On September 23, 1777, twenty four year old Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Smith of Maryland was summoned to General George Washington's headquarters. The commander in chief told Smith to take command of Fort Mifflin, between Mud and Hog Islands, on the Delaware River below Philadelphia. ``The keeping of this fort is of very great importance, and I rely on your prudence, spirit and bravery for a vigorous and persevering defense,'' Washington said.
Mifflin and Fort Mercer, its opposite number on the New Jersey bank of the Delaware were keys to Washington's game plan to starve the British army out of newly captured Philadelphia. Smith had already distinguished himself, fighting in the rear guard at the battles of Long Island and Brandywine. The young colonel and his 4th regiment of 200 Marylanders brought Mifflin's garrison to about 400 men. But the log earthworks on the land side were only half finished and the men worked day and night under the guidance of French engineer Vicomte de Fleury to finish them.
The Mud Fort, as Washington called it, was only two feet above water level and subject to frequent flooding. On October 10, the British attacked from the land side. The bombardment reduced the walls to rubble. The men huddled in the ice-cold mud and returned the fire. On October 10, Smith led a daring sortie that routed the British artillerymen and spiked their guns. But the British soon returned and the siege continued. Smith was infuriated when Pennsylvania Navy galleys hesitated to close with the British. At one point he waded into the freezing Delaware to roar curses at the timid sailors.
Next the British moved the sixty four gun man of war Augusta and the sloop Merlin into the fray. They ran aground and were destroyed. Regrouping, the British returned to the attack and soon had 14 guns hurling 1500 shells a day into the fort from the land side and even more projectiles from a floating battery of 24 pounders that moved to within 40 yards of the riverside masonry walls.
Smith remained unfazed by this rain of metal. When one of his aides ducked an incoming shot, he said: ``What are you dodging for, sir? The King of Prussia had 30 aides de camp killed in one day!''
``Yes sir,'' replied the terrified aide. ``But Colonel Smith hasn't got so many to lose!''
On November 11, Smith wrote Washington that the end was in sight. The fort was a shambles, casualties were close to fifty percent. Minutes later, a cannon ball smashed through the wall and knocked Smith unconscious. Five days later, the fort was set on fire and the men evacuated to the New Jersey shore.
Smith was voted ``an elegant sword'' by the Continental Congress. (Only 15 officers received this award.) In 1779 he resigned and went home to Baltimore to make a fortune as a privateer. After the war, Smith became Maryland's first U.S. senator. In the War of 1812, he was in charge of the defenses of Baltimore. In 1814, Fort McHenry held off a bombarding British fleet with the same stubbornness Smith had displayed on the Delaware. Another Marylander, Francis Scott Key, was inspired to write a song which was an instant hit: ``The Star Spangled Banner.''
---Tom Fleming