Dr. James Gibb will describe the archaeological search for, and discovery of, Fort Hollingsworth in Elkton, MD, and its importance to the communities and militia of Cecil County in the early 1800's.
During the War of 1812, British marines raided settlements the length and breadth of the Chesapeake Bay. Their objective was to convince President James Madison to pull U.S. troops off the Canadian line to defend the nation's capital and one of its principal ports, Baltimore. Despite pleas from people who lived in the region, President Madison refused to send troops to the Chesapeake region.
Join us as Jim Gibb describes the archaeological search for a fort that was built by local able-bodied men for their own defense in 1813. Just south of the Hollingsworth House at Elk Landing in Elkton, MD, archeological evidence has been found identifying the ditch that produced the material with which Cecil County's residents built the Fort Hollingsworth rampart in April 1813.