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The Legend of Kitty Knight Canada has its hero, Laura Secord, who certainly was no slouch in the message delivery department. But she doesn’t hold a candle to Maryland’s Kitty Knight. Kitty Knight defended her corner of America against none other than the noted British Admiral Cockburn. The Admiral despised the United States at a level rarely seen in the UK today. Adm. Cockburn set two slaves to order the local militia to abandon their makeshift fort before the British arrived. Failure to comply would result in the town being put to the torch. If for no other reason than to be obstinate, Col. Veasey and his 400 men refused to obey the Admiral’s order. They opened fire on the British fleet when it arrived. Lacking heavy artillery and outnumbered, the garrison was overrun after a serious half-hour firefight. Being the stubborn type … and a bit of a firebug … Adm. Cockburn set about burning and plundering the local villages in retribution. Enter Kitty Knight. The British attempted to burn a brick house which was occupied by an older woman who couldn’t be moved. Kitty, faced down the famous American-disliking admiral, protesting the action. Fortunately, Ms. Knight was quite attractive and was able to convince the stogy admiral to order his men to put out the fire. Not to be undone, the troops rushed to the new brick house and set it afire. The second house was only 40 feet away and up wind. Kitty Knight protested to the admiral the result would be the burning of the old woman’s house in any case. This time he didn’t order his men to put out the fire, but simply ordered them to move on. Kitty, however, wasn’t to be ignored and she put out the fire herself.
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