1814 Battle of the Potomac

Patrick O'Neill

In celebration of the 200th anniversary of the writing of the Star Spangled Banner, Patrick O'Neill joined us for our CCASM meeting on September 11th to give a talk on the Battle of the Potomac and the burning of Washington. He described how Maryland and Virginia militias engaged British warships on the Potomac between August and September of 1814 and how these efforts gave Baltimore time to build their defenses before the British attacked Baltimore.

Patrick O’Neill has been a professional archaeologist and historian for over 30 years. He received a BS in Anthropology from Kansas State University and an MA in History from West Texas A & M University.   Patrick is past President of the Archeological Society of Virginia, and historian for the Kittiewan Plantation in Charles City County, Virginia.

CCASM would like to thank Patrick for donating a signed copy of his book "To Annoy or Destroy the Enemy", The Battle of the White House after the Burning of Washington to the CCASM Library.

Attendance: 22

Posting submitted by Sarah and photos provided by Carol.

War of 1812 at Nottingham

Mike Lucas

At the December 13 CCASM meeting Mike Lucas spoke about the Archaeology Project being done at Nottingham and how it relates to the War of 1812.  In the 18th and 19th Century Nottingham was a small village on the Patuxent River.  During the summer of 1814 the British spent the night at Nottingham on their way to Washington.  They also left behind a rear guard.  Mike showed slides of objects left behind by the British and found by the project.  He also showed us the results from shovel test pits that indicated where some of the houses in the village had been.  And he also shared some of the information gathered about local slaves that joined the British during the War.

This multi-year project was started by Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission in October 2011.  There are plans to continue the work in 2013.   Mike Lucas is with the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission in Prince George's County.  If you are interested in the project, you can contact Mike at Michael.Lucas@pgparks.com

Joshua Eller gave an update on the reconnaissance he and Rich Gorski did on a site near the Maryland Welcome Center.  Several members also provided historic information and photos they had gathered about the area.  Joshua will be preparing a MHT Site Form for this site to meet one of the requirements for ASM's Certified Archaeological Technician (CAT) program.  Several of CCASM members are in the CAT program, and three members have completed the program.

Also we had a raffle for an ASM sweatshirt.  The money will eventually be used for CCASM to acquire a projector.  (We have a long way to go.).  George won the sweatshirt that his wife Elsie is holding up in the photo. 

Attendance: 18