In the two hundred years following the War of 1812, the Chesapeake Campaign became romanticized in tall tales and local legends. St. Michael's on the Eastern Shore of Maryland was famously cast as the town that fooled the British, and in Baltimore, the defenders of Fort McHenry were reputably rallied by a remarkably patriotic pet rooster. In Virginia, the only casualty in a raid on Cape Henry was reportedly the lighthouse keeper's smokehouse larder, while Admiral Cockburn was said to have supped by the light of the burning Federal buildings in Washington, D.C. Newspaper stories, ordinary citizens and even military personnel embellished events, and two hundred years later, those embellishments have become regional lore. Join historians Ralph E. Eshelman and Scott S. Sheads as they search for the history behind the legends of the War of 1812 in the Chesapeake.

Does a witch's ghost haunt a park in Annapolis? Why should Baltimore really be called Charm City? What weird stories and traditions regarding witches in the Chesapeake region are true and where did the others originate? What is the real history of witchcraft in early Maryland? How were accusations of witchcraft handled by the authorities? Why did Maryland not suffer the same fate as Salem in 1692?Reviewing early Maryland records, newspaper articles, and other accounts from the 17th to the early 20th century, this book answers these questions and more, while revealing Maryland's fascinating witch-related history.