About 4,000 British soldiers landed on the Chesapeake coast, southeast of Washington. They met American forces inland at Bladensburg, a town 10 kilometers from Washington. The British soldiers broke through the American lines, and the Americans began to run away.
But a group of sailors refused to retreat with their artillery. Commanded by Joshua Barney, the 400 sailors chose to stand and fight. The struggle did not last long against the 4,000 British soldiers.
Barney held his position for a half-hour before enemy soldiers got behind his men and silenced their guns. Barney was wounded seriously. The British thought so much of his courage that they carried him to a hospital for their own soldiers at Bladensburg. Barney himself said the British officers treated him as a brother.
Once the British troops had smashed through Barney's Navy men, nothing stood between them and Washington.
The commanders of the British force, General Robert Ross and Admiral George Cockburn, took a group of men to the Capitol building and set fire to it. Then the two commanders went to the White House with the same intention.
Before setting fire to the president's home, Cockburn took one of Madison's hats and the seat from one of Dolley Madison's chairs. The admiral found the president's table set for dinner. As a joke, he took a glass of wine and toasted the health of "President Jemmy.”
President Madison had fled the White House. He crossed the Potomac River and started toward his home in Virginia. He joined his wife on the road the second day. They decided to wait about 25 kilometers from Washington.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25