3rd Maryland Regiment - Under Gist's Command

Under Gist's Command

Gist became colonel in command of the 3rd Maryland on 10 December 1776. On 22 May 1777, George Washington assigned the regiment to the 1st Maryland Brigade together with the 1st Delaware Regiment, and the 1st, 5th, 7th Maryland Regiments. During the Battle of Brandywine on 11 September 1777, both the popular brigade commander William Smallwood and Gist were on detached duty recruiting the Maryland militia. This left the disliked Frenchman Philippe Hubert Preudhomme de Borre as the senior brigadier. The regiment was in John Sullivan's division on the right flank, guarding Brinton's Ford while other elements of the division guarded three upstream fords. Finding that the greater part of Sir William Howe's army had marched into the right rear of his division, Sullivan had to march cross country in an attempt to block the move. Finding his division in an awkward position, Sullivan rode off to confer with Adam Stephen and Lord Stirling and ordered De Borre to shift the division to the right. The inept Frenchman botched the evolution, throwing the troops into disorder just as they came under attack by the Brigade of Guards. According to John Hoskins Stone, commander of the 1st Maryland, only his regiment and the 3rd put up a creditable fight. As they tried to resist the oncoming British, the confused 2nd Brigade mistakenly fired a volley into the two regiments from behind. The badly mishandled Marylanders then fled.

Gist commanded the 3rd Maryland at the Battle of Germantown. He led the 3rd Maryland until 9 January 1779 when he was promoted brigadier general in command of the 2nd Maryland Brigade.