The SAR MAGAZINE is the official quarterly publication of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution published quarterly.
Issue link: http://sar.epubxp.com/i/604650
FALL 2015 29 MARYLAND SOCIETY Members of the MDSSAR, the DAR, and guests traveled by bus from Maryland to honor the Maryland 400 during Battle Week in Brooklyn, New York, on Aug. 29. The first stop was at the Old Stone House, where 400 members of the Maryland First Regiment under command of Gen. William Alexander (Lord Stirling) repeatedly attacked a force of 2,000 British regulars and Hessian mercenaries on Aug. 27, 1776 during the Battle of Long Island. Of the 400, 285 Marylanders died in those repeated assaults. Their actions enabled Washington's army to successfully escape to the American fortifications on Brooklyn Heights and soon thereafter withdraw to Manhattan to fight another day. Following a short parade led by the Irish American Parade Committee of Brooklyn, a ceremony honoring the sacrifices of the Marylanders was held in front of the Old Stone House. Both President General (2013-14) Joseph W. Dooley and MDSSAR President James F. Engler Sr. participated in reading the names of the Marylanders killed in action at the battle. President Engler laid the state wreath at the Old Stone House flagpole, after which the local American Legion Post provided a rifle salute. Following the ceremony and lunch, the tour concluded with a visit to the Maryland Monument in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. The monument, funded by the MDSSAR, was dedicated on Aug. 27, 1895. A brief wreath-laying ceremony was also conducted at this site. The MDSSAR hopes to return next year for the 240th anniversary. PPP MDSSAR compatriots, along with several other organizations, joined together to honor the memory of Robert James Ayres, a past color guard member in both MDSSAR and the Society of 1812. Ayres passed away in 2013 and was a longtime drummer in the Maryland Color Guard. His tombstone was installed with the emblems of the SAR and General Society of the War of 1812 and the words "Color Guard Drummer." He was buried with his family at Bel Air Memorial Gardens Cemetery. Virginia Apyar, his longtime companion and the immediate past president National of the Daughters of 1812, unveiled the new grave marker that displays both societies' emblems. Members of the MDSSAR Color Guard attended in uniform and fired three musket volleys in his honor. Participating were Dave Embrey, Bruce French, National Color Guard Commander David Hoover, Lou Raborg, Bill Smithson and Chris Smithson. Rev. Christos Christou Jr. officiated the ceremony and presented the eulogy on behalf of both organizations. Little Meadows Chapter The Little Meadows Chapter held its fall meeting Sept. 12. Chapter President Ansel Shircliffe, left, receives a flag streamer from MDSSAR President Jim Engler Sr. The streamer, presented as part of the Revolutionary War Ancestor Biography program, was a first for the Little Meadows Chapter. This was a great honor and the chapter wishes to thank President Engler for attending and presenting the award. Sgt. Lawrence Everhart Chapter Distillery Lane Ciderworks owner Rob Miller, left, and Pat Barron, chair of the Repudiation Day Commemoration Committee, display bottles of the special Sons of Liberty Cider, crafted by Miller and Cidermaker Tim Rose. The Sons of Liberty Cider has been pressed from early American varieties of apples—Roxbury Russet, Hewes Crab and Newtown Pippin—along with a hybrid apple cultivar— Liberty—developed for its disease-resistance properties. Miller and Rose created the cider to mark the 250th Anniversary of The Repudiation of the British Stamp Act in Frederick County. On Nov. 23, 1765, 12 justices of the Frederick County Court were the first to repudiate the onerous "taxation without representation" (Duties On American Colonies Act 1765), a decade before "the shot heard 'round the world" at the "rude bridge that arched the flood" in Lexington, Massachusetts. The Sons of Liberty Cider is available at Distillery Lane Ciderworks, 5533 Gapland Road, Jefferson, MD 21755. The local SAR and DAR chapters have organized a commemoration on Saturday, Nov. 21 at City Hall to mark the 250 th anniversary of the act of defiance by "twelve immortal justices" of the Frederick County Court, effectively refusing to discharge The Stamp Act imposed on the Colonies by Great Britain's King George III.