The air was still, and the deep silence of recently fallen snow hushed the land. As the sun rose on the peaceful waters of the Rappahannock River, the serene scene was suddenly disrupted as four American schooners raced upriver, fleeing an enemy. From the rising mist behind them, appeared the dreaded Union Jack flags atop British warships. In a mad rush, Capt. William J. Stafford, of the American Vessel the Dolphin, fired his ship’s cannon at their pursuer, the Highflyer. It was April 3, 1813, right above Mosquito Point near the current Norris Bridge in Lancaster County, and the first shot had just been fired on the Northern Neck in the War of 1812.
The war had begun a year earlier. On June 18, 1812, President James Madison, with a 60/40 Congressional vote of support, officially went to war with longtime foe and global superpower – Great Britain. The rallying call was sounded upon the imprisonment of American sailors by the monarchy, unrest and pushback by Native Americans on the frontier funded by the British, and by the implausible notion that Canada wanted to be free of England to assimilate with the United States. It was a time when Napoleon was at the height of power, and Congress believed that Napoleon’s strength would weaken Great Britain’s resolve, making it ripe for an easy loss to America. The timing seemed perfect. Unless of course, a year later, you were aboard those ill-fated ships fleeing the Chesapeake Bay and racing up the Rappahannock River as the full might of British fleets descended upon them.
The Battle of North Point. The United States Militia fighting against the British as they stormed up the Potomac River. Courtesy of the U.S. Army.
The Dolphin, a Baltimore skipper, was retreating alongside the Arab, Lynx, and Racer. These were fast ships, known by privateers as the bane of the crown; however, they were not quick enough that day to outrun their well-armored foes. As they formed a line across the river to defend American waters, 17 barges bore down on them. What ensued was chaos and carnage, resulting in the intentional grounding of the Arab, surrender of the Lynx and Racer, and the imprisonment of Stafford, gravely injured by a cannonball that had glanced off the side of his chest.
“I was determined to fight as long as I had a man on deck,” Stafford later told the Richmond Examiner after his captivity ended. “The showers of grape and musketry exceeded everything I had ever seen.”
The Americans had been taken by surprise, and what would ensue over the next year would lay waste to much of the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula, as the British ravaged their way up the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers in an attempt to capture Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and other strategic national sites. The Chesapeake was England’s primary target on the East Coast. Norfolk would be a strong prize, and the people of the Northern Neck were known for their aggressive support of American beliefs and maritime commerce. Crippling them would demoralize the new country, paving the roads for the British to subdue the newly founded nation, force stricter regulations, and lay claim to superiority.
The battle of the Dolphin.
News of the first battle in the waters off Lancaster County spread across the region like a hurricane. Troops were hastily assembled, alerts were cried out, and pleas for reinforcements to help defend the lush region were sent to Washington City. On April 5, in Richmond County Courthouse (now the Town of Warsaw), Brig. Gen. John P. Hungerford heard that not only had the British raided nearby Chowning’s Plantation — robbing the estate of its work animals and pillaging the house — but that his country’s troops were falling back at alarming rates as the enemy overwhelmed the great estates and fertile lands. After Hungerford’s urgent request for action, Lt. Col. Vincent, commander of the Richmond County Militia 41 Regiment, was assured that congressional action was being taken to send reinforcements.
Farnham Episcopal Church, Richmond County.
By July of that year, the British Navy was heavily invested in raids throughout the Northern Neck and Chesapeake Bay regions. The militias of Virginia were overwhelmed and outmanned, and with such circumstances, tragedy loomed like a dark cloud across the region. On July 14, a British squadron spotted two ships, the USS Scorpion and the USS Asp, at the mouth of the Yeocomico River. Midshipman James Butler Sigourney, who had been given command of the Asp, fled the enemy and was sailing towards the port in Kinsale when his ship was overtaken. Sigourney opened such heavy fire against the enemy that they retreated. An hour later, the British returned to Kinsale with reinforcements. It was reported of Sigourney that, “The gallant youth held his post and fought until he was exhausted.” Upon the Asp’s defeat, the ship was boarded by close to 50 British soldiers who refused to give quarter to any of the shipmen. Butler stood resolute as he met the barrel of an enemy rifle pointed at his face, and within moments, the gut-wrenching report of a gun rang out. Butler’s bloody body fell to the deck, where it would remain until he was recovered and buried with full honors of war. He was interred at The Bailey Cemetery, The Great House, Kinsale, where today a cannon and fine tombstone mark the patriot’s final resting place.
Butler grave at Kinsale.
The senseless death was considered by fellow patriots to be profoundly immoral and cowardly, further igniting the flames that burned in their hearts for victory and vengeance. Although nothing as dramatic as the Asp battle took place in the following days, skirmishes became a troublesome normal until the end of 1813, with plundering occurring at nearly every residence and business in the region.
It was a chaotic and frightening time for the area’s residents. The worst of the War of 1812, however, was about to knock on their doorstop, tasting of ash and malice. In 1814, Napoleon was defeated, and British forces were infused with reinforcements. This paved the way for perhaps the most hated man to ever lay a foot in the Northern Neck, Rear Adm. Sir George Cockburn — who believed it was his duty to severely punish those Americans who had been fighting the monarchy during the war — to begin a reign of terror. He ordered his men to “destroy and lay waste such Towns and Districts upon the coast as you may find assailable.” They did just that, and soon the Northern Neck was afire along the entire peninsula.
Rear Adm. Sir George Cockburn.
Cockburn occupied Tangier Island, making it his base of operations. He trained an ever-growing group of former slaves into a military force known as the Colonial Marines. Cockburn boasted that if any man in his path resisted or fled, they would be hunted, killed and all their property would be destroyed and looted. Used to acquiescence from other regions, including Maryland, Cockburn did not anticipate the fight that would be put up by the Northern Neck’s residents. The region was facing inferior numbers of soldiers and an ever-decreasing supply of equipment. Cockburn was ready for an easy win. Instead, he found himself tricked and turned at many points, building in him such a rage that he resorted to fire, and it became his signature.
In March of 1814, his barges plundered several estates at the mouth of the Great Wicomico River. In Heathsville, they looted private residences and destroyed anything they could not keep. In April, on Election Day in Lancaster County, the British sent four ships up Carter’s Creek, capturing an American vessel and again stealing goods and farm animals. At the estate owned by the heirs of Robert “King” Carter, the British filled four barges with pilfered goods, and at Windmill Point they even robbed a sole man of everything he owned. Such was the darkness that Cockburn instilled into his men.
American soldier cap plate, War of 1812.
On July 20 and 21, Cockburn concentrated his forces at Nomini Ferry, which was defended by Col. Richard E. Parker and his militia. Four ships were dispatched, with 40 barges sent ashore with 1,200 men. Parker’s militia, made up of roughly 80 soldiers, was vastly outnumbered and retreated to Templeman’s Crossroads, where they sent pleas for reinforcements to the Richmond County company under the command of Maj. John W. Belfield. During this time, Cockburn and his men pillaged every home, store and farm they came upon. Soon enough, the sky was darkened with smoke as the fires began to burn, a gift left behind by Cockburn once he had stolen all he could of value.
That fire flowed down river. Enemy soldiers burned homes of widows, fallen soldiers, and churches — after they stole the gold plate from their altars. They broke windows, burned wheat stacks, killed livestock and destroyed everything in their path. Accused of attempting to poison the British troops by leaving out arsenic-laced liquor at Parker’s former headquarters, a Mrs. Thompson was left with a home of cinders while Cockburn, in his fury at the poisoning attempt, burned down every home and field on his march back to his ship.
Burnt Chimneys in Village. Photo courtesy of the Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Society.
In July, Cockburn suggested to his superiors that Washington, D.C., be burned to the ground, and while the White House was in ashes that August, similar attacks in other regions, including Baltimore, failed. During this time, the Northern Neck had a brief lull in the incursions. Seeing no foreseeable win, the British began their slow retreat, but Cockburn was not yet done with Essex, Westmoreland, Lancaster, Northumberland and Richmond counties.
On Aug. 3, Capt. William Henderson of Northumberland County battled a party of 500 British soldiers. Henderson had lost his merchant ships the year before during raids and carried that anger in his heart as his militia crippled much of the British fleet at Mundy Point. In retaliation, the British navy descended upon Village and burnt Henderson’s home down, leaving only the house’s two chimneys still standing — which remain today after a new home was built around them. The site was deemed historical, and a plaque was dedicated at the property commemorating the incursion and valiant fight.
In October, 1,000 soldiers raided Northumberland, descending upon Heathsville. Henderson’s fleet captured three schooners loaded with tobacco on the Coan River. In December, Cockburn’s men set fire to Essex County Courthouse and a granary on the town’s wharf. On the sixth, an ill-fated decision by American forces to join fighting in Middlesex left Farnham Church in Richmond County in a perilous position.
A large British squadron, under the command of Capt. Robert Barrie gathered over 900 men and attacked a local regiment at the church. The fight was bloody, with Barrie’s soldiers confronting Richmond County’s Capt. Vincent Shackleford’s militia of roughly 100 men, from the front and rear of their position. The Episcopalian church was at the center of the battle and took heavy fire from artillery and cannonballs. To this day, bullet holes are still embedded in the bricks of the historic church’s outer walls. During the skirmish, Shackleford was wounded and taken prisoner. The region was burned and again, property was looted. Shackleford was later released, but he carried a musket ball in his leg until the day he died as a reminder of the strength of American patriotism.
On February 18, the War of 1812 officially ended, and forces retreated to England. The remaining residents of the Northern Neck were left with lands that had been ravaged. Vast estates were decimated, and people were left with little to say for their loss. The United States came away with essentially nothing they had gone to war for. It was cold comfort to the region.
Installation of War of 1812 plaque at a soldier’s grave.
History, however, has labeled the fighting on the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula as some of the most patriotic and courageous of the war. Residents were praised for never capitulating to Cockburn’s demands for submission. Their resistance has been praised as a symbol of American fortitude, as people stood their ground against a force much stronger than theirs. Today, the War of 1812 on the Northern Neck is being revisited by authors writing extensive books and research papers, as well as special medallion plaques being placed at the grave sites of valiant soldiers who died for their freedom.
Through the fires, bombardments, pillaging and relentless incursions, the people of the Northern Neck showed their backbone that still remains, one of honor, faith and pride in their freedoms and country.
The House and Home Magazine extends its sincerest gratitude to the Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Society, and specifically Kathy Schuder, for their invaluable help in the research of this article.