{274}
_Ross's Expedition against Washington--Battle of
Bladensburg--Destraction of the Capital--Capitulation of
Alexandria--Comments of the London Times--Expedition against
Baltimore--Death of Sir Peter Parker--Battle of North Point--Death
of General Ross--Bombardment of Fort McHenry--How a Famous Song was
written._
|But these little affairs along the coast were of small consequence in
comparison with what befell the capital of the country. Relieved by
the peace in Europe, the English Government resolved to prosecute the
American war with greater vigor, and fixed upon the policy of striking
at the cities. Baltimore, Washington, Charleston, Savannah, and New
Orleans were all marked for capture or destruction. A powerful British
fleet was sent to the Bermudas, and a large number of veteran troops
transported thither, and the commanders on our coasts were directed to
draw thence such forces as they might need for their expeditions.
That Washington was likely to be the object of a hostile demonstration
of some kind, was known to the Administration for months, but no
efficient {275}measures were taken to meet it. President Madison and
General Armstrong, Secretary of War, did not like each other, and
neither man was large enough not to let his personal feelings stand
in the way of the country's interests. When the President urged that
something should be done to avert the danger that threatened the
capital, General Armstrong opposed the proposition with such abstruse
reasons as that "militia were always most effective when first called
out."
The only effective means of defence consisted of a small flotilla
commanded by Commodore Joshua Barney, who sailed the waters of
Chesapeake Bay for some weeks, continually annoying the English fleet.
On the 1st of June he had an engagement with two schooners in the
Patuxent, and drove them off with hot shot. A few days later, he was
chased into St. Leonard's Creek, where he formed his boats in line of
battle across the channel and engaged the enemy's barges, ultimately
chasing them down to the ships. On the 10th he was attacked by twenty
barges and two schooners; but he beat them all off, and so severely
handled one of the schooners, an eighteen-gun vessel, that her crew ran
her aground and abandoned her. On the 26th, with the help of a corps
of artillery and a detachment of the marine corps, Barney attacked the
{276}whole squadron that was blockading him in the St. Leonard's, and
after a fight of two hours compelled them to raise the blockade.
General Robert Ross, who had served in several campaigns under
Wellington, and was with Sir John Moore when he fell at Corunna, was
selected by the Duke to command an expedition against Washington. In
July, with three thousand five hundred men, the finest regiments of
Wellington's army, he sailed from Bordeaux for the Chesapeake, where he
arrived in August, and was at once reenforced by a thousand marines
from Cockburn's blockading squadron, and a hundred negroes from the
neighboring plantations, who had been armed and drilled as British
soldiers.
The District of Columbia and the adjacent counties of Virginia and
Maryland had recently been formed into a military district, of which the
command was given to General William H. Winder. His forces consisted of
five hundred regulars and two thousand militia. On the approach of the
enemy, Maryland and Virginia were hastily called upon for reënforcements
of militia, and nearly three thousand came from Maryland; but the
Virginians, from delay in receiving their flints, did not move till the
fighting was over.
Ross's expedition ascended the Patuxent, and on {277}the morning of
August 19th his troops were debarked without molestation at Benedict, on
the western or right bank, forty miles southeast of Washington. He had
twenty-seven vessels, and over four thousand men.
By order of the Secretary of War, Commodore Barney blew up his little
flotilla, and with his five hundred seamen and marines retreated to
Nottingham, where General Winder assigned to them the management of the
artillery.
The weather was fearfully hot, and the enemy proceeded by slow marches,
dozens of men falling and fainting by the way. It was remarked at the
time that their route might have been so impeded by felling trees,
that the weather and the labor of removing them would have defeated the
expedition. But nothing of the sort was done. Winder waited in a chosen
position at Wood Yard, twelve miles from the city, to give battle. But
Ross turned to the right after reaching Nottingham, taking the road to
Marlborough, where Admiral Cockburn joined him with a body of marines
and seamen. The Americans fell back to Battalion Old Fields, a
detachment under Major Peters skirmishing sharply with the advancing
enemy, and on the 24th to Bladensburg, six miles from Washington, where
a bridge spanned the eastern branch of the {278}Potomac. Here they made
a stand, taking a strong position on the western bank, commanding the
bridge. The President and several members of his Cabinet were on the
field, all interfering more or less with the military arrangements.
Monroe--then Secretary of State, afterward President--who had been a
staff officer in the Continental army more than thirty years before,
considered himself specially qualified as a military meddler, and
actually changed the disposition of some of Winder's troops at the last
moment.
It could not be expected that a mass of raw militia, hastily called
together, and hardly knowing by whom they were commanded, would stand
long, even in an advantageous position, before the onset of veteran
troops. "Come, General Armstrong, come, Colonel Monroe," said the
President, "let us go, and leave it to the commanding General." So Mr.
Madison and his Cabinet left the field, and it was not long before the
militia followed their illustrious example.
The ground on the eastern side of the river, where the British
approached, was low and clear. On the western it rose in a gradual
slope, and along the stream was fringed with willows and larches. A body
of American riflemen was posted in the shrubbery that lined the bank.
Three hundred {279}yards up the slope was a slight earthwork, mounting
six guns, supported by two companies of Baltimore volunteers. General
Stansbury had posted three regiments to the right of it, but Secretary
Monroe had moved them to a point in the rear of the battery and five
hundred yards farther up the slope. At the top of the hill, one mile
from the bridge, was formed a line consisting of Maryland militia on
the right, Barney's seamen and marines in the centre, a detachment of
regular troops and a regiment of District militia on the left, with a
battery of six guns and a company of riflemen in front.
The enemy entered the village of Bladensburg soon after noon of the
24th, and was at once subjected to a fire that compelled him to seek the
shelter of the houses. At one o'clock the advance column rushed at the
double quick upon the bridge, where it met a concentrated fire from
the American batteries and riflemen, and almost entirely melted away. A
remnant, however, succeeded in crossing, deployed at once, and advanced
upon the first line, which fell back and permitted two guns to be lost.
Elated at this success, the thin line of British troops threw off their
knapsacks and advanced toward the second line, without waiting for
another column to cross the bridge to their support. When {280}General
Winder saw their error, he placed himself at the head of a regiment of
Baltimore volunteers, gave them an effective volley, and then made a
charge, and at the point of the bayonet drove them down to the very
brink of the river, where with difficulty they maintained their foothold
under the trees till another brigade had crossed the bridge to their
relief.
One regiment of these fresh troops turned the left of the American line,
and threw in some Congreve rockets, which so frightened the militia on
that flank that they broke at once and fled in confusion. The regiment
headed by Winder stood firm till both its flanks were turned, when it
retired, its retreat being covered by the riflemen.
The enemy then attacked the remainder of the line, all of which soon
gave way, except Barney's men, who kept them in check for half an hour,
and with the fire of four pieces of artillery ploughed their ranks
through and through. But when the militia broke, the teamsters
stampeded, without stopping to unhitch their horses from the ammunition
wagons. Barney was thus left with but a single round of ammunition,
while the enemy was gradually gaining a position upon his flank; and
though many of his men were acting as infantry and behaved admirably,
charging several times with {281}great effect, he was obliged to order
a retreat. He himself had been severely wounded, while two of his
principal officers were killed, and two others wounded. He fell into the
hands of the enemy, who took him to their hospital at Bladensburg. In
this action the Americans had lost seventy-seven men killed or wounded;
the British, more than five hundred. Ross's entire loss, including
deserters, prisoners, and those who succumbed to the weather, was said
to be nearly a thousand.
But no serious obstacle now stood in the way of General Ross's purpose
to destroy the capital; and with that portion of his force which had not
been engaged, he marched thither without the loss of an hour, arriving
at eight o'clock that evening.
The most valuable portion of the public archives had been removed to a
place of safety, and Mrs. Madison had managed to carry away the original
draft of the Declaration of Independence, a portrait of Washington that
hung in the White House, and a few other articles which could not have
been replaced. The magazines and shipping at the Navy Yard had already
been fired by order of the Secretary of War, and everything there was
destroyed.
It is said that General Ross offered to spare the city for a price;
but there was no one at hand who {282}could treat with him, if the
authorities had been inclined to purchase its safety. He expected to be
attacked by a more formidable force than that he had met at Brudensburg,
and, as he wrote to Earl Bathurst, "judging it of consequence to
complete the destruction of the public buildings with the least possible
delay, so that the army might retire without loss of time, he without
a moment's delay burned and destroyed everything in the most distant
degree connected with the government." There was one notable exception.
At the intercession of Dr. Thornton, who superintended the Patent
Office, the building containing that and the Post Office was spared;
because, as the doctor represented, it contained great numbers of models
and papers which were of value to the whole scientific world. The jail,
one hotel, and a few dwellings also escaped. All else, including the
President's house, the public libraries, and the new Capitol--of which
only the wings had been built--was given to the flames. The commanders
of the expedition distinguished themselves personally in this vandalism.
Admiral Cochrane, who had a spite against the _National Intelligencer_
because of its strictures upon his marauding exploits along the coast,
caused the office to be sacked and the type thrown into, the street,
and with his own hand set {283}the building on fire. Admiral Cockburn is
said to have led his men into the hall of the House of Representatives,
where he leaped into the Speaker's chair and shouted, "Shall this harbor
of Yankee democracy be burned? All for it will say, Aye!"
In the night of the 25th, Ross silently withdrew from the city, leaving
his camp-fires burning, for he expected and feared pursuit-, and marched
with all that remained of his force to Benedict, where they reëmbarked.
A division of the enemy's fleet, consisting of eight vessels, ascended
the Potomac to attack the city of Alexandria. Fort Warburton, a small
work intended for its defence, was destroyed by the garrison at the
approach of the ships, and with no opposition they passed up and laid
the town under their guns. A parley was had, the result of which was
that the dwellings were left unmolested, the condition being, "the
immediate delivery [to the enemy] of all public and private naval and
ordnance stores; of all shipping, and the furniture necessary to their
equipment then in port; of all the merchandise of every description,
whether in the town or removed from it since the 19th of the month; that
such merchandise should be put on board the shipping at the expense of
the owners; and that all vessels which might have been sunk upon
the approach of {284}the fleet should be raised by the merchants and
delivered up with all their apparatus." These conditions, hard as they
were, were complied with, and on the 6th of September the fleet, loaded
with booty, returned down the river. Two batteries on the shore--at
White House and Indian Head, commanded by Captains Porter and Perry,
of the navy--damaged it considerably as it passed, but were not able to
stop it.
If the importance of General Ross's exploit was overrated by the
Americans, who naturally felt chagrined that so small an invading force
should have destroyed their capital and momentarily dispersed their
Government, it was enormously exaggerated by the English journals. By
confounding the capital of the country with its metropolis, they led
their readers to believe that the chief city of the United States had
been laid in ashes; whereas Washington was but a straggling place of
eight thousand inhabitants, which had been made the seat of the Federal
Government but a dozen years before. Taking it for granted that what
would have befallen England or France with London or Paris in the
possession of a foreign enemy, had actually befallen the United States,
the London _Times_ proceeded to say: "The ill-organized association
is on the eve of dissolution, and the world is speed{285}ily to be
delivered of the mischievous example of the existence of a government
founded on democratic rebellion." In another issue, October 9th, 1814,
it said: "Next to the annihilation of the late military despotism in
Europe, the subversion of that system of fraud and malignity which
constitutes the whole policy of the Jeffersonian school, was an event
to be devoutly wished by every man in either hemisphere who regards
rational liberty or the honorable intercourse of nations. It was an
event to which we should have bent, and yet must bend, all our energies.
The American Government must be displaced, or it will sooner or later
plant its poisoned dagger in the heart of the parent state." In a speech
in Parliament, Sir Gilbert Heathcote naively said, "it appeared to him
that we feared the rising power of America, and wished to curtail it."
Which, as the Scottish captain in the story said, was "a verra just
remark."
In the night of August 30th, Sir Peter Parker, commander of the frigate
_Menelaus_, who had been blockading Baltimore with that and another
vessel, landed on the Eastern Shore, with two hundred and thirty men,
intending to surprise and capture a small body of Maryland volunteers at
Moorfields. But the Maryland men were ready for them, and after a sharp
fight of about an hour the British re{286}treated, leaving sixteen
of their men killed or wounded on the field, and bearing away seventeen
others, among whom was Sir Peter, who died almost as soon as he reached
his ship. Three of the Americans were wounded.
Rightly conjecturing that Baltimore would be the next place at which the
enemy would strike, the people of that city had made haste to provide
for its defence. The fortifications were extended, and manned by about
five thousand men. On the 11th of September, forty British war-vessels
appeared at the mouth of the Patapsco, and that night eight thousand
men, under General Ross, were landed at North Point, a dozen miles below
the city. No resistance was offered till they had marched four miles up
the little peninsula, when they were met by General John Strivker with
three thousand two hundred men, including an artillery company with six
small guns, and a detachment of cavalry.
The cavalry and a hundred and fifty riflemen were thrown forward to feel
the enemy. General Ross, who had declared that he "did n't care if
it rained militia," and had expressed his intention of making winter
quarters in Baltimore, put himself at the head of his advance guard, and
promptly attacked. But as he rode along the crest of a little knoll,
he was shot in the side by an American rifle{287}man, and before his
aides could bear him back to the boats, he expired.
Notwithstanding the loss of their leader, the British forces rushed
steadily forward, drove the American skirmishers back upon the main
line, and brought on a general engagement. The battle lasted two or
three hours with varying fortune, till a heavy attack on the American
left turned it, when the whole body retreated to an intrenched position
near the city.
The British followed the next day, but found their enemy strongly
placed and reenforced, whereupon they took advantage of a dark night and
retraced their steps. They had lost two hundred and ninety men, killed
or wounded, and had inflicted upon the Americans a loss of two hundred
and thirteen, including fifty prisoners. This action is known as the
battle of North Point, but has sometimes been called the battle of
Long-log Lane.
While Ross's men were approaching Baltimore by land, sixteen vessels of
the British fleet moved up the bay, and opened fire upon its immediate
defences. The shallowness of the water prevented them from getting near
enough to bombard the town itself; but for twenty-four hours they poured
an almost uninterrupted shower of rockets and shells into Fort McHenry,
Fort Covington, and the {288}connecting intrenchments. Most of the
firing was at long range; whenever any of the vessels came within reach
of the batteries, they were subjected to a fire that quickly drove
them back, and in some cases sank them. Fort McHenry, garrisoned by six
hundred men under Major George Armistead, bore the brunt of the attack.
At the dead of night the enemy attempted to land a strong force
above the forts, for an attack in the rear; but it was discovered and
subjected to a concentrated fire of red-hot shot, which speedily drove
it off with serious loss. This practically put an end to the attempt to
take Baltimore, and a few hours later the fleet withdrew. The loss
of the Americans by the bombardment was four killed and twenty-four
wounded. The loss in the fleet is unknown.
This bombardment of Fort McHenry gave us one of our national songs.
Francis S. Key had gone out to the British fleet in a row-boat, under a
flag of truce, to ask for the release on parole of a friend who had been
made prisoner. Admiral Cockburn, who had just completed his plans for
the attack, detained him, and in his little boat, moored to the side
of the flag-ship, he sat and watched the bombardment. When the second
morning broke, and he saw that the flag of the fort--which Cockburn
{289}had boasted would "yield in a few hours"--was still flying, he took
an old letter out of his pocket, and on the back of it wrote the first
draft of "The Star-Spangled Banner." The flag is now in the possession
of the Massachusetts Historical Society.