#52Ancestors 2019 Week 12: Lt. John Scrivener in the War of 1812

#52 Ancestors 2019 Week 12: Lt. John Scrivener in the War of 1812

Since this week's prompt is "12," I thought of the War of 1812 and the heroic service of my 4X great grandfather, Lt. John Scrivener.

John Scrivener, the oldest son of Francis Scrivener and his first wife (name unknown), was born about 1780 in Anne Arundel County MD. He married Eliza Smith Boswell in Prince George's County MD in 1817 and had 12 children with her.

During the War of 1812, John Scrivener served in the 2nd Regiment, Maryland Militia, in the company of Captain Thomas Simmons.  Also in this company were John's brother, Francis Scrivener, as well as Joseph Harrison, William Ward, Francis Whittington, Charles Whittington, John A. Whittington, Thomas Whittington, Benjamin Whittington, Samuel Wood of William, William P. Hardesty, and Samuel Stevens.

During the summer of 1814, the company was called out several times because of British ships in Herring Bay (which meant they were headed toward Baltimore.)  The Congressional Record shows one specific engagement in which John Scrivener played a prominent role:

This case is one of peculiar hardship, and I take the liberty to mention the circumstance without consulting Mr. Scrivener, who is a man of very respectable standing in society, remarkable for his piety and goodness—he has a wife and twelve children.  

The fortification was made on his land, being a small embankment about three feet high.  At the time the enemy made their attack on Town Point, Capt. Simmons and Capt. Tillard with most of their officers and men were on duty in Baltimore for the defense of that city.  The command at Town Point devolved on Lt. Scrivener, who with the few men left of Capt. Simmons and Capt. Tillard’s company were stationed there.  The British approached the fortification in their barges in such an overwhelming force that all the men but some 6 or 8 retreated.  The battle commenced –the station was gallantly defended by Lt. Scrivener—his cannon was well plied—and when the match gave out, in his zeal to repel the enemy, he laid the pan of a musket on the touch hole of the cannon and fired her in that way—standing near the gun carriage the recoil of the gun ran over his foot—they were compelled to retreat through an open field, nearly half a mile, all the while exposed to the fire of a fleet of barges.  All the men could run, but poor Scrivener, who hobbled away as best he could with his lacerated foot, the blood running over the top of his shoe almost at every step.

Lt. Scrivener survived that encounter, having done his best to keep the British away from Baltimore. 

In October 1814, the British burned Lt. Scrivener's house and outhouses because they had been used as soldiers' barracks.  At about the same time, several of his slaves ran away with the British.  John Scrivener later filed a claim for compensation for the run-away slaves and received $560. (See John Scrivener Biography at the Maryland State Archives.)

John Scrivener died in Anne Arundel County MD in 1849.

The map below shows the location of this encounter.