Because the British targeted Washington and Baltimore on the Chesapeake Bay’s western shore, the role of Maryland’s Eastern Shore in the War of 1812 often is overlooked.

Two battles, seven skirmishes, and at least 14 British raids occurred on the Eastern Shore at sites such as Slippery Hill and Slaughter Creek. The town of St. Michaels twice fended off British attacks. One of the best-preserved War of 1812 battlefields in the mid-Atlantic region is Caulks Field, located near the town of Fairlee. The Battle of the Ice Mound, where Americans attacked an ice-bound British tender, unfolded near Taylor’s Island about a month after the more famous Battle of New Orleans—and just days before Congress ratified the Treat of Ghent, which officially ended the war.