Three defensive earthworks protected Elkton: Fort Hollingsworth, located here, and Forts Defiance and Frederick downriver, while a 60-foot chain stretched across the channel to secure the Elk River. On April 29, 1813, defenders at Fort Defiance fired on approaching British barges as Fort Hollingsworth repelled a land assault, and Elkton successfully turned back the British again in 1814. A later recollection by Judge Thomas J. Sample said the British tried to reach Elkton but retreated after finding a defensive chain across the river and a small battery at the landing. According to legend, the British bribed an enslaved woman, Hetty Boulden, to guide them overland to Elkton, but instead she led them to Cedar Point, where American fire from Fort Hollingsworth drove them off. Years later, Boulden’s obituary recalled that when Frenchtown was burned by the English Army in 1812, she belonged to Captain Henderson and was compelled by the commander to act as guide to Elkton.