Robert W. Kirkwood

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Robert W. Kirkwood was named a Lieutenant of the 1st Delaware Regiment in the Continental Army on December 9, 1775. During the American Revolutionary War, he was in 32 battles: fought in every battle in which George Washington fought in 1777. Kirkwood also held a certificate of membership in the Society of the Cincinnati.

In 1776, The Delaware Battalion was assigned to Mifflin's Brigade (under Gen. Thomas Mifflin of Pennsylvania) and was commanded by Captain Robert Kirkwood.

In the Battle of Camden, Kirkwood's troops won fame and were called "The Blue Hen's Chickens" after that. In this battle his regiment was reduced from eight companies to two by reason of death and capture. He was with George Washington in his pursuit of Cornwallis until his surrender.

Robert Kirkwood was a graduate of Newark Academy (later renamed the University of Delaware), who chose the Blue Hen as their mascot to honor Captain Kirkwood.

At the Battle of Cowpens, Captain Kirkwood repulsed the British cavalry, and made the famous bayonet charge ordered by Colonel John Eager Howard.

Robert Kirkwood was killed by Native Americans from the Miami tribe in November, 1791 near present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana, a captain in the regular army, after having passed through 32 battles during the Revolution without a disabling wound.

[edit] Kirkwood's Legacy

Captain Kirkwood was the great grandfather of the late Robert Kirkwood Martin, constructor of the Gunpowder Water works which supply the city of Baltimore, and grandfather of the late General R. H. K. Whitely, U.S.A., of Baltimore.

The Major Robert Kirkwood Chapter of the Delaware Society of the Sons of the American Revolution has a Color Guard whose members wear the frontiersman uniform used when the Delaware Continentals fought in remote regions of the Carolinas, far from good cloth and family seamstresses.

A monument was erected near Fort Recovery in Ohio to honor Delaware's Capt. Robert Kirkwood and others who died here when a 1791 military expedition led by Arthur St. Clair, the governor of the Northwest Territory, suffered a major defeat.

In 1938, a highway was named in honor of Major Kirkwood. The Robert W Kirkwood Highway comprises a part of Delaware State Highway 2 in New Castle County.

The Major Robert Kirkwood Reserve Center is the headquarters of the 9th Battalion / 80th Regiment Health Services (HS) of the United States Army.

A North Carolina unit of the Brigade of the American Revolution (BAR) portrays Kirkwood's Company -- the remnant of the Delaware Regiment which fought with the Maryland Brigade after the Delaware Regiment was decimated in the first Battle of Camden, SC.

[edit] Resources

A book, 'The Journal and Order Book of Captain Robert Kirkwood of the Delaware Regiment of the Continental Line' (Kennikat American Bicentennial Series) was published by the Associated Faculty Press, Inc. in June, 1970.

Excerpt: "when the British advanced and attackd our Left Flank where the Malitia Lay, who give way, which give the Enemy's horse an opportunity to gain our Rear, their Infantry at the same time gaining our Flank, and their Line advancing in our front, which Caused the Action to Become very Desperate, which continued for the Space of Half an hour — in this action, Lt Col. Vaughan, Major Patten, six officers and Seventy Rank and file of our Regt was taken Prisoners with all the Cannon and Baggage of the Army — I can give no account of our Marches on the Retreat until we came to Salisbury which we Arrived at on the 21st" -September 21, 1780