Freedom in America began with a Revolution –brave people, willing to put themselves in danger to stand up for the rights of their neighbors and friends – a melting pot of immigrant families from many parts of the World, looking for a better life, hopeful but not yet sure what “being American” would mean.
Peter Mantz was 23 years old in July 1776. Raised in Frederick, he was one of nine children of German immigrant parents Johann Casper and Anna Christina Heim Mantz who ran a general store on East Patrick Street.
Gift of Elizabeth Robinette Kemp Roszel.
Following the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, two hundred and fifty years ago this month, Maryland patriots at the request of the Continental Congress began organizing the Flying Camp, an active-duty militia of 10,000 men from PA, MD and DE that would be constantly on the move to give support to the Continental Army, wherever needed. Peter Mantz was selected to lead one of ten local companies. Mantz, with just over 80 men, supported the movements of General George Washington and the Continental Army in defense of New York City as well as their retreat through New Jersey and back across the Delaware River.
Following his Revolutionary service, Mantz went on to be a militia recruiter, a land surveyor and speculator, a tax commissioner, a Maryland legislator and the County Sheriff. He married and raised 11 children of his own in Frederick. On view as part of Heritage Frederick’s Cultivating Independence: Frederick County in the Revolution exhibition are the Revolutionary war sword of Peter Mantz and a leather wallet that belonged to him later in life. Earlier this year, sisters and Peter Mantz descendants Joan and Bonnie, along with their mother Helen, stopped in to view their own Frederick County History after being identified and contacted by staff.
This article by Amy Hunt, Heritage Frederick Curator, was originally featured in the July 2026 edition of Frederick magazine. To see the original article, click here >>