Kitty Knight: Wartime Celebrity

It is difficult to imagine that the beautiful and serene Sassafras River was once a battlefield, but this was the case on May, 6, 1813. As the British troops advanced towards Fredericktown and Georgetown- two small communities separated by the Sassafras- local militia fired at them from both towns. Though the militia fought back only briefly before retreating, the British troops took their revenge by first setting Fredericktown aflame, then crossing the Sassafras to Georgetown. Much of Georgetown was destroyed in the fire started by the British, but two structures survived due to the courage and tenacity of one local resident, Catherine “Kitty” Knight.

Kitty Knight, born about 1775, was something of a local celebrity even before her 1813 encounter with the British troops at Georgetown. The daughter of prominent locals John Leach and Catherine Matthews Knight, Kitty was a great beauty who once caught the eye of General George Washington at a ball in Philadelphia. Her renown, however, was solidified on that day in May 1813 when she stood her ground against the advancing British troops and pleaded with Admiral George Cockburn to spare the two brick houses on the hill, one of which housed an ill and elderly woman. Kitty’s appeal was successful, as the British troops moved their torches from the elderly woman’s house to the neighboring structure, agreeing to spare the old woman. Kitty, however, was not satisfied. The wind would blow the fire right back towards the elderly woman’s house, Kitty argued. Surprisingly, Admiral Cockburn gave in to Kitty’s demands and ordered his men to move on. Unfortunately, the fire had already started, threatening the woman that Kitty had so courageously fought to protest. According to legend, Kitty set about stamping out the fire herself. Those two houses were some of the few remaining buildings in Georgetown after Cockburn and his men moved on.  

The legend of Kitty Knight’s brave stand at Georgetown looms so large on the Eastern Shore that it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction. The first known written account of her brave stand against the British was in her November 1855 obituary. Naturally, the obituary cites no sources and who can say how outsize Kitty’s legend grew between that May 1813 night and her death 40 years later? In 1935, Gertrude Crownfield published her historical fiction novel “Conquering Kitty : a Romance of the Sassafras River”, further solidifying Kitty’s legend.  

More fact and fiction about Kitty Knight can be found in “Wild Women of Maryland” by Lauren Silberman and “Delmarva Legends & Lore” by David Healy. Both books can be checked out from Miller Library! 

Image courtesy of Gerry Embleton