eir operations to bays and inland waters. The chief
scene of their operations was Chesapeake Bay.

This noble sheet of water had been, since the very opening of the year
1813, under the control of the British, who had gathered there their
most powerful vessels under the command of Admiral Cockburn, whose
name gained an unenviable notoriety for the atrocities committed by
his forces upon the defenceless inhabitants of the shores of
Chesapeake Bay. Marauding expeditions were continually sent from the
fleet to search the adjacent country for supplies. When this method of
securing provisions failed, Cockburn hit upon the plan of bringing his
fleet within range of a village, and then commanding the inhabitants
to supply his needs, under penalty of the instant bombardment of the
town in case of refusal. Sometimes this expedient failed, as when
Commodore Beresford, who was blockading the Delaware, called upon the
people of Dover to supply him at once with "twenty-five large bullocks
and a proportionate quantity of vegetables and hay." But the sturdy
inhabitants refused, mustered the militia, dragged some old cannon
down to the water-side, and, for lack of cannon-balls of their own,
valiantly fired back those thrown by the British, which fitted the
American ordnance exactly.

Soon after this occurrence, a large party from Cockburn's fleet landed
at Havre de Grace, and, having driven away the few militia, captured
and burned the town. Having accomplished this exploit, the marauders
continued their way up the bay, and turning up into the Sassafras
River ravaged the country on both sides of the little stream. After
spreading distress far and wide over the beautiful country that
borders Chesapeake Bay, the vandals returned to their ships, boasting
that they had despoiled the Americans of at least seventy thousand
dollars, and injured them to the amount of ten times that sum.

By June, 1813, the Americans saw that something must be done to check
the merciless enemy who had thus revived the cruel vandalism, which
had ceased to attend civilized warfare since the middle ages. A fleet
of fifteen armed gallies was fitted out to attack the frigate of
Cockburn's fleet that lay nearest to Norfolk. Urged forward by long
sweeps, the gunboats bore down upon the frigate, which, taken by
surprise, made so feeble and irregular a response that the Americans
thought they saw victory within their grasp. The gunboats chose their
distance, and open