Battle of North Point

Date Monday, September 12, 1814
Weather Cloudy and cool - 58 degrees
Location North Point, Maryland
 

British Empire

United States

Belligerents United Kingdom The United States of America
Commanders Robert Ross John Stricker, Samuel Smith
Casualties Force: 4,000
Killed: 42
Wounded: 282
Captured: 0
Force: 3,200
Killed: 24
Wounded: 139
Captured: 50

The Battle of North Point was fought on September 12, 1814, between General John Stricker's Maryland Militia and a British force led by Major-General Robert Ross. Although tactically a British victory, the battle delayed the British advance against Baltimore, buying valuable time for the defense of the city. The engagement was a part of the larger Battle of Baltimore, a strategic American victory and a turning point in the War of 1812.

Background

British Movements

After Major-General Robert Ross had defeated the Americans at the Battle of Bladensburg on August 24, 1814, and burned Washington, the British headed further up the Chesapeake Bay to the strategically more important port city of Baltimore. Ross's army of 3,700 troops, and 1,000 marines, landed at North Point on the morning of September 12, 1814, and began moving toward the city of Baltimore.

American Defenses

Major General Samuel Smith of the Maryland militia anticipated the British move, and dispatched General John Stricker's column, along with several rifle companies, and a battery of 6, 5-pound guns. At that point, the peninsula was about a mile wide and was considered an ideal spot for opposing the British before they reached the main American defensive positions. Stricker deployed his brigade half way between Hampstead Hill, just outside of Baltimore where there were earthworks and artillery emplacements, and North Point.

Stricker received intelligence that the British were camped at a farm just 3 miles from his headquarters. Stricker deployed his men between Bear Creek and Bread and Cheese Creek, which offered cover from a nearby woods, and had a long wooden fence near the main road. Stricker then placed two regiments and his six guns in a front defensive line. He also held two more regiments in support, and one more in reserve. He placed his men in mutually supporting positions, relying on numerous swamps and the two streams to stop a British flank attack, all of which he hoped would help avoid another disaster such as Bladensburg.

Battle

Opening Skirmish

On the 12th, Stricker decided it would be better to provoke a fight rather than wait for a possible British night attack. At 1:00 pm, Stricker sent Major Richard Heath with 250 men and one cannon to draw the British to Stricker's main force.

Heath advanced down the road and soon began to engage the British pickets. When the British General, Robert Ross, heard the fighting, he quickly left his meal and ran to the scene. The British attempted to drive out the concealed American riflemen. George Cockburn was cautious about advancing without more support and Ross agreed that he would leave and get the main army. However, Ross never got his chance. An American sniper concealed in a tree shot him in the chest. Ross turned his command over to Colonel Arthur Brooke and died soon after. The sniper who shot him was spotted and killed moments after.

Main Battle

Brooke was able to reorganize the British troops and prepare to assault the American positions at 3:00 pm. Brooke decided to use his three cannon and his rocket launchers to cover an attempt by the 4th Regiment to get around the American flank, while two more regiments and the naval brigade would assault the American center. The British frontal assault took heavy casualties as the American riflemen fired right into the British assault, and the Americans loaded their cannon with pieces of broken locks, nails and horseshoes, spraying scrap metal on the advancing British. However, the British 4th Regiment managed to flank the American positions and send many of the American regiments fleeing. Stricker was able to turn it into an organized retreat, firing volleys as they continued to fall back.

Not all the militia regiments performed with equal distinction. The 51st, and some members of 39th, broke and ran under fire. However, the 5th and 27th held their ground and were able to retreat in good order having inflicted significant casualties on the advancing enemy.

Corporal John McHenry of the 5th Regiment wrote an account of the battle:

"Our Regiment, the 5th, carried off the praise from the other regiments engaged, so did the company to which I have the honor to belong cover itself with glory. When compared to the [other] Regiments we were the last that left the ground...had our Regiment not retreated at the time it did we should have been cut off in two minutes."

Aftermath

Brooke had advanced to within a mile of the main American position but he had suffered heavier casualties than the Americans, and it was getting dark, so he chose to wait until Fort McHenry was expected to be neutralized.

The battle had been costly for the British. Apart from the other casualties, losing General Ross was a critical blow to the British: he was a respected leader of British forces in the Peninsular War and the War of 1812. Ross's death proved a blow to British morale as well. The combined effect of the blow suffered at North Point and the failure of the Royal Navy to capture or get past Fort McHenry at the entrance to Baltimore harbor, despite a 25-hour bombardment, proved to be the turning point of the Battle of Baltimore. During the bombardment on Fort McHenry, Francis Scott Key was detained on a British ship at the entrance to Baltimore and penned the words to "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Casualties

The official British Army casualty report, signed by Major Henry Debbeig, gives 39 killed and 251 wounded. Of these, 28 killed and 217 wounded belonged to the British Army; 6 killed and 20 wounded belonged to the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the Royal Marines; 4 killed and 11 wounded belonged to the contingents of Royal Marines detached from Cockburn’s fleet; and 1 killed and 3 wounded belonged to the Royal Marine Artillery. As was normal, the Royal Navy submitted a separate casualty return for the engagement, signed by Rear-Admiral Cockburn, which gives 4 sailors killed and 28 wounded but contradicts the British Army casualty report by giving 3 killed and 15 wounded for the Royal Marines detached from the ships of the Naval fleet. The total British losses, as officially reported, were either 43 killed and 279 wounded or 42 killed and 283 wounded, depending on which of the two casualty returns was accurate. Historian Franklin R. Mullaly gives still another version of the British casualties: 46 killed and 295 wounded. The American loss was 24 killed, 139 wounded and 50 taken prisoner.