Chesapeake Bay Nautical History in the 1800s
Patty Cannon
Lucretia Hanly's father was rumored to be of a Noble family in Yorkshire, who had been trapped into a low marriage and cut off by his family. He emigrated to Montreal, and later joined a gang in St.Pauls that smuggled goods across the United States Border. An old friend discovered what he had been up to and was murdered by Mr. Hanly but though this silenced his friend, it did not help him escape prosecution, and was hanged for the murder.
Lucretia's mother turned their home into an establishment "of pleasure." While visiting this establishment, Alonzo Cannon of Delaware became ill, and was tended to by Lucretia. As the last years of the 1700's closed in upon her, at the age of sixteen, Lucretia found herself taken back to Delaware with Alonzo when he was well enough to travel again. They settled ten miles below Laurel, Delaware on the Nanticoke river and established a ferry.
Patty, as she was called, supposedly possessed a look and voice that could be frightening, and the courage and strength of a man, but could also make herself feminine and popular if she chose. She was described as, "by no means bad looking, though rather large, a big dark, gypsy looking woman with flashing eyes and very sensual in her pleasures" and apparently this resulted in Alonzo's death after only three years of marriage. She moved down the River to the Maryland - Delaware line, and set up a tavern near Johnson's crossroads, that catered mainly to travelling slave traders.
Since these businessmen carried large sums of money, or money and slaves, she actively sought their patronage of her tavern, and though she provided them with their bar bills, she seldom charged for lodging.
Soon things began to happen, as the group of ruffians she had collected went into action. The first man she admits to was shot through the window while within her tavern, and his body was secreted away in the basement, then later this unfortunate man from Richmond was buried in the side of a hill. Next, two traders were killed on the road, after stopping at her tavern, then using the Cannon Ferry.  One of her accomplices, Mr Griffin, was hanged later for this crime. It was his confession, and implication of Patty, that led to her eventual capture.
It did force her to hide for a while, but she resurfaced, she posed as a slave trader herself, (an important point, lest anyone reading this so far mistakenly assume she was an abolitionist) and her partner in crime was Joe Johnson, her son-in-law (not that anyone ever mentions here daughter) They built a tavern that overlapped three counties in two states, as an attempt to evade individual magistrates should the need arise.
It's suspected that when she ran the first time, she went to Philadelphia, since this is where she probably met a black man named Ransom, who became part of her band, while he remained in Philadelphia. An educated, intelligent, free man, he prowled the streets of the waterfront, and plied his fellow negroes with liquor, then brought them to his accomplice's tavern near the Navy yard. Here the unlucky men were held until Patty's vessel arrived and they were taken to the lower Delaware shore, though the sick, old or troublesome were throw overboard often. transferred to a wagon, and taken to Patty and Joe's Tavern. Once it was assured that no one was searching for them, they were taken to Walnut Landing, put aboard another vessel, and sent South to be sold.
Meanwhile, she continued to murder travellers. Its said that once, in the middle of stabbing one man, two more approached the front door. She supposedly threw the body onto the table, wrapped it in the tablecloth, and dropped it into a trunk in time to greet the new arrivals as if nothing had happened. Others were beaten to death in their beds at night, then buried in the basement or the back yard. Once a child was thrown into the fireplace, then buried in the garden. Another boy, who worked for her at the time, was beaten with a stone.
In 1828 her brother James, a counterfeiter and horse thief, was hanged in the prison in Ontario. The same year, her mother also died. When yet another traveller known to be carrying much cash disappeared, her neighbors finally began to suspect something. A neighbor decided to visit and asked for a tour of the house, which she received, but Patty was called away and the woman was left with an old servant, and asked about the cellar and attic. The servant woman was terrified, and refused to tell, and then Patty returned.
Patty denied everything throughout her trial, but later confessed to a priest to 11 murders, and assisting to murder over 12 others. She had poisoned her first husband, and strangled one of her babies when it was three days old. Now 1829, three weeks before her execution, she poisoned herself.
Napoleon on the Eastern Shore.
This is not as far fetched as it may seem. At King's Creek, there is a house, called Beverly, that was once part of a plot to rescue Napoleon from St Helena. His youngest brother, Jerome, married Betsy Patterson of Baltimore in 1803. Two years later Napoleon ordered the marriage annulled, and Jerome was made crown prince of Westphalia and married a German Princess. He did, however, retain many of his friends from the Chesapeake area.
Mayor Girod of New Orleans raised funds to build a fast sloop, plans of St Helena and it;s fortifications were studied in detail, and the escape was rehearsed. Should they succeed, He was to be hidden at Beverly until things calmed down, and he could move to New Orleans. Just as the sloop was preparing to leave, Napoleon died.
The Battle of Chaulks' Field, Kent County, a few miles Northwest of Chestertown.
The only land battle on Maryland's Eastern Shore.
In August of 1814, as the main british fleet was sailing up the Pautuxant for Washington, Captain Sir Peter Parker was detached in the frigate Menelaus with some smaller vessels to create a diversion on the Eastern Shore. Landing a detachment north of Rock Hall, he burned a house, barn and crops, seized four slaves, and returned the detachment to the ship, proceeding again Northward.
Ashore at Fairlee, they became aware of a regiment of Maryland Militia encamped in the neighborhood.  According to the report of Colonel Phillip Reed, commander of the militia, after learning of the approaching British, he ordered a retreat to an area where he knew his troops could lie in wait, Chaulks's field
H.M.S. Menelaus
August 30th 1814
My Darling Marianne:
    I am just going on desperate service and entirely depend upon valor and example for its successful issue. If anything befalls me I have a sort of will. My country will be good to you and our adored children. God Almighty bless and protect you all. Adieu, most beloved Marianne, adieu!
Sir Peter had 260 men. It is estimated that Reed had just over 170. Reed posted an advance guard to cover the road from the bay and delay the advancing Parker, while he placed his line across Chaulks's field. The advance retreated to join the right of the line, and the British advance was halted. The British then reformed and advanced upon the left flank, this also failing.
Reed's artillery completely out of ammunition,and his militia's 20 rounds per man almost gone, they fell back to a partially fortified position. The British picked up their wounded Sir Parker and headed back to their barges, though he died during this withdrawal.
Peter Parker
P.S. I am in high health and spirits.
-Rivers of the Eastern Shore, Hulbert Footner
Shanghaied in Baltimore Harbor meant no romantic South Seas voyage by the 1800s. A common enough practice was to shanghai unwary sailors on the Baltimore waterfront, who would find themselves aboard Oyster Boats, being hauled down the bay to work all winter on the water dredging or tonging for Oysters, while the use of other vessels to haul the oysters to market meant that they were virtually prisoners of a boat that wouldn't put to shore until Spring. Conditions were like as not horrible, and rumors of men being paid off by the boom circulated freely at the time.
During The Civil War, most of the steamships of the bay were commandeered by the Government but many had iron plates added around the wheel houses to protect the pilots against Confederate snipers on the shores. Understandably, the rural Eastern Shore of Maryland favored the South, due to it's plantation agriculture. Southern spies were common on the steamboats, however. Colonel Zarvona Thomas commonly dressed as a woman, and was known to the Federals as "The veiled french lady." He succeeded at one point in overpowering the crew of a Union steamboat and with his cohorts took her back to Norfolk. Attempting this trick a second time, he was detected, and was hidden by the ladies aboard in a bureau, by knocking out the bottoms o the drawers and then crawling inside, but his heavy breathing betrayed him, and he was captured.
Looking for more civil war information?  Try this page about the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River from 1860 - 1865
Oyster Wars... Oysters were in such high demand at one point that men who owned private oyster beds along shore were forced to join together and build guardhouses on piling, out in the middle of the beds. Armed, they'd take turns standing watch all night.
As for the popular and most bountiful oyster beds in the bay, actual war broke out between Maryland and Virginia oystermen over these beds. Under the Jenkins Award of 1877, Maryland actually lost the rights to 23,000 acres of the best oyster bottoms to Virginia.  Marylanders, most attributed to be Smith Islanders, continued to dredge there anyway, flaunting the attempts to control this by the patrol vessels of both states.
In 1859, there was an actual, pitched battle between the Maryland and Virginia watermen, in Woman's Marsh. Though casualties were high, when I virginia patrol boat appeared, both sides broke off fighting, so they could drive off the patrol boat together, before resuming the fight. The Virginia boat returned with the Maryland patrol boat, and this combined force subdued both sides.
These hostilities continued until the oyster beds gave out, around 1910, but until that time, both states were forced to regularly increase the size of their "oyster navies" until this time.
Miscellania
Daniel Samuels kept a saloon on Light Street in Baltimore that was a favorite port of call for men visiting the "big city" from the lower shore. Many reportedly never made it further, and ended up being helped back to the steamboat for their return trip. The sign outside said plainly enough, "Daniel Samuels, Rectifier of        Spirits, Two drinks for a nickle."
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