#kitty knight

[clove-pinks]

Where does the time go! We're already at the anniversary of the British raids on Georgetown and Fredericktown Maryland, May 5-6th 1813, and I didn't even leave out biscuits and negus for Admiral Cockburn. 😔

[surelyanne]

A painting of my kitty JoJo as the littlest knight!

Gouache on Bristol

[clove-pinks]

1812 Royal Marines, No1 Cpy, 2nd Battalion historical reenactment group staging the confrontation between Kitty Knight and Sir George Cockburn's British troops during the War of 1812.

Historical artist Gerry Embelton also drew this scene, in which Kitty persuades Admiral Cockburn to save her house, and that of an elderly neighbor, as he sacked Georgetown, Maryland, in May of 1813.

It's a heartwarming story, if a little bit apocryphal. My two biographies of Cockburn don't mention this incident, and the primary (and only) source appears to be Kitty Knight herself in her memoirs. Steve Vogel's appealing pop history Through the Perilous Fight includes it:

Cockburn had a firm sense of moral rectitude, operating under a particular code of conduct. He considered it “dastardly” when Americans in hiding took potshots at his troops. Any farm, house, or town allowing it was to be stormed and its occupants taken prisoner, likely to be shipped to Halifax and perhaps never to return home.

Cockburn respected bravery. Personal pleas from women—especially if they were good-looking or showed any spunk—appealed to his sense of gallantry. At Georgetown, on the Eastern Shore, when Catherine “Kitty” Knight—a tall beauty who in younger days had turned George Washington’s head—pleaded for the destruction to stop, a charmed Cockburn relented. “Apparently affected by my appeal, he called his men off, but left the fire burning, saying, ‘Come on boys,’ ” she later said.

From what I know of Sir George Cockburn, it seems plausible. He was witty, arrogant, and expected capitulation from American civilians. If Kitty Knight flattered and pleaded with him I can see him relenting with a chance to play the gallant. (He also ordered one of his men to return looted goods to an American lady and apologize to her).

[devotee-of-hecate-blog]

[tosheadcanons]

No matter how tough Mafioso acts, deep down, they're just a real big softie.