William Beatty
William Beatty
Wiliam Beatty was born in Frederick County, Maryland, on the 19th of June 1758. In 1776, he was commissioned an Ensign under Col. Griffith and served under Gen. Washington in New York. The following year, he was commissioned Lieutenant and raised to the rank of Captain and ultimately transferred to the renowned 1st Maryland regiment of Regulars under Col. Gunby, which was ordered south and performed astonishing feats of noble daring at the battle of Cowpens and at Guilford court house on the 15th of March 1781. He was engaged in single combat when the war was raging with the fury of desperation, and he pierced his antagonist through the heart. Beatty fought the emphatic hand-to-hand like those of Chippewa, Lundy's Lane, and Bridgewater during our last war with Mother Britain. At the battle near Camden, South Carolina, on the 25th of the next April, Captain Beatty fell mortally wounded as he was gallantly leading his company to the charge.
In all respects, he was a nobleman and an officer of great promise. In his report, Gen. Greene remarked-"Among the killed is Capt. Beatty of the Maryland line one of the best officers and an ornament to his profession."
Source: The Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution by L. Carroll Judson