A Valiant Stand

After penetrating two lines of defense, the British rushed toward the third line at Bladensburg, where Commodore Joshua Barney and Captain Samuel Miller, with 400 flotillamen, 114 U.S. Marines, and some militia, made a stand with five big guns across Bladensburg Road. Both Barney and Miller were wounded in the battle. Outflanked and out of ammunition, Barney ordered a retreat. That night, August 24, 1814, the British burned federal buildings in Washington, D.C. Barney and his flotilla crew had marched from the Patuxent River to Washington and helped hold the third line at Bladensburg. After the battle, Barney’s opponents, Rear Adm. Cockburn and Maj. Gen. Ross, praised his actions, paroled him, and provided medical care, and Cockburn said Barney and his men “gave us the only fighting we have had.”

Colmar Manor, Maryland · United States