Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-06-11
CAPTURE OF WASHINGTON.
How the Capital City Was Made an Easy
Prev to the Invader in 1914.

Prev to the 1nvaUcr III AoAh
The paper on the British attack upon
Washington in 1914, which was read
| before the American Historical Associ-
alton recently by General Cullom, gave
an interesting account of the capture
of this city in 1914, and detailed at
length the. various causes which rem
dered the city an easy prey to the in
vader. An interested audience lis
tened to the recital of the shameful
name in which the Government, BY
its wanton neglect, allowed the public
buildings and valuable records of the
National Capital to be destroyed by a
marauding band of freebooters that
could have been crushed before coming
within a hundred miles of the city had
timely efforts been made. Said Gen
eral Cullom:
"Admiral Cockburn having with
drawn his fleet from Chesapeake bay
in 1918, no further danger of an attack
upon Washington was ap~prehended.
Even the abdication of the Emperor
Napoleon at Fontainebleau, April II,
1914, leaving England free to throw
her vast veteran forces into America,
did not disturb the equanimity of the
statesmen at the Capital or arouse them
to a sense of the danger to which we
few notes of warning, but the proph-
ecies were not believed till the enemy
was almost within u walls. No
preparation was made to oppose the
foe. One company of artillery at Fort
Warburton and another of marines at
Washington were the sole trustworthy
protection at the Capital scarcely two
months before the public edifices were
burned.
Notwithstanding repeated warnings
of E%ngland's extensive preparations to
transport many troops to our shores,
no official plan of defense was on
sidered by our Government, until the
President and Cabinet assembled in
lugubrious council to deliberate on the
situation July l, 1914, only a few days
after positive information reached New
York by a cartel, that in the harbor of
Bermuda there was anchored a fleet of
transports with large forces on board
to sail in a few days for the Potomac.
The Secretary of War Immediately
issued a call for $500 State militia to
be under the command of General
Winder, but through dilatoriness and
apathy on every hand there were only
5000 raw recruits who met the British
invader, General Ross, a few miles from
Washington on August "a, 1914. The
Americans were defeated, and that
| night Ross entered Washington, burn
ing and %pillaging as he came. He
c+oyn1 Nr1yy ~ dow, orl ~, %lo ,souI%
of the 25th, while a terrific rain storm
was q%uenching the smoldering embers
of the burned Capitol, he sneaked
away, leaving his dead and wounded
on the field at ~Bladensburg.
To the reasoning nan the question
presents itself: Is not the Capital of
the Nation now in q more defenseless
condition than it was in 1912? If, for
some reason-which the ever-changing
politics ofthe Great Powers of the world
in this decade nights at any moment pre-
sent-he should wish to do so, could
not an armed invader sail up the Poto-
mac and throw his troops into Wash
ington, virtually without an arm being
raised against him? Is there one gun
that could be effectively fired in defense
of the Capital and the treasure of the
Nation stored there:
The broad reaches OF the Potomac
would present a safe anchorage for a
hostile fleet of the largest dimensions.
An English Thunderer, a German Won
Donker or a Russian Drotska could
sail up and anchor under the
very windows of the Treasury with as
little fear of molestation as an oyster
pungy in Wicomico river, and with
their powerful Krupp guns could de-
molish Washington as a before-break-
fast exercise.
With the improved appliances of
modern warfare possessed by other
nations and the advantages Of quick
transit across the ocean, Washington
is to-day in a mor helpless condition
than She was in 1914, when, like a
defenseless maiden, she was despoiled of
her honor by the ruthless invader who
took advantage of her weakness
Washington Critic.