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| Moses Rawlings | |
|---|---|
| Name | Moses Rawlings |
| Birth date | c. 1740 |
| Birth place | Frederick County, Province of Maryland |
| Death date | 1809 |
| Death place | Maryland, United States |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Commands | Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment |
Moses Rawlings was an American officer of the Revolutionary era who commanded a provincial rifle regiment and participated in several campaigns of the Revolutionary War. He served alongside figures from the Continental Army and militia networks and later returned to civic and commercial life in Maryland. His career intersected with notable leaders, battles, and institutions shaping the early United States.
Rawlings was born in Frederick County, Province of Maryland, into a family connected to Frederick County, Maryland society and commerce; his upbringing linked him to families involved with the House of Burgesses, Maryland General Assembly, and local mercantile networks such as those associated with Baltimore and Annapolis, Maryland. Contemporary records tie his relatives to landholdings near the Catoctin Mountain region and to legal interactions with courts in Carroll County, Maryland and Frederick, Maryland (city). His familial ties brought him into contact with figures connected to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and other colonial leaders through militia and political circles.
Rawlings's early military activity took place within the provincial militia structures affiliated with the Virginia Regiment, Maryland Line, and frontier rangers operating near the Shenandoah Valley, Allegheny Mountains, and the Western Maryland frontier. He trained and recruited riflemen influenced by tactics used by units such as Morgan's Riflemen and scouts who had served under leaders like Daniel Morgan, Hugh Mercer, and Israel Putnam. Rawlings's command style reflected the light infantry and skirmisher doctrine practiced by elements of the Continental Army and provincial units during the prewar years, and he coordinated logistics with quartermasters who had served under Nathanael Greene and Horatio Gates.
During the American Revolutionary War Rawlings raised and commanded a regiment often referred to as a Maryland and Virginia rifle regiment that operated in conjunction with the Continental Army and collaborated with commanders including George Washington, Philip Schuyler, and John Sullivan. His regiment saw duty in campaigns that connected to the New York and New Jersey campaign, operations around the Hudson River, and frontier defenses related to the Saratoga Campaign and actions contemporaneous with the Battle of Brandywine, the Philadelphia campaign, and regional engagements tied to the Northern Department (Continental Army). Rawlings coordinated skirmish and reconnaissance operations with light troops who had fought at Trenton, Princeton, and who later participated in actions associated with the Monmouth Campaign and the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War when brigades were redeployed. He worked alongside staff officers and aides who communicated with Continental Congress committees overseeing the war effort and with commissaries involved with provision lines linked to Valley Forge and supply depots servicing the Middlebrook Cantonment.
After the war Rawlings returned to Maryland where he engaged with civic institutions including local courts, land offices, and commercial bodies connected to Baltimore trade and the postwar economic networks influenced by legislation such as the Northwest Ordinance and fiscal policies debated by leaders like Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. He interacted with veterans' organizations and pension advocates who petitioned the United States Congress and state legislatures regarding service entitlements, and maintained connections with contemporaries such as Benjamin Franklin's circles and members of the Society of the Cincinnati. Rawlings's postwar activities included land management, local militia oversight related to state defense arrangements, and participation in infrastructure projects resonant with improvements promoted by figures like Robert Morris and Thomas Pinckney.
Rawlings's legacy is reflected in county histories, regimental studies, and commemorations that intersect with historiography produced by scholars of the American Revolutionary War, including analyses comparing his regiment to units like Rifle Regiment (Continental Army) formations and to officers cataloged in archival collections held at repositories such as the Library of Congress, the Maryland Historical Society, and state archives in Annapolis, Maryland. Later works on Revolutionary leadership, militia organization, and frontier defense cite Rawlings in discussions alongside Daniel Morgan, Daniel Shays, and other veterans whose service informed debates during the early Republic over militia policy and veterans' benefits. His name appears in local memorials, county registers, and genealogical compilations that trace postwar veteran networks across Maryland, Virginia, and other states.
Category:1740 births Category:1809 deaths Category:People from Frederick County, Maryland Category:Continental Army officers