On this day, August 24, 1814, the British set the Presidential Mansion and the Capitol on fire.

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1. WOW! Them darned Brits!

For information, notice on Patuxent River (west of Potomac, east of the Bay,) Battle of St. Leonard Creek.

The battle, which is the largest naval engagement in the history of Maryland, took place where the Patuxent River meets the mouth of St. Leonard Creek. June 26, 1814, practically right in front of my house!!!

What happened in Chesapeake Bay during the war of 1812?

The Chesapeake Bay Flotilla was a motley collection of barges and gunboats that the United States assembled under the command of Joshua Barney, an 1812 privateer captain, to stall British attacks in the Chesapeake Bay which came to be known as the "Chesapeake Campaign" during the War of 1812.