Observing the Enemy

Observing the Enemy. Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail. Bodkin Island, having an excellent view down the Bay, was an observation station long before the war. The "Bodkin Telegraphe", a flag-signalling system based on Baltimore's Federal Hill, alerted Baltimore merchants from here as their ships approached., In 1814, British vessels combing the Chesapeake had a good view of the Bodkin, too. On August 24, a lookout on the HMS Menelaus spotted a "fine schooner," behind Bodkin Point. The Royal Marines reported they destroyed the Lion of Baltimore., [text with flags, lower right] A signal system, such as these 1806 merchant flags, communicated between Bodkin Point and Baltimore. Americans likely used a similar system to warn of British movements during the war., Local Militia Captain Francis Hancock, master of Hancock's Resolution Plantation, commanded a company in the 22nd Regiment, Maryland Militia. The company's duties included observation of enemy movements south of the mouth of the Patapsco., [text with map, upper left] Bodkin Point had a clear view of North Point, as indicated in the 1819 survey chart - one of the last to show Bodkin as a separate island., "...on the 24th inst. Lieut. Warre with two Boats burnt a Schooner in Narrows creek close to Bodkin point." - Captain Sir Peter Parker to Vice Admiral Alexander F.I. Cochrane, August 30, 1814, [text with picture, at bottom] HMS Menelaus, by Lt. William Innes Pocock. Image/National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London