So many American militiamen fled the field of battle that British troops called the affair the Bladensburg Races, and from that point they met only scattered resistance. American forces made a dismal attempt to halt the advance at Bladensburg, where the British had to cross the eastern branch of the Potomac River. Washington was only 30 miles away, but it was not strategically important, and little had been done to erect defences. It was not initially clear where the British intended to attack. In August 1814, a British naval force commanded by Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cockburn sailed up the Patuxent River in the northern Chesapeake Bay and landed 4,500 men near the village of Benedict in Maryland. So great was the fear of a potential slave uprising that many of the militia who might have been protecting the capital were posted nearer their homes. They used this to devastating effect in the Chesapeake Bay, raiding tobacco plantations and encouraging the enslaved population to join the struggle. It would take time to send troops from Europe, but in the summer of 1814 the British possessed naval superiority. At last, the British felt that they could turn their attention to the war with the United States. On March 30, the Russians had entered Paris and Napoleon had gone into exile. EPE-EFE/Jim Lo Scalzoīy the spring of 1814, the Napoleonic Wars in Europe had ended. The Americans burned several Canadian towns including the upper Canadian capital of York, now Toronto, but the war remained a stalemate.Ģ021: a different breed of invader. For the British its roots lay in debates over maritime rights, which had been conceded on the eve of the conflict, but news of these concessions only arrived across the Atlantic after the United States had declared war.Īmerican politicians expected to win quickly, and many hoped that they could also conquer British Canada. The War of 1812 had been underway for two years. Capitol as his election tantrum leads to violence This was in August 1814 when British troops led by General Robert Ross occupied Washington DC for two days and set about methodically destroying the city’s public buildings, including the Capitol and the White House. And that on the occasion it was the British, an enemy power, which was responsible. As rioters forced their way into the US Capitol Building on January 6, astounded CNN presenters noted that this was the first time something like this had happened for more than 200 years.
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