Enemy Occupation

In August 1813, Kent Island served as an ideal British base of operations because it was already an important link between Maryland’s eastern and western shores. The British took over the Kent Island-Annapolis ferry, including a cargo of cattle, and used the ferry landing as one of several encampments. As many as 3,000 British troops conducted raids along the middle Bay from Kent Island. As part of a strategy to disrupt the American economy, the British offered freedom to slaves who escaped their masters and joined them, and more than 150 slaves came from the Eastern Shore. The British destroyed many Kent Island plantations during their short occupation of the island. Captain Charles Gordon wrote on August 7, 1813, “From the landing…of cannon on Kent Island, it appears to be the intention of the enemy to keep possession of it for some time…” An estimated 4,000 slaves fled their American masters to pursue freedom with the British, and many former slaves were trained to fight alongside them as the Colonial Corps of Marines.

Kent Narrows, Maryland · United States