Star-Spangled Banner EASTERN SHORE Heroes & Legends: LIFE AMID THE CANNON FIRE April 14, 1813 – The British establish an elaborate base of operations on Tangier Island. April 29, 1813 – Frenchtown, located on the Elk River, is overrun by 150 Royal Marines. May 6, 1813 – Kitty Knight convinces British raiders to spare her home while much of her Georgetown community burns. August 10, 1813 – St. Michaels remains mostly unscathed despite a British bombardment. The enemy attacks again 16 days later, but with little effect. August 13, 1813 – American militia in Queenstown hold off 300 enemy troops at Slippery Hill. August 30, 1814 – The Battle of Caulks Field, fought days after the burning of Washington and shortly before the Battle for Baltimore, proves disastrous for the British. Promising, young Captain Peter Parker is counted among their dead. February 7, 1815 – The last engagement of the war in Maryland, the Battle of the Ice Mound, is fought near Taylors Island. Twenty crewmembers on an icebound British tender surrender to American militia. Two battles, seven skirmishes and more than a dozen raids occurred along Maryland’s Eastern Shore, giving rise to heroes like Kitty Knight and legends such as “the town that fooled the British.” The invaders who arrived in early 1813 weren’t driven out until nearly two years later. In fact, the Battle of New Orleans, considered to be the definitive fight that ended the enemy threat once and for all, actually took place about one month earlier than the final engagement on the Eastern Shore — an American victory. Slippery Hill, Slaughter Creek and the Ice Mound were among many places that saw significant action. Of particular note, American militia scored a lopsided triumph at Caulks Field, known today as one of the best-preserved War of 1812 battlefields in the mid-Atlantic region. ess than two weeks before the U.S. Senate ratified the Treaty of Ghent, officially ending a war already decided on the battlefield, one more skirmish took place in Maryland. It happened on Taylors Island, where, just west of Slaughter Creek Bridge, a Battle of the Ice Mound Monument [1] now stands. In the bitter cold of a February morning, a tender to the British ship-of-war Dauntless became stuck in frozen water and proved an easy target for militiamen who aimed their muskets from behind 30 | snps.gov/stsp nps.gov/stsp heaps of ice. Twenty crewmembers surrendered. A 12-pounder carronade taken from the tender is part of the battle monument. One of the legends arising from the War of 1812 involves “the town that fooled the British.” When faced with an early morning naval barrage in August 1813, citizens of St. Michaels hung lanterns high in trees and on the roofs of buildings so that British guns would overshoot their targets. At least, that’s how the story goes. Actually, the bombardment was part of a surprise attack that occurred when it Eastern Shore ST. MICHAELS TO ELKTON 148 MILES TRAVEL TIME 3–5 HOURS +43 miles / 1-2 hours from Taylors Island to St. Michaels MARYLAND OFFICE OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
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