Kitty Knight, Heroine of the warfare of 1812 at the Chesapeake Bay

One of the fantastic heroines of the conflict of 1812 become a Maryland female called Kitty Knight, who fended off an attack by means of Royal Marines and sailors on her jap Shore village of Georgetown on the Sassafras River.

A force under Admiral Sir George Cockburn sailed up the Sassafras River on might also 5, 1813. The British left their large warship at the back of within the open waters of Chesapeake Bay, thoroughly out of attain of any American attack. bills say the British had 500 men in 5 30-foot barges, each with small cannons. It became an impressive pressure of fight veterans compared to the untrained volunteers within the local militia. Their goal turned into Georgetown in Kent County, Maryland, and every other village, Fredericktown, on the other financial institution of the river in Cecil County, Maryland.

On land, from the hillside near Kitty Knight's house in Georgetown and searching out over the river, a bit imagination facilitates you journey again in time. looking the British flotilla approach need to have felt unreal as the enemy fleet descended upon the peaceful village.

Cockburn sent two captured slaves to warn the americans no longer to resist. If no shots had been fired, he could best burn the ships at anchor and the storehouses.

His request could now not be met, as even Cockburn need to have known. The americans have been now not approximately to surrender without a combat. American military had built a makeshift citadel overlooking the river. In and round this earthworks, approximately four hundred men and some cannon were beneath the command of Colonel T.W. Veasey, who lived on a nearby farm. If for no different purpose than to store face, Veasey ordered his guys to open fireplace. The americans positioned up a warm resistance for about 1/2 an hour till the British threatened to overwhelm the citadel. The militia melted into the geographical region, a few men dashing to the villages to store what they may before the British arrived.

A witness to the assault defined the scene in a letter the next day: "Admiral Cockburn's officers behaved in... inhuman, indecent fashion."

The British burned mechanic shops, granaries, save homes, twenty-3 non-public homes in the villages, numerous vicinity farmhouses, taverns, a large schooner at anchor and three smaller ships. Smoke and flames stuffed the may also sky.

Given this scary scene of destruction, I assume it makes Kitty Knight's actions even more courageous.

neighborhood legends have grown over the years that describe Kitty Knight waving the stars and stripes within the faces of the British or chasing off British marines with a broom. In truth, those debts have caused comparisons among Kitty Knight and Barbara Fritchie, the patriotic Maryland heroine of John Greenleaf Whittier's Civil struggle poem.

Kitty Knight's personal account is extra matter-of-fact. She stated she best wanted to forestall the British from burning a number of the homes due to the fact a neighbor of hers, an vintage lady, lay unwell in one of the upstairs rooms. She feared that the girl would no longer be capable of break out the flames.

"I right away referred to as the eye of the Admiral to the truth that they have been approximately to deplete a individual and that a female," she wrote years after the attack.

whilst the British subsequently rowed away, the destruction of the town become complete. some debts say the British left the smoking ruins of as many as three hundred buildings. i'd think this wide variety is nearly clearly exaggerated, but there is no question that the devastation of the twin cities turned into full-size. families whose houses and storehouses burned had been left destitute.

omit Catharine "Kitty" Knight in no way married, though she turned into identified as a awesome splendor in her kids and had even danced with George Washington at parties in Philadelphia. From the neighborhood anecdotes and information i have visible, it seems that she suffered some sort of failed love affair, and then she by no means entered into another romantic courting. additionally, Kitty regarded to own enough inherited wealth that she did no longer want a husband to assist her.

She had a reputation as being independent-minded and changed into plenty-celebrated all her lifestyles for status as much as the British that day.

Kitty Knight died on Nov. 22, 1855, at age 79 and is buried in a as an alternative good sized marble tomb at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church close to Warwick, Maryland. A usa flag is regularly positioned at her grave each Memorial Day and Veterans Day.