Battle of St. Leonard Creek
“Thus, we have beat them and their rockets, which they did not spare…The moment the enemy ran off, we moved up the river, so
that thanks to hot and cold shot, the blockade is raised.” - Joshua Barney, quoted in American & Commercial Daily
Advertiser, June 29, 1814.
During the War of 1812, dramatic events took place on JPPM grounds. The
British had controlled the Chesapeake Bay since the
beginning of the war. In an attempt to open the Bay, a flamboyant
ex-privateer, Commodore Joshua Barney, assembled a rag-tag fleet of
eighteen small gun boats, barges, and sloops and headed down the Bay in
June of 1814. Barney's Chesapeake Flotilla clashed with the British on June
8 – 10 and again on June 26th in the Battle of St. Leonard Creek. The
battle, which is the largest naval engagement in the history of Maryland,
took place where the Patuxent River meets the mouth of St. Leonard
Creek, right off the shore of JPPM.
https://jefpat.maryland.gov/Documents/education/war-of-1812/1812-war.pdf
((Occurred at/near my current home!))