Choptank River Trip - Col Richardson Revolutionary Trail

William Richardson was first elected to the Maryland colonial House of Delegates in 1771, and again in 1773-1774. While representing Dorchester County in 1773, he introduced a bill calling for the creation of a new county out of parts of Dorchester County east of the upper Choptank River, and parts of Queen Anne’s County between the Choptank and Tuckahoe Rivers.

The bill was passed in March 1774. The new county was named Caroline, in honor of Caroline Eden, a sister of Frederick Calvert, the last Lord Baltimore, and wife of Sir Robert Eden, who was the English governor of Maryland at that time.

Richardson was elected to the Maryland Provisional Government of 1774-1776.   He was elected to serve in later conventions, but after British troops fired on the Minutemen at Lexington, Richardson accepted a commission as Colonel of the Caroline County militia company, and later as Colonel of the Eastern Shore Battalion of the Maryland Flying Camp, which served under General Washington.