Star-Spangled Banner • Star-Spangled Banner 2018 • Trail Guide By Region: Southern Maryland

On a blustery winter’s day in February 1813, an assortment of large British vessels appeared at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and established a naval blockade. For more than a year, the British Navy raided and invaded Chesapeake towns with impunity, burning crops and terrorizing citizens.

Marylander Joshua Barney, who had been commissioned a U.S. Naval Captain in August 1813, served as commodore of the U.S. Chesapeake Flotilla. His mission: to harass the British fleet and defend waterfront towns from this mighty world power. Commodore Barney readied his collection of small, lightly armed but quick-moving barges for the confrontation that was sure to come. Chased up the Patuxent River, his overmatched “Mosquito Fleet” became trapped on St. Leonard Creek — but Barney would not give up quietly in defense of his nation.

The Chesapeake Flotilla’s success in two battles that took place on the creek in June 1814 — remembered collectively as the largest naval engagement in Maryland history — ensured that Barney’s American force would live to fight another day. However, British forces were able to raid homes and confiscate supplies in Upper Marlboro and other locales. Probing deeper and deeper up the river, enemy troops were dead-set on making a statement to the people of the fledgling nation. They settled on the town of Benedict as the landing spot for a full-scale invasion.

May 29, 1814 — A large firefight takes place at Pungoteague Creek on the Virginia Eastern Shore. It ends in an American victory barely more than a year after the first recorded British raid at Virginia’s Cape Henry Lighthouse.

June 8–10, 1814 — During the First Battle of St. Leonard Creek, Commodore Joshua Barney’s Chesapeake Flotilla nearly defeats a larger British naval force, but remains trapped.

June 26, 1814 — The U.S. Chesapeake Flotilla breaks through a British blockade and escapes up the Patuxent River during the Second Battle of St. Leonard Creek.

July 19, 1814 — A jail and courthouse are destroyed in Prince Frederick, and Leonardtown is swarmed by 1,500 British troops.

August 20, 1814 — While personally scouting enemy movements, Secretary of State James Monroe observes thousands of British troops coming ashore near Benedict in preparation for a march on Washington, D.C.

Southern Maryland made an attractive enemy target because of its natural landings and numerous plantations from which hungry troops could gather food. No wonder more British raids were conducted here than in any other region along the Chesapeake Bay.

At the mouth of the Potomac River, Point Lookout State Park [1] served as an observation post to monitor British activity. Though later famous for its role as a notorious Civil War prison camp, this location was the site of a British encampment after Royal Navy ships blockaded the Bay.

The war impacted several towns and sites along the Potomac and its tributaries. British troops came ashore at places such as the Leonardtown Wharf [2], now a public park with boat tie-ups and a launch for canoes and kayaks. Nearby is Tudor Hall [3], a Colonial house now occupied by the St. Mary’s County Historical Society. During the war, Tudor Hall’s Elizabeth Key, a relative of “Star-Spangled Banner” writer Francis Scott Key, reportedly persuaded the Royal Marines not to burn Leonardtown’s courthouse building by telling them it was a house of worship.

At the core of the Charlotte Hall Historic District [4] is a former military academy founded in 1774 and occupied by local militia during the War of 1812. One notable academy graduate was Robert Bowie, Maryland’s governor at the start of hostilities.

To the west, two churches were impacted by the war. At Chaptico’s Christ Episcopal Church [5], which was built on land donated by Francis Scott Key’s grandfather, an organ was smashed and grave vaults were desecrated during a British raid. Chapel Point’s St. Ignatius Catholic Church-St. Thomas Manor [6], poised on a 90-foot hill overlooking the confluence of the Port Tobacco and Potomac rivers, was used by the U.S. Navy as an observation post.

Visit the 300-year-old Sotterley Plantation [7], a property in Hollywood where the British drove off 300 U.S. militiamen, burned a tobacco warehouse and took away dozens of slaves.

At the mouth of the Patuxent River, the marina-rimmed fishing village of Solomons has one of the Chesapeake Bay’s best natural harbors. Travelers can get their bearings at the Solomons Visitor Center or head straight for the Calvert Marine Museum [8], which has an electronic map showing British troop movements through the area. The museum is known for its small-craft collection, fossil-filled Discovery Room, river otter habitat and lighthouse tour. It also displays artifacts recovered from a U.S. Chesapeake Flotilla vessel that had been scuttled 30 miles away and discovered in 1978 near the Route 4 Hills Bridge.

The flotilla vessel was one among a fleet of 18 lightly armed, shallow-draft barges under the command of Revolutionary War hero Joshua Barney, who was pulled out of retirement to be commissioned a commodore in the U.S. Navy. Barney’s troops and his “Mosquito Fleet” were tested during naval battles that took place in the shallow waters of St. Leonard Creek in June 1814, near what is now Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum [9]. Informational panels in the park recount how Barney’s cornered flotilla managed to thwart the superior British forces and then, in a surprise attack a few weeks later, slip past British blockaders. Learn about “Farmers, Patriots and Traitors: Southern Maryland and the War of 1812” at the park’s Exhibit Barn, and feel the excitement during a Battle of St. Leonard Creek reenactment as part of Jefferson Patterson’s annual 1812 Fair. In addition, the park is found on the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail and features archaeology programs, a kid-oriented Discovery Room, a re-created American Indian village and a canoe launch with access to the camping-friendly Patuxent Water Trail.

Though Barney proved elusive, his gunboats became trapped once more and orders were given to destroy the flotilla. As the barges exploded and sank, Barney and his men rushed across land to help defend Bladensburg and Washington.

Stretching for a half mile over the Patuxent River, Benedict Bridge is named for the adjacent town where more than 4,000 British troops camped before marching on to the nation’s capital. British soldiers were also said to have bivouacked at what is now Maxwell Hall Park [10], popular for hiking and horseback riding.

Two more small towns on the Patuxent River had their own brushes with the British. Prince Frederick was raided at night by troops who burned a courthouse building where sick and wounded sailors from the Chesapeake Flotilla had been treated. Lower Marlboro was likewise set ablaze, but the Harbor Master’s House survived. The old steamboat wharf provides interpretation about the war, as well as splendid river views.

WHILE YOU’RE IN THE AREA

DIG DEEPER INTO THE PAST TO SEE WHERE Maryland’s Colonial roots are planted. On the east shore of the Potomac River, the St. Clement’s Island Museum tells of English settlers who arrived here in 1634. They soon established the fourth permanent settlement in British North America at what is now Historic St. Mary’s City, a living-history complex that is one stop along a 189-mile Religious Freedom Scenic Byway running from Port Tobacco to Point Lookout.

Two other Maryland Scenic Byways take a look at different aspects of Southern Maryland history and culture: The John Wilkes Booth Civil War Trail traces the route taken by Booth as he fled Washington, D.C., following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, while the Roots & Tides Byway promises a peaceful journey into the timeless traditions and deep maritime roots of towns along the Chesapeake Bay.

Throughout the countryside, scenic bike routes and hiking paths give way to inviting water trails. Charter boat captains are always available for fishing trips, and visitors should also make good use of Greenwell State Park and St. Mary’s River State Park. Marinas dot Cobb Island, while a canoe/kayak launch at the Piney Point Lighthouse Museum and Historic Park gives paddlers access to the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail. The trail is named in honor of the early-17th-century explorer who said of the Bay region, “Heaven and earth never agreed better to frame a place for man’s habitation.”

Smallwood State Park, surprisingly close to Washington, D.C., is the frequent host of national fishing tournaments, and Purse State Park is a favorite spot for fossil hunting. Mallows Bay offers easy canoe/ kayak access to the “Ghost fleet,” a centuryold ship graveyard.

Leonardtown is another popular pushoff point for paddlers. In addition to having a charming, walkable waterfront, it was recently named an official Arts & Entertainment District in recognition of its burgeoning population of galleries, studios and cultural attractions. Visitors will find an eclectic array of palate-pleasing restaurants in the historic downtown.

The National Park Service’s Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail stretches from the Chesapeake Bay to the Allegheny Highlands. The restored Port Tobacco plantation house of a signer of the Declaration of Independence is now the Thomas Stone National Historic Site. Chapel Point State Park is known for peaceful paddlein campsites and prime fishing opportunities. The Patuxent River Naval Air Museum in Lexington Park preserves more than a century’s worth of aviation history.

In Solomons, breathtaking works of art are displayed outdoors at the Smithsonian-affiliated Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center. Northward toward the vacation paradises of Chesapeake Beach and North Beach, a stop in Prince Frederick reveals the pristine hiking and canoeing environment of Parkers Creek Preserve. Nearby, Battle Creek Cypress Swamp Sanctuary has an elevated boardwalk that winds beneath a 100-foot-high canopy of cypress trees.

Southern Maryland is recognized as an official Maryland Heritage Area, thanks to its abundance of cultural, historical and natural resources.

23115 Leonard Hall Dr., Leonardtown [Welcome Center: 37575 Charlotte Hall School Rd. (MD Rt. 5), Charlotte Hall] 1-800-327-9023, 301-475-4414

Star-Spangled Banner - Star-Spangled Banner 2018

Trail Guide By Region: Southern Maryland

The Enemy Approaches: A YOUNG NATION IN PERIL

WHILE YOU’RE IN THE AREA

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Star-Spangled Banner 2018