The American Revolution

Though there are few notable battles that look place on the banks of the Potomac River, its navigability allowed for the transportation of soldiers and materials crucial to efforts of the Continental Army. Many of the soldiers fighting in the war were also from the Potomac River Region.

Battle of St. George's Island

St. Mary’s County in Southern Maryland supplied a large number of soldiers to the army and was also home to Maryland’s largest battle of the Revolution. On July 12, 1776, warnings began to come in that a British fleet was spotted near Point Lookout, Maryland. Calls were quickly made to Annapolis to send back soldiers to St. Mary’s County for aid in fending off the British. At the same time, ten boats full of British soldiers landed on St. George’s Island. Local Maryland militia lined up in bushes along the shore and fired on landing boats. By July 19 hundreds of militiamen had returned to the island and the British were forced to retreat.

Standoff at Jones Point

In 1781, in an attempt to prevent Lafeyette’s American Army from crossing the Potomac River, a British fleet was sent to sail up the river and raid the plantations along its banks in Maryland and Virginia. On April 11, the British fleet appeared off of the coast of Alexandria. In response, an American militia formed and marched into a fort along the river, the location of which is unknown today. It is likely that it is close to the location of the 19th century Jones Point Lighthouse. With his collection of men, Colonel John Fitzgerald made such a display that the British did not land out of fear, however, they would sail back down the Potomac, continuing their raids.

Not long after departing Alexandria, they would land near George Washington’s Mt. Vernon home. They torched and raided warehouses and demanded payments from plantation owners along the river. At the same time, Lund Washington, a cousin and appointed caretaker of the Mt. Vernon estate, boarded the British ship and begged they spare the home. In exchange for a large sum, and the freedom of seventeen African Americans enslaved at Mt. Vernon, the estate was saved. Upon his return, George Washington was furious and embarrassed that his home was spared while those loyal to the rebellion watched their homes and property go up in flames.