On May 5-6, 1813, local militia on opposite sides of the Sassafras River fired at British raiders advancing toward Fredericktown and Georgetown. The militia fought only briefly before retreating, but the towns suffered heavily: the British burned much of Fredericktown, then crossed to Georgetown and set much of it on fire as well. Catharine "Kitty" Knight reportedly persuaded the British commander to spare this house and that of her elderly neighbor, two of the ten or so houses that survived Georgetown's sacking. Nearby Turner's Creek did not resist, and the British spared the settlement, reportedly "leaving People of this Place well-pleased with the wisdom of their mod of receiving us."