Battle of Bladensburg The Battle of Bladensburg took place during the War of 1812 . The defeat of the American forces there allowed the British to capture and burn the public buildings of Washington , D . C . It has been called " the greatest disgrace ever dealt to American arms . " Background . For the first two years of the War of 1812 , the British had been preoccupied with the war against Napoleon Bonaparte on the continent of Europe . Although the Royal Navy controlled Chesapeake Bay from early 1813 onwards , lack of troops restricted them to mounting comparatively small - scale raids , the largest of which was the Battle of Craney Island , which involved 2 , 000 troops from the British Army and Royal Marines . By April 1814 , Napoleon had been defeated and was exiled to the island of Elba . Large numbers of British troops were free to be sent to North America . Lieutenant General Sir George Prevost , the Governor General of Canada and commander in chief in North America , planned for a dual invasion of the United States . He personally led one invasion into the state of New York from Canada , headed for Lake Champlain . Meanwhile , a brigade under Major General Robert Ross , consisting entirely of veterans from the army of the Duke of Wellington , was transported to Chesapeake Bay to " effect a diversion on the coasts of the United States of America in favor of the army employed in the defence of Upper and Lower Canada . " Although Ross commanded the troops , the point of attack was to be decided by Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane , the commander in chief of the Royal Navy ' s North American Station . Cochrane concentrated four ships of the line , twenty frigate s and sloops of war and twenty transports carrying Ross ' s troops at Tangier Island . Cochrane ' s energetic second in command , Rear Admiral George Cockburn , was in favour of a quick attack on Washington , although Ross was not so eager . His troops had been confined aboard their transports for nearly three months , he lacked cavalry , artillery and transport , and he was wary of the American Chesapeake Bay Flotilla lurking in the Patuxent River . The first objective was to capture or destroy the American flotilla , and Ross ' s orders were to stay near the shipping and not to risk an attack on the American capital . In Washington , the United States Secretary of War , John Armstrong , did not believe the British would attack the strategically unimportant city of Washington . He believed that the likely target would be the militarily more important city of Baltimore . Armstrong was only half right ; the British would eventually launch attacks against both Baltimore and Washington . Campaign . British moves . Cochrane dispatched two forces to make diversions . The frigate HMS " Menelaus " and some small craft threatened a raid on Baltimore , while two frigates and some bomb ketches and a rocket vessel ascended the Potomac River , an expedition that resulted in the successful Raid on Alexandria . His main body proceeded into the Patuxent . Ross ' s troops landed at Benedict on 19 August , and began marching upstream the following day , while Cockburn proceeded up the river with ships ' boats and small craft . By 21 August , Ross had reached Nottingham , and Commodore Joshua Barney was forced to destroy the gunboats and other sailing craft of the Chesapeake Bay Flotilla the next day , and retreat overland towards Washington . From Nottingham , Ross continued up the Patuxent to Upper Marlboro , from where he could threaten to advance on either Washington or Baltimore , confusing the Americans . He might have taken the capital almost unopposed had he advanced on 23 August , but instead he rested his men and organised his force . On the night of 23 – 24 August , at the urging of Rear Admiral Cockburn and British Army officers under his own command , Ross decided to risk an attack on Washington . He had four infantry battalions , a battalion of Royal Marines , a force of about 200 Corps of Colonial Marines comprising locally recruited black refugees from slavery , a rocket detachment from the Royal Marines battalion , 50 Royal Sappers and Miners , 100 gunners from the Navy and 275 sailors to carry supplies . His force totaled 4 , 370 men , with one 6 - pounder gun , two 3 - pounder guns and sixty frames for launching Congreve rocket s . Rear Admiral Cockburn accompanied his force . Ross had a choice of two routes by which he could advance : from the south via Woodyard or from the east via Bladensburg . The former route would involve finding a way across an unfordable part of the Eastern Branch of the Potomac ( now called the Anacostia River ) if the Americans destroyed the bridge on the route . In the morning of 24 August , Ross made a feint on the southern route , before suddenly swerving northwards towards Bladensburg . American moves . On 2 July 1814 , the United States Army had designated the area around Washington and Baltimore as the Tenth Military District . Its commander was Brigadier General William H . Winder , who had practiced law in Baltimore before being commissioned as a Colonel in 1812 and who had been recently exchanged after being captured at the Battle of Stoney Creek in July 1813 . Winder could theoretically call upon 15 , 000 militia in total , but he actually had only 120 Dragoons and 300 other Regulars , and 1 , 500 poorly trained and equipped militia at his immediate disposal . On 20 August , Winder ordered his force to advance south to the vicinity of Long Old Fields and Woodyard , off modern Route 5 , to confront the British at Upper Marlboro . There was a brief clash with Ross ' s leading troops on 22 August , and Winder ordered a hasty retreat to the Long Old Fields . Though Winder rode with the force directly challenging the British , he realized that Bladensburg was the key to the defense of Washington . Bladensburg commanded the roads to Baltimore and Annapolis , along which reinforcements were already moving towards the capital . It also lay on one of the only two routes available to the British for an advance on Washington , the preferable route , as it happened , because the Eastern Branch was easily forded there . On 20 August , Winder had ordered Brigadier General Tobias Stansbury to move from Baltimore to Bladensburg and " . . . take the best position in advance of Bladensburg . . . and should he be attacked , to resist as long as possible . " On 22 August , Stansbury deployed his force on top of Lowndes Hill , just to the east of Bladensburg . The road from Annapolis ran across the hill , and the road from Upper Marlboro ran to its right and rear . The roads to Washington , Georgetown , and Baltimore intersected behind it . From this position , Stansbury dominated the approaches available to the British while controlling all lines of communication . At 2 : 30 a . m . on 23 August , Stansbury received a message from Winder , announcing that he had withdrawn across the Eastern Branch and that he intended to fire the lower bridge . Surprised , Stansbury was seized by an irrational fear that his right flank would be turned . Rather than further strengthen an already commanding position , he immediately decamped and marched his exhausted troops back across Bladensburg bridge , which he did not burn , to a brickyard miles further on . In doing so , he had thrown away almost every tactical advantage available to him . Battle . American dispositions . Winder had at least 1 , 000 regulars from the U . S . Army , U . S . Navy and U . S . Marine Corps , and some 7 , 000 militia and volunteers from the District of Columbia , Maryland and Virginia at his disposal . Official reports of American strength range from 5 , 000 to 9 . 000 men . Winder ' s official report to the Secretary of War stated that he was able " By the most active and harassing movement of the troops to interpose before the enemy at Bladensburg about 5 , 000 . " Ross , the British commander , estimated the American force in front of him at between 8 , 000 and 9 , 000 men with 300 - 400 cavalry . From the various contemporary sources , the forces gathered for the defense of Washington most likely numbered about 7 , 170 , of which some 6 , 370 were at Bladensburg . Stansbury ' s force consisted of the 1st ( Ragan ' s ) , 2nd ( Schutz ' s ) , and 5th ( Sterrett ' s ) regiments of Maryland Militia , three companies of volunteer riflemen commanded by Major Thomas Pinckney and two companies of Baltimore artillery , with six guns . Ragan ' s and Schutz ' s regiments were hastily - drafted amalgamations of companies , without uniforms . Sterrett ' s 5th Maryland Regiment was a " Dandy " regiment of uniformed volunteers . Stansbury had chosen a defensible position , but not the best position , on the western side of the Eastern Branch of the Potomac , opposite the town of Bladensburg . The Baltimore artillery were posted in an earthwork which had been hastily constructed by Colonel Decius Wadsworth ( the United States Army ' s Commissary General of Ordnance ) to the north of the bridge . The earthwork was intended for larger weapons , and the field guns had a restricted field of fire through its embrasures . They could not prevent the bridge from being seized with oblique fire . The three Maryland Militia infantry regiments were posted in line to the south of the earthwork , too far away to protect the guns and exposed to British fire . Both Winder and Secretary of State James Monroe later tinkered with Stansbury ' s dispositions . Monroe moved companies and detachments about without correcting the major faults of his position , while Winder moved the three militia regiments into even more exposed positions further behind the Baltimore artillery ' s redoubt , although Monroe reinforced them with a militia artillery company under Captain Benjamin Burch . Behind Stansbury ' s troops and to his right were a brigade of militia under Brigadier General Walter Smith of the District of Columbia militia , which had marched up from Long Old Fields to the south . Although Smith ' s brigade was strongly posted behind a creek , Smith had not conferred with Stansbury before deploying his brigade , so there was a gap of a mile between them , and Smith ' s men could not support Stansbury . Also , if Stansbury was overcome , Smith ' s left flank would be open to attack . A battalion under Lieutenant Colonel Kramer lined the creek . Joshua Barney ' s men , with two 18 - pounder guns and three 12 - pounder guns drawn from the Washington Navy Yard , were posted astride the Washington turnpike . To Barney ' s left was the 1st Regiment of " District " Militia , a militia artillery company under Major George Peter with six 6 - pounder guns and a provisional battalion of regulars under Lieutenant Colonel William Scott . The 2nd District Militia and some companies of Maryland militia were posted behind Peter and Scott . To Smith ' s right rear in turn was a column under Colonel William Beall , which had just arrived from Annapolis . A regiment of Virginia Militia under Colonel George Minor was delayed by administrative confusion and arrived on the field only as the battle ended . Stansbury ' s troops were tired from two days ' constant alarms and redeployments , and Smith ' s and Beall ' s men were equally exhausted from having force - marched to the battlefield through a hot and humid summer day , with many diversions and unnecessary panics . Action . Around noon on 24 August , Ross ' s army reached Bladensburg . Stansbury ' s tactical errors quickly became apparent . Had he held Lowndes Hill , Stansbury could have made the British approach a costly one ( although this would involve fighting with the East Branch at his back , which would not improve his men ' s morale and might be disastrous in the case of a hasty retreat ) . Had he held the brick structures of Bladensburg , which were ready - made mini - fortresses , he might have embroiled Ross ' s troops in bloody street fighting . Because the bridge had not been burned , it had to be defended . Stansbury ' s infantry and artillery were posted too far from the river ' s edge to contest a crossing effectively . The British advance was led by Colonel William Thornton ' s 85th Light Infantry and the three light companies of the other line battalions . Although the Baltimore artillery stopped Thornton ' s first rush across the bridge , they had solid shot only , which was of little use against scattered skirmishers . Pinckney ' s riflemen , posted to protect the American guns , were driven back and as Thornton ' s men closed in , the Baltimore artillerymen retreated with five of their cannon , being forced to spike and abandon another . The British 1 / 44th Regiment had meanwhile forded the East Branch above the bridge . As they prepared to envelop the American left , Winder led a counter - attack against Thornton by Sterrett ' s 5th Maryland militia , joined by other detachments . As the 5th Maryland exchanged fire with British infantry in cover on three sides , Schutz ' s and Ragan ' s drafted militia regiments broke and fled under a barrage of Congreve rocket s . Winder issued confused orders for three of Captain Burch ' s guns to fall back rather than cover Sterrett ' s retreat , and the 5th Maryland and the rest of Stansbury ' s brigade fled the field . The British pressed on and were engaged by Smith ' s brigade and Barney ' s and Peters ' s guns . Thornton ' s light brigade made several frontal attacks over the creek , but were repulsed three times by artillery fire , and were counter - attacked by Barney ' s detachment . Thornton was badly wounded and his light infantry were driven back with heavy casualties . However , as the 1 / 44th threatened Smith ' s open left flank , Winder ordered Smith to retreat also . Smith ' s brigade fell back in good order , but Winder ' s orders to retreat apparently did not reach Barney , and his situation worsened when the civilian drivers of the carts carrying his reserve ammunition joined the general rout , leaving the Marine gun crews with less than three rounds of canister , round shot and charges in their caissons . Barney ' s 300 Flotilla men and 103 Marines nevertheless held off the British frontal attacks . Eventually , as the British 1 / 4th and 1 / 44th Regiments enveloped their left flank , Barney ordered his men to retreat to avoid capture . Barney himself was badly wounded with a musket ball in the thigh . Beall ' s troops were also driven from the hill they held , after an ineffectual resistance . Winder had not given any instructions before the battle in the case of a retreat and as the American militia left the battlefield , he issued contradictory orders to halt and reform , or fall back on the Capitol where Secretary of War John Armstrong , Jr . hoped vainly to make a stand , using the federal buildings as strongpoints , or retreat through Georgetown to Tenleytown . Most of the militia simply fled the field with no destination in mind , or deserted the ranks to see to the safety of their families . Casualties . Although the British had suffered heavier casualties than the Americans ( many inflicted by Barney ' s guns ) , they had completely routed the defenders . The British casualties were 64 dead and 185 wounded . Some of the British dead " died without sustaining a scratch . They collapsed from heat exhaustion and the strain of punishing forced marches over the five days since landing at Benedict " . Heidler ' s " Encyclopedia of the War of 1812 " gives the American loss as " 10 or 12 killed , 40 wounded " and " about 100 " captured . Henry Adams and John S . Williams both give the American casualties as 26 killed and 51 wounded . Joseph A . Whitehorne says that the Americans lost " 120 taken prisoner , many of these wounded " . Ten cannon and a color were captured by the British . Aftermath . The hasty and disorganized American retreat led to the battle becoming known as the Bladensburg Races from an 1816 poem . The battle was termed " the greatest disgrace ever dealt to American arms " and " the most humiliating episode in American history . " The American militia actually fled through the streets of Washington . President James Madison and most of the rest of the federal government had been present at the battle , and had nearly been captured . They too fled the capital , and scattered through Maryland and Virginia . That same night the British entered Washington unopposed and set fire to many of the government buildings in what became known as the Burning of Washington . Lieutenant General Prevost had urged Vice Admiral Cochrane to avenge the Raid on Port Dover on the north shore of Lake Erie earlier in the year , in which the undefended settlement had been set ablaze by American troops . Cochrane had issued a proclamation that American property was forfeit ; only the lives of the civilian inhabitants were to be spared . He had issued a private memorandum to his captains however , which allowed them to levy what was effectively protection money in return for sparing buildings . In practice , there was little or no looting or wanton destruction of private property by Ross ' s troops or Cochrane ' s sailors during the advance and the occupation of Washington . However , when the British later withdrew to their ships in the Patuxent , discipline was less effective ( partly because of fatigue ) and there was considerable looting by foraging parties and stragglers and deserters . After Major General Ross was killed at the Battle of North Point on 12 September 1814 , his descendants were , by royal warrant dated 25 August 1815 , given an augmentation of honour to their armorial bearings and their family name was changed to the victory title " Ross - of - Bladensburg " in memory of Ross ' most famous battle . The lineages of the 5th Maryland Regiment and the Columbian Division are perpetuated by the present - day 175th Infantry ( ARNG MD ) and the HHD / 372nd Military Police Battalion ( ARNG DC ) , respectively , two of only nineteen Army National Guard units with campaign credit for the War of 1812 . The lineages of the old 36th and 38th Infantry Regiments are perpetuated by three currently active battalions of the 4th Infantry ( 1 - 4 Inf , 2 - 4 Inf and 3 - 4 Inf ) . Note : there were a total of 1350 Marines