The British continued their march to Washington and entered Bladensburg, Maryland, which was about east of Washington. There, on August 24, 1814, they encountered American emplacements that led to the Battle of Bladensburg, northeast of the Capital along the upper eastern branch stream of the Anacostia River. After a clear British victory, they continued to Washington and burned most of the city's public buildings, including the White House, the Capitol building, the Navy Yard, and other Federal buildings and structures in retaliation for the earlier American Burning of York, the capital of Upper Canada (also known as Toronto, capital of the Province of Ontario) the year before. On the return trip to their ships, they stopped briefly again at Upper Marlboro. Some British deserters ransacked several small farms in the area in search of food. Robert Bowie, the 11th Governor of Maryland, who was a farmer and owned farmland in the area, decided to take matters into his own hands and do something about the ransacking. He got help from Beanes who convinced Dr. William Hill and Philip Weems to participate. They arrested a few deserters and took them to the Prince George's County jail. One escaped and returned back to the British ships in southern Maryland and told Ross about the arrests.