in 1812, joshua barney proposed creating a flotilla of american barges to defend the chesapeake bay area against british ships. in august 1814, commodore barney was forced to destroy and sink his fleet of about 15 vessels in maryland to prevent their capture. single vessel, the suspected flagship "scorpion" was discovered in 1979 under the river mud and partially excavated. now underwater archaeologist robert neeland of the history and heritage command is leading a team to further study the wreck. american history tv traveled up the river with mr. neeland to learn about the project and visited the navy's underwater archaeology lab in the washington navy yard, where artifacts from the ship are studied. >> this flows into the chesapeake bay. we're going to be going just up river of the highway 4 bridge, and highway 4 is actually the very end of pennsylvania avenue, the same pennsylvania avenue that runs from d.c. and ends right at the river. the "scorpion" or the wreck believed to be the "scorpion" is one or two miles up river from that bridge. so we're about 30 minutes from washington, d.

in 1812, joshua barney proposed creating american barges to defend the chesapeake bay area against british ships. in august 1814, he was forced to sink his vessels to prevent their capture. a single vessel, the suspected flagship scorpian was discovered under the mud and partially excavated. robert neland is leading a team to further study the work. american tv traveled up the river to learn about the project and visit the navy's underwater lab in the washington navy yard where artifacts from the ship are studied. >> we're going to be going up the highway bridge. it's the end of pennsylvania avenue. the same pennsylvania avenue that runs from d.c. we're about 40 minutes from baltimore. the river was deeper in 1814. perhaps wider as well too. during the early 19th century vessels were able to come up river. sedimentation prevented that by the 18th century and 19th century. early 20th century mechanized agriculture that was a great influx. during the war of 1812 the river was undefended. the british had free reign to come into the bay and come ashore. he proposed to build barges that would b

across lass ratto point, you had the able lieutenant, albert ball, of joshua barney's men.ether by mary pinkersville and her daughters, also sewing that flag with them was a 13-year-old black indeny toured servant named grace wisher. this wasp very much an integrated defense, a baltimore defense. from many different people came one great nation. and the common thread that held those stars and stripes together, sewn together by black and white hands, defended by black and white lives, was the thread of human dignity. the dignity of home. the dignity of place. the dignity of neighbors helping and defending neighbors. the dignity of every individual. this is our story. this is a story worthy of a great people. and this is the story that we will tell together and sing together in the years ahead. thank you very, very much. >> what is a governor without a projeclamation? when i raise my hand i would like all of you to say "whereas." i would also like to thank the outstanding morgan state university choir for being here today. so here we go. >> whereas -- >> the united states fou