Benedict not only place where invaders have set foot

I just read the advertising supplement to the Maryland Independent, 2016 Charles County Newcomers Guide. On page 24, second paragraph, you state, “The small town of Benedict is the only spot in the United States where foreign troops have invaded our shores.” This in not true. The United States was in invaded by British troops at the Battle of Detroit, Aug. 15-16, 1812, the Battle of Hampden, Maine, on Aug. 26, 1814, the Battle of New Orleans on Jan. 8-18, 1815. During the Civil War, the Confederate States of America invaded the Union on Sept. 4, 1862, and fought the Battle of Antietam, and again on June 15, 1863, on the way to Gettysburg. During WWII, the Japanese invaded the Aleutian, Alaska, islands of Attu and Kiska on June 3, 1942, and held them until May 29, 1943. The Japanese also invaded the then Commonwealth of the Philippines in 1941 as well as several other small Pacific islands, such as Wake, Peale and Wilkes and Marshall and Gilbert. Even if you qualify the statement by meaning only U.S. states, (which the article did not) but not including the Civil War, it is still false, since Louisiana was admitted to the Union on April 30, 1812, almost three years before the battle.

I’ll bet I’ve missed a few others as well. I like history, but you don’t get to make it up. It is what it is.

Frederick Scott, St. Charles