184] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1814. 



proceeding up the Patuxent on 

 the flank of the army. When 

 they approached the station of 

 commodore Barney with his flotilla, 

 that oflicer did not wait an attack, 

 but set fire to his vessels, all of 

 which, to the number of 17, were 

 blown to pieces, except one, which 

 was captured. The expedition 

 was now within 16 miles of 

 Washington ; and the force of the 

 Americans being ascertained to be 

 only such as would authorise an at- 

 tempttocarry thecapitaljGen. Ross 

 determined on making it. He put 

 his troops in motion on the even- 

 ing of the 23rd, and on the 24th 

 reached Bladensburg, on the east- 

 ern bank of the Potowmac, about 

 five miles from Washington. 



The enemy was now discovered 

 on the opposite side of the river, 

 strongly posted on two command- 

 irig heights, formed in two lines, 

 his advance occupying a fortified 

 house, which, with artillery, co- 

 vered the bridge over which the 

 British troops were to pass. They 

 were in number 8 or 9,000 men, 

 with 3 or 400 cavalry, commanded 

 by Gen. Winder, and composed of 

 troops drawn from Baltimore and 

 Pennsylvania. The disposition for 

 an attack being made, the British 

 light brigade soon carried the for- 

 tified house, the enemy retiring to 

 the higher ground. The assailants 

 rushed on, and with an irresistible 

 charge, drove the first line upon 

 the second, which also got into 

 disorder, and fled with rapidity, 

 leaving the British in full posses- 

 sion of the field. Of the Ame- 

 rican artillery, ten pieces fell into 

 the victor's hands, its commander 

 commodore Barney being wounded 

 and taken prisoner. The British 



loss in this action did not exceed 

 250 in killed and wounded. 



After a short halt. Gen. Ross 

 marched to Washington, which 

 he reached at 8 o'clock in the 

 evening, and he immediately began 

 the destruction of the public build- 

 ings. Those committed to the 

 flames were the Capitol, including 

 the senate-house and house of re- 

 presentation, the arsenal, the dock- 

 yard, treasury, war-office. Presi- 

 dent's palace, rope-walk, and the 

 great bridge acro!>s the Potowmac : 

 in the dock-yard were consumed a 

 frigate nearly ready to be launched, 

 and a sloop of war. The object 

 of the expedition being effected, 

 it was determined to withdraw 

 the troops, before any greater force 

 of the enemy could be assembled ; 

 and a retreat was accordingly 

 commenced on the night of the 

 25th. The army reached Bene- 

 dict on the 29th, and re-embarked 

 on the following day, having met 

 with no molestation on their re- 

 turn, and nothing could be more 

 complete than the success of this 

 daring enterprize, the credit of 

 suggesting which is given by the 

 general to admiral Cockburn. 



By the capture of Washington, 

 the American government not 

 only sustained a severe loss in 

 property, but incurred much re- 

 proach from the nation, especially 

 from the party adverse to the war, 

 as having been the occasion of a 

 disgrace, which it had taken no 

 effectual measures to prevent. A 

 vulnerable part of the republic was 

 now exposed, and men's minds 

 were impressed with a sense of 

 imminent danger, where before it 

 had been regarded only as a re- 

 mote possibility. On the other 



