Bracing for an Attack

Bracing for an Attack. Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail. Easton expected to be a British target during the War of 18 12. A two-story brick armory in the center of town housed cannon, small arms, and military stores to serve all of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Fort Stoakes, an earthworks built to protect Easton from a waterside attack, reportedly accommodated 500 men. Two armed barges on the Tred Avon River provided additional security.

British raiders terrorized the Eastern Shore in 1813 and 1814. Queenstown, St. Michaels, Fredericktown, and Georgetown were attacked, plus numerous farms and plantations were plundered. However, Fort Stoakes was never tested, and Easton survived unscathed.

(Inscription above the photo in the lower right) , A rare photograph of the octagonal brick armory built by the State of Maryland in 1811-12.

“The town of Easton, being a place in which many of the public records are lodged, and …there is an armoury of the state, it is of importance that every protection and security which can be afforded to it…should properly be given.” , Governor Levin Winder to Secretary of War John Armstrong, March 30, 1813.

Places to explore the War of 18 12 on Maryland’s Eastern Shore , Queenstown-British attacked by land and water; engaged Americans in the Battle of Slippery Hill , Chesapeake Exploration Center at Ferry Point Park-Information on the British occupation of Kent Island in 1813 , Taylors Island-Site of the Battle of Ice Mound, the last engagement of the war in Maryland , St. Michaels-Successfully repulsed British attacks twice in 1813 , Georgetown-Kitty Knight House survived the British raid of 1813.