted the house and playground for Borough President Raymond V. Ingersoll and the borough. Frederick Gross, borough director of parks, made the presentation.

“In a colorful ceremony in which color guards of the Police Department and the Old Guards of New York State participated, the flag was raised over the house.

“Henry L. Redfield, president of the Society of Old Brooklynites, said, ‘We honor ourselves in rededicating the Old Stone House. Let us remember with religious awe that as citizens we should rededicate ourselves to the sentiments of Washington and the Declaration of Independence.’

“‘Our better natures respond to the deeds of those great men who made America what it is today,’ said former Brooklyn Magistrate Leo Healy.”