66 glory that they had won on the battle-field was lost in the barbarian conflagration. Willingly," said the London Statesman newspaper, "would we throw a veil of oblivion over our transactions at Washington. The Cossacks spared Paris, but we spared not the Capital of America." Continental writers and speakers condemned the act in unmeasured terms; and yet the Government of England, which has seldom represented the sentiments of the people, caused the Tower guns to be fired in honor of Ross's victory; thanked the actors, through Parliament; decreed a monument to that General at his death, in Westminster Abbey; and, making additions to his armorial bearings, authorized his descendants forever to style themselves "Ross of Bladensburg!" President Madison and other civil officers were on the field until Barney fell, when they fled to the city, and were among the first to announce the startling intelligence that the Brit ish, victorious, were doubtless marching on the town. Mr. Madison had already sent his servant to warn Mrs. Madison of her danger, and to direct her to fly immediately. The resolute woman resolved to save the full-length portrait of Washington, which now adorns the wall of the "Blue room" in the Presidential Mansion, and she did. It was taken out of the frame and borne body a mile and a half from the Capitol, he entered the town, then containing about nine hundred buildings, at about eight o'clock in the evening, with seven hundred men. He came to destroy the public property there. It was an errand not at all coincident with his taste or habits. But he was accompanied by Sir George Cockburn, who delighted in such sport; and who had longed for the enjoyment now promised. As early as the 18th Sir Alexander Cochrane, the naval commander-in-chief on the American station, had written a note (not delivered until after the capture of Washington) to Secretary Monroe, informing him that he intended "to destroy and lay waste such towns and districts upon the coast as might be found assailable." He had the full sanction of the Governor-General of Canada, who, not satisfied with the terrible and cruel vengeance inflicted on the whole Niagara frontier in retaliation for the destruction of Newark, had urged upon Sir Alexander "the indispensable necessity of retaliating" further. When instructed to do so, Ross demurred. He had carried on war on the Peninsula and in France with a different spirit, and it was with the greatest reluctance that he obeyed orders, and proceeded to the destruction of the National Capital. He made the eager incendiary, Cockburn, his torch-bearer literally, and the work was accomplished speedily. The un-away by two gentlemen, one of them the now finished Capitol; the Library of Congress; the President's House, a mile from them; the War and Treasury buildings; the Arsenal, and Barracks for almost three thousand troops, were soon in flames, whose light was seen in Baltimore, forty miles distant. In the course of a few hours nothing of the splendid Capitol and Presidential mansion were left but their smokeblackened walls. The Navy-yard and a vessel lying there were burned by the Americans themselves. Fort Washington was disabled and abandoned by its garrison during the paroxysm of panic. The Americans also set fire to the Virginia end of the Long Bridge over the Potomac at the same time when the British ignited the Washington end, and that fine structure, a mile in length, was destroyed. Cockburn was so restrained by Ross that he destroyed very little private property. From behind the house of Robert Sewall, near the Capitol, a gun was fired which killed the General's horse on which he was riding. The house was immediately destroyed. The same fate awaited the office of the National Intelligencer, the Government organ, against which Cockburn held special spite. These, and some houses on Capitol Hill, a large rope-walk, and a hotel, comprised the bulk of private property destroyed. They shamefully mutilated the fine monument at the Navy-yard, erected in honor of the American heroes at Tripoli. As it was not the intention of the British to hold the territory now acquired by conquest, they retreated toward the Patuxent on the evening of the 25th, after the passage of a terrific tempest of wind, lightning, and rain. All the venerable New Orleans banker, Jacob Barker. She also carried away with her the original Declaration of Independence, bearing the autographs of the signers, which may now be seen at the Smithsonian Institute. So precipitate was the flight of Madison's family that they left the dinner-table spread for forty guests. expected ones occupied it. They were hungry Britons. Un Fort Washington, we have observed, was disabled by its own garrison, and abandoned. The British squadron, under Gordon, went by it up to Alexandria on the 29th, and the inhabitants of that city, who had seen the flames and smoke at Washington, being unprovided with adequate means for defense, purchased exemption from the invader's torch at the cost of all the merchandise in the town. Gordon sailed down the Potomac with richly-laden prize-vessels, not, however, without being greatly annoyed by batteries planted on its shores. For three days the British vessels were harassed and delayed, but they finally reached Chesapeake Bay in safety. Intense excitement was produced in Baltimore when intelligence of the capture of Washington reached that city. It was believed that it would be immediately attacked by the victorious Ross. The inhabitants felt relieved when it was known that he had re-embarked his troops at Benedict, and that the entire flotilla, with the British land-force, was hovering on the coast of the Bay below in seeming hesitation. Every hour of delay on the part of the invaders was precious to the Baltimorians, and they employed the time diligently in preparations for defense. Baltimore is on the Patapsco River, ten miles flotilla, under Lieutenant Webster. On Lazaretto Point, opposite Fort M'Henry, was also a small battery, in charge of Lieutenant Rutter, of the flotilla. To these batteries and Fort M'Henry, the citizens of Baltimore looked most confidently for defense.. Such were the most important preparations for the reception of the enemy when, on Friday evening, the 9th of September, he was seen on the Chesapeake in about fifty sail of vessels heading toward the mouth of the Patapsco. from Chesapeake Bay. The Harbor is entered | Newcomb, and the latter by men of Barney's by a narrow strait commanded by Fort M'Henry, which stood there at the time we are considering. The city proper, at that period, contained about forty thousand inhabitants, of whom one-fifth were blacks. Northward of the town was a range of hills overlooking it and the harbor, and a large extent of country. Upon that portion of the range now known as Patterson Park, the inhabitants, under the chief direction of Commodore Rodgers, prepared defenses against the expected invaders. All classes turned out cheerfully and worked faithfully In On the evening of Sunday the 11th the Britthe course of a few days a long line of fortifica-ish fleet anchored off North Point, about fifteen tions were constructed and manned. A consid- miles from Baltimore. The succeeding night erable number of militia arrived from Pennsyl- was a delightful one. The air was balmy and vania and Virginia, and the interior of Mary- the full moon shone brightly. It was spent in land, and added much strength to the military preparations for landing and brief repose. At force already in Baltimore. seven o'clock in the morning about five thousand troops, under General Ross, were on shore and prepared to march upon Baltimore, where, the General had boasted, he intended to make his winter - quarters. They were furnished with cooked provisions for three days; and each man had eighty rounds of ammunition. They carried as little baggage as possible, for they were to be marched rapidly and take the city by surprise. At the same time a frigate was sent to try the depth and take soundings of the channel leading to Baltimore, as the navy was to co-operate with the army. Rodgers and his marines took charge of the heavier fortifications, one portion of which, known as Rodgers's Bastion, is still well preserved on the harbor side of Patterson Park. A brigade of Virginia Volunteers and of Regular troops were placed under the command of General Winder; the City Brigade of Baltimore was commanded by General Stricker, and the whole military force was placed in charge of the veteran soldier of the Revolution, General Samuel Smith. Fort M'Henry was garrisoned by about one thousand men, volunteers and regulars, commanded by Major George Armistead: and to the right of it, guarding the shores of the Patapsco from the landing of troops that might attack the city in the rear, were two redoubts named respectively Fort Covington and City Battery. The former, whose remains are conspicuous at the end of Light Street, was manned by a detachment of seamen under Lieutenant When it was known that the British fleet was anchored off North Point, General Smith, who had about nine thousand troops under his command, sent General Stricker with three thousand two hundred in that direction to watch the movements of the enemy and act as circumstances might warrant. He left the city toward evening, and just before sunset reached a meet METHODIST MEETING-HOUSE. ing-house (yet standing) almost seven miles from the town, near the junction of the roads leading respectively to North Point and Bear Creek. Meanwhile Major Randall, of the Maryland militia, had been sent with a light corps from General Stansbury's brigade, and the Pennsylvania Volunteers, to the mouth of Bear Creek, to cooperate with Stricker in opposing the debarkation of the enemy. House, was a reserve corps, consisting of the Sixth Regiment (six hundred and twenty men), under Lieutenant-Colonel M'Donald. Thus judiciously posted, Stricker awaited the approach of Ross. The British General disposed his troops as at Bladensburg. A corps composed of the light companies of the Fourth, Twenty-first, and Forty-fourth regiments, the entire Eighty-fifth, a battalion of "disciplined negroes," and a company of marines, numbering in the aggregate about eleven hundred men, under Major Jones, were sent in advance. These were followed by six field-pieces and two howitzers drawn by horses; and the whole formed the first Brigade. The second Brigade, under Colonel Brooke, was composed of the Fourth and Forty-fourth regiments, about fourteen hundred strong, and was followed by more than a thousand sailors led by Captain Crofton. The rear, or third Brigade, consisted of the Twenty-first Regiment, and a battalion of marines, numbering in all about fourteen hundred and fifty men, under Colonel Patterson. At the same time the fleet moved toward Baltimore in order to attack Fort M'Henry. Feeling confident of success, Ross rode gayly forward at the head of his troops for about an hour, when they halted at Gorsuch's farm, and spent another hour in resting and careless carousing. The American riflemen in the advance had fallen back in the mean time, with the impression that the British were landing on Back River or Bear Creek to cut them off, and they were placed on the right of Stricker's front line. position of the invaders, he sent forward to attack them the companies of Captains Levering and Howard from Sterett's Fifth, one hundred Stricker's little army rested until morning at the meeting-house, not far from what was then called Long Log Lane (now the road to North Point), with the exception of a detachment of one hundred and forty horsemen under Lieutenant-Colonel Biays, who were ordered forward, three miles, to Gorsuch's farm, and one hundred and fifty riflemen under Captain Dyer, who were directed to take position one mile in the rear of the cavalry. So they remained until the morning of the 12th, when information was received from the videttes that the enemy had landed at North Point, when Stricker immediately sent back his baggage under a strong guard and disposed his troops for battle in three lines, stretch-When the General was informed of the exact ing from a branch of Bear Creek on his right, to a swamp on the margin of a branch of Back River on his left. The several corps were posted as follows: the Fifth Baltimore Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Sterett, five hundred strong, were placed on the right, extending from Long Log Lane to a branch of Bear Creek; the twenty-seventh Maryland Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Long, numbering the same, were on the left of the Fifth, extending from the Lane to the swamp; and the Union Artillerymen of Baltimore, seventyfive in number, with six 4-pounders, under Captain Montgomery, then Attorney-General of the State, were in the Lane. The Thirty-ninth Regiment, four hundred and fifty men, under Lieutenant-Colonel Fowler, were posted three hundred yards in the rear of the Twenty-seventh and parallel with it; and on the right of the Thirty-ninth, at the same distance in the rear of the Fifth, were the Fifty-first Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Amey. These formed the second line. About half a mile in the rear of this line, near the site of the present Battle-ground GENEBAT. STRICKER. Near the spot and fifty in number, under Major Richard K. | to attack the American line. where Ross fell, and across the road from an The command of the British troops now devolved on Colonel Brooke of the Forty-fourth Regiment, and the entire column pressed forward Heath's horse was shot under him, and several Americans were killed or wounded. The advancing British far outnumbered his detachment, and he ordered them to fall back. Finding the companies of Levering and Howard too fatigued to engage efficiently in the impending battle, Stricker ordered them to the rear to attach themselves to the reserve. At about two o'clock in the afternoon the British came within cannon-shot of the American line and were formed in battle order. Their First Brigade, supported by the Forty-fourth Regiment, the seamen and marines, menaced the entire front of the Americans, and commenced the action by opening a brisk discharge of cannon and rockets upon them. The British Twenty-first remained in column as a reserve; and the Fourth made a circuitous march to turn the left flank of the Americans, against which also artillerists and rocketeers directed their missiles, and were replied to by Captain Montgomery's cannon. General Stricker instantly comprehended the meaning of the flank movement and artillery attack, and brought up the Thirty-ninth Regiment, with two field-pieces, to its support in a line with the Twenty-seventh, which was behaving most gallantly. He also ordered the Fifty-first, under Colonel Amey, to form in line at right angles with the first line, with its right resting on the left of the Thirtyninth. This movement was productive of some confusion, but Stricker's staff soon brought out order. The battle was continued with great spirit on both sides, in the mean time, with Victory coquetting first with one and then with the other, and the armies swaying backward and forward with mutual pressure. When the contest had been carried on for about two hours the enemy's right column fell upon and endeavored to turn the American left. The Fifty-first were suddenly struck with dis may, and, after firing a volley at random, broke and fled in wild disorder, producing a like effect in the second battalion of the Thirty-ninth. All efforts to rally the fugitives were vain. But the remainder of the Thirty-ninth and the gallant Twenty-seventh (whose tattered battle-flag, now in the possession of its bearer in the fight, Captain Lester of Baltimore, attests the severity of their conflict) bravely maintained their position. Finally, at about four o'clock, when the superior force of the enemy could no longer be kept in check, General Stricker ordered a retreat upon his reserve corps. This movement was performed in good order. There he reformed his brigade, and then fell back toward the city as far as Worthington's Mill, about half a mile in advance of the intrenchments cast up by the citizens. Then he was joined by General Winder with General Douglass's Virginia Brigade and Captain Bird's United States Dragoons, who took post on his left. The British bivouacked on the battle-field that night, after calling in some pursuers and collecting the stragglers. While these movements were in operation on the land the British fleet was preparing to perform a conspicuous part in the drama. Frigates, schooners, sloops, and bomb-ketches had entered the Patapsco early in the morning of the 12th, while Ross was moving from North Point, and at nine o'clock anchored off Fort M'Henry, beyond the reach of its guns, near the present Fort Carroll. During the day and evening the bomb and rocket vessels were so posted as to act upon the fortifications on the hill, commanded by Rodgers, as well as on Fort M'Henry, while the frigates were stationed further outward, the water being so shallow that they could not approach nearer the city than four or five miles, nor the fort within two and a half miles. The Americans had already sunk some vessels in the narrow channel at Fort M'Henry, which prevented any passage by the ships of the enemy. During the night of the 12th the fleet made full preparations for an attack on the fort and hillintrenchments on the morning of the 13th, when Brooke was to move on Baltimore with the British land-force from the battle-field of the day before. The fleet, prepared for action, consisted of sixteen heavy vessels, five of them bomb-ships. |