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The General Perry Benson Chapter, NSDAR, formed in Easton, Maryland in 1965, was named in
honor of a distinguished son of Talbot County who served in both the Revolutionary War and
the War of 1812. Perry Benson was born at
"Wheatland", on the Miles River Neck, Talbot County, August 1757. Benson
was the great-grandson of Dr. James Benson who settled in the area between the present
Royal Oak and St. Michaels, soon after the county was founded. His Grandfather, the
first Perry Benson, moved across the Miles River to "Wheatland" at the head of
Hunting Creek. His father, James Benson, had been a delegate to the Convention of 1775,
which, in effect, set up Maryland's first independent government. Other Bensons
were planters and artisans on both sides of the Miles River, but especially in the
vicinity of Bartlett's Oak, later to be known as "The Royal Oak", for reasons
now obscure. |
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Perry Benson was in active service before July 4, 1776, commissioned an Ensign in the
Maryland Line in December 1776 at the age of 19 and three months later became a First
Lieutenant. In 1777, the 20-year-old Benson served under
Washington in the Battle of Brandywine and was wounded while assisting the dashing young
Frenchman, Lafayette, on the battlefield. A month after Brandywine, Benson took part
in the inconclusive battle of Germantown.
On March 11, 1778, Perry Benson was commissioned at Acting Captain
of the Fifth Maryland Regiment, part of The Maryland Line, and shared the privations of
his fellow soldiers in the terrible winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge. In June
1779, this commission was officially confirmed by Congress and signed by President John
Jay.
General Benson's role as an officer of The Maryland Line was
outstanding. He fought from Harlem Heights, New York, in 1776, to Camden, to
Guilford Court House, to Cowpens, to Hobkirk's Hill by his commanding officer, General
Nathaniel Greene.
At a post known as Fort Ninety Six in South Carolina, Benson, while
commanding the First Maryland Regiment, again performed heroically and received a wound so
severe that his life was despaired of. A musket ball had passed through his
shoulder, his neck and lodged in his face. A fellow Talbot Countian, Major Jonathan
Gibson, actually wrote a letter of condolence to Benson's father, praising the young
officer's "glorious military career".
A black fellow-soldier, Thomas Carney of Caroline County, picked
Benson up and carried him on his shoulders out of the ditch and back to the American
lines, where he laid him before the surgeon. Carney then fainted from exhaustion,
but he undoubtedly had save his captain's life.
Carney was described as a "man of Herculean strength and size,
brave, and faithful soldier" who had fought in every major battle of the war.
He and Benson remained friends. After the war, they often visited together and
whenever Benson reviewed the militia, he insisted on having Carney mounted and by his
side.
Benson's wound resulted in a paralysis of his left arm, which he
carried in a sling. He was sent home to "Wheatland" were he recovered.
His service in the war was over, after five years in the field. However, he
was to suffer from the effects of the wound for the rest of his life - a daily and painful
reminder of the cost of freedom. He was not yet 24 years of age.
A convinced Federalist during the formative years, Benson was a firm
upholder of the Constitution of the young nation. In 1784, when forces were being
recruited to settle the insurrection in Western Pennsylvania known as The Whiskey
Rebellion, he was named Lieutenant Colonel.
He continued his interest in the militia and on June 22, 1798 he was
made Brigadier General and finally a Major General of the Maryland Militia and placed in
charge of the forces in Caroline, Dorchester, and Talbot Counties, continuing in that
capacity throughout the War of 1812.
Previous to the War of 1812, Benson represented his county in the
Lower House of Assembly, the only civil office he ever held. In August 1813, the old
soldier was called on again to defend his country. In spite of the infirmities of
old age, once more he played the hero's role. As commander of the Talbot County
troops, which repulsed the British at the Battle of St. Michael's, he provided inspiration
to the raw militiamen who formed his little army. An eyewitness afterward wrote that
the militia derived much courage from the old General's coolness and firmness in the midst
of personal peril.
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He was married twice, had three children, no grand-
children, and lived the life of a gentleman farmer at the ancestral home of
"Wheatland." General Benson continued as a prominent figure and community
leader. In October 1824, when his old friend Lafayette
revisited America, General Benson was Chairman of the Committee of leading Talbot
Countians, which greeted him on his arrival in Maryland.
Perry Benson died October 2, 1827 (his tombstone is incorrectly marked October 21st). He
was buried in the family cemetery at "Wheatland", mourned by all who knew
him. In 1901, members of the Benson family had his remains removed to another Benson
graveyard at Newcomb, just off the St. Michael's Road, where it is marked by a large flat
stone.
In a very real sense this patriot, soldier, farmer, and upholder of
law and order helped to establish and to hand on to us the land, the liberties, the
government and the privileges, which we enjoy today. Our Chapter is truly privileged
to claim General Perry Benson as the Revolutionary Patriot for whom it is named. |
