WASHINGTON –
The Battle of Bladensburg was the first in a series of major engagements between U.S. and British forces during the Chesapeake Campaign of 1814. The result was a decisive victory for Great Britain and an embarrassing defeat for the United States, resulting in the raiding and burning of our nation’s capital. Although the “Bladensburg Races” remains an infamous moment in U.S. military history, it was a defeat from which Americans quickly learned several weeks later during the Battle of Baltimore.
The Battle of Bladensburg remains embedded in the DNA of the District of Columbia National Guard. It’s important that we examine and understand our organization’s role during the Battle of Bladensburg because we are defined as much by our victories as by our failures; it is the broad expanse of our historical experiences that make the D.C. National Guard a unique, relevant, and foundational institution of our democracy.
1. What were the motivations behind the battle?
When the United States declared war against Great Britain in June 1812, the conflict’s main theater of operations spanned the American-Canadian borderlands, from Maine to present-day Detroit. Along this front and at sea, Great Britain’s land and naval forces repulsed and defeated several U.S. expeditions, greatly frustrating the American war effort.
In the spring of 1814, Great Britain’s armies on the European Continent defeated Napoleon Bonaparte, allowing its senior civilian and military leaders to commit more personnel and resources in the war against the United States. After vanquishing Napoleon, Britain’s military leaders planned a three-pronged offensive that they believed might bring the war in North America to a decisive close. The decisive operation was the planned invasion of New York, supported by two operations in the Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.
The purpose of Britain’s operation in the Chesapeake Bay was to draw U.S. military forces away from the Canadian border, and they aimed to do so by striking against and seizing Baltimore, targeting Washington, D.C., as retaliation against American depredations along the Canadian borderlands in 1813, and inciting division and unrest by pilfering from farms, raiding plantations, and encouraging dissidents (including enslaved people) to join their ranks or abandon the American war effort. This is the context in which the Chesapeake Campaign unfolded in the summer of 1814, leading to the Battle of Bladensburg.
2. Why Bladensburg, Maryland?
Bladensburg, a regional commercial center, was one of the places where the British needed to cross the Anacostia River to reach Washington. More so than the town, it was the key terrain surrounding Bladensburg that provided advantages for whichever force could seize it. General William H. Winder and his command chose Bladensburg as the site where they would make their stand against the British because of two reasons: The Anacostia River at Bladensburg was deep enough to limit where British infantry and cavalry could cross; the river served as a natural obstacle that would delay or disrupt British forces. And the terrain West-Southwest of Bladensburg and the Anacostia sloped upwards, providing American defenders with positional advantage against any frontal attack.
The primary reasons why the British targeted Washington, D.C., was to draw U.S. forces away from the Canadian border and to retaliate against the United States, whose troops had burnt and sacked the Canadian capital of York (present-day Toronto) in April 1813.
3. D.C. Militia: Who were the original defenders of the nation’s capital?
In accordance with the federal Militia Act of 1792, every “free able-bodied white male citizen” between 18 and 45 years of age was obligated to serve in their respective state’s militia. States also passed their own laws further defining who could or could not serve in their militias. All states excluded women and most prohibited Native American men and enslaved men or free men of color from militia service. Others exempted certain classes of men from the obligation of militia service, including members of the clergy and large landholders, who could pay for a substitute. These laws and policies generally influenced the composition of militia formations in the early 19th century. However, it is important to note that some of these militia laws were difficult to enforce and there were some exceptions, most notably in Louisiana.
In this context, D.C. militiamen hailed from every conceivable background among white residents, especially from the working class (artisans, shopkeepers, printers, teamsters, and dock workers) and the professional class (lawyers, clerks, teachers, and doctors). Militia officers generally came from elite families or were, themselves, politically connected. For example, Capt. Peter Lenox was not only the foreman and Clerk of Works at the White House, but he was also a Maryland lawmaker. Capt. Lenox commanded the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the DC Militia. He was a carpenter at the President’s Mansion at the time of the battle and was involved in the cleanup and building of the White House after the war, heavily involved in the force re-organization in 1813 (where all units were combined into the 1st and 2nd Regiments).
In mid-July 1814, approximately 1,700-2,000 D.C. militiamen mustered for service in defense of the national capital. One month later, just over 1,000 of the First Columbian Brigade took the field at Bladensburg against the British. Additionally, Maryland’s 5th Regiment and Commodore Joshua Barney’s sailors and Marines fought gallantly at several places to suppress the British assault.
4. What are the lessons learned from the defeat?
British troops, many of them veterans of the Napoleonic Wars, defeated an American force predominately composed of quickly assembled and poorly trained militia on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. The collapse of U.S. forces allowed the British Army to enter Washington, D.C. and burn its public buildings. Most importantly, although the Battle of Bladensburg resulted in a decisive victory for the British, it was a victory for which they paid dearly at Baltimore one month later. As the British briefly occupied Washington, D.C., Maryland prepared itself for the impending British expedition to Baltimore. This time proved crucial as Baltimore citizens built defensive positions and the Maryland Militia regrouped. Between September 12-15, 1814, American forces repelled the British expedition and held Baltimore in a series of engagements including the Battle of North Point and the Battle of Fort McHenry.
Americans learned many lessons from the War of 1812, to include fundamental weaknesses in the United States’ first militia system. Hastily assembled, poorly trained, ill-equipped, and often misled citizen-soldiers could not defeat a professional enemy army in a pitched battle. For these Americans, the War of 1812 represented the final straw after decades of partisan quibbling and repeated embarrassments over a weak and decentralized militia system. For decades after the conflict, national leaders and lawmakers implemented reforms to professionalize and enhance the U.S. Army, not the Militia System. Despite this, the role of the Militia loomed large in the American imagination. The nation’s reverence of the citizen-soldier ideal, which continues to this day, grew from the mythology of the American Revolution and the War of 1812.