BATTLE OF BLADENSBURG

The 'Battle of Bladensburg' was a battle fought during the War of 1812. The defeat of the American forces there allowed the British to capture and burn Washington, D.C.

Contents

Background

Battle

Order of battle

British

References and further reading

External links

Background

By now, Napoleon had been defeated in Europe and was exiled to the island of Elba. Thus significant numbers of British troops were free to be sent to North America. Sir George Prevost, Govenor General of Canada, planned for a dual invasion of the United States. He personally led one invasion into New York, from his headquarters in Canada, headed for Lake Champlain. The other was to be transported up the Chesapeake Bay into the central United States under the command of General Robert Ross. U.S. Secretary of War John Armstrong did not believe the British would attack the strategically unimportant city of Washington. He instead believed the likely target would be the more militarily important city of Baltimore. Armstrong was only half right—the British invasion was aimed at both Baltimore and Washington. Prevost wanted to avenge the American burning of the Canadian city of York, Ontario (now Toronto), the capital of Upper Canada(today the Canadian province of Ontario).
Ross landed his forces in Maryland in August 1814 and marched up the Patuxent River. The American commander was Brigadier General William H. Winder, an inept leader who had been recently exchanged after being captured at the July 1813 Battle of Stoney Creek. Winder had at his immediate disposal 120 Dragoons and 300 Regulars, but the rest of his force consisted of 1,500 poorly trained and equipped militia. On the day of the battle some 5,000 more militiamen began arriving on the field. Winder had the numerically superior force, but he was opposed by experienced British regulars. Winder chose a good defensive position on the western side of the Eastern Branch of the Potomac (now called the Anacostia River), across from the town of Bladensburg, east of Washington.

Battle

Around noon on August 24, Ross's army reached Bladensburg. President James Madison and Secretary of State James Monroe had ridden out to see the battle, although cautioned by Armstrong of the possibility of a breakthrough by the British against the unreliable militia. British troops then began to cross a narrow bridge over the river. American artillery tore large gaps in their ranks, but the British continued to advance.
The first line of American militia quickly broke and fled before the British regulars. Despite a brave show of resistance by 400 sailors and Marines—who fought against the enemy hand to hand with cutlasses and pikes—under the command of Commodore Joshua Barney at the second American line, these defenders were also forced to fall back when they were in danger of being cut off. Barney, severely wounded with a musketball in the thigh, was captured. Winder had failed to give any instructions in the case of a retreat, and the militia simply fled the field with no destination in mind.
The hasty and disorganized American retreat was so great that the battle became known as the 'Bladensburg Races' from an 1816 poem. The American militia actually fled through the streets of Washington. President Madison, along with the rest of the federal government, soon followed. Thanks to the efforts of the President's wife, Dolley Madison, several historic paintings and other artifacts were saved from the White House. That same night the British entered Washington unopposed.

Order of battle

British

★ Foot (Infantry)

★
★ 4th Regiment (King's Own)

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★ 21st Regiment (Royal North British Fusiliers)

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★ 44th Regiment (Essex)

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★ 85th Regiment (Bucks Volunteers)

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★ Royal Marines

References and further reading

★ George, Christopher T., ''Terror on the Chesapeake: The War of 1812 on the Bay'', Shippensburg, Pa., White Mane, 2001, ISBN 1-57249-276-7

★ Pitch, Anthony S.''The Burning of Washington'', Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2000. ISBN 1-55750-425-3

★ Whitehorne, Joseph A., ''The Battle for Baltimore 1814'', Baltimore: Nautical & Aviation Publishing, 1997, ISBN 1-877853-23-2

External links

★ War of 1812 British Regiments