Sunday, December 29, 2013

Death of Benjamin Stoddert of Bladensburgh, Maryland, reported in New York Evening Post, Dec. 27, 1813

From our correspondent,
Washington, Dec 22.

               You will perceive on reading the Message of the President recommending an Embargo, that embraces other subjects to which he calls the attention of Congress. These will in their season be for the deliberation of the National Legislature, and will very probably become features in the restrictive system which is to hang over this country like a deadly incubus. An important era in the history of the Senate is about to be developed, and let me inform you, it is here understood that Executive measures must prevail. Hence an Embargo with rigid provision has been enlisted, not in pursuance with the judgment of the Senate, but according to Executive requisition.

               The only circumstance that has happened in the neighbourhood [sic], worthy of remark, is the death of Mister Stoddert, the first secretary of the Navy. He was universally known in this country, and is universally esteemed a great and good man. He died at Bladensburgh [sic] on last Saturday morning. On the evening before he retired to rest in his usual health - at 12 o'clock he was seized with what is usually termed a cholic in the stomach, and died about 1 o'clock in the morning.[1]



[1] The Evening Post.; Date: 12-27-1813; Page: [2]; Location: New York, New York
Transcribed by John Peter Thompson December 29, 2013.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

US Immigration and Naturalization Policy Debate, Dec 1, 1813


FROM THE STANDARDS OF UNION.
______________

A POINT OF CONTROVERSY.

               It now behoves the United States to repeal their naturalization laws, or in a solemn manner to maintain their validity. While they remain on the statute book, and form a part of the law of the land, it would be disgraceful to submit to their violation. If they are just in point of principle, they ought to be defended. If wrong, they should be instantly revoked; and then, that subject of contention with Great Britain would be removed. It is very extraordinary circumstance, that England who accepts and courts the services of the subjects of other nations, should be so Stern in enforcing an opposite rule against them. An American or a Dane, serves two years in the British Navy, is thereby ipso facto, naturalized; but an Englishman regularly naturalized in the United States, if taken in their service, is liable to be hung.

               The question before us is a very important one. It possesses extensive relations in peace as well as in war. If naturalization is not valid, the natives of the British dominions cannot become American citizens, neither can they be entitled to hold ships, pursue trade, or perform any other act in that character.

               We hold the right of immigration to be a law inseparable from our nature, and as ancient as civilization itself. - That it was recognized by the Roman Republic, sufficiently appears by the Plotian law, and the celebrated orations of Cicero, pro Archias. Contrary doctrines, principally spraying, from the system of feudal vassalage and cannot be sanctioned by states, whose institutes are founded on the universal law of nature and of nations. This is a subject that deserves an able and accurate discussion.

               We are happy to see our government retaliate in a manner that will eventually ensure safety to the person of our naturalized fellow citizens and cause their rights to be respected. The principle must be settled by the maxims of justice, and not by the arrogant despotism of a British cabinet.







Headline: From the Standard of Union. A Point of Controversy; Article Type: News/Opinion
Paper: Baltimore Patriot, published as Baltimore Patriot & Evening Advertiser.; Date: 12-01-1813; Volume: 2; Issue: 125; Page: [2]; Location: Baltimore, Maryland


Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Bostwick, Bladensburg, Maryland, Beyond the Battle - Did You Know?

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Bladensburg: Beyond the Battle - Bostwick from Mark Hildebrand on Vimeo.

          Bostwick is one of only four pre-Revolutionary War structures still standing in Bladensburg, Maryland. It was a grand home, built for Christopher Lowndes who was a leading citizen and local merchant in Bladensburg. His trading company imported spices, building materials, dry goods, and slaves. He also owned a shipyard where ocean-going vessels were constructed as well as a ropewalk that manufactured the cordage necessary for shipping lines.

          Lowndes bought the property for Bostwick in 1742, and the house was completed in 1746, as attested by a lead plate on the south chimney that contains the following inscription, ‘C.L. 1746.’ The house has been in the hands of only three families during its 250-plus year history. When Christopher Lowndes died in 1785, it became the property of his daughter, Rebecca, who was married to Benjamin Stoddert who served as the country’s first Secretary of the Navy. The house was already experiencing structural problems as Stoddert constructed a series of buttresses along the south and west sides of the building. In addition, the Stodderts also constructed the separate kitchen building that sits just a few feet from the northeast corner of the house.

ihttp://townofbladensburg.com/cms/bostwick/  from Bostwick’s National Register Application dated 1975.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Gunpowder for Sale near Bladensburg, Maryland - August 1813

GUN POWDER

               The subscribers offer for sale, at the Franklin Powder Mills, Near Bladensburg, and at the store of Stull & Williams, in Georgetown,

GUN POWDER
OF EVERY DESCRIPTION,

Warranted to be of superior quality.

               From the great expence [sic] and trouble which they have incurred to make their powder good, they flatter themselves that they will meet with encouragement. - Persons residing in the several counties in the adjacent states, who are in the habit of vending powder, can be supplied on the most liberal terms. - Orders from a distance will be punctually attended to, the powder carefully put up in tight casks, and forwarded without delay.

GRAYSON, STULLER & WILLIAMS

August 27 - 12t [1]

Federal Republican, August 30, 1813
This entire product and/or portions thereof are copyrighted by NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004
              
              





[1] Federal Republican and Commercial Gazette.; Date: 08-30-1813; Volume: VII; Issue: 1013; Page: [3]; Location: Georgetown, District of Columbia.
Transcribed by John Peter Thompson, July 28th, 2013.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Wheat and the Hessian Fly in Maryland 1812 - Advice to Farmers

Poulson's American Daily Advertiser.;
Date: 07-28-1812;
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Rural Economy:
-
TO FARMERS:
               The following method is recommended to preserve Wheat for years from the fly that prevails more or less every year in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, Delaware and Jersey, and more particularly on the Bays, Rivers and adjacent country.[1]
               Get your wheat out of your straw as early as you possibly can; clean the straw well from the chaff and wheat; if you have a barn, put your wheat away in bulk, leaving the chaff with it.  I knew wheat kept several years during the Revolutionary War in this way free from all insects. - Rats and mice cannot burrow in this bank, it will continually fall on them.  Those that have not barns may make pens with logs, or fence rails; first laying logs or rails on the earth sufficent to keep the damp from rising to injure the wheat; then cover the floor twelve or eighteen inches thick with with straw well tread down - put your wheat on this floor miced with all its chaff, and as you fill the pen, line the sides well with straw; when you have filled your pen in this way, stack your straw on the top of it, seeing that the straw extends well over the top of the pen to carry off the rain water.              E. K. [2]




[1] Asa Fitch. 1847. Diptera. C. Van Benthuysen and Co., Albany. [accessed July 23, 2013] http://archive.org/details/101187262.nlm.nih.gov

 "The insect which we are about to consider, has for a long period been, at times, a severe scourge, in every district of our country. It is more formidable to us, says Dr. B. S. Barton, than would be an army of twenty thousand Hessians, or of any other twenty thou sand hirelings, supplied with all the implements of war. Hence it has forced itself prominently to the notice both of agriculturists and men of science. No other insect of the tens of thousands that teem in our land, has received a tithe of the attention, or been chronicled with a tithe of the voluminousness that has been assigned to this species. Our scientific journals, our agricultural magazines, and our common newspapers, have each accorded to it a conspicuous place in their columns. As may well be supposed, almost every point in its history, has by one and another of its observers, been closely investigated, and laid before the public. Very little that is  new, can, therefore, at this day be embodied in an account of this species. The most that an observer can accomplish, is to add his testimony in confirmation of facts that have been already announced. The most that a writer can aim at, is to gather the various papers that are scattered through volumes sufficiently numerous of themselves to form a library, sift from them whatever they contain of importance, and arrange the facts thus acquired, into a connect ed and symmetrical memoir. Such is the object of the present essay ; to carefully review the various accounts that have been hitherto published, extract from each the items of value which it contains, compare these with personal observations made under favorable circumstances during the past twelve months, and with the materials thus acquired, rite out a history of this species, more ample in its details than any that has been hitherto attempted, and containing a complete summary of all that is known of this insect down to the present day."   


J. W. Chapin, Extension Small Grain Specialist, Department of Entomology, Soils, and Plant Sciences, Clemson
University, Edisto Res. & Ed. Center, 64 Research Road, Blackville, SC 29817. 803-284-3343-ext. 226 jchapin@clemson.edu. [accessed July 23, 2013]

"The Hessian fly, Mayetiola destructor (Say), got its common name from the belief that it was introduced
to North America in the straw bedding of Hessian mercenaries during the Revolutionary War. It was
first reported attacking small grain on Long Island in 1779. By 1845 it was causing damage in Georgia and
has remained a sporadic pest of wheat in the South. Hessian fly can cause economic injury anywhere in
South Carolina, but fields in the southern Coastal Plain usually have greater risk.

Annual damage exceeded $4 million dollars in several outbreaks from 1984 -1989. Contributing factors for severe infestation include use of a susceptible variety, early planting, unusually warm Nov. – Dec. weather, reduced tillage into wheat stubble, volunteer wheat, and lack of rotation. Hessian fly attacks wheat, triticale, barley, and rye in that order of damage severity. Oats are not affected."

[2] Poulson's American Daily Advertiser.; Date: 07-28-1812; Volume: XLI; Issue: 11131; Page: [2]; Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Transcribed by John Peter Thompson, July 23rd, 2013.

Saturday, July 20, 2013

A Partial Bibliography - Agricultural and Political Life in Bladensburg, Maryland - 1814

Anon, 1836. A General History of the Tobacco Plant: Intended as an Authoritative Reference to Its Discovery, Dissemination, and Reception as a Luxury, Newcastle upon Tyne: Pattison and Ross. Available at: http://books.google.com/books?id=W-UWAAAAYAAJ.

Biddle, J.F., 1953. Bladensburg: An Early Trade Center. Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C., 53/56, pp.309–326. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40067682.

Bozman, J.L., 1837. The history of Maryland: from its first settlement, in 1633, to the restoration, in 1660 ; with a copious introduction, and notes and illustrations, J. Lucas & E.K. Deaver.

Buchholz, H.E., 1908. Governors of Maryland: from the revolution to the year 1908, Williams & Wilkins company.

Calvert, R.S., 1992. Mistress of Riversdale: The Plantation Letters of Rosalie Stier Calvert, 1795-1821 illustrate. M. L. Callcott, ed., Johns Hopkins University Press. Available at: http://books.google.com/books?id=m9rxARyL5hcC.
Abstract: he book features letters from Rosalie Stier Calvert, a wealthy Belgian woman who married in to one of Maryland’s most prominent families after emigrating to America in the late 18th century. Her family ultimately returns home while she stays with her new husband, affording her the opportunity to write many letters detailing life in early America. ~ Book Review: Mistress of Riversdale By Brian. 


Carr, L.G. et al., 1991. Robert Cole’s World: Agriculture and Society in Early Maryland, Institute of Early American History and Culture. Available at: http://books.google.com/books?id=0eFwYcDLQigC.

Abstract: In 1652 Robert Cole, an English Catholic, moved with his family and servants to St. Mary’s County, Maryland. Using this family's story as a case study, the authors of Robert Cole's World provide an intimate portrait of the social and economic life of a middling planter in the seveneenth-century Chesapeake, including work routines and agricultural techniques, the upbringing of children, neighborhood relationships and community formation, and the role of religion. The Cole Plantation account, a record that details what the plantation produced, consumed, purchased, and sold over a twelve-year period, is the only known surviving document of its kind for seventeenth-century British America. Along with Cole's will, it serves as the framework around which the authors build their analysis. Drawing on these and other records, they present Cole as an exemplar of the ordinary planter whose success created the capital base for the slave-based plantation society of the eighteenth century.

Fields, B.J., 1985. Slavery and Freedom on the Middle Ground: Maryland During the Nineteenth Century, Yale University Press. Available at: http://books.google.com/books?id=DNd5_LRxjt8C.
Abstract: Probing the relationships among Maryland’s slaves and free blacks, its slaveholders, and its non-slaveholders, Fields shows how centrist moderation turned into centrist immoderation under the stress of the Civil War and how social channels formed by slavery established the course of struggle over the shape of free society. In so doing, she offers historical reflections on the underlying character both of slave society and of the society that replaced it.

Gottschalk, L.C., 1945. Effects of Soil Erosion on Navigation in Upper Chesapeake Bay. Geographical Review, 35(2), pp.219–238. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/211476.
Abstract: Alfred M. Rives, engineer in charge of a survey of bridges across the Potomac, who wrote, in 1857:13 Examination of old charts, as well as reflections upon the necessary operations of nature, convince me that these flats date from a period long antecedent to the erection of the cause? way. That they have increased rapidly during the past fifty years is but natural, when we consider what vast deposits must result from the freshet waters of the Potomac, now rendered doubly turbid from washing the shores of a highly cultivated region. It must be evident that ploughed hill sides furnish more alluvial deposit than unbroken forests or grassy slopes. By the operation of these and similar causes, many ports, formerly deep and accessible, now scarcely exist, of which Bladensburg, in our immediate vicinity, and others on our rivers of the Atlantic seaboard, are familiar examples.

Heidler, D.S. & Heidler, J.T., 2004. Encyclopedia of the war of 1812, Annapolis: U S NAVAL INST Press. Available at: http://books.google.com/books?id=_c09EJgek50C.

Holmes, O.W., 1948. Stagecoach Days in the District of Columbia. Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C., 50, pp.1–42. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40067314.
Abstract: The stages met and exchanged passengers at a tavern in the vicinity of the present town of Laurel that was then kept by Thomas Rose.3 Here the passengers also dined. For the first few years the Potomac crossing was at Alexandria, not at Georgetown. From the Maryland side of the ferry the stage travelled up to Bladensburg on the road that ran east of the Anacostia River.4 The fare between Baltimore and Alexandria was $3.00. The proprietors “presumed this commodious and speedy method of travelling will meet with due encouragement,” but the trip apparently consumed the entire day.

Johnson, W., 1999. Soul by Soul, Harvard University Press. Available at: .
Abstract: The focus of this book is on nineteenth-century New Orleans and the slave market that emerged then and there. More than other workings of slavery, slave markets reduced humans to commodities with prices. In particular, this book is interested in the story of slave showrooms, which held up to 100 slaves and where appraisals, accountings, back-room dealings, and other activities took place. The book attributes the slave trade to mercantilism whereby colonial imports serviced and stocked metropolitan centers and generated profits secured for both state-sponsored companies and the monopoly-granting state itself. Companies with well-connected leaders and government ties could gain state privileges and favors and receive special monopoly licenses to dominate trade, first in goods such as tobacco, indigo, rice, cotton, coffee, and so on, and later in human beings. The ban of the international slave trade in 1808 did not lead to the reduction or softening of slavery, but rather to new shapes and manifestations of slavery, especially as slave populations moved increasingly from the upper to the lower South. The ban led, more importantly for the purposes of this book, to the domestic slave trade. The domestic slave trade intensified during the rise of the cotton kingdom. The price of slaves changed with the price of cotton until the 1850s.

King, J.A., 1997. Tobacco, Innovation, and Economic Persistence in Nineteenth-Century Southern Maryland. Agricultural History, 71(2), pp.207–236. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3744247.

Kulikoff, A., 1986. Tobacco and Slaves: The Development of Southern Cultures in the Chesapeake, 1680-1800, University of North Carolina Press. Available at: http://books.google.com/books?id=NCvU9_bj-1QC.
Abstract: A major reinterpretation of the economic and political transformation of Chesapeake society from 1680 to 1800. Building upon massive archival research in Maryland and Virginia, Allan Kulikoff provides the most comprehensive study to date of changing social relations?among both blacks and whites?in the eighteenth-century South. He links his arguments about class, gender, and race to the later social history of the South and to larger patterns of American development.

McWilliams, J.W., 2011. Annapolis, City on the Severn: A History, Johns Hopkins University Press. Available at: http://books.google.com/books?id=9NJzbC_mlpkC.
Abstract: The story of Annapolis resonates in every century of American history. Annapolis has been home to tobacco plantations, political intrigue, international commerce, the U.S. Naval Academy, ballooning population growth, and colonial, state, and national government. Jane Wilson McWilliams’s captivating history explores Annapolis from its settlement in 1650 to its historic preservation campaign of the late twentieth century. McWilliams brings alive the people of Annapolis as she recounts their fortunes and foibles. Be they black or white, slave or master, woman or man, each has a place in this book. With unsurpassed detail and graceful prose, she describes the innermost workings of Maryland’s capital city—its social, civic, and religious institutions; its powerful political leaders; and its art, architecture, and neighborhoods.

Morgan, P.D. & Culture, O.I. of E.A.H. and, 1998. Slave Counterpoint: Black Culture in the Eighteenth-century Chesapeake and Lowcountry, University of North Carolina Press for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.
Abstract: Philip Morgan compares and contrasts African American life in these two regional black cultures, exploring the differences as well as the similarities. The result is a detailed and comprehensive view of slave life in the colonial American South. Morgan explores the role of land and labor in shaping culture, the everyday contacts of masters and slaves that defined the possibilities and limitations of cultural exchange, and finally the interior lives of blacks?their social relations, their family and kin ties, and the major symbolic dimensions of life: language, play, and religion. He provides a balanced appreciation for the oppressiveness of bondage and for the ability of slaves to shape their lives, showing that, whatever the constraints, slaves contributed to the making of their history. Victims of a brutal, dehumanizing system, slaves nevertheless strove to create order in their lives, to preserve their humanity, to achieve dignity, and to sustain dreams of a better future.

Morse, J. & Webber, S., 1802. The American Universal Geography: Or, A View of the Present State of All the Empires, Kingdoms, States, and Republics in the Known World, and of the United States in Particular. In Two Parts ..., Isaiah Thomas and Ebenezer T. Andrews; sold at their bookstore; by said Thomas in Worcester; by Thomas, Andrews & Butler in Baltimore, and by other booksellers.

Renzulli, L.M., 1973. Maryland: The Federalist Years, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. Available at: http://books.google.com/books?id=MsVZW6DJqpoC.
Abstract: The rise and fall of the Federalist Party in Maryland is detailed in this solid, traditional, narrative. Carefully documented, it examines the nature and voting patterns of the Federalist electorate in Maryland during the pre-Jacksonian era.

Riggs, J.B., 1946. Certain Early Maryland Landowners in the Vicinity of Washington. Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C., 48/49, pp.249–263 CR  – Copyright &#169; 1946 Historical Soc. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40064099.

Riley, E.S., 1906. A history of the General Assembly of Maryland, 1635-1904, Baltimore: Nunn & Co.

Sarson, S., 2000. Landlessness and Tenancy in Early National Prince George’s County, Maryland. The William and Mary Quarterly, 57(3), pp.569–598. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2674266.
Abstract: In the first three quarters of the eighteenth century, the landless component of the free population in the tidewater Chesapeake grew from a third to more than half, and that trend continued after Independence.6 In Prince George’s County, the proportion of landlessness was almost 70 percent in i8oo, 67 percent in i8io, and 75 percent in i820 (see Tables I, III, and V).

Sarson, S., 2009. Yeoman Farmers in a Planters’ Republic: Socioeconomic Conditions and Relations in Early National Prince George's County, Maryland. Journal of the Early Republic, 29(1), pp.63–99. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40208239.

Taylor, J., 1814. Arator: Being a Series of Agricultural Essays, Practical & Political, in Sixty One Numbers 2nd ed., Gerogetown, District of Columbia: J.M. Carter. Available at: http://books.google.com/books?id=YFVHAAAAYAAJ. 

Friday, July 19, 2013

The Enemy is in the Patuxent - July 19th, 1814

THE ENEMY IS IN THE PATUXENT

               An expressed arived on Sunday evening from Gen. Winder stating that the enemy were ascending the Patuxent in great force; orders were immediately issued from the War Department for a detatchment of volunteers to proceed from this city; yesterday about 12 o'clock capt. [sic] Davidson's light infantry, capt. Burch's artillery, and capt. Doughty's rifle companies took up the line of march; the whole under the command of Captain Davidson.[1]

The Enemy in the Patuxent;
Daily National Intelligencer; Date: 07-19-1814;




[1] Daily National Intelligencer; Date: 07-19-1814; Volume: II; Issue: 481; Page: [3]; Location: Washington (DC), District of Columbia.
Transcribed by John Peter Thompson, July 19th, 2013.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Ravages of the Enemy - Report from the Patuxent July 2, 1814

American Advocate; Date: 07-02-1814; Volume: V; Issue: 24; Page: [4]; Location: Hallowell, Maine

Peirce Nursery Catalog Cover 1824, Rock Creek, Washington DC



Peirce Nursery 1824, Rock Creek, Washington DC

Author: Peirce, Joshua; Henry G. Gilbert Nursery and Seed Trade Catalog Collection
Volume: 1824
Digitizing sponsor: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library

 links to Peirce catalogs online:

http://archive.org/details/towhichisaddedes1824peir

http://archive.org/details/towhichisaddedes1827peir

http://archive.org/details/catalogueoffruit1857peir

 

Monday, July 1, 2013

War in the Chesapeake - Dedham Gazette, July 1, 1814


War in the Chesapeake

               A great degree of alarm, and many war movements - on paper at least, - existed, at the last date, on many of the branches of the Chesapeake.

               In these waters there is considerable British naval force, but the exact number has not been ascertained, - At the entrance of the bay, there is a 74, and other vessels, forming a general blockading squadron.

               In the upper water there is a British 74, the Dragon, Capt. Barrie, two frigates, and a considerable number of smaller vessels and craft; who are opposed to the flotilla of gun-boats and launches, which have been fitted out at Baltimore, &c. at an expense of 50,000 dollars (~$516,700), and commanded by Com. Barney.  This force was declared to have been fitted out for the protection of that city and to be competent to its defence [sic]: But, for some unexampled cause, this flotilla has gotten out of its latitude, and having left the Potapsco [sic], has run into the Patuxent, and carried the war from Baltimore, into one of the most federal counties of the Sate. - The Maryland papers think this movement to be one of the pitiful artifices of the administration, to make the federalists feel the pressure of the war they abhor.

               In a creek of the Patuxent Com. Barney was strictly blockaded by a frigate, and some sloops of war.  This flotilla, from which so much was expected, and of which so much has been vapoured [sic]; being thus disposed of, the British boats and barges have been trying, as Mr. Jefferson would say, how "much harm they can do;" and if a twentieth part of the reports circulated of their doings be true, the people of the vicinity of the Capitol where the war was declared, find it a very "unprofitable contest."  The account states, that the barges had proceeded to Benedict (Maryland), about 15 miles from the creek where the blockading force lay; and where they continued for some time.  It was at this place where Mr. Dorsey met the British Commodore.  As that gentleman's accounts of events appear to me the most responsible, we continue his report of events.

               He says, "the British loaded their barges from the schooner which was aground, and conveyed it on board a privateer: - That while waiting events, near Benedict, " he had the mortification to see a brig, and a number of barges coming from St. Leonard's creek, for the evident purpose of saving the American merchants the trouble of looking out for shipping to carry their produce to market, by becoming themselves the carriers of our tobacco to the fine markets which the present state of the continent is likely to produce."  He adds, "if this tobacco is lost, the British will have taken from the public warehouse on this expedition, at least seventeen hundred and fifty hogsheads.  I can form no opinion of the length of time necessary to load their brig, and am convinced from the nature of the county, they can only be resisted by artillery."  He then hopes the President will order some heavy artillery to prevent the brig from regaining St. Leonard's creek. -  He concludes his letter of the 18th June saying, " You have no conception of the universal panic which prevails here.  The regulars who were stationed in Benedict lost a part of their baggage and provisions.  Believing I can be of no further service here, I return home," &c.

               The barges are said to have attempted to take Nottingham (Maryland), where there were large public warehouses with tobacco in them, and which is only 22 miles from the capitol in Washington; but were discharged of some heavy guns then on their way to St. Leonard's creek.  There are other accounts of similar events; but they are all, probably, the fabrications of newsmakers.

               It is added, that barges plundered on both sides of the river, unmolested. - They declared their orders to be to burn every house which was deserted, or where the stock was removed from the farms.  Provisions they said they wanted, and would have by purchase or force.  They burnt the public ware-houses at Lower Marlborough 5 miles from Benedict, &c.  Thus it appears a contemptible force has carried the war to within a few hours march of Mr. Madison's palace (the White House) without any resistance; and this too, in a narrow river and after we have been two years at war!  The people call for the "defence" [sic] which the Constitution declares the General Government shall give them, and for which they have paid scores of millions; they ask for arms, ammunition and provisions; and they are answered that the government troops are gone to take Canada; and if any succor is sent, it arrives after the enemy has retired.

               By the Georgetown and Washington papers it appears, that the British have evacuated the town of Benedict, and returned down the river.  The quantity of tobacco carried away, and destroyed by the British, during their excursion up the Patuxent, is computed at 8000 bdds.

               It is generally believed that they are now about to concentrate all their force for another attack upon Barney's flotilla.

               The people of that part of Maryland which is now the seat of war, are represented as being extremely exasperated at the President for leaving them in the exposed aituation.  A letter from Leonardstown [sic], after mentioning the consternation and sufferings of the people, adds - " But these are only exceeded by the high-state of irritable sensibility discovered by all classes of citizens, of whatever party, with scarcely an exception, whenever Madison's or Barney's name is mentioned.  The dethroned tyrant is scarely [sic] more execrated by the people of Paris, Lyons or Bordeaux, than our President is by the good people of Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary's (counties).  Curses are poured out upon him daily by thousands of mouths, for bringing the enemy upon them without affording protection.  Old Major _______ has spoken his mind fully to Barney, and the language in which he vented his indignation is a fair sample of the general feeling among the people."  - [Centinel. [1]
              
              



[1] Dedham Gazette; Date: 07-01-1814; Volume: 1; Issue: 46; Page: [2]; Location: Dedham, Massachusetts.
Transcribed by John Peter Thompson, July 1st, 2013.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Bartram's Botanical Garden _ Catalog cover - 1814

Bartram's Catalog 1814 from the Special Collections of the National Agricultural Libray
(USDA ARS NAL) - Beltsville
ADVERTISEMENT.
----------
               We return thanks to our friends for many valuable presents of rare plants, which have served to increase the variety and usefulness of our collection; and to the public for their encouragement, which has enabled us to render the farden worthy of the general resort of travellers, and the lovers of horticulture.
            The following catalogue contains the names of all the plants, both domestic and foreign, which are cultivated and for sale at the Kingsess Botanic garden, - where are disposed of, seeds of American and foreign plants, on the most reasonable terms.

            N. B. The curious, by making timely application, may be furnished with dired specimens of American and foreign plants, &c.

Barney's flotilla moves up the river to Benedict, Maryland - reported June 28, 1814

BARNEY'S FLOTILLA.

               We have been favored with the perusal of a letter from Benedict [Maryland], dated on Sunday evening, stating that the flotilla in which was blockaded in St, Leanoard's creek, had fought its way into the Patuxent, and had arrived before Benedcit.  The blockading force consisted of a 74, a razee, and 2 frigates.  The loss on board the flotilla it is stated, was five killed and seven wounded.  The enemy's loss not known, but supposed to be considerable.   

               It is verbally stated, that the gunboats were dismantled and left behind, the barges only escaping.

               We have not been able to obtain any further particulars - the general facts are no doubt as above stated. [1]



[1] Federal Republican; Date: 06-28-1814; Page: 3; Location: Georgetown, District of Columbia.
Transcribed by John Peter Thompson, June 29th, 2013.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

For Sale in Baltimore - June of 1814 - Only Day's Ride from Bladensburg, Maryland

GROCERIES.

The subscribers have for sale at their

TEA WAREHOUSE,
                                                                                No. 65, Market-street,
The Following Goods

Which will be sold wholesale and retail at the lowest prices for cash, or approved paper at short dates.

65 chests, half chests
   & caddie boxes, Im-
  perial, "old Hyson,
  Yg, Hyson, Hyson
   Skin and Souchong
   Teas. Also, superior
   Quality Black Teas,
   Such as out up for
   the English market
   Muscovado Sugars
   Loaf & & Lump Sugar
   Green and white Cof-
   Fee in bags & bbls.
   White Havana Sug-
  gars.  
   Brown do   do
   Sup. qual. old Chew-
      Ing Tobacco in ib.
      twists; 3-1-2 years
      old and fit for pres-
      ent use.
   Rappe and Scotch
      Snuff best Haavana
      Segars in boxes and
      Half boxes.
   Glauber Salts in bls.
      and kegs, Madder
      in bbls. and kegs,
      Dupont's Powder in
      kegs and pound pa-
      pers, also Powder in
      kegs and pound pa-
      pers, also Powder
      from the Aetna
     powder Mills, war-
      ranted to be of good
      quality, &c. sold at
      the factory prices,
      patent shot all si-
      zes, Juniper berries
      in bbls. scented.   

   Soaps in small box
   es, Champagne and
Old Claret Wines,
Choice Old Port and
   Madeira Wines in
   pipes, or casks & in
   bottles, a part a lon
   time in bottles and
   recom'd to those u-
   sing it medically.
Cherry & Lisbon wine
Palma Wine, nearly
   equal to Port and at
   half price.
Fig Blue on boxes and
   half boxes.
Writing & Wrapping
   paper, Playing Cards,
   Ink Powder, Castor
   Oil in bottles, Sweet
   Oil in do. Spermaceti
   Oil in [hhd]s. tierces
   And by retial.
Raisins in boxes and
kegs. Almonds in bls.
& bags. Prunes, Cur-
rants, Chocolate No. 1
and 3, in boxes and
half boxes, Brown and
White Soap in boxes,
Mould & Dip Candles
of the best quality -
blacking balls & cakes,
sugar boxes, Sperma-
ceti Candles, White
Wax do. Cordials on
tap & in bottles, old
American Cheese -
Pine Apple do. &c.  



NORRIS & MARTIN,
     Who have in pipes and on tap fine old Cognac Brandy and old ARye Whiskey, also in bhds. on tap very choice quality old Spirits.[1]
               May 28                                                            t&s6t


[1] Baltimore Patriot & Evening Advertiser.; Date: 06-16-1814; Volume: 3; Issue: 142; Page: [1]; Location: Baltimore, Maryland.
Transcribed by John Peter Thompson. June 16th, 2013.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Com. Barney, to the Secretary of the Navy, dated Patuxent, St. Leonard's Creek, June 9th, 1814

                                                                                          WASHINGTON, JUNE 11.
Extract of a letter from Com. Barney, to the Secretary of the Navy, dated Patuxent, St. Leonard's Creek, June 9th, 1814.[1]
               "Since mine of the 3d and 4th inst. the enemy has been reinforced with a Razee and a sloop of war brig; I then moved up to the mouth of this creek. _ At [5] A. M. yesterday we perceived one ship, a brig, two schooners, and 15 barges coming up the Patuxent, the wind at East.  I got the flotilla under way and moved up the creek about two miles, and moored in line, abreast, across the channel, and prepared for action.  At 8 A. M. the enemy's barges came up the creek; the ship, &c. anchored at the mouth of the Creek; a Rocket barge [2] was advanced upon us; we fired several shot to try the distance, which fell short.  I got my barges (13 in number,) under way, leaving the Scorpion [3] and gunboats at anchor[.] and rowed down upon them, when they precipitately fled from their position behind a point and sailed and rowed off with all their means.  We pursued them until near the shipping - fired several shot among them, when we returned to our morrings.  In the afternoon they came up again --again threw rockets, and were again pursued out of the creek.  The militia under col. Taney [4] are on the alert.  I am this moment informed the ship, &c, have entered the mouth if the creek.[5]  

The shape and arrangement of sails on an American privateer schooner, brig or brigantine, are quickly movable to much more radical angles. English seamen have written that they saw privateers escaping "sailing directly into the wind." -  
Credit:   US Navy Historical Center  http://www.xray-mag.com/content/us-navy-shipwreck-war-1812-be-excavated




[1] The First Battle of St. Leonard’s Creek: 10 June 1814. Naval History Blog. 2010. {accessed June 13, 2013] http://www.navalhistory.org/2010/06/10/the-first-battle-of-st-leonard%E2%80%99s-creek-10-june-1814

"The battle off Cedar Point, Maryland, on 1 June ended in a draw with the Americans retreating to the safety of St. Leonard’s Creek, Maryland, and the British waiting in the Patuxent River for a reinforcement of smaller, more maneuverable vessels. The British took this potential threat to their naval supremacy in the bay very seriously.

Twice-daily attacks by the British on 8-9 June ended inconclusively. Barney, not relishing a defensive posture, planned a surprise counterattack. On the afternoon of 10 June, as soon as the British boats entered St. Leonard’s Creek, Barney ordered his barges (dismasted for greater speed) to attack the enemy. After a spirited fight, the British disengaged and the Americans pursued, catching the blockading force in the Patuxent unprepared for battle. For a brief time the Americans were ascendant, but soon the British flotilla chased the Americans back to their anchorage. Thus concluded the first battle of St. Leonard’s Creek or the battle of the barges.'"

[2] These are the famous Congreve rockets of "red glare" fame in the U. S. national anthem.

[3] USS Scorpion was a self-propelled floating artillery battery in commission with the United States Navy from 1812 to 1814. The 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.  from Wikipedia

[4] Archives of Maryland  (Biographical Series) Michael Taney (b. 1750 - d. 1820) MSA SC 5496-050789
War of 1812 Claimant, Calvert County, Maryland

"Michael Taney was born in 1750 to Michael and Jane (Doyne) Taney in Calvert County, Maryland. He was commonly called Miles by his close family and friends. He attended the college of English Jesuits at St. Omer's and later at Bruge, France. Taney married Monica Brooke (1752-1814) on June 25, 1771, at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in St. Mary's County. They had the following children: Michael, Roger Brooke (1777-1864), Augustus (1787-1823), Octavius C. (?-1832), Dorothy, Sophia Y., and Alice.

    Taney was involved in Calvert County society, working as a coroner from 1777-1785. He served as the first Lieutenant of the Calvert County Militia from 1776-1778, as a member of the Lower House, Calvert County, from 1781-82, 1784-88, and 1797-98, and as Lieutenant-Colonel, 31st Maryland Regiment, from 1812-1815. As a member of the House of Delegates, Taney moved to abolish property qualifications for voting or holding office in 1797. His sons Michael, Roger, and Octavius all later served in public offices.

    Michael Taney owned approximately twenty-seven slaves in Calvert County, employing an overseer named William Brinkley. In 1814, British officers under the command of Captain Joseph Nourse forcibly removed twenty-one of Taney's slaves from his property, lying on the Patuxent River. The slaves were taken to Captain Nourse's ship, the Severn. Taney believed that his slaves were carried down to the Tangier Islands. At the time Michael Taney relocated his family, furniture, and stock a safe distance away from the family home.

    On July 1, 1819, Taney killed his neighbor John Magruder in a duel. He fled to Virginia, and on July 15, 1819, he conveyed all of his property to his sons, Roger and Octavius C. They, in turn, were to pay him $1,000 a year from the profits of the estate. Michael Taney died circa March 1820, in Loudon County, Virginia, from injuries sustained in a fall from a horse. Two of Taney's slaves returned his body to Maryland for burial in the family cemetery in Calvert County, Maryland."

His son Roger Brooke Taney was born in Calvert County, Maryland, on March 17, 1777.

[5] Baltimore Patriot & Evening Advertiser.; Date: 06-13-1814; Volume: 3; Issue: 139; Page: [2]; Location: Baltimore, Maryland.
Transcribed by John Peter Thompson, June 13th, 2013.