I represent Levin Townsend. I was a lieutenant in the Maryland Loyalists Regiment that was raised in 1777. I was born in Maryland in 1755 and in 1775 enlisted as a lieutenant under the Earl of Dunmore in Virginia. I was taken prisoner by the American rebels and kept chained to the beam of a room for months. After my escape, I went to Philadelphia where the Maryland regiment was raised. I was commissioned lieutenant on May 1, 1778 and I served under Captain Philip Barton Key. We saw action at the Battle of Monmouth in 1778 before being sent later that year to West Florida to defend Pensacola and Mobile against the Spanish. In late 1779, with both our corps depleted by disease and desertion, the Maryland and Pennsylvania Loyalist regiments were merged into the United Corps of the Pennsylvania & Maryland Loyalists. During that time I served as Captain Caleb Jones‘ lieutenant. The regiments separated again in December 1780. At the surrender of Ft. George on May 10, 1781, I was made a prisoner of war by the Spaniards and sent to Havana, then to New Town, Long Island. While there, I continued to serve as lieutenant of a “vacant” company (meaning one missing its captain) and was commissioned captain myself in July 1783. The U.S. Federal Census for Newton, Queens, New York shows me the head of a household of 5 other people – apparently I married and started a family.
Sources: 66, 129, 131