USA > Maryland > Cecil County > History of Cecil County, Maryland, and the early settlements around the head of Chesapeake Bay and on the Delaware River, with sketches of some of the old families of Cecil County > Part 34
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410
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
district, but he seems to have been engaged elsewhere, and not to have directly taken part in the defense of this county, consequently the local leaders acted as they thought best, and without that concentrated effort best calculated to in- sure success. Instead of attempting to defend the mouths of the rivers, they erected forts at Fredericktown, French- town, Charlestown, Elk Landing, and on the Elk River, about a mile below the latter place. The fort at Elk Land- ing was called " Fort Hollingsworth," in honor of the Hol- lingsworths, who owned the land on which it stood, and whose ancestors had taken such an active part in the Revo- lutionary war. It was a small earth-work or redoubt, mounted with a few pieces of small cannon, and stood a few yards southeast of the old stone house now standing near the wharf, and which at that time, and long afterwards, was used for a tavern to accommodate the passengers travel- ing between Baltimore and Philadelphia. Fort Defiance was about a mile further down, on the bluff on the north- west side of the river, at what is now called Fowlers Shore. It was a work of considerable size, and situated so as to command the channel of the river on two sides of it, the channel at that time being near the bluff west of the fort. Part of the east embankment may be seen at this time. In addition to the redoubt on the bluff, a smaller earth-work was erected about three hundred yards up the river, on the same side, and strong chains were fastened to posts firmly fixed on the opposite shores, to which chains extending to windlasses in the forts were fastened and submerged in the water, so that if the enemy's barges passed the lower fort the chains could be drawn taut at the top of the water, thus making the capture or destruction of the barges almost certain.
These works are believed to have been planned by Col- onel William Garrett, who was in command of the force that erected them, as appears from the following list copied from the original :
411
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
" Returns of the Officers & Privates attending at Fort De- fiance from the 29th* unto the 24th May, 1813.
Days.
Days.
John Davidson, Captain,
8 Jacob Tyson, Jr., 18
John Wirt,
7
Saml. Cowden, Leftent., of Cap. Davidson's Co.,
18
Benjamin Bowen,
18
John Garrett, Left.,
16
James Scott, 18
Joseph Steel, Ensign.,
14
Christopher McAlister,
2
Saml. Williamson, Cap.,
10
Saml. Short,
2
John Short, Left.,
22
Saml. Smith, 14
Saml. Thompson, Sargt. Maj., 26
Abraham Boreland, 10
Weston George, Sargt. & Guur., 26
Blaney Edmunson, 16
Jolın E. Jones, Seargut,
26
Edward Graves,
10
John Scott, (Blacksmith ) Sergt., 19
Constant Trivit,
16
William Mackey, Serg't.,
26
Geo. Enos,
4
Jas. Philips, Commisary,
22
John Payne,
3
James Clifton, Gunner,
26
Barney Graves,
17
Aron Stout, Gunner,
18
George Hohnes,
10
Saml. Dreunen, Artilerist,
26
Peter Founee,
10
Saml. Work, do
23
Jolın Ginn,
2
Saml. Lowery, do
25
Ephriam Morrison,
2
Robert Hemphill, do
26
Moses Scott,
11
James Perry, do
26
Andrew P. Armstrong,
13
HIugh MeNelly, do
26
Saml. Taylor,
19
llugh Rogers, do
26
Saml. Hayes,
12
James Ditoway, do
19
James Worth,
25
Jolın Foster, do
21
Charles Conley,
20
Thomas Bayland, do
26
James McGregor,
18
Zebulin McDonald, do
25
Robert Orr,
21
George McDonald, do
26
William Manfield,
3
Jolın Maloney, do
26
Thos. Whitesides,
5
John Lowery, do
13
James Crawford,
11
Thomas Garrett, Sr.,
2
John Ricketts,
3
John lays,
19
Jacob Pluck,
13
Thomas Furguson,
9
Thomas Wilson,
21
Nicholas Price,
13 Elijah Davis,
10
Simon Hutton,
18 Saml. Wilson,
4
Thomas Davis,
18 Archibald Wood,
10
John Maxfield,
14
Sanıl. Francis,
4
Michael McNamee,
7 Miles Standish, t
14
William Thornton,
7 Jolın Stephens,
17
* The 29th of April is probably meant. 1
t A lineal descendant of Captain Miles Standish of New England.
412
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
Days.
Days.
James Hutcheson,
3
Bailey Boiles,
Thomas MeIntire,
12
Geo. Jameson,
3
William Dysart,
15
John Clark,
4
James Mc Donald,
7
William Johnston,
12
William Wilson,
26
Campbell Burk,
15
James Walker,
4
Robert McCrey,
20
James Smith,
4 William Shickls,
18
David Mackey,
8 Edmund Burk,
4
Thomas Conn.
3
Augustine Stoops,
5
James Cummings,
20
David Short,
21
Alexander Alexander,
6
William Pennington,
5
Joseph Wolleston,
G
George Foster,
1
Saml. Johnston,*
5
Thomas Bryson,
1
Thomas Russel,
19
Frederick Slagle,
20
James Pattou,
10
Joseph Lorrett,
4
William Kerr,
16
William Maiuley,
6
John Borelin,
7
James Currier,
5
William Lowery,
John Williamson,
3
Thomas Wallace,
19
Elijah Janney,
21
Elijah 1Till,
13
Daniel McAuley,
21
Joseph Alexander,
20
Nathan Owens,
9
Robert Christy,
15
Sampson Lumb,
6
William Osmond,
13
Jonathan Short,
5
Ingh Gay,
11
Thomas Wingate,
12
Robert Watson,
10
Joseph Holt,
I
Thos. Garrett, Jr.,
20
Jesse Foster,
8
William Crosson,
15
Nathan Foster,
1
John Scott, (Shoemaker),
5
James Porter,
3
Samuel Shaw,
7
John Simpers,
12
Charles Pierson,
5
John MeAnley,
3
Arthur Morrison,
5
Andrew Riggs,
5
James MeAuley,
13
Jolm Johnston.
3
Joseph Robeson,
3
Nicholas Ilyland,
4
Jonathan Osmond,
2
Gilbert Smith,
7
Levi Dysart,
4
Ebenezer Alden, (Cook), t 26
Jolin Dysart,
3 Isaac Philips, 24
Eli Derixon,
8
6 James Young. 10
Archibald Dysart,
* Granduncle of the author referred to on page 330, in connection with death of British officer at Gilpins Bridge.
+ A lineal descendant of John Alden, who came over with the Pil- grims in the Mayflower.
413
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
Agreeable to the direction of Major Armstrong, I have made out as correct a return as I am possessed of, of the officers, artilerists, and private's time up to the present day.
WILLIAM GARRETT, CAPT.
Fort Defiance, May 24, 1813.
James Scwell, Major 2d Batt. 49 R. M. M."
It is stated in a note appended to this list, that many of the men deserted after serving a few days. There is reason. however, to believe that this is not strictly true; and that those who left the fort were volunteers, as some of them are known to have been from Pennsylvania.
On the 28th of April 1813, a squadron of twelve barges, manned with about four hundred volunteers, picked seamen, three hundred marines, commanded by Admiral Cockburn, landed upon Spesutia Island, where they secured some sup- lies of vegetables, poultry, etc., for which they paid the owners. On the same day, or the following one, they visited Turkey Point, where they endeavored to make friends with the people, and offered to pay for some provisions they ob- tained. The officer in command tried to make up with the daughter of the lady who lived in the farm house on the Turkey Point farm. She was a bright little girl of ten or twelve years of age, and spurned his offers of friendship with scorn and contempt. The officer remarked to her mother that the child knew he was her enemy.
Proceeding up the Elk River, the British met with no re- sistance until they reached Welsh Point, where Major Wil- liam Boulden was stationed with a small squad of militia. He made a brave but ineffectual effort to intercept their advance, but having no artillery, it was useless, and they went on up the river and reached Frenchtown on the 29th of April. The militia in the fort at that place, which was a small log structure mounted with three four-pounders, thinking their number too small to successfully resist the
414
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
enemy, retired to Elkton ; but a few stage drivers and others, manned the guns and made a spirited resistance while their amunition lasted, which was not long, when the fort was captured, and the town, which consisted of two warehouses, a tavern, two or three dwelling-houses, a few stables and outhouses, were burned, as were also two vessels that were moored in the river, involving a loss of twenty or thirty thousand dollars .*
Having completed the destruction of Frenchtown, the British tried to ascend the river to Elkton, but were fired upon by the garrison in Fort Defiance, and driven back ; whereupon they landed at White Hall, then owned and oc- cupied by Frisby Henderson, Esq., who they tried to induce to show them the road to Elkton, but failing in this, they took one of his female slaves with them, and tried to bribe her to act as their guide. She took them to Cedar Point, opposite Fort . Hollingsworth, then in command of Captain Henry Bennett, who opened fire upon them and they made a hasty retreat, and soon afterwards embarked on their barges. Except a few of the British, who are said to have been killed at Frenchtown, no others were injured during this raid.
The barges used by the British are described by those who saw them, as about thirty feet long, with decks extend- ing only a short distance from either side, leaving an open- ing in the middle which extended nearly from bow to stern, so that the oarsmen could stand on the bottom of the boat when rowing. The most of them had a small cannon or two on board of them, which were called swivel guns.
* A singularly ill-natured and quarrelsome man, called Zeb. Furgusson, is said to have piloted the British from Turkey Point to Frenchtown. He certainly was with the British, who he said captured him at Turkey Point, but those who knew him best believed he had joined them volun- tarily, in order to gratify his hatred towards all mankind. He was im- prisoned for a while, but nothing could be proved against him, and he was discharged.
415
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
These guns were mounted in such a manner that they could be turned around and fired in any direction.
Captain Isaac Lort of Elk Neck, at this time, was the owner and commander of a schooner called the Annon Ruth, and just previous to the entrance of the British into Elk River, had returned from Baltimore in his schooner. He found a vessel loaded with flour, aground near the mouth of Back Creek, the captain of which besought him to load his schooner with the flour and take it up the river, he being apprehensive that the British would destroy it. Captain Lort did so, and on his return, found the British in posses- sion of the vessel. In order to save his schooner he ran her aground, and would have scuttled and sunk her, but he had lost his axe. He took off her sails and carried them to a place of safety and repaired to his home. The British on their return from Frenchtown, burned both the vessel and the Annon Ruth. The latter was burned at Cazier's shore, which is nearly opposite Welsh Point. The British also captured the sloop Morning Star of North East, and took her away with them. The Morning Star was built at North East a few years before, and some years after the war was seen in Baltimore. She had been converted into a schooner, and then hailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia.
On their return, after burning Frenchtown, the enemy stopped at the fishery of Jacob Ilyland on Elk River, and carried away about a hundred barrels of shad and herring that were stored in the fish house. They also went up the Bohemia River and plundered the fish houses along its banks.
Just before the burning of Frenchtown, the citizens of Elkton and the surrounding country were much frightened by a false alarm. Somehow the story got in circulation that the British had taken Frenchtown and the people as far north as the State of Pennsylvania were very much ex- cited and alarmed. The story originated from the fact that the father of Francis A. Ellis, of Elkton, who, at that time,
416
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
lived on Turner's creek, which is the outlet for the country lying between Still Pond and Galena, and who had two vessels engaged in carrying wheat from there to Elkton, be- came anxious to know where his vessels were, and, thinking they might be found in Elk River, came up in a large row- boat after night to look for them. Some persons at French- town heard the noise of the oars in the stillness of the night and thinking it was the noise of the British barges raised the alarm. An Irishman, who lived at Turkeytown,* heard the story which had not lost anything when it reached that place, and started out to give the alarm, or as the old lady who told the, author of the occurrence, said, " to alarm the women and children." He came to the old lady's house (her husband was absent on military duty) and told her " there were fifteen hundred British and In- dians at Frenchtown and they spared neither women nor children." He appeared to be frightened nearly to death, and asked her if she had "the color of whisky about her house." Whisky was considered one of the necessaries of life in those days and the old lady gave him some, which revived his drooping spirits, and he rode away to spread the alarm and terrify others. This man was in partnership with an Englishman in a woolen factory at Dublin, now Strahorn's mill, on Big Elk Creek, near the State line, and in order to save the machinery in the factory from destruction, they hid it in the laural bank along the creek. They hid some of it so well that they did not find it until the war was over, when it was rotten and worthless.
Both prior and subsequent to this time, much wheat was hauled from Lancaster and made into flour at the mills in the vicinity of Elkton. Owing to this traffic the people of Lancaster took great interest in the welfare of their friends in Elkton, and some time in the spring of 1813 sent two companies of soldiers to aid in its defense. Ex-President
* Now called Cowantown.
417
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
James Buchannan, then a young man, was an officer in one of these companies, which for a time were quartered in a house that stood in the eastern part of the new cemetery.
The Directors of the Elkton Bank thought it best, in view of the raid, to remove the specie from the bank to a place of safety, and so they ostensibly loaded a wagon with it, and put the wagon, which was drawn by six or eight horses, in charge of a military escort composed of a number of sol- diers, mounted and on foot, and made believe they were transporting the specie to Lancaster. This procession made quite an excitement in the country through which it passed, but was only a ruse on the part of the officers of the bank, de- signed to mislead the British and divert them from the real place of concealment. Some time before the wagon and its escort went from Elkton to Lancaster, Levi Tyson, a director of the bank and the owner of a grist-mill on the Big Elk, quietly went down to Elkton one evening with his team and two negro men, and brought the specie home with him that night and placed the chest which contained it under his bed, where it remained until the danger was over. The colored men were told that the chest contained bullets to be used if the British made a raid on Mr. Tyson's mill.
Mr. Tyson often related the story of this removal with much satisfaction, and thought it a good joke. The osten- sible removal of the specie to Lancaster was probably made with the view of adding to the reputation of the bank by making the impression upon the minds of the community of its sound financial condition and ability to redeem its notes, many of which were in circulation. And probably the cream of the joke was to be found in the fact that the creditors of the bank were quite as much fooled as the British would have been had they attempted to pillage the bank.
On the 3d of May, which was three days after the burn- ing of Frenchtown, the British, who were about ten miles distant, were discovered by the garrison of the fort at Havre de Grace, who fired one of the guns of their battery. This
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418
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
the British afterwards said they regarded as a challenge. They answered it by firing a gun on one of their vessels and set sail for the town. Those in charge of the fort (ex- cept an Irishman called John O'Neil, who made a brave resistance and fired one of the cannons at the enemy until he was wounded by the recoil of the gun), made an inglori- ous retreat as soon as the enemy landed, and they at once commenced to plunder the town and then burned it. Havre de Grace was a town of considerable size and some import- ance, and its wanton destruction caused great excitement and alarm among the inhabitants of this county, which is set forth in the following extract from "THE LAY OF THE SCOTTISH FIDDLE, A TALE OF HAVRE DE GRACE," a curious poem purporting to have been written by Walter Scott, but which bears evidence of having been written by a student of Princeton College, whose name has not been ascertained.
" The distant peasant hears the sound, And starting with elastic bound, Hies to the mountain's brightening head, And sees the fiery ruin spread, And marks the red and angry glare
Of water, sky, and earth, and air, Seem'd Susquehanna's wave on fire, And red with conflagration dire. The spreading bays ensanguined flood, Seem'd stained with tint of human blood, O'er Cecil County, far and wide, Each tree, and rock, and stream was spied;
And distant windows brightly gleam'd, As if the setting sun had beam'd, The Elkton burgher raised his head To see what made the sky so red, From Ararat the Falcon* sail'd, The owl at lonely distance wail'd."
" After the deeds of destruction were over," says an eye- witness of the burning of Havre de Grace, "and the enemy
* The writer alludes to George Talbot's faleons, a pair of which, tra- dition saith, remained at Mount Ararat many years after he left this county. See page 129, ante.
419
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
had rendered himself conspicuous on the rolls of infamy, lie proceeded up the river and within one mile of Stafford Mills burned a warehouse belonging to Mr. John Stump." This warehouse was located where the village of Lapidum now stands. While there they contemplated crossing the river to Port Deposit. But the citizens of that town had erected a small fortification not far from where the Odd Fellow's Hall is now located, and they were deterred from crossing by a prisoner they had captured, who told them there was a company of riffemen in the fort, "each of whom could put a bullet in their eye at the distance of a hundred yards."
On returning to Havre de Grace, the British made a raid upon Charlestown, many of the inhabitants of which, antici- pating their arrival, had removed to temporary habitations in the barrens, near Foys Hill, and taken their goods with them. Owing to this, and to the fact that the rain had washed down the earthworks that had been erected in the town, the enemy met with no opposition, and committed no depredations there. They also visited Principio Furnace, which at that time was one of the most important manu- factories of cannon in this country, and burned it, and spiked the cannon they found there, and burned a mill in the neighborhood, and the bridge over the Principio Creek. Having completed their work of destruction in the upper part of the county, they re-visited Spesutia Island, where they had collected a quantity of cattle, sheep, and calves, during their first visit; for which they paid the owners, and took on board their vessels.
On the 5th of May, their squadron was concentrated off the mouth of Sassafras River, and the next day a detach- ment of about five hundred of them in fifteen large barges, and three smaller boats, ascended that river, and burned Fredericktown and Georgetown.
The ascent of the Sassafras River by the British barges is said by those who witnessed it, among whom was the late John E. Thomas of Elkton, to have been the most beautiful sight they ever saw.
420
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
The soldiers were clad in scarlet uniforms, which added much to the beautiful appearance of the squadron. There were a large number of barges, which formed a line four abreast, and several hundred yards long. A barge con- taining the admiral, then passed along one side of the line, and crossed ahead of the front tier of boats, and waited until the rear came up, thus bringing all the squadron under re- view.
Having been informed of the concentration of the fleet at the mouth of the river, Colonel T. W. Veasey, who was in command of the militia at Fredericktown, had them un- der arms by four o'clock on the morning of the 4th of May, and shortly after a signal was made by his scouts, four miles down the river, that the British were approaching. By six o'clock they were in sight of the town. About this time they halted and the admiral sent two colored men to the fort with a verbal message that if the militia would not fire on him he would not burn anything but the storehouses and vessels. To this Colonel Veazey paid no attention, and the British continuing to advance soon came in range of the cannon, when the skirmish began by the Americans open- ing fire with it, but having only two rounds of cartridge, were obliged to desist when they were expended. The bat- tle from this point is well described by an anonymous writer of that time a part of whose narrative is as follows :
"The enemy still approaching gave three cheers, which was returned by the militia, and directly after, a volley from their small arms. The fire was immediately returned by the enemy, by a general discharge of grape, cannister, slugs, rockets, and musketry, which made such a terrible noise that one-half of the men shamefully ran, and could not be rallied again. Whether it was from their political aversion to the present war, their dislike of shedding blood, or actually thro' fear, I cannot determine ; but so it was that not more than one-half of the original number remained to contend against the whole force of the enemy. This gal- lant little band resisted for near half an hour, in spite of the
421
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
incessant fire of the enemy, until they were in danger of being surrounded, when they retreated in safety with the loss of but one man wounded. The enemy threw several rockets in the village, and reduced the whole place to ashes, except two or three houses, saved by the entreaties of the women. Not satisfied with this destruction, they extended their ravages to the neighboring farm-houses, several of which were burned quite down."
The loss of the British in this skirmish was not ascer- tained, but was supposed to have amounted to ten or fifteen killed and wounded. After the destruction of Frederick- town, the enemy went over to Georgetown, nearly all of which they destroyed. The conduct of the British soldiers engaged in this raid, both before and after the destruction of the villages, was denounced in very severe terms by the writer before quoted from, who states "that they so far de- scended in petty pilfering as to rob the black ferry-man, FRIDAY, of his all and his pig, which lived with him in his hut." They even went so far as to take the ear-rings from the ears of one of the ladies in Georgetown, and to rob others of their clothing.
Colonel Veazey was much praised for his gallant defense of Fredericktown. The names of the militia who remained in the fort with him are as follows :
Samuel Wroth, D. F. Heath, Moses Cannon,
Nicholas Franks,
Jolmn W. Etherington, Joshma Ward, Dormer Oaks, John Etherington, John V. Price, Elias See, Jolını T. Veazey, David Paget, Tylus Robinson, P. Biddle,
James Darley, James Clayton,
R. C. Lusby (scargt.), John Henderson (lieut.), James Allen (capt.),
John Duffy, Samuel P. Pennington,
H. E. Coalman (seargt. mate), Samuel Dixon, Willliam Roberts,
Francis Roch,
William MacKey, George Stanly, William Ford,
422
HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY.
James Council, Joseph Greenwood, Joshua Hovington,
Joseph Etherington, Edward Lister,
- Reynolds.
Joseph Davis (of Morris),
Having accomplished the destruction of these villages, the enemy returned to their fleet in the Chesapeake, and being apprehensive of the arrival of a French fleet, soon afterwards made their way to the southern part of the bay. From this time until after the battle at North Point, in September, 1814, the British infested the waters of the bay, and the people of this county were continually in dread of another raid. Consequently when the news of the conclusion of the treaty of peace at Ghent, reached here in February, 1815, it was received with great joy, and every manifestation of de- light.
The court was in session at Elkton when the news reached that place, and so great was the joy of the people, that it immediately adjourned, and every one that was able repaired to Fort Hollingsworth to celebrate the auspicious event. The river was frozen over at the time, and those who took charge of the guns placed a barrel on the ice some distance down the river, and commenced firing at it with shot. The late judge, Ezekiel F. Cham- bers, then a young man and State's Attorney for this county, had charge of one of the guns. After a few shots had been fired, some one placed a frozen clod in the muzzle of his gun which caused it to explode, by which the judge was quite seriously hurt. A little girl is said to have been looking out of one of the windows of the old stone house, before referred to, who narrowly escaped being struck by a piece of the bursted gun, which passed through the win- dow alongside of her. This accident terminated the re- joicings for that day, but they were renewed a few days afterwards, by the patriotic people of the town, who had a grand feast, at which they roasted an ox which they had decorated and driven through the streets with a board
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