BATTLE OF NORTH POINT

The 'Battle of North Point' was fought on September 12, 1814. This engagement was part of the larger Battle of Baltimore.

Contents

Background

Battle

Aftermath

Legacy

References and further reading

External links

Background

After Major-General Robert Ross had defeated the Americans at the Battle of Bladensburg on August 24, 1814, and burned Washington, the British headed further up the Chesapeake Bay to the strategically more important port city of Baltimore. Ross's army landed at North Point on the morning of September 12, 1814, and began moving toward the city of Baltimore.

Battle

A force of 3,200 mainly Baltimore militiamen under Brigadier General John Stricker was sent by Major General Samuel Smith to delay Ross's advance on Baltimore. The two forces clashed near Bear Creek, and the Americans held up the British for some two hours before retiring back the city's main defenses on the eastern side of Baltimore. The Americans were able to hold off the British long enough for the regulars and militias to get ready to turn aside the British attack. The battle proved to be a tactical American loss but a strategic American victory.

Aftermath

While buying the Baltimoreans more time, General Ross was killed by a sniper's bullet in a skirmish just prior to the main battle,at about 1:30 pm, and Colonel Arthur Brooke assumed command of the army. The battle had been costly for the British. Along with General Ross, the British lost 46 killed and 273 wounded. Losing General Ross was a critical blow to the British. He was a respected leader of British forces in the Peninsular War and the War of 1812. Ross's death proved a blow to British morale as well. The combined effect of the blow suffered at North Point and the failure of the Royal Navy to capture or get past Fort McHenry at the entrance to Baltimore harbor, despite a 25-hour bombardment, proved to be the turning point of the Battle of Baltimore. During the bombardment on Fort McHenry, Francis Scott Key was detained on a British ship at the entrance to Baltimore and penned the words to "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Legacy

The battle is commemorated through the state holiday of Defenders Day. On Defenders Day, many local Marylanders reenact the battle.

References and further reading

★ George, Christopher T., ''Terror on the Chesapeake: The War of 1812 on the Bay'', Shippensburg, Pa., White Mane, 2001, ISBN 1-57249-276-7

★ Pitch, Anthony S.''The Burning of Washington'', Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2000. ISBN 1-55750-425-3

★ Whitehorne, Joseph A., ''The Battle for Baltimore 1814'', Baltimore: Nautical & Aviation Publishing, 1997, ISBN 1-877853-23-2

External links

★ National Guard Heritage Series

★ Society of the War of 1812