The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1880-09-16
THE BLOODY BRITISHERS,

ton was captured by the British troops
and tAc capital and other public buildings
were burned. The capture of the city
was preceded by the battle of Blandens-
/ burg. Accounts of this battle differ
I A1r. Lossings says that hot engagement
! occurred between a superior force of the
/ enemy and the American troops before
/ the latter retreated, and that 800 Eng
+ Iishmen were killed and wounded. Mr.
J Nicholas Callan, an old resident Of Wash
/ ington, who, although only boy when
+ the battle occurred. remembers it very
distinctly, says that very little fighting
was done, and that superior force of
militia retreated pell nell before the
advance Of the British. As Mr.. Callan's
I father was one of the militia his sons
version is likely to be correct. Much
/ nonsense has been written about the cap
/ ture Of Washington. In fact. the catas-
| tr0phe was mainly due to the fears Of
Gen. Armstrong, then Secretary of War,
and the cowardice Of a large force Of
poorly drilled militia. Both Gen. Arm
strong and the militia were afterward
| censured by a committee of congress
which was appointed TO investigate.
! Ia July, 1914, it was rumored that
! large force of British soldiers had sailed
| from the West Indias with the purpose
of landing on the shores of Chesapeake
Bay and destroying Baltimore and Wash
| ington. No particular fears seemed to
have been entertained of the safety of the
capital by President Madison and his
cabinet. Gen. Winder was in command
of the fourth military district, which
| embraced the District of Columbia and
| he had 1000 men scattered over quite
| large area of country under him. As
soon as the British, under command of
| Gen. Ross, who was afterward killed at
the battle of Stony Point, landed at Ben
eaict, on the Chesapeake, Gen. Winder
became impressed with the fact that
Washington would be assaulted. He
communicated his fears to Mr.. Madison,
and Is, 600 militia from Maryland, Vir
giuia, and the District of Columbia,
were placed at his disposal. Commodore
Barney came up the Potomac to the Pat
uxent River with a schooner and thirteen
armed barges, and sailed up that stream
| to its head waters, where he thought he
was safe from pursuit, and joined his
forces to those OF Gen. Winder. Gen.
| Ross marched through Marlborough
| directly upon Washington. Mr.. Losing
says Gen. Winder had 5000 effective
men. He probably had 1000 Ineffective
militiamen besides. The number of Com
modore Barney's men is not given. On
the night of the 23d of August, 1914, it
was known in Washington that the Brit
ish were approaching. The American
| troops were stationed on the old Balti-
more and Washington turnpike, short
distance westof Blandensburgh, village
about six miles from this city, Gen
Ross was marching his troops down the
pike towards Washington.
At about o'clock on the morning of
the oath the cabinet met at the executive
mansion preparatory to visit to the bat
| tie field. About an hour later the party
set out on horseback, attended by small
escort, for the scene of the fight. Upon
their arrival the camp was found to be in
great confusion and disorder. A panic
seemed to prevail among the militiamen.
The marines and sailors under Commo-
dore Barney preserved better order
| Mr.. Madison became convinced that the
fight would end disastrously for the AM
| erican troops. He dismounted from his
| horse and ordered messenger to ride as
rapidly as possible to the executive man
sion and inform Mrs. Madison to leave
the city with all possible speed. She
packed what articles of value could be
| conveniently carried in a carriage and
started for Mr.. Madison's place, at
Montpelier, Va. Before her departure
She directed two servants, John Lowri
and Thomas McGrath, to remain in the
building and, in case it was fired by the
| troops, to save the famous portrait of
| Washington, by Stuart. These domest-
les, finding that they could not save the
picture with its frame, cut it out and
| seereted it. 1t now hangs in the White
House. \ vast amount of gush has
been written about the reservation of
this picture. Even Mr.. Losing, in one
Of his books, describes Mrs. Madison as
saying to a couple of gentlemen who
informed her of the victory of the British:
"Save the picture; save or destroy it, but
10 not let it fall into the hands of the
British
The battle began at about noon, and
Commodore Barney's men stood the
brunt of it for some time. He was finally
wounded. The militia proved worthless,
and Gen. Armstrong ordered a retreat
The men fled in all directions, throwing
away their arms and equipments, sni
dashing their coats to the ground the
better TO facilitate fight. Most of them
came through Washington. and dispersed
toward different points in Maryland and
Virginia. Mr.. Madison followed his
wife, Every able bodied man in Wash
ington, excepting the Roman Catholic
priest, had gone to the front. When
they returned most of them found that
their families had already fled from the
city. The British entered the city about
SP. NJ. While marching down Mary
land avenue toward the capitol, shot
was fired from private house owned by
a gentleman named Sewall, at Gen. Ross.
He was not hurt. His horse was killed,