Existing comment:
Public Enemy #1:
Bay residents reviled Admiral George Cockburn for his role in Britain's punitive and vindictive campaign along the Chesapeake. In August 1813, one Virginia man offered $1000 for his head, calling him "the notorious incendiary and infamous scoundrel, and violator of all laws, human and divine..."
Defending the Chesapeake:
Joshua Barney, a skilled sea captain and veteran of the Continental Navy, hatched an audacious plan to harass the British. In 1813, the US Navy agreed to build an 18-vessel squadron of gunboats, barges and schooners. Captain Barney's US Chesapeake Flotilla left Baltimore in May 1814, heading south. In June, the flotilla fought two battles with the Royal Navy -- Maryland's largest naval engagements -- before Barney ordered the ships destroyed. Barney was later wounded at the Battle of Bladensburg, and never fully recovered. |