An artist's depiction of the digging of entrenchments on Hampstead Hill.
Excerpt form "In Full Glory Reflected."
A map showing the Hampstead Hill fortifications dug on the East and North East of the city of Baltimore.
NPS
“White and Black, All Are at Work Together”
After the British victory at the Battle of Bladensburg on August 24, 1814, and the subsequent burning of Washington, it became clear that Baltimore needed to speed up the work it had begun on building fortifications around the city. Anticipating an invasion from the east, a line of earthworks stretching over a mile long was dug along the city’s eastern front. The people who built and later stood guard at these trenches included enslaved workers, free African Americans, and immigrants. Although many of them were denied full and equal status as citizens, they nevertheless worked together to defend their city during those frantic days in the late summer and early fall of 1814.
A “Committee of Vigilance and Safety” had been formed in Baltimore during the war to coordinate the civilian aspects of the city’s defense. Under the direction of Mayor Edward Johnson, the committee consisted of around 30 elected men from the city’s professional, manufacturing, and merchant class. After the Battle of Bladensburg, General Samuel Smith, commander of the Maryland militia, requested that the city build additional fortifications on Hampstead Hill. On August 26, 1814, the Committee directed all able-bodied men not serving in the militia to assemble for work, bringing their own rations and whatever shovels, spades, wheelbarrows, and other tools they had. Divided into four groups, each team worked a dawn to dusk shift over the following two weeks.
Since only white male citizens could serve in the militia, that left a labor pool of immigrants and free African Americans to dig the trenches, along with enslaved workers whose owners were directed to provide them as labor. Contemporary reports paint a rosy picture of everyone working together to raise the fortifications “as if by magic.” One woman wrote to her brother that “white and black, all are at work together,” and that it was even possible to see “a master and his slave digging side by side…with no distinction whatsoever.” Whether or not the work was quite so cheerful and equal, it is true that different groups of people were thrown together with the goal of saving their city.
African Americans laboring to dig entrenchments on Hampstead Hill.
Excerpt from "In Full Glory Reflected"
Enslaved Workers
The Committee required that slave owners send their enslaved workers to assist in building the fortifications. Although the city provided compensation and alcohol, at least one owner complained about the loss of labor. Peter Zacherie, an inventor from Virginia, argued that the requisition of his four slaves would leave him and his six sons without enough help. Zacherie sought to receive 50 cents per day for each of his slaves. Whether he received this is unknown, but most owners were compensated between 50-75 cents per day for each enslaved worker they sent. Worries about potential insurrections by armed African Americans were overridden by necessity, after reassurances by military leaders that African Americans would prove loyal to the city.
Free African Americans – Nicholas Kinnard
One of the laborers who worked on the fortifications was a free African American named Nicholas Kinnard (or Kennard). By 1810, the number of free African Americans in Baltimore outnumbered those who were enslaved, though they were not allowed to vote, or serve in the army or militia, except as musicians or servants, and faced numerous economic obstacles. Most had previously been enslaved in the surrounding rural areas, and found work as unskilled laborers, although some managed to obtain work in skilled trades such as carpentry or blacksmithing. By 1817, Nicholas Kinnard was likely working as a drayman, or carter living with a wife and four children on Smith Street in Fell’s Point. A drayman was a horse and cart driver who transported goods. Such work could be profitable for free African Americans in early 19th century Baltimore, given the demand from industry, surrounding farms, and the port. However, being a drayman required having enough money to purchase and maintain a cart and horse, and to pay the taxes the city imposed on these possessions. African American draymen also had to compete with their white counterparts for business. Despite these obstacles, Nicholas Kinnard’s business may have been a long and successful one: almost 30 years later, the Baltimore Directory for 1845 lists a carter named Nicholas Kennard on Smith Street in Fell’s Point.
Artist depiction of a soldier with a shovel at Hampstead Hill.
Excerpt from "In Full Glory Reflected."
Irish Immigrants – Michael Gorman
Unnaturalized immigrants were another group that was not allowed to vote or serve in the military or militia in 1814, and they too were required to report for duty in August of that year to build Baltimore’s fortifications. Michael Gorman was one of these immigrant laborers, having been born in Ireland around 1773, and making his way to Baltimore via Philadelphia as a runaway indentured servant. By 1814, he had purchased a small house in Fell’s Point, and was working on Baltimore’s mudmachine, messy and dangerous work that involved dredging the bottom of the harbor to create landfill. Many of the mudmachine laborers were Irish immigrants, and few lasted very long on what was one of the toughest jobs in Baltimore. Michael Gorman managed to tally some of the highest number of days worked by any laborer for several years, even becoming a supervisor. However, he and his wife Bridget met with misfortune by the early 1820s, losing their home and ending up in the city’s almshouse, where Michael Gorman spent the last 10 years of his life.
German Immigrants – Union Jaegers
By September 10, the Baltimore fortifications at Hampstead Hill were complete. Starting at the Patapsco River in the south, the trenches ran all the way north to Bel Air Road, with battery positions and cannons interspersed throughout. Now it was time for the military and militia to move into place. One of the troops positioned along the newly built fortifications were the Union Jaegers, part of the 1st Battalion of Maryland. Traditionally made of up men of German descent, not all of them spoke English, and so commanders sometimes gave orders in German. Compared with their Irish counterparts, German immigrants usually arrived in Baltimore with more resources, and so most were not forced to do the same kind of hard labor in order to survive. They could also turn to local benevolent associations organized by their fellow Germans if they needed assistance. Despite these advantages, the number of Germans who ended up in the almshouse in the following decades was second only to the Irish.
Although those who labored to build the fortifications around Baltimore’s eastern front might not have been there by choice, they did succeed in creating an impressive line of defenses on short notice. And for those who stood guard during the long night while the British bombarded Fort McHenry, the trenches provided at least “a fancied security” and some shelter, in case it became their turn to fight.
