USS Scorpion may refer to:
The Patuxent River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland. There are three main river drainages for central Maryland: the Potomac River to the west passing through Washington, D.C., the Patapsco River to the northeast passing through Baltimore, and the Patuxent River between the two. The 908-square-mile (2,352 km2) Patuxent watershed had a rapidly growing population of 590,769 in 2000. It is the largest and longest river entirely within Maryland, and its watershed is the largest completely within the state.
USS Scorpion was a schooner of the United States Navy during the War of 1812. She was the second USN ship to be named for the scorpion. The British captured her on 6 September 1814 and took her into service as HMS Confiance. She was placed in Ordinary in 1817 and broken up in 1831.
John Rodgers was a senior naval officer in the United States Navy during its formative years in the 1790s through the late 1830s. He served under six presidents for nearly four decades. His service took him through many military operations in the Quasi-War with France, both Barbary Wars in North Africa, and the War of 1812 with Britain.
Joshua Barney was an American Navy officer who served in the Continental Navy during the Revolutionary War and as a captain in the French Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. He later achieved the rank of commodore in the United States Navy and also served in the War of 1812.
Joseph Tarbell was an officer in the United States Navy during the First Barbary War and the War of 1812.
CSS Teaser had been the aging Georgetown, D.C. tugboat York River until the beginning of the American Civil War, when she was taken into the Confederate States Navy and took part in the famous Battle of Hampton Roads. Later, she was captured by the United States Navy and became the first USS Teaser.
The Battle of Bladensburg was a battle of the Chesapeake Campaign during the War of 1812, fought on 24 August 1814, at Bladensburg, Maryland, 8.6 miles (13.8 km) northeast of Washington, D.C.
The Battle of St. Michaels was an engagement contested on August 10, 1813, during the War of 1812. British soldiers attacked the American militia at St. Michaels, Maryland, which is located on Maryland's Eastern Shore with access to Chesapeake Bay. At the time, this small town was on the main shipping route to important cities such as Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Barrie was a British naval officer noted for his service in the War of 1812. He was helped early in his naval career by the patronage of his uncle, Sir Alan Gardner, who arranged for him to take part in the Vancouver Expedition. When the Pacific Coast was explored, he had served as a midshipman with Captain Vancouver in 1791.
William Henry Winder was an American soldier and a Maryland lawyer. He was a controversial general in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812. On August 24, 1814, as a brigadier general, he led American troops in their disastrous defeat at the Battle of Bladensburg, which led to the Burning of Washington by British troops. Winder was court-martialed for his role in the battle, but acquitted of any wrongdoing. He later became a leading attorney of the Baltimore bar.
The following is a synopsis of the land campaigns of the War of 1812.
The Chesapeake Bay Flotilla was a motley collection of barges and gunboats that the United States assembled under the command of Joshua Barney, an 1812 privateer captain, to stall British attacks in the Chesapeake Bay which came to be known as the "Chesapeake Campaign" during the War of 1812. The Flotilla engaged the Royal Navy in several inconclusive battles before Barney was forced to scuttle the vessels themselves on August 22, 1814. The men of the Flotilla then served onshore in the defense of Washington, DC and Baltimore. It was disbanded on February 15, 1815, after the end of the war.
The Raid on Alexandria was a British victory during the War of 1812, which gained much plunder at little cost but may have contributed to the later British repulse at Baltimore by delaying their main forces.
USS Viper – commissioned as USS Ferret – was a brig serving the United States Navy during the early days of the republic. Viper was assigned to enforce the Embargo Act of 1807 along the U.S. East Coast. During the War of 1812, while cruising in the Caribbean, she was captured by the more heavily armed British warships. She then served the Royal Navy as HMS Mohawk until the Navy sold her in 1814. While in British service she served in several actions that earned her crew the Naval General Service Medal,
HMS St Lawrence was a 14-gun schooner of the Royal Navy. She had been built in 1808 in St. Michaels, Talbot County, Maryland for Thomas Tennant and sold to Philadelphians in 1810. During the War of 1812 she was the US privateer Atlas. The UK captured her in 1813 and renamed her St Lawrence. The US privateer Chasseur recaptured her in 1815, and then HMS Acasta re-recaptured her.
HMS Manly was a 12-gun Bold-class gun-brig of the Royal Navy, launched in 1812. She served in the War of 1812, her boats participating in the Battle of Lake Borgne. She was sold in 1833.
The French frigate Trave was a Pallas-class frigate of the French Navy, launched at Amsterdam in 1812. After the Royal Navy captured her in 1813 in the North Sea, it took her into service as the troopship HMS Trave. She served in the Potomac and her boats participated in the Battle of Lake Borgne during the War of 1812. She was sold on 7 June 1821.
Flotilla Service Act was a United States federal statute passed on April 16, 1814 preceding the British Royal Navy blockade of the New England Colonies commencing on April 25, 1814. The public law established a temporary Mid-Atlantic naval auxiliary service for amphibious operations orchestrated by the Chesapeake Colonies during the War of 1812. The Chesapeake Bay Flotilla conducted amphibious maneuvers in low-level tidal creeks seeking to deter the territorial headway of the British Royal Navy offensive into the Chesapeake Bay tributaries. The Act of Congress authorized appropriations for the federal law in response to the foreseeable onslaught by the British Army redcoats arson offensive on August 24, 1814 at Washington City better known as the Burning of Washington.
United States
