West River Skirmish of 1781: Difference between revisions
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On the night of March 31, 1781, Anne Arundel County's only battle in the American Revolution was fought at Chalk Point, on the West River <ref name = "historyOfAACounty">A History of Anne Arundel County in Maryland. United States, Creative Media Partners, LLC, 2016. https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_Anne_Arundel_County_in_Mary/5wZJvgAACAAJ?hl=en</ref> <ref name = "tulipHill">Kelly, J. Reaney. “’Tulip Hill,’ Its History and Its People.” Maryland Historical Magazine, December 1965, pp. 349-403. https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5800/sc5881/000001/000000/000240/pdf/msa_sc_5881_1_240.pdf</ref> <ref name = "lymanHall10">Hall, Lyman. "The Stewards of West River." BookBaby, 24 May 2021, p. 180.</ref>, when a party from the British ships <i>Monk</i> and <i>Hope</i> <ref name = "historyOfAACounty">A History of Anne Arundel County in Maryland. United States, Creative Media Partners, LLC, 2016. https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_Anne_Arundel_County_in_Mary/5wZJvgAACAAJ?hl=en</ref> <ref name = "tulipHill">Kelly, J. Reaney. “’Tulip Hill,’ Its History and Its People.” Maryland Historical Magazine, December 1965, pp. 349-403. https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5800/sc5881/000001/000000/000240/pdf/msa_sc_5881_1_240.pdf</ref> <ref name = "marylandGazette>The Maryland Gazette (Annapolis, Maryland). Thursday, April 5, 1781, Pages 1-2, Accessed 20 July 2023.</ref> sailed up the West River to destroy the property of shipbuilder Stephen Steward <ref name = "historyOfAACounty">A History of Anne Arundel County in Maryland. United States, Creative Media Partners, LLC, 2016. https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_Anne_Arundel_County_in_Mary/5wZJvgAACAAJ?hl=en</ref> <ref name = "marylandGazette>The Maryland Gazette (Annapolis, Maryland). Thursday, April 5, 1781, Pages 1-2, Accessed 20 July 2023.</ref> (Unknown-1794)<ref name = "lymanHall5>Hall, Lyman. "The Stewards of West River." BookBaby, 24 May 2021, p. 90.</ref>, as well as the shipyard he owned and operated <ref name = "chesapeakeBayInTheAmericanRevolution">Eller, Ernest M.. Chesapeake Bay in the American Revolution. United States, Tidewater Publishers, 1981.</ref>.
==Background==
===Chalk Point===
Chalk Point was named so because the British supposedly used it as a dumping ground for ballast chalk from ships <ref name = "tobaccoCoast1">Middleton, Arthur Pierce. "Tobacco Coast." The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, 1984, p. 99</ref>.
===Blockade of Annapolis by <i>Monk</i> and <i>Hope</i>===
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===Stephen Steward And His Shipyard===
Stephen Steward
A common myth about Stephen Steward's shipyard is that he co-owned it with Samuel Galloway <ref name = "lymanHall2>Hall, Lyman. "The Stewards of West River." BookBaby, 24 May 2021, p. 78-81. Hall is disproving claims that Steward and Galloway co-owned the shipyard.</ref> (1720-1785)<ref name = "lymanHall6>Hall, Lyman. "The Stewards of West River." BookBaby, 24 May 2021, p. 84.</ref>. While Samuel Galloway and Stephen Steward did have a business partnership and co-owned ships together<ref name = "lymanHall4>Hall, Lyman. "The Stewards of West River." BookBaby, 24 May 2021, p. 82.</ref>, Samuel Galloway was a merchant and a customer of Stephen Steward's, not a shipbuilder himself<ref name = "lymanHall2>Hall, Lyman. "The Stewards of West River." BookBaby, 24 May 2021, p. 78-81. Hall is disproving claims that Steward and Galloway co-owned the shipyard.</ref>. Another is that Stephen Steward inherited the shipyard from his father, John Steward. Stephen Steward, in fact, built the shipyard in 1751<ref name = "lymanHall3>Hall, Lyman. "The Stewards of West River." BookBaby, 24 May 2021, p. 80. </ref>.
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==Battle==
===British Assault===
The British forces from <i>Monk</i> and <i>Hope</i> were led to the shipyard operated by Steward and Galloway by an escaped man (formerly enslaved by Mr. Steward) <ref name = "historyOfAACounty">A History of Anne Arundel County in Maryland. United States, Creative Media Partners, LLC, 2016. https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_Anne_Arundel_County_in_Mary/5wZJvgAACAAJ?hl=en</ref> <ref name = "tulipHill">Kelly, J. Reaney. “’Tulip Hill,’ Its History and Its People.” Maryland Historical Magazine, December 1965, pp. 349-403. https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5800/sc5881/000001/000000/000240/pdf/msa_sc_5881_1_240.pdf</ref>. Local militia were taken by surprise as the British rounded the point instead of approaching from the front of the point as predicted <ref name = "historyOfAACounty">A History of Anne Arundel County in Maryland. United States, Creative Media Partners, LLC, 2016. https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_Anne_Arundel_County_in_Mary/5wZJvgAACAAJ?hl=en</ref>. When the Patriots challenged the British, the British attempted to pose as allies by replying that they were "Friends to Congress from Annapolis" <ref name = "historyOfAACounty">A History of Anne Arundel County in Maryland. United States, Creative Media Partners, LLC, 2016. https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_Anne_Arundel_County_in_Mary/5wZJvgAACAAJ?hl=en</ref> <ref name = "tulipHill">Kelly, J. Reaney. “’Tulip Hill,’ Its History and Its People.” Maryland Historical Magazine, December 1965, pp. 349-403. https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5800/sc5881/000001/000000/000240/pdf/msa_sc_5881_1_240.pdf</ref>. This attempt at deception was unsuccessful, as twenty of the Patriots opened fire with their small arms immediately thereafter, and the others ran away due to being outnumbered <ref name = "historyOfAACounty">A History of Anne Arundel County in Maryland. United States, Creative Media Partners, LLC, 2016. https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_Anne_Arundel_County_in_Mary/5wZJvgAACAAJ?hl=en</ref> <ref name = "tulipHill">Kelly, J. Reaney. “’Tulip Hill,’ Its History and Its People.” Maryland Historical Magazine, December 1965, pp. 349-403. https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5800/sc5881/000001/000000/000240/pdf/msa_sc_5881_1_240.pdf</ref>. The British fired a large volley in response <ref name = "historyOfAACounty">A History of Anne Arundel County in Maryland. United States, Creative Media Partners, LLC, 2016. https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_Anne_Arundel_County_in_Mary/5wZJvgAACAAJ?hl=en</ref> <ref name = "tulipHill">Kelly, J. Reaney. “’Tulip Hill,’ Its History and Its People.” Maryland Historical Magazine, December 1965, pp. 349-403. https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5800/sc5881/000001/000000/000240/pdf/msa_sc_5881_1_240.pdf</ref>. To the disadvantage of the Patriots who fired upon the British, the Patriots who fled took the remaining ammunition with them <ref name = "historyOfAACounty">A History of Anne Arundel County in Maryland. United States, Creative Media Partners, LLC, 2016. https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_Anne_Arundel_County_in_Mary/5wZJvgAACAAJ?hl=en</ref> <ref name = "tulipHill">Kelly, J. Reaney. “’Tulip Hill,’ Its History and Its People.” Maryland Historical Magazine, December 1965, pp. 349-403. https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5800/sc5881/000001/000000/000240/pdf/msa_sc_5881_1_240.pdf</ref>. ▼
▲The British forces from <i>Monk</i> and <i>Hope</i> were led to the shipyard operated by Steward and Galloway by an escaped man (formerly enslaved by Mr. Steward) <ref name = "historyOfAACounty">A History of Anne Arundel County in Maryland. United States, Creative Media Partners, LLC, 2016. https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_Anne_Arundel_County_in_Mary/5wZJvgAACAAJ?hl=en</ref> <ref name = "tulipHill">Kelly, J. Reaney. “’Tulip Hill,’ Its History and Its People.” Maryland Historical Magazine, December 1965, pp. 349-403. https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5800/sc5881/000001/000000/000240/pdf/msa_sc_5881_1_240.pdf</ref>. Local militia were taken by surprise as the British
===Retreat To "Mr. Harrison's"===
The retreating Patriots fled to the house of a "Mr. Harrison" nearby and regrouped, preparing to stave off a secondary assault by the party from <i>Monk</i> and <i>Hope</i>, but the attack never came <ref name = "historyOfAACounty">A History of Anne Arundel County in Maryland. United States, Creative Media Partners, LLC, 2016. https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_Anne_Arundel_County_in_Mary/5wZJvgAACAAJ?hl=en</ref> <ref name = "tulipHill">Kelly, J. Reaney. “’Tulip Hill,’ Its History and Its People.” Maryland Historical Magazine, December 1965, pp. 349-403. https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5800/sc5881/000001/000000/000240/pdf/msa_sc_5881_1_240.pdf</ref>. There are three Harrisons in the Daughters of the American Revolution Patriot database who are located in the West River Hundred <ref name = "dar">Daughters of the American Revolution. “Patriot Records Index.” Daughters of the American Revolution Genealogy Research, https://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search_revwar/?Rows=25&action=search&SearchSource=Form&MySurname=Harrison&MyFirst_Name=&Doc_ID=22&SubmitForm=Search, Accessed 20 July 2023.</ref>, so the identity of the "Mr. Harrison" to whose house the retreating Patriots fled is unknown. However, Stephen Steward's letter to the Maryland Public Safety Council on April 1, 1781, mentions a Mr. Richard Harrison who could have been the Patriot sympathizer in question <ref name = "msaSteward17810401">Steward, Stephen. “April I Red Book No. 27 Letter 50.” Journal and Correspondence of the Council of Maryland, 1781, Volume 47, Page 156, https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000047/html/am47--119.html</ref>.
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