Existing comment:
The Chesapeake Flotilla
On July 4, 1813, Joshua Barney, an American Revolutionary War naval hero, proposed a plan to the Secretary of the Navy, William Jones, to build, purchase, outfit, man, and command a flying squadron of 20 barges to defend the Chesapeake Bay from further British incursions.
While this flotilla's engagements at Cedar Point and St. Leonard's Creek on the Patuxent River during June 1814 did not stop the invading forces, their battles did divert British resources and bought some extra time for Washington and Baltimore to bolster their defenses. Faced with imminent capture, the flotilla-men were ordered to scuttle their vessels at Pig Point, Maryland in August 1814, and valiantly joined the militia at Bladensburg in a last ditch effort to save Washington DC.
"Thus, we have beat them and their rockets, which they did not spare... The moment the enemy ran off, we moved up the river, so that thanks to hot and cold shot, the blockade is raised."
-- Joshua Barney, quoted in American & Commercial Daily Advertiser, June 29, 1814
Battle of Cedar Point:
On June 1, 1814, the Chesapeake Bay Flotilla encountered the 12 gun schooner HMS St. Lawrence (the former Baltimore privateer Atlas) and boats from HMS Dragon and the HMS Albion near the mouth of the Potomac River at St. Jerome's Creek. After a brief encounter, referred to as the Battle of Cedar Point, Barney withdrew into the protection of the Patuxent River, which the British promptly blockaded.
Having faced little naval opposition in the Bay until now, the British realized after the Battle of Cedar Point that Joshua Barney's newly organized flotilla was a potential threat. Rear Admiral George Cockburn decided to divert some of his forces engaged in the blockading the mouth of the Chesapeake and harassing coastal towns, to destroying the fledgling American squadron. He ordered the frigate Loire, Captain Thomas Brown, and the brig sloop Jaseur, Commander George E. Watts, to join Captain Robert Barrie's force in the Patuxent River.
As British reinforcements converged on the Patuxent, Barney recognized that the larger British vessels would hold the advantage in the river's open waters and withdrew his barges into St. Leonard's Creek. A series of skirmishes, all ending in stalemate, preceded the first Battle of St. Leonard's Creek. |