| The
War of 1812
The art of war is the same throughout; and may be illustrated as readily,
though less conspicuously, by a
flotilla as by an armada.
Alfred Thayer Mahan
Maritime issues
of neutral shipping rights and the impressment of American
seamen divided Britain and the United States during the
first decade of the nineteenth century and eventually
led to war in June 1812.
The
Chesapeake Bay’s trade and commerce and its proximity
to the United States capital attracted the interest of
British war planners. By March 1813, the British Admiralty
had sufficient resources to send a squadron of ships,
under Rear Admiral George Cockburn, to blockade the mouth
of the bay and to raid the coastal ports and towns. From
April to September 1813, the Royal Navy had free reign
throughout the bay from Havre de Grace in the north to
Norfolk in the south.
Except for
the successful defense of Craney Island in Hampton Roads,
the Americans experienced hit and run raiding by British
seamen and marines who formed amphibious landing parties
to steal and destroy tobacco, grain, and livestock along
the shoreline of the bay. Respite came only in September
when the bulk of the squadron sailed to Bermuda to refit
and replenish. Admiral Cockburn left behind a small force
to maintain the blockade of the mouth of the bay.
 On
July 4, 1813, Joshua Barney, an American Revolutionary
War naval hero, proposed a plan to the Navy Department
to build, purchase, outfit, man, and command a flying
squadron of twenty barges to defend the Chesapeake Bay
from further British incursions. While this flotilla’s
engagements at Cedar Point and St. Leonard’s Creek during
June 1814 did
not stop the invading forces, their battles did divert
British resources and bought some extra time for Washington
and Baltimore to bolster their defenses. Faced with imminent
capture, the flotillamen scuttled their vessels at Pig
Point, Maryland, in August 1814, but valiantly joined
the militia at Bladensburg in an unsuccessful last ditch
effort to save Washington from capture.
The essays
and documents that follow will unfold the story of how
Joshua Barney formed a motley band of men and boats to
challenge a vastly superior force of the Royal Navy. (Roll
over the following battle image to view barge sketch.)
[Credits for
images: Burning of Havre de Grace, Maryland. Maryland
Historical Society; Joshua Barney, engraving by Cephas
G. Childs & Thomas Gimbrede, after a painting by Joseph
Wood. Frontispiece in Mary Barney. A Biographical
Memoir of the Late Commodore Joshua Barney (Boston:
Gray and Bowen, 1832); Battle of St. Leonard’s
Creek, 10 June 1814, by Tom Freeman. Owned by Christine
F. Hughes; Barney's Barge Sketch. National Archives,
RG45, Area File 11 (M625, Roll No. 405)]
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