# Talk:Second Battle of St. Michaels

This review is transcluded from Talk:Second Battle of St. Michaels/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Reviewer: Hog Farm (talk · contribs) 06:42, 27 February 2022 (UTC)

Link Battle of St. Michaels in the lead
Modified last sentence in second paragraph to "About two weeks earlier, the town was successfully defended by artillerists from the local militia when British forces attacked on August 10 in the Battle of St. Michaels." with Battle of St. Michaels Wikilinked. TwoScars (talk) 19:11, 2 March 2022 (UTC)
"the British mysteriously withdrew." - the body doesn't seem to suggest that the withdrawal was particularly mysterious?
Changed the end of the Beckwith section to: Eventually the two sides exchanged fire, but what the U.S. National Park Service calls "the largest Eastern Shore battle" of the War of 1812 lasted for only a few artillery shots and musket volleys. The British "mysteriously withdrew", and the reason for their withdrawal is still unknown.
"and in January 1813 Rear Admiral George Cockburn reported to Warren in the HMS Marlborough" - Cockburn has already been introduced; I don't think you need to give his full name/rank here
Removed rank there and in the last sentence of the paragraph. TwoScars (talk) 19:51, 2 March 2022 (UTC)
The British units are named in the infobox, but aren't named in the body except for the 102 Regt. of Foot, which is listed as a possible unit in a footnote
Named and wikilinked all three units in the text. TwoScars (talk) 21:17, 2 March 2022 (UTC)
"Also present were the 26th Maryland Regiment and companies from the 9th Cavalry District" - this feels a bit redundant, given that the bulleted list right before this enumerates the units.  Since only portions of these units seem to have been engaged, it might be best to remove the bulleted list and then briefly describe the breakdown of forces as prose
Changed to all prose, removed redundancy. TwoScars (talk) 20:46, 2 March 2022 (UTC)
I think militiamen is generally one word, rather than two
Changed to militiamen in all three places. TwoScars (talk) 19:54, 2 March 2022 (UTC)
" "largest Eastern Shore battle of the war" lasted only a few volleys because the British withdrew" - the source is public domain, so it's not a copyvio, but this is still a little too close of the wording to the source than I find comfortable
See change made under "mysteriously withdrew" section. TwoScars (talk) 20:07, 2 March 2022 (UTC)
Recommend in-text attribution for the "largest Eastern Shore battle of the war" to the NPS
See change made under "mysteriously withdrew" section. TwoScars (talk) 19:51, 2 March 2022 (UTC)
" Almost exactly one year after the Second Battle of St. Michaels, the British burned the United States Capitol and President's Mansion (White House) in Washington, DC" - since you're mentioning this, and earlier in the paragraph that the British did not assault Baltimore in 1813, should the Battle of Baltimore be mentioned
Added: While Easton and Annapolis were not attacked during the war, Baltimore fought off the British during September 1814 in the Battle of Baltimore. (Battle of Baltimore wikilinked, sentence cited). TwoScars (talk) 20:06, 2 March 2022 (UTC)
Sources and images look fine
Although Buidhe thought three images of the Chesapeake were too many, and removed the first one, I put it back in because I thought it was useful to show where Havre de Grace, Fredericktown, Georgetown, Baltimore and Annapolis were compared to St. Michaels and Easton. The map also shows Queenstown and Tilghmans Island—all places discussed in the text.
Placing this one on hold now Hog Farm  Talk 05:54, 2 March 2022 (UTC)

Might be caught up. TwoScars (talk) 21:21, 2 March 2022 (UTC)
Looks good; promoting. Hog Farm  Talk 15:04, 3 March 2022 (UTC)

I could not find any proof, and no original research is in the article, so these talk-page comments are only my opinion. It appears to me that the British plan was for Cockburn to simply search for deserters and a militia camp. Beckwith's purpose appears not to attack St. Michaels, but only to be a barrier that a) prevented deserters/militia from escaping to St. Michaels; b) prevent Benson's militia from rescuing deserters/other militia; and c) prevent Benson's militia from cutting off Cockburn's return route to the British barges. Cockburn conducted his search and returned, and that is the reason Beckwith "mysteriously withdrew". TwoScars (talk) 22:02, 20 December 2024 (UTC)