Did They Really ’Take None But Gentlemen’? Henry Hardman, the Maryland Line, and a Reconsideration of the Socioeconomic Composition of the Continental Officer Corps

The socio-economic composition of the officer corps of the Continental Army has not received as much attention as that of the enlisted soldiers; the officers are generally assumed to have been members of America’s colonial elite. The need for large numbers of men to fill leadership positions in the nation’s first regular army presented an opportunity greater than at any time previous in America for the attainment of rank and status through an officer’s commission. Based upon research on the Maryland Line, this article argues that a larger segment of the Continental Army’s officer corps originated in a “middling” socio-economic range than currently thought.