Bear Creek Historical Project

Geography

Natural Environment

The People

British Attack

Rememberance

The Future

Acknowledgements

Resources

THE NECK

Patapsco Neck, sometimes called North Point Peninsula, is a low-lying sand and gravel-covered peninsula, with a maximum elevation of about 20 feet above sea level.

It begins just to the east of the City of Baltimore. From a line that runs from Colgate Creek in the south to Herring Run in the north, Patapsco Neck runs generally SE to Chesapeake Bay where it ends at the North Point-Fort Howard area. Encompassing approximately 35 sq miles, only about 23 sq miles of that is land. The other 12 sq miles is water in the form of creeks, inlets, and marsh.

GEOLOGY AND SOIL

The majority of Patapsco Neck is influenced by a geologic base of gravel, sand, silt, and clay. Under them are cobbles and boulders. When these silts, sands, and clays, mix with organic material like leaves and other decomposing plant materials, they form different kinds of loam soils that are good for agriculture. The particular loams found along Patapsco Neck range from strongly acidic to very strongly acidic making them good for growing white oak, scarlet oak, loblolly pine, red maple, yellow poplar, sweet gum, and magnolia trees.

CREEKS AND BAYS

At the time Europeans arrived along Patapsco Neck, roughly one-third (7,000 acres) of the peninsula consisted of water and two-thirds of the peninsula (14,000 acres) was land. The vast majority of the water was in the form of creeks and coves. Bounded on the north by Back River and on the south by the Patapsco River, it was their waters that formed the creeks and coves of Patapsco Neck.

Patapsco Neck’s creeks and coves are tidal, and along with the tide comes salt water. Therefore, the waters around Patapsco Neck are slightly to moderately brackish. This has an effect on the vegetation in and around the water as well as fish, amphibians, and animals.

THE MARSHLAND HABITAT

At the time Europeans first came to this area in the 1600s, they would have observed three topographies along Patapsco Neck: land, water, and marshland. Those marshlands, in particular, were crucial to life along the Neck. They supported a wide variety of ferns, grasses, sedges, cattails, bulrush, and alders. Virginia creeper, climbing hempweed, swamp rose, and bittersweet nightshade made their home along the Neck. The tidal wetlands formed a habitat that supported a variety of amphibians, birds, and larger animals. Frogs, salamanders, snakes, and turtles abounded. Located along the Atlantic flyway, Patapsco Neck is still both a permanent and migratory home for birds such as the great blue heron, little blue heron, egret, swamp sparrow, osprey, bald eagle, hawk, downy woodpecker, pileated woodpecker, and red winged black bird. In addition to those birds, the marshes supported many game birds: ducks and geese visited the Neck in their hundreds of thousands. At the time Europeans first explored the area, larger animals like muskrat, raccoons, fox, wolves, black bear, and cougars also roamed the peninsula.

NATIVE AMERICANS

Before Europeans arrived, two Native American peoples shared what is now Baltimore County for the purpose of hunting, fishing, gathering, and trade. To the north, in the vicinity of the Susquehanna River, lived the Susquehannock. To the south, near the Potomac River, lived the Piscataway.

The area between the Patuxent River in the south and the Gunpowder River in the north was a shared resource between both the Piscataway and Susquehannock during times of peace. It could be freely transited for trade purposes, hunting, fishing, and gathering. At certain times of the year temporary camps might be set-up, but no evidence suggests that long-term Native American settlements existed in Central Baltimore County or along Patapsco Neck.

Susquehannock

The Susquehannock lived at the northern end of Chesapeake Bay near the Susquehanna River. Known as fierce fighters, they lived within palisaded villages that protected their longhouses. Outside the walls of their villages were fields for maize (corn), beans, and squash. Hunting and fishing provided deer, elk, black bear, fish, freshwater mussels, wild turkey, and waterfowl. Foraging supplemented their diet with wild plants, fruits, and nuts. Traders, they rapidly adjusted to trading furs with Europeans in return for European tools, glass beads, and, later, muskets. Their diet was varied and seasonal.

Piscataway

Farther to the south, the Piscataway people lived along the north bank of the Potomac River. Similar to the Susquehannock, Piscataway villages consisted of several longhouses protected by a log palisade. They relied on agriculture which enabled them to live in permanent villages. Their crops included maize (corn), several varieties of beans, melons, pumpkins, squash, and tobacco, which were cultivated by women. Men hunted bear, elk, deer, and wolves, as well as smaller game such as beaver, squirrels, partridges, and wild turkeys. They also fished and harvested oysters and clams. Women gathered berries, nuts and roots in order to supplement their diet.

NATIVE AMERICAN INFLUENCES ALONG PATAPSCO NECK

The influence of Native Americans on Patapsco Neck’s history lies today in its name and its main road. According to the Maryland State Archives, the Native American meaning of Patapsco is uncertain, but it may reference to the water’s “penetrating a ledge of rock” as it flowed. Another opinion gives “back water,” or “tide-water covered with froth” as the translation for Patapsco. Regardless of its definition, the name has come down from Native American cultures through 400 years of history and continues to be used today. The second influence is North Point Road itself. It is built on top of an old “Indian trail” along the Neck’s spine that Native Americans used to access the rich fishing grounds where the Patapsco River and Chesapeake Bay united.

Evidence that Native Americans visited the coastal area of North Point is supported by projectile points and other stone implements amid piles of oyster shells located two feet under the surface near Todd’s Inheritance.

When the King of England granted Maryland to Cecil Calvert and his family in 1632, he gave them ownership of all its lands. With the exception of a short period between 1689-1715, Calvert and his successors had full authority to sell and assign parcels of land as they saw fit. The document that conveyed land from the Lord Proprietor (Calvert) to the new owner was called a land patent, or patent, for short. From these patent records historians can piece together the history of land ownership in the state.

Patapsco Neck began to be settled in the 1650s. While still considered part of Anne Arundel County, in 1652, a land patent was assigned to Thomas Sparrow on Patapsco Neck. He named his patent “Sparrow’s Nest.” Since that time, the name Sparrow has been associated with the part of the Neck near the confluence of Bear Creek and the Patapsco River.

Ralph Williams received a patent for land near the eastern tip of Patapsco Neck in 1665. He named his patent “the North Point.” In 1670, Thomas Todd received a patent for land that he named “Todd’s Range.” The family name is still in use through “Todd’s Inheritance” located on North Point Road. By the time of the War of 1812, about 136 land patents had been granted along Patapsco Neck. Among the family names of owners are those still familiar to us today: Stansbury, Todd, Jones, Gorsuch, Shaw, Lynch, and Sollers.

By 1800, although there were many farms on Patapsco Neck, much of the land was still covered by forest. Land owners were motivated by the tax code to leave much of their land in a virgin state since taxes were not levied on “unimproved” land. Other than farming, by 1798 the tax records show occupations in the area associated with milling, quarrying, brick making, kiln operations, and taverns.

The poorest of the families, both White and Black, were usually tenant farmers (renters) on someone else’s land. They earned their keep by working that land and keeping a small percentage of its produce or profit for themselves. Middle-class families, both White and Black, usually lived on farms they owned, sometimes owned an enslaved person to help in the fields, and often employed free African Americans to work in their kitchen and around the house. The wealthiest families, all White, lived on large plantations and employed large numbers of field workers, servants, and skilled tradespeople, both free and enslaved, both Black and White. Plantation owners often split their time between business pursuits in Baltimore City, public service, and operating their plantations.

Within a few years after Maryland was founded, it had created counties that were subdivided into “Hundreds” for tax and voting purposes. Patapsco Neck was part of the “Lower Patapsco Hundred” that encompassed modern Patapsco Neck, Canton, Govanstown, the Jones Falls area, Towson and the land between them. It did not include Baltimore City. In general, Patapsco Neck was about 10% of the people of the Lower Patapsco Hundred. In 1810, the Lower Patapsco Hundred had a population of about 2,713 of which about 1,658 (61%) were White and 1,055 (39%) Black. Within the Black population, about 339 (43%) were free and about 715 (57%) were enslaved.

About 40% of the families in the Lower Patapsco Hundred were slaveholders. White households owned 94% of the enslaved people and Black households about 6%. It is generally believed by historians that formerly enslaved Black people often worked to purchase their own family members out of slavery. On paper, it would appear as if a free Black “owner” was enslaving other Blacks, when, in fact, they were trying to make them free by purchasing them. In the process, they became slave owners.

The average family size, White or Black, was about 5.5 people. The average residence was only about 450 sq ft in area. That meant the average person living in the Lower Patapsco Hundred in 1810 had about 75 sq ft of living space in their house or cabin. That’s roughly the amount of space allocated to each inmate in a federal prison today.

Because enslaved Black people were considered property under the law, the family structure of enslaved Black people wasn’t recorded in census and tax assessment records. Consequently, although we know there was a family structure among enslaved people, we are unable to reconstruct that structure from existing records.

African Americans, whether free or enslaved, provided a great amount of skilled and unskilled labor within the Patapsco Neck community. Examples exist of both free and enslaved Black people engaged in skilled jobs in the trades, iron forging, lime kiln operations, brick production, shipbuilding, and as house servants. Equally available is evidence showing the employment of both free and enslaved Black people as unskilled and semi-skilled labor in the fields, clearing land, and general construction.

In one of his first acts as commander, Smith ordered Major William B. Barney, a cavalry officer and son of Commodore Joshua Barney, whose family had long lived on Bear Creek, to lead a military reconnaissance of the land lying between Baltimore and the eastern tip of Patapsco Neck at North Point. On March 21, 1813, along with other officers, Barney set out to conduct that survey. His field notes and sketch of that reconnaissance was crucial to General Smith’s plans for Baltimore’s defense.

Analyzing Barney’s reconnaissance report, General Smith observed the many creeks and coves along Patapsco Neck. In particular, he noted two choke points along North Point Road the enemy would need to negotiate in order to advance to Baltimore. One was at the head of Humphrey’s Creek (near Edgemere), and the other at the head of Bear Creek (near what is Battle Acre today). Each of the two choke points would play a part in General Smith’s defensive plans.

The second choke point, at the head of Bear Creek, held far more value for grinding away at the enemy’s strength. Similar to the land near the head of Humphrey’s Creek, the land at the head of Bear Creek could be turned into a linear defensive position anchored on each end by a water feature. The path along which the British would need to advance was only about 3,500 foot wide and was flanked to their left by the head of Bear Creek and to their right by marshland and Back River. The land consisted largely of flat farm fields. There were few places the British could take cover or hide.

Smith also knew Bear Creek could be a two-edged sword. In 1813, a year before the battle, as he watched the British Navy operating at the mouth of the Patapsco, he noted the speed and maneuverability of the British barges (longboats) that carried up to 50 soldiers, small cannons, and rockets. They took him by surprise. Easily unloaded from British ships, manned by experienced crews, he worried that in any future fight with the British at Bear Creek’s head, British barges might row up Bear Creek from its mouth on the Patapsco and cut off and capture his militiamen before they could return safely to Baltimore. While Bear Creek was an obstacle to the British Army, it was a highway to the British Navy.

In addition to preparing for a battle at the head of Bear Creek, Smith prepared for at least a skirmish at its mouth. During 1813, Smith sent various infantry regiments to encamp at that location, thereby providing experience to his green militia troops in how to protect Bear Creek from an incursion by British longboats.

On September 11, 1814, the British Chesapeake Bay squadron entered the mouth of the Patapsco River with Baltimore as its target. Landing about 4,500 soldiers, sailors, and marines at North Point on Patapsco Neck’s eastern extremity, elements of the squadron continued to advance up the Patapsco River toward Baltimore. The small army it landed at North Point advanced toward Baltimore along North Point Road. As was their standard procedure, the British Army and Navy advanced parallel to each other, one on land, the other on water.

Warned of the British landing, the Americans – whose main defense was in Baltimore at Hampstead Hill – placed a temporary defensive line at the head of Bear Creek on Patapsco Neck. The American right was anchored on the head of Bear Creek, extended across North Point Road, and anchored its left on the marshy wooded ground near Back River. The American on-site commander, Brigadier General John Stricker, deployed his 3,185 men in three lines at a right angle to the Back River and Patapsco River.

Stricker also deployed 400 riflemen about four miles down Bear Creek near its mouth on Sollers Point at the homestead of Juliet Eliza Sollers. They were to guard against an attack by British longboats that might outflank his army’s right by attacking up Bear Creek. The riflemen were commanded by Major Beale Randall.

As the British army advanced toward Baltimore along North Point Road, it was engaged by a small force of Maryland militia shortly after departing Gorsuch Farm. During that small engagement, at about 1:30 PM on September 12, the British commander, Major General Robert Ross, was shot and mortally wounded. His subordinate, Colonel Arthur Brooke, took over command. They continued their advance along North Point Road.

At about the same time, a division of as many as 50 British longboats entered the mouth of Bear Creek four miles south near the Patapsco River. They carried a landing force of 1,500 men as well as cannons and rockets. Unaware of the battle that would soon occur at the head of Bear Creek, the boats were simply trying to gain control of the creek as a transportation path and communications link between the British Navy on the river and its army on Patapsco Neck. Randall’s riflemen on Soller’s Point were shot at by cannon, Congreve rockets, and small arms fire by the British attackers. The result was a small battle between the British boats and Randall’s riflemen on Soller’s Point. Fearing they would be cut off from other US forces, the American riflemen withdrew toward Colgate Creek nearer Baltimore.

Battle of North Point as shown on what is thought to be the original Kearney map. At the bottom are the three main fingers of Bear Creek’s head. What looks like an upside down and backward “L” above Bear Creek is the American line of troops. Closest to the creek and on the south side of North Point Road is the 5th Regiment of Maryland Militia as well as American skirmishers at the very bottom. North of the road were the 27th Regiment and the 39th Regiment. At a right angle to them at the top was the 51st Regiment. British units are shown to the right in red.

THE REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST

In the years following the British invasion, veterans and local citizens chose to remember the sacrifices made during the Battle of Patapsco Neck in various ways. Monuments were erected, commemorations enacted, and, more recently, living history programs involving both civilian and military re-enactors. Years after the battle, on July 21, 1817, US President John Quincy Adams visited Patapsco Neck to honor those who had fallen during the battle. The monuments and historic sites themselves are their own story.

AQUILA RANDALL MONUMENT

At the intersection of Old North Point Road and Old Battle Grove Road stands the second oldest military monument in Maryland and the third oldest in the United States. It is one of Maryland’s least visited War of 1812 sites – the Aquila Randall Monument – and is dedicated to honor Private Aquila Randall, who was killed in a skirmish just before the Battle of North Point on September 12, 1814.

On July 21, 1817, soldiers mustered in Baltimore and marched six miles to the North Point battleground. Accompanying them was President John Quincy Adams, who remarked, “The distance is about nine miles from the town, over a barren country, covered great part of the way with forest-trees, now undressing for the winter.” Accompanying them were wagons conveying the monument blocks to be assembled and dedicated on site that day.

BATTLE ACRE

For the first twenty-five years after the Battle of North Point, most “September 12th” commemorations were held in Baltimore. On July 8, 1839, delegates from several militia companies who had fought at Patapsco Neck held a “Military Convention” at Baltimore’s City Hall. Representatives at the conference approved a newspaper ad asking for designs and cost estimates for placing a monument on the battleground.

A few weeks later, on September 11, 1839, local Baltimore businessman Jacob Houck donated an acre of land to the State of Maryland to be used as a site for the intended monument. That land became known as “Battle Acre.”

On the following day, September 12, 1839, the 25th Anniversary of the Battle of Patapsco Neck, a cornerstone ceremony was held at Battle Acre. The cornerstone was to serve as the foundation for the monument honoring those who had fought there. The ceremony was well attended by city and national officials including Supreme Court Justices and Cabinet officers. However, nothing came of the grand ceremony.

Battle Acre fell on hard times over succeeding decades.

By 1914, Mrs. Reuben Ross Holloway, granddaughter of Jacob Houck, succeeded in getting the Star-Spangled Banner Commission to perform some restoration work at the site. The work included erecting a large granite memorial stone at its center that was mounted with a small cannon from the War of 1812. A plaque was placed on the stone and a wrought iron fence installed around the acre

PERIODIC IMROVEMENTS OF THE BATTLEGROUND

Nearly 200 years after the battle, concerned local residents formed a committee to maintain and improve the Battle Acre site. In 2004, the Society for the War of 1812 in Maryland dedicated a new plaque. In 2005, a temporary repair of the Battle Acre flagpole and its lighting allowed the US flag to permanently fly over the park. Since then, the County has improved pedestrian access to the site, repaired and painted the wrought iron fence, and renovated six granite pillars. When the two wrought iron entry gates were stolen and destroyed in 2014, they were replaced through a donation by local resident Ed Hale of Dundalk. Since 2009, Battle Acre has been kept clean of trash and rubbish through the ongoing efforts of the non-profit organization Clean Bread and Cheese Creek under the leadership of local resident John Long.

METHODIST MEETING HOUSE PROPERTY

The former Methodist Meeting House that stood near Bread and Cheese Creek was witness to all phases of the Battle of North Point. On September 11, 1814, a day prior to the battle, it was used by US forces as a muster point and field headquarters. On September 12, 1814, the day of the battle, it was used as a headquarters and field hospital by both sides dependent on which side controlled the field of battle. On September 13, 1814, the day after the battle, it served as a field hospital and its grounds as a morgue. In 1914, during the Star-Spangled Banner Centennial, the Patriotic Order, Sons of America, placed a granite monument and iron fence on the grounds and cemetery of the Patapsco Neck Battle Ground Meeting House.

THE FUTURE

While Baltimore’s defense from British attack was long ago, our need to recognize its importance remains. It is unique in American history since it marks the only time a city was asked to pay for its own defense from a foreign invader during a time of war. It is a perfect example of an entire community joining together in common cause and risking everything – wealth, land, businesses, and family members – to repel a foreign attack. It was a time when the top 1% socio-economic ladder of a city was as invested in saving that city as was the rest of the population. It was a time of which we should be proud, and of actions we should commemorate. Memorials are important.

Recognition should be made of the engagement involving nearly 2,000 soldiers, sailors, and marines, both American and British, at Juliet Eliza Sollers farm on Sollers Point at the mouth of Bear Creek. Similarly, in the area of Charlesmont Park, recognition should be made of its role in the transportation of the wounded and prisoners from the battlefield to the British fleet. Recognition that one of America’s most storied naval officers from both the American Revolution and the War of 1812, Commodore Joshua Barney, grew up on Bear Creek at his family’s home (Barney’s Inheritance) near Bear Creek Park has long been awaited. Finally, Bear Creek itself has changed little since 1814 upstream from Sparrows Point. Its historic landscape should also be recognized and commemorated.

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Bear Creek Historical Project:A Study of the Land and Its People