By the summer of 1813 Rear Admiral George Cockburn had with his royal naval squadron raided up and down the Chesapeake Bay, destroying, burning and in effect pillaging the region that he became the most hated British naval officer in America. On August
Too much British.- A certain James O. Boyle, “naturalized Irishman,” as he calls himself, residing at Pugh Town, Va., offers a reward of one thousand dollars for the head of “the notorious incendiary and infamous scroundrel, an dviolator [of] all laws, human and divine, the British admiral COCKBURN – or, five hundred dollars for each of his ears, on delivery.”
I do not know what Mr. O. Boyle could make of the ears of Cockburn to requite the expenditure. Brig. gen. Proctor, who has more experience in the value of head skins that any one else, only gives six dollars for a whole scalp. Perhaps, as commodore Chauncey briught away the trophy suspended in the legislative hall of Upper Canada (the scalp of a female). Mr. O. Boyle designs to supply its loss with ears of a monster.”
Niles’ Weekly Register (Baltimore), August 21, 1813
Maryland in the War of 1812 