Findings

Military Service

Several sources, the vestry minutes of St. Mary Anne's, land records, and his personal will, indicate that Zebulon Hollingsworth, Sr. was a Captain, presumably of the local militia. The Colonial Wars took place during his lifetime, however, no records exist confirming or denying his participation.

Colonel Henry Hollingsworth's service as a quartermaster during the Revolutionary War was well-documented by the Library of Congress on its website under a section entitled the Washington Papers (http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin). One letter, written by General George Washington to Colonel Henry Hollingsworth from Valley Forge on the 16th of February, 1778 reads:

Sir: I am under the painful necessity of informing you, that the situation of the Army is most critical and alarming for want of Provision, especially of the Meat kind. The troops have not had supplies of the latter for four days and many of them have been much longer without. I have sent Captn. ("Lighthorse Harry") Lee to forward from the Head of Elk...all the provisions...as expeditiously as possible, and I must entreat you, Sir, to give all the assistance, in your power, to promote this very important and interesting work...

Washington's correspondence, one example of many, testified to Henry Hollingsworth's importance as a quartermaster during the Revolutionary War and the crucial location of Elk Landing to the Revolutionary War effort. Another letter penned by Washington thanks Colonel Hollingsworth for "a piece of cloth of your own manufacture," possibly produced at the Cecil Manufacturing Company, in which Henry Hollingsworth had an interest. Later in the same letter, dated April 4, 1798, Washington writes, "it has always been my opinion that the United States will be independent in name only until essential arts and manufacturies are so established in them."

In spite of his conspicuous service and his continued correspondence with General Washington, Colonel Henry was charged with wrongdoing in his position as quartermaster. In an advertisement in The Pennsylvania Gazette dated July 28, 1779, Colonel Henry makes the following public statement:

Whereas various reports have been raised and propagated to prejudice my character as Deputy Quarter Master, and Deputy Forage Master General to the Eastern shore of the State of Maryland, by some person or persons unknown; let this serve to inform such persons, that if they will declare their allegations to the Quarter Master General, Forage Master General, or any Public Body, properly authorised [sic] to take notice of the same, that though their charges should prove groundless (which I trust will be the case) I will thank and freely forgive them, as they have been imposed on, or have intended if for a public good.

The charges purportedly were brought before the Continental Congress; however, a search of the Continental Congress Papers on the Library of Congress website (http://www.loc.gov) proved fruitless. The outcome of the allegations seems not to have affected Colonel Hollingsworth's public life since he was elected as a member to the Maryland House of Representatives in 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794 and the Maryland State Senate in 1801, 1802, 1803. Nonetheless, no evidence of a hearing, trial, or punishment surfaced; therefore, no statement as to an outcome is permissible.