Existing comment:
A Campaign of Harassment and Plunder:
Great Britain declared a blockade of the Chesapeake Bay in late 1812. Over the next two years, Marylanders were in the cross hairs of war. The Royal Navy, hoping to divert American troops from the war's Canadian theatre, patrolled the bay, seizing ships, conducting raids, skirmishing with local militia, burning tobacco, and encouraging slaves to leave their owners.
In the end, the campaign of terror on the Chesapeake failed -- and only helped unite anti-war and pro-war Marylanders in common cause against there British occupiers. |