The Chesapeake Bay Flotilla was a motley collection of barges and gunboats that the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

assembled under the command of

Joshua Barney Joshua Barney (6 July 1759 – 1 December 1818) was an American Navy officer who served in the Continental Navy during the Revolutionary War and as a captain in the French Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. He later achieved the rank ...

, an 1812 privateer captain, to stall British attacks in the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...

which came to be known as the "Chesapeake Campaign" during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...

. The Flotilla engaged the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

in several inconclusive battles before Barney was forced to scuttle the vessels themselves on August 22, 1814. The men of the Flotilla then served onshore in the defense of Washington, DC and Baltimore. It was disbanded on February 15, 1815, after the end of the war.

Formation

Joshua Barney submitted a plan for the defense of the Chesapeake Bay to

Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...

William Jones on 4 July 1813. He estimated that a force consisting of gunboats and barges that could be sailed or rowed, manned by sailors and those in the shipbuilding industries, could engage British landing parties in the shallow waters of the Bay. He set sail in April 1814 with these eighteen ships: seven barges, six barges, two gunboats, one row-galley, one lookout boat and his flagship, the sloop-rigged, self-propelled floating battery USS ''Scorpion'', mounting two long guns and two

carronade A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century. Its main funct ...

Flotillamen crews

The Flotillamen, totaling 4,370 men at their largest, were motley crews composed mainly of U.S. Navy sailors, merchant seamen, Chesapeake Bay

watermen A waterman is a river worker who transfers passengers across and along city centre rivers and estuaries in the United Kingdom and its colonies. Most notable are those on the River Thames and River Medway in England, but other rivers such as t ...

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

s, free negros, and

runaway slaves In the United States, fugitive slaves or runaway slaves were terms used in the 18th and 19th century to describe people who fled slavery. The term also refers to the federal Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850. Such people are also called free ...

. Later, when they became shipless and on the march, from

Benedict, Maryland Benedict is an unincorporated town and census-designated place in Charles County, Maryland, United States, located on the Patuxent River in southern Maryland. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 261. Demographics History Originally a ...

, a battalion of 700 marines from the

Washington Navy Yard The Washington Navy Yard (WNY) is the former shipyard and ordnance plant of the United States Navy in Southeast Washington, D.C. It is the oldest shore establishment of the U.S. Navy. The Yard currently serves as a ceremonial and administrat ...

, would join them, as they moved north to defend the Capital and make an abortive stand at Bladensburg, against the rapid British advance.

Operations

Battle of St. Jerome Creek

On June 1, 1814, Barney's flotilla, led by ''Scorpion'', were coming down

when it encountered the 12-gun schooner (the former Baltimore privateer ''Atlas''), and boats from the 74-gun Third Rates and near St. Jerome Creek. The flotilla pursued ''St Lawrence'' and the boats until they reached the protection of the two 74s. The American flotilla then retreated into the

Patuxent River The Patuxent River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland. There are three main river drainages for central Maryland: the Potomac River to the west passing through Washington, D.C., the Patapsco River to the northeast ...

, which the British quickly blockaded. The British outnumbered Barney by 7:1, forcing the flotilla on June 7 to retreat into St. Leonard's Creek. Two British frigates, the 38-gun ''Loire'' and the 32-gun , plus the 18-gun

sloop-of-war In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' en ...

, blockaded the mouth of the creek. The creek was too shallow for the British warships to enter; the flotilla outgunned, and hence was able to fend off, the boats from the British ships. Battles continued through June 10. The British, frustrated by their inability to flush Barney out of his safe retreat, proceeded to raid several nearby Maryland settlements; sacking and burning Calverton, Huntingtown, Prince Frederick, Benedict and Lower Marlboro. Among the British units that participated in the campaign were a battalion of Royal Marines and the Corps of Colonial Marines, a unit consisting of enslaved African Americans who had deserted their enslavers and joined the British.

Battle of St. Leonard's Creek

On June 26, after the arrival of troops commanded by U.S. Army Colonel Decius Wadsworth, and U.S. Marine Captain Samuel Miller, Barney attempted a breakout. A simultaneous attack from land and sea on the blockading frigates at the mouth of St. Leonard's creek allowed the flotilla to move out of the creek and up-river to

, though Barney had to scuttle gunboats 137 and 138 in the creek. The British entered the then-abandoned creek and burned the town of

St. Leonard, Maryland St. Leonard is a census-designated place (CDP) in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. The population was 742 at the 2010 census. Residents of the Calvert Beach and Long Beach communities also use the St. Leonard ZIP code designation. St. Leon ...

. The British, under the command of Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, moved up the Patuxent, preparing for a landing at

. For several days the British fleet bombarded the Flotilla with cannon and

congreve rocket The Congreve rocket was a type of rocket artillery designed by British inventor Sir William Congreve in 1808. The design was based upon the rockets deployed by the Kingdom of Mysore against the East India Company during the Second, Third, ...

s in an attempt to destroy it. August 11, 1814, the Flotilla left St. Leonard's Creek and sailed north up the

. A plan had been discussed to transport the entire Flotilla overland from the port of Queen Anne to the South River and return it to the Bay. However, concerned that the Flotilla would fall into British hands,

Jones ordered Barney to take his squadron as far up the Patuxent as possible, to Queen Anne, and scuttle the vessels should the British appear. On 22 August the British approached the Flotilla, and Barney ordered its destruction. He then force-marched the men from the flotilla and such cannons as were movable, to Washington D.C. where they were to join the Battle of Bladensburg. Three active battalions of the Regular Army (1-4 Inf, 2-4 Inf and 3-4 Inf) perpetuate the lineages of the old 36th and 38th Infantry Regiments, both of which had elements that participated in the Battle of St. Leonard's Creek.

Battle of Queen Anne

On August 22, the British attempted to capture Barney's squadron at Queen Anne. In his report of the affair, the tactical commander, Admiral Sir George Cockburn wrote: The Final Stand at Bladensburg, Maryland, 24 August 1814

The Final Stand at Bladensburg, Maryland, 24 August 1814

Battle of Bladensburg

On August 24, Barney and the flotilla participated in the Battle of Bladensburg. The Flotilla stood their ground and the British suffered heavy casualties at the hands of Barney's cannoneers. Barney received a serious wound to his thigh from a musket ball and since they were about to be overwhelmed by British regulars, ordered the Flotilla to retreat. The Flotilla, along with the United States Marines from the Marine Corps Barracks at 8th and I Streets in Washington, D.C., commanded by Lt. Miller, were the last two American units to leave the battlefield.The 1814 Register of Patients at the Naval Hospital Washington, provides a unique glimpse of the aftermath of battle and a record of the lives of individual sailors, marines, soldiers, and civilians many who were part of the Chesapeake Bay Flotilla, from their admission to discharge. The Register, covers the period 2 June to 30 December 1814, is one of our most important primary sources for the names and units of American casualties at Bladensburg, see thumbnail.Sharp, John G., ''Register of Patients at Naval Hospital Washington DC 1814 With The Names of American Wounded From The Battle of Bladensburg'', Naval History and Heritage Command, 2018 https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/r/register-patients-naval-hospital-washington-dc-1814.html

Battle of Baltimore

Approximately 500 of the flotilla men then marched to Baltimore, joining others there, and were assigned to the U.S. Naval Command Second Regiment. They manned the following posts in the defense of Baltimore: The Flotilla manned these positions throughout the Battle of Baltimore, pitting sailor against sailor in fighting the British Fleet. The Flotilla inflicted numerous casualties on the attacking British ships, especially during the attempted night assault on Battery Babcock by a Royal Marine landing party. Lt. Col. David Harris reported that Charles Messenger was killed in action at the Water Battery, and three other flotilla men wounded.

Flotilla disbanded

After the Battle of Baltimore, the Flotilla did not participate in any further engagements. On February 15, 1815, Congress repealed the short lived Flotilla Act, and the Chesapeake Bay Flotilla was officially disbanded.

Archeology

In 1978, a survey of the upper Patuxent River using a

proton precession magnetometer A proton magnetometer, also known as a proton precession magnetometer (PPM), uses the principle of Earth's field nuclear magnetic resonance (EFNMR) to measure very small variations in the Earth's magnetic field, allowing ferrous objects on land ...

located the fleet. Further study of the wrecks, including one vessel dubbed the ''Turtle Shell'' Wreck', followed in 1979. The ''Turtle Shell'' was lying in the main river channel near Wayson's Corner, and covered by five feet of mud, the ship was well preserved, although it appeared the bow was torn off in an explosion. When the new Route 4 Hills Bridge was built in 1990, remnants of Barney's ships were found buried more than five feet below the riverbed. A replica of one of Joshua Barney's gunboats today sits at the Bladensburg Waterfront Park.

Honors

References

External links

Joshua Barney's Chesapeake Bay Flotilla
{{coord missing, United States Chesapeake Bay /

Chesapeake Chesapeake often refers to: *Chesapeake people, a Native American tribe also known as the Chesepian * The Chesapeake, a.k.a. Chesapeake Bay *Delmarva Peninsula, also known as the Chesapeake Peninsula Chesapeake may also refer to: Populated plac ...

Battles of the Chesapeake campaign