USS ''Scorpion'' was a self-propelled floating

artillery battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to f ...

in commission with the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

from 1812 to 1814. ''Scorpion'' was sloop-rigged and could also be propelled by oars. She probably was built under contract for the U.S. Navy in 1812 for service during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. Lieutenant Edmond P. Kennedy assumed command of the ship at

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, Virginia, in September 1812. On 29 March 1813, ''Scorpion'' was ordered to the

Potomac River The Potomac River () is in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography D ...

to serve in the

Potomac Flotilla The Potomac Flotilla, also called the Potomac Squadron, was a unit of the United States Navy created in the early days of the American Civil War to secure Union communications in the Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac River and their tributaries, and to ...

, which was to protect

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Since Lieutenant Kennedy was to command the flotilla, Lieutenant George C. Read became the commanding officer of ''Scorpion'' on 4 May 1813. On 18 February 1814, ''Scorpion'' reported for duty at

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, Maryland, in Commodore

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

's Chesapeake Bay Flotilla and became Commodore Barney's

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

. On 24 May 1814, with Major William B. Barney, Commodore Barney's son, acting as captain of ''Scorpion'', the flotilla sailed for the lower

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

in an attempt to stop the British from advancing toward Washington. On 1 June 1814, a British squadron was encountered at the mouth of 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 northeas ...

, and the flotilla was forced to retreat up the river. During the following weeks, Commodore Barney's flotilla engaged the British on several occasions and was able to delay the British advance. Finally, on 21 August 1814, facing overwhelming odds, Barney was forced to retreat and landed his men at Pig Point, near

Upper Marlboro, Maryland Upper Marlboro, officially the Town of Upper Marlboro, is the county seat of Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population within the town limits was 652, although Greater Upper ...

. Barney and his men then marched to assist in the defense of Washington, leaving ''Scorpion'' and the rest of the flotilla to be burned by a detail of men under Lieutenant Solomon Frazier to prevent the capture of the ships by the British. For more than a century, the remains of some of the flotilla were visible in the

mud, however by the mid-20th century, it had become invisible due to salvage hunters and the accumulation of

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...

. In 1979, marine researchers explored the Pig Point waters and located a shipwreck they thought to be ''Scorpion''. Later, U.S. Navy and State of Maryland divers began exploring the site. The researchers issued a report in 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scorpion (1812) War of 1812 ships of the United States 1810s ships Maritime incidents in 1814