Existing comment:
Blown to Atoms
Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail
A series of explosions rocked the Patuxent on August 22, 1814. Commodore Joshua Barney's armed barges had eluded the British until their escape ended in the shallows of the river. His orders were clear: destroy the flotilla to keep it from enemy hands. Barney and 400 of his men headed overland toward Washington. About a hundred stayed behind near Pig Point (just northeast of here). At the first sight of British vessels, they scuttled their own fleet.
Seeing the explosions, the British turned back and landed at nearby Mount Calvert. They hurried to join more than 4,000 troops marching from Benedict. At Upper Marlboro the two branches of British invaders merged, just hours after Barney's men had marched through the town.
Americans rigged trains of gunpowder to ignite their abandoned flotilla barges, causing a series of deafening explosions.
"Seventeen Vessels...composed this formidable and So much Vaunted Flotilla, Sixteen were in quick Succession blown to atoms and the Seventeenth...was captured."
– British Vice Admiral Cochrane, August 22, 1814
Places to learn more about the 1814 British invasion:
* National Museum of the U.S. Navy, Washington Navy Yard – Artifacts from flotilla vessel scuttled near Pig Point
* Nottingham – Base for the Chesapeake Flotilla; interpretation at Nottingham School
* Mount Calvert Historical and Archaeological Park – Restored 18th century plantation house; archaeological excavations; river access
* Upper Marlboro – 18th-century Darnall's Chance house museum; tomb of Dr. William Beanes
* Jackson's Landing, Patuxent River Park – River access; near site where flotilla was scuttled |